**Come here and talk about anything!**

This post will stay stickied for (at least) the week-end. Please enjoy this space where you can talk about anything: your last game, your current project, your patreon, etc. You can even talk about video games, ask for a group, or post a survey or share a new meme you've just found. This is the place for small talk on r/rpg.

The off-topic rules may not apply here, but the other rules still do. This is less the Wild West and more the Mild West. Don't be a jerk.

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This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

Im not big into the world of fantasy, never seen or read any Harry Potter or LOTR. Having a hard time keeping interest in Baldurs Gate games, or Divinity, or warhammer, or any platform of these types of universes. Dont get me wrong I can appreciate it, but its just not for me.

I see a lot of people having fun playing tabletop games, and I envy that. I play a lot of video games, but slowly losing interest in that as well.

What I AM interested in though, is the world of paranormal, primarily aliens and sasquatch, X files type stuff minus the ghosts.

Ive recently learned about Delta Green. This seems to suit my personal interests, but im curious if this would be a good introduction into tabletop games. And if maybe there's other tabletop lore I should look into that could be based on more modern real world scenarios.

James Introcaso (lead designer of Draw Steel) just released this video announcing an open alpha playtest for MCDM's next game. This came is called Crows and is designed to be the exact opposite of Draw Steel in many ways. Where Draw Steel is about epic heroes solving world ending problems with badass abilities, Crows is about nobodies risking it all to venture into the dungeons of a magical post apocalypse and hopefully bring back loot to improve lives back in their home town.

The playtest materials can be accessed here in a free Patreon post. Here's what's inside:

• A booklet containing the game's core rules
• A booklet containing character creation and advancement options, rules for gear, and rules for creating and advancing the PCs' village
• An adventure to, in, and from the Blood Library, a flesh-covered ruin containing spellbooks and other treasures
• A booklet containing the statistics of creatures used in the Blood Library
• Maps and art needed for the dungeon. The art is from the great Nick De Spain!

This is playtest material and so has not been fully laid out or edited. Feedback on these materials can be provided here through Monday June 29th at 8AM Eastern Pacific time.

For more details on Crows you can check out this intro post and this playlist on YouTube. MCDM is planning on crowdfunding this game in August and you can sign up for more details on that here.

I’ve been running an online D&D campaign for a group that met through Reddit. We’ve been playing together for over a year and have become close friends. For most of that time, sessions felt effortless. The players were excited to be there, roleplay happened naturally, everyone contributed to conversations, and the group always seemed eager to see what happened next.

Lately, though, something feels different. The game isn’t falling apart, nobody is causing issues, and everyone still shows up consistently. But the energy just isn’t there anymore. Players seem less engaged, roleplay is more limited, decision-making takes longer, and there are more moments where nobody has much to say. I find myself working much harder as a GM to keep things moving and get reactions from the group.

What makes it difficult is that I can’t tell whether this is just a normal phase in a long-running campaign or whether the players are genuinely getting bored. They still say they’re having fun, but the enthusiasm and excitement that used to be there feels noticeably diminished.

For GMs who have experienced this, what ended up being the cause? Was it burnout, campaign fatigue, story issues, real-life distractions, or something else entirely? More importantly, what actually helped restore player engagement and excitement after a campaign hit this kind of slump?

Hey everyone! I'm currently planning a campaign where the players will take on the roles of private detectives running their own agency. I'm looking for TTRPGs that I could draw inspiration from, specifically games that feature mechanics for managing the agency itself, not just playing individual investigators (I have GUMSHOE for that).

I'm talking about stuff like resource management (budget, equipment, contacts), building your agency's reputation, etc.

Any edition, any genre welcome — noir, sci-fi, fantasy, modern. I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks in advance!

I have several books (GURPS, mainly) for games set in historical settings. Not mythic Greece or WWI dieselpunk or undead westerns, but actual historical settings. They look cool but I never find people or even online stuff about running them, like adventure ideas or campaign stories. Does anyone in here play full campaigns set in semi-realistic viking times, Renaissance, Vietnam War, stone age or the like??

I have an opportunity to play either version of Harnmaster in the title. The one from Columbia and the one from Kelestria. However, I can't find any good videos on Youtube comparing the two, just reviewing one by itself.

Could someone give me the highlights of just the differences between the two? I'd appreciate it.

