**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.

Hello! I'm Ben Robbins.

I made Microscope, a fractal game of epic histories. And now many years later I'm hard at work on a new edition (which is kickstarting right now).

I also ran the original West Marches campaign. Is it weird that the same person who came up with West Marches makes GMless games of cooperative world-building?

I could talk about Microscope (or West Marches) all day, but I'm also happy to talk about other games I made like Kingdom, In This World, or This Means War. Or about Story Games Seattle, a public meetup I ran for eight years. Or how way back in the 80s I was a camper and then councilor at the Shippensburg D&D summer camp, and all the awesome teen-nerd shenanigans that entailed.

I've also been blogging about all this stuff for 20 years, because I love talking about games.

Ask me, as they say, anything.

UPDATE: I'll be off and on today but I'm still answering questions! If you've got 'em, post 'em!

Warning: needlessly long effort-post. Feel free to ignore the navel gazing.

Let me start by contradicting myself: you don't have to take it seriously. You can do whatever you want! I do feel passionately about this, though. Nothing has been more rewarding for me than taking roleplaying more seriously. It's sort of like going from microwave dinner to learning how to smoke brisket.

Taking things seriously requires a some effort. It also requires a little bit of discomfort. At some point, playing pretend becomes uncool and fully committing to being a different character is a vulnerable act. So start with a group of likeminded people and build each other's confidence up.

Before I get into the tips, let's start with how I define roleplaying: using your imagination to inhabit the mind, senses, feelings, and direct the actions of a character. This activity is what separates "roleplaying" games from boardgames, card games, and even the wargames that spawned the hobby.

Roleplaying is both the goal and the reward.

"I thought fun was the reward?" Sure, but you can have fun watching a football game or playing UNO. Besides, "fun" is highly subjective. I'm more interested in the very meaningful experiences that roleplaying offers. Fun is nearly guaranteed if we're all invested in the roleplaying game. (Failure might not feel fun, but can be extremely rewarding than succeeding at everything you try)

"Isn't it collaborative storytelling?" This is a sort of rectangle vs square issue. All roleplaying is collaborative storytelling in the sense that it happens but not all collaborative storytelling is roleplaying. That is, you can have a collaborative storytelling experience with zero roleplaying.

On to the tips or how I think you can get the best experience out of roleplaying:

1. Be respectful and kind to one another- This means paying attention to each other, sharing the spotlight, minimize interruptions, being honest with your rolls, and not making an effort to subvert the experience of others. Be respectful of everyone's time! This means making an effort to dedicate time you know you can commit to and showing up on time!
2. Stay in character as much as is comfortably possible and then push that comfort zone- It's impossible to be "fully in character" as we are all aware of the fact we are playing pretend. But if you can spend more time thinking about what your character might feel, think, or want in a given scenario, the easier it is to improvise what you choose to do. Try to picture the scene as much as you can in your mind. Place yourself in your character's shoes. Some people call this "connecting with the fiction. One helpful tip is to use character names and assume everything being said at the table is coming out of the character's mouth. Shift out of character planning and deliberation to in-character. Stay discrete with mechanics and avoid naming them out loud if possible (instead of "can I roll persuasion" simply describe how you persuade the NPC, prompting the GM to call for a roll). Avoid calling for rolls yourself if possible
3. Ask yourself, "What do you do?"- PbtA games like Stonetop have this as a sort of maxim, but place the onus on the GM to prompt the player with "What do you do?". Instead, I would encourage you the player to ask yourself that question.
4. Actions inspired by goals- Take a moment between sessions to reflect on your character's goals. Write down 3-5 of the things that keep your character moving so that you can refer to them during the session.
5. If you want to do it, you have to say it! - Don't "test drive" your actions. Instead, consider simply stating your intended action, "I move the log over to bridge the chasm, testing it to make sure it doesn't budge"
6. Anchor yourself- Avoid "floating head syndrome" where there are a bunch of talking heads. Start what you do with a brief description of what you are doing and where you are. "I sit down next to the patron and tap the table before saying, "..."". This helps the other players and GM know how to picture what you are doing
7. Improv isn't out of nothing, build off of each other- It's no secret that improv actors seem to flourish in this space as there are many overlapping skills and techniques. One of them is thinking "yes, and..." or "no, but..." to what people are doing. Build off of the momentum of your fellow players. Expand on what they are doing. A rising tide of ideas raises all ships!
8. Keep it short! - This is where I might divorce from the critical roles or dimension 20's. When possible, try to keep it short.
9. Be honest with your character and embrace flaws- Does your character have social failings? Flaws? Failures of integrity? These are opportunities to both add depth to your character and create avenues for character development. Here's the supertip: let the other characters be a bridge to developing your character through interaction.
10. Play with descriptive control and co-creation- Co-creation is the act of adding details or facts to the world that the GM hasn't explicitly mentioned. For instance, the players explore a cave and one says, "I lean down, grab a fist sized rock, and toss it down the nearby pit". The player "co-created" that rock. This can extend to elements of the setting if agreed upon beforehand. (i.e. "Yeah, I heard of the Saladine Barony, they're known for their salt trading"). Before session one, try to clarify who gets to describe what. Consider allowing the player to describe what successes or failures, or both look like!
11. Embrace failure- the best stories come from adversity. Lean into failure and take risks.

