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I've noticed this with almost everyone I've played with, including myself. The nicest, most calm person in the world becomes more bloodthirsty when they play; while the amount differs between players, everyone seems to be more prone to violence. Why is this?

I have not played 5e much at all. Maybe I gave it a spin a few times when it first came out. And I've mostly only given Critical Role and what goes on there a slight glance. I get most of my rpg news from EnWorld newsletter, a couple other indie newsletters. R/rpg, and fees other subs, plus a couple YouTube channels and game designer colleagues on social media (mostly Facebook).

But when these huge Kickstarters happen in the D&D sphere, I start to wonder how such things get past me. Shouldn't I know that people play sci-fi with D&D to the tune of 16 million dollars? It seems so absurd.

Does 5e really play space well? Would you say it works better than combat fantasy?

A colleague approached me a couple of days ago and said “You’re into tabletop role-play games aren’t you?” I said yes and she said can you suggest something for me?

She wants to arrange a one shot evening for her and her partner. She will DM ( has no experience or has played ttrpg games). She needs very basic rules so she can run. He’s into Warhammer and she was asking for a simple rpg that would maybe he would like and she could get the rules.

Thanks in advance. Any suggestions would be great.

Hey, me and my group are getting tired of fantasy and want to run a game in a world that's more grounded and relateable, preferably an investigation game. I've played CoC, World of Darkness and Swedish Cults before and i'm looking at delta green or nights black agents currently. I've played a single session of Mutant City Blues so my experience with gumshoe is a bit limited.

I'm also eyeing the Dracula Dossier as it keeps getting rave reviews. We're on a rotating GM spree testing out systems right now and I want to dip our toe in one of these games.

1. Is there one you think is better than the other?

2. Is there a short quality starting scenario we could try out you like in your preferred game?

I love how much he loves his old games. We did a DragonQuest campaign last, and that was REALLY crunchy. We also have a weekly and a every-other-week 5e campaign. I really want to support him, but I don't have the time or energy to learn another whole system. I wish I knew how to connect him with people who like the older systems, I am really impressed with how much time and energy he puts into them. Is there a subreddit or site for enthusiasts of older systems?

This is his current site:
https://universeonline.org/

Helloo👋

I'm not new to TTRPG. I've been playing every weekend for the past 7 years. I'm not talking about online games, it's strictly in-person with my group of friends. We play a lot of White Wolf games, City of Mist, and some homemade settings and systems.

What we really love is playing RPG as collaborative storytelling, almost like we're creating a TV series together. Roleplay matters more to us than strategy, and everyone at the table shares that mindset.

Now that that's clear, I want to improve my roleplaying.

Lately , I've been feeling like I’m not improving. I don't think that I'm bad at roleplaying, but I feel like I'm stagnating, and it's starting to bother me.

So, when you are playing, what goes through your mind ? How do you show to the other players who your character really is ? how do you embody your characters ? What mistakes have you made ?

I can't wait to read what you learn on your side 👌🙂‍↕️

I really like the premise of actual-plays, and I watched and enjoyed all of CR's second campaign as well as a bunch of D20, but everything I've tried to watch since has infuriated me with players not knowing the mechanics and GMs handwaving or railroading everything. I can see there are a lot of options, but I've been loathe to dive in without knowing if this particular show is going to have players who just make up the effects of their abilities based on the names, or GMs who let people roll and roll until they pass a railroaded check. Anything other than DnD 5e would also be nice, but I'm not opposed to it.

What's your favourite actual-play where the players and GM *aren't* incompetent? Surely they exist. Bonus points for cool settings and good characters.

Edit: Thanks, guys! I'd heard of almost none of these. I'm reading all the responses and I will check them all out, I promise.

I have about 4 players at a table and we infrequently get together to play D&D. Most of them say they have a good time but the games really aren't a big priority for them. People cancel at the first inkling of something else they want to do and none of them are interested in doing homework or talking about their characters or what goals they want to achieve (material or personal) when we aren't actively playing.

They have told me they're all having a great time but it just seems like what they want to do is sit down for a few hours every few weeks roleplay, get more powerful with loot or levels and that's about it. They are also really bad with learning the rules and are not interested in reading or holding onto mechanics I've explained so a lot of times even character sheet stuff has to be re-explained or simplified.

Are there games beyond D&D that might be a better fit for my group? I do like these people and we do have a good time roleplaying together. I just want to see if I can find something more their style.

Today, while musing about one of my group's recent session, it occurred to me that almost every modern TTRPG has ditched morale and reaction mechanics that used to be a staple of early gen TTRPGs. I love my DM and understand all the effort GMs expend running session. I was that Forever GM for decades before I started to sit on the other side of the table. Yet, it seems almost every time we encounter anything, unless it is a scripted scene, it is 'we're going to initiative'.

Wait, wait, wait... can't we talk to them? Maybe they take a liking to us? Something other than repetitive f'ing combat that is going to take hours to resolve? Don't get me wrong, I understand some things are mindless or destructive, or the story dictates this happens but overall the general trend I see in modern TTRPGs is that the default action is to kill things.

I missed the whole 3e-5e, Pathfinder, etc modernization Arc. Last played AD&D 2e and picked up the trailing end of 5e, so I missed the trend away from random NPC/mob reactions and morale checks. Honestly, I sort of miss it. I read that systems have just transferred that to GM-fiat and that's fine, but I rarely see that kind of advice in any system's core books. Even if they would just include it as an optional mechanic at least newer GMs would know that's it is actually an option. Now my DM is older school like myself, he grew up playing the same systems I did (I hear his uncle used a heavier hand during their sessions than most may have) but even he has fallen into the 'hack and kill' model

Anyone else miss that type of mechanic? I feel it adds a layer to role playing that seems to be missing in modern TTRPGs

Hi, I heard some years ago about some RPG meant to be played on discord (or maybe another chat system), using the interface, etc At least one of them was a a sort of horror-themed textual rpg?

I'm pretty curious to try it out, and I'bevery grateful if you an share some refs 🥰