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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It's rare - but not impossible! - to find tabletop RPGs that have had music be specially made for them, whether for at-the-table listening or just as general mood-setting and inspiration.

• The D&D world of Eberron had a full soundtrack included on CD with the Sharn, City of Towers sourcebook back in the day.

• Heart: The City Beneath had an ambient soundtrack composed for it.

• The Wildsea has three different music albums by two different artists, (two albums being more folk-like and acoustic, one being more electronic and moody)

• Orbital had an electronic soundtrack composed for it, including theme songs for the different character playbooks and the setting aspects

• The Dark Sun-inspired RPG Dragon Kings was both a tabletop game and a music project, with the designers also being their own musicians.

There's probably more - I'd love to hear (about) them!

They funded the new cypher system and while the main books are out the stretch goal books aren't. Since then, they have kickstarted 4 whole projects for cypher since then, each grabbing less money each time. The last one feels egregious because unlike the other setting books it is a stand alone book, something that alienated some people when the had the Numenera backerkit going. It feels like they are becoming Onyx path with so much promised material stacking up.

My games I'm realizing really start out with crazy ideas and get burnt out pretty quickly. I got 8 sessions into a Curse Of Strahd game, rewrote all of Vallaki, finished like 60-70% of the module, and then just.. couldn't write my game anymore? Likewise I was running Vampire: The Masquerade and outdid myself with an incredible plot arc, but when I admitted I was burnt out and was going to be wrapping up the campaign a player quit and the campaign fell apart.

I've realized my best campaigns are the ones I go into with really low investment, just a silly idea I can build a game around. Does anyone else feel this way?

No shade towards WHFRP, it's an awesome system. It's just that a lot of the usual "low fantasy" recommendations (like the new edition of the literal Low Fantasy Gaming) still have high fantasy trappings like dwarves and elves casually walking around. What I'm looking for is something that on the surface looks more like a historical medieval setting. Only upon deeper exploration is the magical nature revealed. ASOIAF is a great example here because there's actually a lot of fantasy elements in the setting, but it's well hidden from your average denizen of Westeros. Another example that I find interesting - although not as low fantasy - is the Gothic video games, with only two sentient races (excluding rare beings like dragons) and magic gated away from commoners. Can anyone recommend a system with a setting like that?

Also, a quick word on what I like in TTRPGs in general - I tend to gravitate towards medium crunch systems. Something that is easier to onboard people onto than modern D&D, but not so minimalistic the players who like to tweak the numbers have nothing to do. That said, I'm not a fan of completely classless systems. I like it when players are guided at least a little towards the roles they could play in a party. In my opinion it makes things easier both for the players and the DM.

GenghisCon 2027

So funny story… I went to meet my brother Matthew for the first time last August. Long story short, we’re both lifelong gamers. Although he’s more board game and I’m more RPG. So GenghisCon is about an hour from his house. So I’m flying to Denver in February for the con.

I’m looking to play some cool RPGs, maybe some board games. I might even run a session or two, who knows.

Anyone else planning on attending, have tips on restaurants, funny stories, anecdotes, or dire warnings?

GenghisCon 2027 February 17th-21st, Aurora CO

Note: Asking this question here, because I haven't run D&D in 10+ years. If I ask this question in r/DnD or whatever, I'll get answers from people who play D&D all the time. I'm asking here because there are more GMs who are more likely to have long stretches of not playing the game.

I'm running a D&D game for my friends' kids; I tried asking if they'd be alright with one of the many non-D&D games I have that are fantasy based, but the kids know D&D is what most people and their parents play so they want that. Like a kid wants to play a board game, but the only game the kid knows about is Candyland.

Stuff that I feel like I do more easily in other systems:

• More Improvisation Friendly - In a lot of games, I've gotten better at sprinkling in fights without
• More Backstory Focused - I tend to play games where PCs start off with 1-3 Backstory NPCs.

Sidebar: I really wish I could run At the Gates, because I am a notorious anti-Fantasy setting guy (except for Dark Sun). And At the Gates has that Final Fantasy/Chrono Trigger vibe I can't seem to replicate in D&D.

Any thoughts? Any advice?

Kiki and Bouba is a tabletop roleplaying game for two players and a GM about things and what they do.

One player is Kiki. One is Bouba. The GM puts an alari in the room. Or maybe a shoom. You don't know what an alari is. You already know what an alari is.

The world contains things.

Things are what they do.

Things have names.

Meanings accrete through use.

Kiki and Bouba – A6, 2 pages – €3 print – €1.50 PDF

I ship worldwide. ^{Except the EU, due to PPWR regulations.}

mesolitgames.com/kab

Join the mailing list if you like this kind of stuff.

Physical and class based is preferred but not required.

Closest I know is Shadowrun but that’s Cyberpunk fantasy.

Ive seen far too many youtubers review games only after reading them and without actually playing. What are some that actually play the games?

I dont want purely DnD channels. I want discussion about specific ttrpg systems rather than general discussions about game designs or history of RPGs or dm advice

I already know about quinns quest

As someone who likes to make all his stuff himself, I've been pleasantly surprised at the high quality of the commercial maps I've seen on here and elsewhere. I haven't quite found what I'm looking for, though, so I wanted to see if you had any recommendations.

I'm looking for a relatively large map of a castle for use as a "home base." Ideally, it should be at least somewhat realistic in its construction (not going full high-fantasy here), and have multiple stories, ideally as seperate files I can use with my VTT. In particular, I'm hoping to have, at minimum, a great hall, a throne room, a chapel, and sleeping quarters. And, I may end up using this map for a large-scale battle, so I would prefer to have it as a battle map. Bonus points if it is already rigged up for use in Foundry.

Anyone have any recommendations? I already browsed Tom Cartos's maps, but I didn't see anything that wuite fit my needs...

I'm working on starting a game of Candala Obscura for my group (me as GM, 3 steady players), Only one of my players has read the book and knows about the setting. The other two players do not read long setting documents due to legitimate reason. What would be the best way for me to teach the setting? Players who have issues reading long setting documents, how would you prefer to be taught the setting?

I'm not looking to change groups and do not hold any animosity towards them for not reading dozens of pages of setting material. Just looking for suggestions on how to teach a setting.