Slightly more controversial tips but ones I've come to swear by:

1. Instead of asking the GM questions, cue the questions from your character's standpoint- Rather than, "Do I know this person?" to a floating GM head in the sky, consider stating, "I study his features to see if I recognize him" or "I rack my memory for what I know about him". This is very much taking advantage of the "show versus tell" style of exposition and keeping

2. Don't worry about immersion- it'll come. You don't have to prioritize it. You don't have to feel it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad if you don't "feel immersed" yet. Just focus on the actual things you can do and enjoy the experience!

3. Read the rules- It sounds trite but having some mastery of the rules as a character will save everyone time and avoid the next tip...

4. Ruling first, rules after- More a GM tip. In my opinion, the benefits of clarifying a rule by cracking open the book mid session are outweighed by interrupting the flow of play. I recommend simply stating your intention and letting the GM decide how to adjudicate it if the rule is uncertain.

5. Try ditching the minis and maps- Honestly, I don't think I've seen maps and minis add much in terms of clarity or reduction of questions. Usually it replaces one question with another, in my experience. I know folks love this aspect of the hobby, but give pure "theater of the mind" a try.

What are your favorite roleplaying tips, Reddit?

I mean of course it might be more exciting to be a part of supernatural but cmon being a badass who hunts supernatural sounds cool to me. Want to try it or at least read the book when will have spare time.

To be more specific: I would like to play an rpg where you roll dice a lot, not roll a lot of dice. Something like, you enter the tavern, roll to generate how many people there. Okay, now roll for any NPC you want to include into the scenario, their names, appearance, personality and the like. Talking to the weird thief in the corner? Roll for the social encounter. Oh what, you think that's only for conflict? No, roll those dice to see if the conversation is pleasant, if she gives you information or just tells you to get lost. And maybe the player would be rolling just one dice each time, but it would be very, very frequent.

So, the first question, is there any game that plays like this? I know the phrase "Don't roll for boring", but to be honest, I love rolling dice, even if it's just to see what my character is having for breakfast or if the room in the abandoned keep has plants growing there.

The second question, could this be achieved in any game with just a mentality change? Many of those rolls could be about the narrative, so any rpg with a story would work, I suppose. But I think I would enjoy a game that actively expects the player to roll a lot, for the big and for the small things.

Lastly, I have heard... things, about FATAL. I am not reckless enough to try that game. I just wanted to let that out of the way.

Thank you in advance.

Hello folks of the RPG Subreddit! I was twiddling my thumbs and decided to use some of my free time to create something that is probably entirely unneccessary, but I have skills and use them to mostly make my life easier! So, I present to you my Random Toon Generator (ACME Patent Pending)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hNKvtDwBJi_ynhQ9DdWFrQ5epJ-l_r-ui121sYTLiIo/edit?usp=sharing

It's not quite got everything on it, but could be good if you are creating a bunch of NPCs for a Toon world, or running a Toon one-shot!

Suggestions welcomed, though I regularly forget that Reddit exists!

So I played a game of Hunter the Reckoning recently and felt an absence of the push mechanic that I found out exists in the same edition of Vampire and Werewolf in differing ways. My personal first exposure to this concept was Blades in the Dark.

What I'm wondering is the first published game people can remember that had a push mechanic. For my personal definition it's an ability to possibly negate a poor skill check that is tied to a resource being spent to roll more dice. A counter example would be Adversity Tokens from the Kids on Bike system and it's derivatives. It's a different way to recover from a poorly rolled check but there is no further risk involved.

Slay a Dark God, Experience life as a lonely lumberjack, Rebuild humanity as a cloned super soldier, will a good dog retrieve a sword, and more magic for meowgical cats!

A Canadian crowdfunding round-up that I did for my Compose Dream Games RPG Marketplace Newsletter. Let me know if I missed something, or what of these you are looking forward to?

All of these ttRPGs are funding from Canadian designers this month. I have met people involved with all of them. One of them is me.

God-Killer Prophecy: Oracle Edition Ends Oct 31st

A GMless one-shot story-game with teeth about a chosen one, the companions and a quest to slay the Dark God. Forge a world together and illustrate your journey as you seek to prepare the chosen one for the final battle. God-Killer Prophecy blends story-game prompts and with tense and strategic playing of cards.