Note: I'm coming from a lot of systems, including Runequest/Mythras, Call of Cthulhu, ACKSII, etc. so I'm not uncomfortable with skills based on attribute combinations, etc.. I'm just wondering why I would pick one of these versions over the other.

Well, that. I would love to be able to find books with illustrations of creatures where the illustration is accompanied by a bit of lore about the creature, or details about its behavior, or information about its powers, anything.

I am a big fan of bestiaries in video games because they precisely meet all these requirements, but I became curious to know if there are books of this style.

I am looking for any world building resources for a cultivation themed game. Right now I plan on running this in GURPs as I really have no idea what other system can handle this type of game. Right now the plan is to have it use the Thaumatology/sorcery system along with rituals for some of the crafting systems for things like arrays, alchemy, and enchanting. I'm also aware of the Chinese thaumatology supplement as well. However if there is a more purpose built system please let me know..

Does anyone have recommendations for source books, world building tools, random tables with a xianxia bent? I'm aware of things like Godbound and plan on using some things from there.

I saw some supplements for Legend of the Five Rings that were wind, earth, fire, water, void flavored. those look like they would map well for the ideas around my world. Does anyone have experience with 5 Rings and do you think there are good world building ideas there?

are there systems out there can handle handle xianxia or cultivation well? Any good resources out there?

Below is something I wrote for my setting just to get my idea down on paper so I could stop obsessing over it. Just to give an idea of the feel I'm going for. The gist is players will be Wardens. Basically a peace keeping force for an empire in exchange for access to knowledge and training in cultivation. Main idea is there are lots of eldritch things that roam the countryside along with pockets of weird energy that manifest as dungeons that need to be regularly cleared, rogue cultivators, and of course just xianxia shenanigans.

Dossier of the Wardens

For Recruits pledged to the Inward Gleam. The following is a compendium of knowledge and required reading for all new Recruits.

Chaos and Order

In the beginning there was Chaos. A boundless primordial force swirling in the void. Everchanging without aim or meaning. Until something novel appeared, an aberration in the swirling current, an ember. A repeating pattern, crystalized and eternal. Bringing the barest spark of structure to the raw energies of chaos, a new local minimum was reached. A release of untapped potential, ember to inferno, a spontaneous cascade through the expanse of swirling energies. Chaos brought into alignment…

Order

Order: A serendipitous arrangement of chaos made permanent, releasing the fires of creation. For that is what creation is, Chaos brought to Order. An inferno in which the material plane now called Ordos was born.

~Head Priest of the Keepers of Fire

During the first age of Ordos, large pockets of chaotic energies brought to order coalesced into beings of raw power named Titans. These beings were each an immutable expression and true to their name, behemoths in size and stature and unchanging. Titans roamed the undeveloped plane of Ordos, shaping it in just their passing, reality conforming to their presence. The consequences of clashes between these Titans still exist to this day.

Throughout this first age increasingly smaller pockets of chaotic energies were brought into Order, speckingly the land with a myriad of life.

As the flames of creation continued to blaze through Ordos since the dawn of the first age, for a second time, a new ember began to smoulder. Far more subtle than the first, a second flame of creation began to move through Ordos. As this tiny mote of chaos was brought to order, it manifested a concept never before seen, a Soul. A smallw being, fragile and weak, yet filled with something no other entity could claim: potential. The ability to change. This marked the dawn of what is called the Second Age and it has been so up until this very present day. No one knows if a new ember can or will form, but if one does, Ordos will be changed once more.

The material plane of Ordos is, at its core, potential given form. Primordial energies of Chaos are still abundant throughout, tempting the brave and foolhardy alike to tap into them to realize their potential.

I’m thinking of perhaps creating a new tabletop rpg where maps are tile-based (hexmap) for the outside world and interiors, where time is being tracked, and where actions like traveling between tiles, combat, and other “in-tile events” pass time.

Many gameplay mechanics on this TTRPG would depend on time being passed, and I’m thinking about what would be one of the best ways for a DM to keep track of time. One idea that I had was to use a “time-tracking clock” app for phones, where the DM can manually add minutes to this clock after any relevant action/event and keep track of time in this way.

For example, going from one tile to the adjacent one when outside makes 10 minutes pass, setting up camp outside also takes 10 minutes to pass. Every round during combat passes 1 minute, moving from one room to the next while inside takes 1 minute, etc. Plus “instantaneous actions” that don’t pass time at all (pull out a torch, look in a certain direction, etc.).

