**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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Just up top, all of these games are either **free or pay-what-you-want.** I didn't make any of them, I just think it's neat that someone had a weird idea about baseball TTRPGs and then executed in such a way it added 8 new games to the world.

Some folks I know ran [a jam on itch](https://itch.io/jam/baseball-jam-26) asking folks to make a tabletop game during the postseason. I planned to participate, but couldn't find the time. But they had 19 participants and 8 awesome projects. [You can see all the submissions here.](https://itch.io/jam/baseball-jam-26/entries)

Here are this year's entries:

* [Holding On](https://kstetson.itch.io/holding-on): a two-player card game about conversations at first base. Can you build your reputation as a legend on the field and in the clubhouse?

* [Bean Ball](https://samtung.itch.io/bean-ball): a ttrpg where you play as a team out for revenge after your star player gets beaned! (Chaos ensues.)

* [Mudville](https://ian-mcdougall.itch.io/mudville): a boardgame that uses your own baseball cards as game pieces.

* [Just One Before I Die](https://sparky-bee.itch.io/just-one-before-i-die): a duet storygame about inter-generational small talk during a game that plays out over the years.

* [Immaculate](https://matthewchase.itch.io/immaculate): a solitaire card game about a pitcher stuck in a time loop. His only hope for escape: throw a perfect inning.

* [Leverage](https://regularbird.itch.io/leverage): a Challengers-inspired duet storygame about the history between a pitcher and batter locked in a pivotal at-bat.

* [Big Base Dungeons and Diamonds](https://toucantsam.itch.io/big-base-dungeons-and-diamonds): a solo dungeon crawler!

* [T-Ball Manager 2026](https://regularbird.itch.io/t-ball-manager-2026): a solo lyric-game about coaching T-ball for 1d4+9 five-year-olds.

Thanks for checking them out! If you're feeling inspired to make your own, the hosts have said they're happy to include any late entries. Feel free to share and leave feedback for the participants!

I'm undecided to buy Traveller (core rulebook updated 2022) or Stars Without Number (revised, paid edition).

If you would buy only 1 of them, which one would you choose? and why?

This topic came up at my table as a joke, but I keep thinking about how you would ACTUALLY do it. If you were going to try to run a campaign based off of Dostoevsky's writing, how would you do it? What system would you use?

There are a lot of ways to handle orcs, what is your favorite out of the ones you've seen?

I'm talking in a published adventure, a system, a home game you were in. Whatever it is as long as it had cool orcs!

I like the idea of the PC(s) being the villager(s) living alongside adventurers who return with psychological and supernatural effects from a nearby “dungeon.” I want a game like that.

The focus would be on interpersonal dynamics between the PC villagers and the people they’re trying to help. There would also often be uncertainty whether some issues arising in town are due to the dungeon, the returning adventurers, etc., as well as how to deal with them.

You’d never actually go into the dungeon. You’d deal with all the trouble that comes from others coming back from the dungeon. You’d investigate murders and disappearances. You’d protect average people from their adventuring family members and protect those adventurers from themselves.

It seems like fertile ground for a story or game.

Edit: I’m starting to think I need to make a (solo?) game and Kickstart it. 😅

Edit 2: Just to clarify, the game would still be roleplaying, not doing the bookkeeping of managing in a town.

I’ve been looking to run a game about rebuilding after the apocalypse, but really about fixing what just broke, but learning about the past and present to create a future that’s even better than before. Where the players aren’t just there to survive and scavenge, but to learn and document (although surviving and scavenging would still be a necessity. It is still the apocalypse.)

If it helps, I’ve already looked into a few systems, and while I could absolutely use the fallout 2d20 system, I have a few problems with it:
(Modern) fallout is not really a setting about rebuilding
I am not really a big fallout lore guy
The equipment system seemed really fiddly. (Lots of loot, lots of rollable tables I seemingly have to roll on because some perks effect the rolls, and other than weapons and maybe magazines, very little of it seems particularly impactful, starting characters being weirdly limited in their gear based entirely on their background.)
Gming felt like it didn’t give much guidance (at least give me a vague idea of how many NPCs a player can take in a fight in the core rulebook instead of putting in an expansion)

I was a big fan of the player facing mechanics though, and that general level of mechanical depth or more is preferable, but not required.

Being able to play as a regular human would be nice, although if it’s just one option out of many that would be better.

I am very aware that no system will meet all of my preferences (especially the settings), but anything that can be beat into that shape would be appreciated

I've been quite impressed by the level of thoughtfulness by this community that you've given to people asking for recommendations. Kudos to you all!

The tl;dr is I'm looking for a recommendation, something low complexity with little GM prep, story-focused as opposed to tons of combat (some is expected of course) ,something I can play with my 11yr old and 14 yr old sons.

Some background. I last played an RPG in 1997 (!), and what I played wasn't too popular then anymore than it is today - Palladium Books' TMNT & Other Strangeness, Heroes Unlimited, and Ninjas & Superspies. Recently my boys (11 and 14) and I played the fantastic RPG-in-a-box board game Arydia, and we had a blast. We all got really pulled into the story it told, and we found that, although the combat can be fun, the exploring and story were our favorite parts.