Bonus game: Star-Killer Rebellion recon edition - a variant of oppression, freedom and sacrifice across the stars. Can your fragile plan destroy the foe's superweapon?

by Compose Dream Games (that's me Joshua Kitz)

Lonely Timbers - Tire-toi une bûche Ends Sat, October 24

A TTRPG about French-Canadian lumberjacks in the early 20th century. Un JDR des bûcherons québécois du début du XXe siècle

Lonely Timbers is bilingual, and about an very specific historic time in Canada. It's a 3-6 player re-playable one-shot. A game about a group of men both physically and socially isolated. It explores the stories of men who worked in the camps in northern Québec.

by Genesis of Legend Publishing (Jason Pitre)

Sine: A Story Driven RPG Ends November 6th

The new science-fantasy TTRPG set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by an alien invasion. Quick action with a cinematic focus.

SINE is set on Earth in an alternate future where humanity has been all-but-obliterated by a strange alien race known as the Stock. You take on the role of a Catalyst, a genetically engineered super-soldier clone, whose mission is to help reestablish human society twenty years after the initial invasion.

It's D6 system makes you feel like you're a part of a high-budget television show.

by Ox Games

Fetch My Blade: A Solo Journaling RPG Ends Oct 15th (Today?!)

You are the dog of a retired legendary master, tasked to retrieve your master's blade in time for their final duel. For 1-4 Players.

by Hitpoint Press

CATaclysm: The Tome of Meowgic (not launched - yet)

Maximize your Meowgical might with this supplement to the CATaclysm Roleplaying game! Original CATaclysm RPG with every pledge!

Class level, d10, Magical warior cats and Cat PUNS!

by Akinji Entertainment

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My game is God-Killer Prophecy Oracle edition. It has been refined over 3 years of play!

More info:

QA Session from Random Worlds talking about both GKP and Star-Killer.

Video Overview - with examples from a recent game at Tabletop Scotland!

I'm not affiliated or a backer, but the third attempt to crowdfund the mechs vs. monsters RPG Eldritch Automata is live, and it's got a great goal.

It's an Evangelion-style game that uses Free League's Year Zero Engine. The first time it was on Kickstarter it didn't hit its funding goal—I think because they set a realistic, pretty-high goal, which can spook people. The second try was on BackerKit, and it hit something like $140,000.

But then the publisher, Gehenna Gaming, imploded, and apparently the CEO and founder disappeared with the campaign's funds.

Now the game's designer has launched a rescue campaign on Kickstarter, that's going to send a free corebook (not including shipping and handling) to the previous campaign's backers.

Here's the campaign, which launched a couple days ago and hit its modest funding goal, but I suspect it's going to need a lot more support.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nickfrancia/eldritch-automata-from-the-ashes

Disco Elysium started out as a tabletop RPG and theirs was pretty neat:

Intellect (INT) — Reasoning & Knowledge

• Logic (deduction and rational conclusions)
• Encyclopedia (factual knowledge about the world)
• Rhetoric (debate, persuasion, and spotting flawed logic)
• Drama (lying, acting, and detecting deceit)
• Conceptualisation (art, abstract ideas, and pattern recognition)
• Visual Calculus (reconstructing crime scenes and spatial physics)

Psyche (PSY) — Intuition & Emotion

• Volition (mental fortitude and self-control; governs Morale)
• Inland Empire (gut feelings, surreal imagination, and premonitions)
• Empathy (understanding and feeling other people's emotions)
• Authority (assertiveness, dominance, and command)
• Esprit de Corps (police instinct and brotherhood with precinct)
• Suggestion (charm, charisma, and subtle influence)

Physique (FYS) — Strength & Stamina

• Endurance (physical toughness and stamina; governs Health)
• Pain Threshold (withstanding physical and emotional pain)
• Physical Instrument (brute force and raw muscle)
• Electrochemistry (cravings, pleasure-seeking, and substance affinity)
• Shivers (visceral awareness of the city around you)
• Half Light (fight-or-flight, panic, and threat recognition)

Motorics (MOT) — Coordination & Agility

• Hand/Eye Coordination (dexterity and manual precision)
• Perception (noting small physical details in your environment)
• Reaction Speed (reflexes, quick wit, and fast answers)
• Savoir Faire (athletic style, parkour, and smoothness)
• Interfacing (repairing, fine motor control, and handling objects)
• Composure (keeping your cool and hiding your inner turmoil)
• (source: gamefaqs)

Hello!

I'm thinking about starting a game based on Ace Combat style - so more cinematic, dogfighting game with jets.

Any system recommendations? I saw the earlier threads, but most of them are quite old and all recommend Warbirds (I tried giving it a chance, but it didn't click... Tho I liked the initiative idea) so... Are there any "new" systems to try it?