I don’t have much experience playing or creating TTRPGs, but do you guys think this could be a viable option for time-tracking and would it be a fun mechanic? Thus the idea of using a clock app like this where the DM manually chooses when and how much time passes sound interesting to you?

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had already done something similar, and if that is the case, what has been the gameplay experience for players? And do you know of an existing app that already does this? It wouldn’t be just a simple clock app because time doesn’t pass automatically, it has to be passed manually by the DM.

I'm trying to find more stores in Canada that sell tabletop RPGs online (I am not looking for D&D or Pathfinder, those are a dime a dozen - I'm looking for stores that have a good stock of other RPGs in the top 10 or top 20. And Indie RPGs too). So far I'm not finding much...

My local store Gauntlet Games has a good selection, le Valet d'Coeur and 401games do too, Sentry Box does (but is expensive) and Ratti Incantati is great for small press/solo games. But are there any more? That can't be it... but I guess the dedicated RPG store is a thing of the past now.

Can anyone point me to any more stores in Canada with a big stock of RPGs please?

EDIT: Thanks everyone! You've pointed me to some great stores to look through! :)

Hey everyone! This post is kind of just a rant/a way for me to put my thoughts somewhere, so please don't take it too seriously, it's not that deep.

And I just want to say that the use of the term "cringe" is being used somewhat ironically and also because it sounds funnier.

Well, when you start in the world of RPGs, many go through that adaptation phase where we are still discovering the true infinity of concepts that we can have, develop, or interact with the game's story. During this phase, and especially in my case, having discovered RPGs in adolescence, many of us end up incorporating a variety of characters with often over-the-top concepts derived from various media we consumed during that time.

In this way, various player/character concepts that are now part of many memes and jokes are born. (Edgylord, The Protagonist, The Mary Sue, etc...)

"My character was a fallen god now trying to reclaim his place in the pantheon."

"My character is an orphan raised among the League of Assassins and carries a demonic pact."

"My character has a sword with an evil entity inside it that is helping me avenge my brother for killing our clan."

There's nothing wrong with these concepts; they're fun (and that's precisely what's bringing me some thoughts I'll explain later). However, when I started playing games in school, along with other people of similar age, things like table etiquette, communication, and just attitudes involving maturity in general weren't our strong suit, much less mine xD

During that phase of my life, I witnessed many problems and somewhat banal dramas that originated from players with these types of character concepts, and Even I MYSELF have often been the problem player at one or another game.

Problems like:

"The dark kitsune using the assassin class doesn't get along with any other character and constantly acts against the group's objective because he acts alone."

"The character aiming to become the strongest of all manages to become a god and, throughout the campaign, only becomes infinitely powerful to the point that the rest of the players are somewhat sidelined in HIS story."

"The player who is playing a character who is supposedly charming, charismatic, and attractive makes the game completely uncomfortable with disgusting comments to NPCs, after all, the player roleplaying doesn't have the charisma skill that their fictional PC has."

Oh... good times lol

But anyway, as time goes by, people change, learn, and things start to make more sense. You learn that in the end, what's important is having fun TOGETHER with your companions, not individually. The game master learns that it's okay if the story deviates a little from their plans; the player learns that this is a game that involves everyone at the table and that it's much more fun to play together with others than apart from them.

Something that has recently started to bother me a little... is the fact that I and some other colleagues I play with nowadays always end up choosing "the easy way" when it comes to creating characters for fear of acting "cringe." No characters with a very epic or dramatic past, no grand objectives or questlines, no extravagant appearances or variations of a race. And every character that has any of these characteristics, we end up roleplaying and treating as comic relief, both the roleplaying player and the rest of the group.

I don't know where this came from, but I'm starting to miss playing in a group where each character seemed like a super-saturated Tumblr OC with lots of crazy, magical, and epic things surrounding them. xD

I feel that when the characters had that dynamic, the session was more memorable! Every session something huge happened because all the characters had a bunch of things that opened doors for the game master to go crazy.

Something about drawing your characters with armor, scars, tattoos, adornments, impractical clothes, and an extremely cluttered visual design... it had a certain charm.

I don't miss the problems I experienced during that time, the lack of consideration, the unnecessary dramas, but I do miss that unbridled brilliance of creativity and fantasy that brought me to the hobby.

Maybe I can finally disconnect the idea of ​​high-fantasy/over-the-top characters from the negative connotations and the notion that playing with that type of character automatically makes you a bad player.

Does anyone identify with anything in this post? Let's talk! ^^