So I pulled out my old Palladium books and they got excited about the TMNT one. Tried to relearn all the rules and when we finally played ... well let's just say my 47 year old self doesn't remember rules as well as my 18 year old self did. Lots of looking things up, slowed it all down. Not to mention how rusty I am as a GM. Most of the time was spent making characters which is a little complex; the story has barely begun. It wasn't a great intro for them.

But I am determined to find something! So for the past few weeks I've been really researching modern RPGs. First off holy cow! What a hobby this has become! So much to choose from! I've read a lot of reviews and the great suggestions in this reddit, as well as watched videos of the same, including some actual plays.

I've determined that while many of these are really cool, I don't have a ton of time to prepare adventures, and too many rules will just slow it all down if I have to keep looking things up. Thus I am looking for low complexity rules, little to no GM Prep, story-centered. (If we get better at this, maybe we could expand to something meatier.)

The ones that are standing out to me as high contenders are Fate (probably Accelerated) and Genesys, but I still want to read more about Savage Worlds. I like that all 3 of those are able to be used for any genre/setting. If I had to pick right now it's Fate, it seems the best fit. But I'm just asking here if y'all think there's something even better to match what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!

Wondering of any games people know about with a play on time? Meaning games with time loop mechanics, time travel, etc.

I see the PDF is out today. I missed out on the kickstarter. Are there any reviews or APs with more details?

Okay, I’ve recently developed a craving for a specific type of world/setting/rpg. Let’s break down what I mean by that title.

Post Apocalypse - Should be the easiest to understand. The setting you explore and play and learn about is one after it has endured an apocalypse. Preferably something closer to a post post apocalypse, where there has been quite an extended length and period of time after the initial event. From decades to centuries to millennias. I want a world not where the apocalypse is impending, its currently happening, we are right in the midst or shortly after it, but one where there are perhaps people who never even lived or known a world before the apocalypse. One that maybe doesn’t even consider it post apocalypse anymore but some sort of geological or historical event that shaped the world now.

Supernatural - Some supernatural element. I’m not that interested in something ultra realistic or mundane. Something that is seen as definitely beyond the natural. Maybe it’s a world plagued by radiation that has mutated monsters and people, maybe it’s a meteor that has unleashed alien forces and tech, maybe the pre apocalypse was a magical fantasy world. Something like that.

Modern - Honestly, I’m not so sure how to explain that one. I don’t mean modern as in it’s basically 21st century now but some apocalypse event happened 3000 years ago and so and so. I think when I mean modern, I mean something like era. As in like definitely beyond medieval era. People still have some equivalent or live in a relatively higher tech world. That doesn’t mean things are all sun shine and rainbows and world has advanced or reclaimed what they used to have. Sort of the in the same way stuff like 28 Years Later, latter part of Last Of Us, Fallout, STALKER etcetera still feels “modern.” I apologise if I’m not articulating it well.

So yeah, that’s an in-depth look into what I consider a more specific flavour (maybe it isn’t and I’ve decided by 1083728 rpgs idk) but if you can send some my way, I’d be appreciate it. Please and thank you.

I just got the draw steel PDF for summoners because it's an archetype I've always been in love with and I hear it's good and...

I am *beyond* impressed with this class. Most ttrpg's "solve" their summoners by making them *not summon anything*. It will describe this fantastic summoning class and then reveal that infact you are just the most boring wizard ever invented but I said a dragon did it in the description.

It's to the point that my previous "good" summoners in ttrpgs where I could play them (IE. People don't ban it at every single table) was... pathfinder 2e! a game where the "summoner" is a pet class who's encouraged to keep their "summon" out at all times and where summon spells are so mid most guides encourage you to actively avoid using them. It's a really cool pet, I'll admit, I love the ability to play a god damn dragon... but it doesn't have anything to do with the fantasy of being a summoner. "

But then I read draw steel and find that it both does *everything* I want from a summoner *and* people won't run you out of a table for playing it! You can summon multiple bodies! up to 16 (at max investment)!! and they each individually have a presence on the map! the summons are not only of varied types, but there are various options *within types!* Everytime a feature *could* have subtracted from the "dangerous" fantasy of summoning to put more power in your base summoner there are at least options that funnel yet more of your power budget into summons and buffing those summons! And most importantly for me, there are explicitly rules for sending your summons to do things out of combat! You *feel* like a summoner through and through in every aspect of play.

This isn't the first system to do this, I've seen others, technically dnd 5e can acheive these results... if you spend 7 years of downtime with a high level necromancer you can technically have hundreds of skeletons... but this is the *only* time I've had this feeling on a class that no one seems to hate.

Because even when you have 17 bodies, seperated between three classes of creatures... those creatures still only shake out to three die rolls maximum! that's actually less than a lot of other classes and it's pretty much your maximum. It also elegantly gets around the usual summoner problem of *forcing* Dm's to have AOE effects in combat by making summons *die* in squads the same way they attack in them- so one big hit can wipe out a squad the same as it would a single target.

I have been hunting for a system that strikes this ballance for *actual decades* and it's insane to me that this is the first time I've ever felt like the fantasy works *and* no one's going to kill me if I use it. So am I wrong? Is there some other mythical rpg that figured this out first? Cause right now I'm trying to convince every DM I've ever met to run draw steel because this is pretty much the only home I have for my favorite archetype of character