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I asked on here a little while back for some recs for bookstores in the So Cal area. Many of you recommended Geeky Teas in Burbanks and boy, what a great place! Picked up a couple new books, they had an unfathomably great selection and the staff were great. 10/10, totally worth the drive, really brightened my trip up!

Hi everyone! I'm considering buying one of these games. We're getting a bit bored with D&D 5e and want to switch things up.

​What are your thoughts on these two Daggerheart and Savage Worlds Pathfinder? Can anyone compare them? We're looking for a "gently" heroic system where players aren't immortal, and the threat of death is real and serious. We are open to other suggestions as well.

​I've read a bit about both, and they seem similar—heroic and narrative-driven. We play strictly offline, and we feel that standard Pathfinder is too complicated for our table.

I was looking for a set of Electric Bastionland spark tables, etc. that a Conductor can use tableside.

The book, however, is so well laid-out that I'll probably just continue to use it instead. Still, I know, I'll forget where to find all the good bits mid-session.

So, I think, even just an "Index" might come in handy then. Has anyone prepared such a thing?

I have not... But, although I may continue to seek something better, I have prepared the following list that I might reference tableside. And, maybe you'll find it handy too:

RULES SUMMARY, back end papers - Lackey equipment, p.6 - Who's selling, p.15 - Example treasures, p.238 - Place / person / object / threat, p.241 - Encounter, p.244 - Luck tables, pp.244-245

BASTION - Bastion sparks, p.250 - Borough encounters, p.255 - Electric terrors, p.255 - Bastion touchstones, p.256 - Cocktails / parlour games, p.257

DEEP COUNTRY - Deep Country sparks, p.260 - Country encounters, p.265 - Horses, p.265 - Country touchstones, p.266 - Country places /flags, p.267

UNDERGROUND - Underground sparks, p.270 - Underground encounters, p.275 - Tunnel locomotives, p.275 - Star things, p.275 - Underground touchstones, p.276 - Tunnel aesthetic / hazards, p.277

-- - People manner / drive, p.281 - Mockeries type / talent, p.283 - Machines visual / character, p.285 - Aliens sparks, p.287 - Monstrosities sparks, p.288 - Traps, pp.304-308 - Noble weapons, p.309 - Servants / mercenaries / experts, pp.312-313 - Judges, p.317 - Other hook locations, pp.318-319 - Fashionable headwear, p.320 - Bureaucromaze, p.322

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PLAYER'S GUIDE, pp.292-293

Basically what the title says. I know I could hack around the issues I perceive (see below), but I'm looking for something that's a bit more fleshed out for our playstyle without a lot of prep and playtesting on our part. I'd rather focus on playing and running my oneshots.

To give more context on the whats/whys:

My group enjoys the social/narrative/communal building aspect of PbtAs like Dungeon World or Monster of the Week, but as a GM I personally find "moves" as a mechanic terrible, since it makes my players look for opportunities to "apply moves" (they keep glancing at the "moves" reference sheet) instead of just playing and using the dice as a resolution mechanic. I think this means I like PbtA as a "concept", but not as a "system".

As a GM I like Maze Rats/Knave (haven't run them yet, so bear with me, since I go by what I "feel" they would be and perhaps not what they "are") due to their random tables, simplicity, and how they feel like a toolbox that I can draw from and see the world unfold in front of my eyes as a GM... But I dislike their lethality and the focus on dungeon exploring as an end in itself (none of us like dungeon crawling, dealing with traps, methodical exploration... i.e. we dislike adventures like "Tomb of the Serpent Kings"). It's not that we dislike dungeons, but exploring a giant dungeon filled with traps is boring: traps and encounters should be used sparingly for maximum impact, not a regular occurrence as part of the experience. I think this means we dislike OSR (or at least how some people use the term?)

In a way I appreciate how lethality raises the stakes, but I think combat has to be fun and, even if it should be usually avoided, it should not result in severely maimed characters in a couple turns due to bad rolls. I think this results in a "disposable characters" mindset which kinda goes against the "raise the stakes" aspect: there are no stakes if a character is just "an excuse" for the player to act in the world and not "their avatar" that they have to protect at all costs.

I like small systems that don't give me a premade world: we will discover that as a group by rolling dice on the random tables -- those are more than enough to set the tone for the world. I know I could ignore this part of the book, but I feel like books that spend time on worldbuilding probably means they spent less time on system building (not necessarily, of course, but the frame of reference that the authors come from is often imprinted in the mechanics).

I know many of the issues listed above are on a "mindset" framing (e.g. this would be solved if my players "acted" like they were attached to their char sheets, regardless of what they really feel) but IMO the system is there to encourage this sort of attachment and players shouldn't have to "fight" their feelings derived from the mechanics -- i.e. they shouldn't have to consciously suspend their disbelief and needing to do so is a failure on the system's part.

On the other side of the scale: Lasers and Feelings feels too small and improv-y for us (I don't think I could fill an 4hr+4hr play day with it) but we're open to non-fantasy settings.

Apologies for the rambling but I don't have a clear way to express my feelings, so I hope the braindump helps you understand where I'm coming from.

Is there any system that would fit our playstyle? From other recommendation threads I couldn't find anything that would fit, but maybe I'm just missing on the perfect system and it's there waiting for us... or is there a void in this space that's yet to be filled?

Hi, I'm looking to make some battlemaps for a modern setting, but my go-to for maps, Arkenforge, doesn't have many modern assets. I'd like to hear if you have any suggestions for good software to use, or pros and cons if there are several roughly equal options.

I am specifically looking to make something like a sub-urban home, and more maps later in that general theme. Thanks.

I am unsure on the rhythm of this game. I've been in love with the mouseguard series for years now and I haven't been able to play the game. I'm cracking it open now and reading the rule book seems easy enough, but i'm unsure of the pace of the game. I am a lifelong dnd player and am used to that system. The game master's term seems very short and railroaded, and the player's term seems a bit forced and without direction. Where am I misunderstanding? How long should this game session take? What does a session look like? I just need help understanding the Pace and flow of this game and what the objective is

Not just talking about the obvious superhero system, but systems that enable competence and heroics and potential for grand moments for individual characters in general.

Personally I love Barbarians of Lemuria and games derived from it for really competent and strong characters. It is such a simple system for broadly competent characters. Playing by the default advancement rules the characters can approach the superhero territory in feats they can pull off, which makes it a bit ill suited for long campaigns when playing the rules as-is.

I am also a fan of oldie but goldie Prose Descriptive Qualities based games, Jaws of Six Serpents in particular where the rules that use all abilities as universal pseudo-health and minion rules for enemies make all sort of characters really resilient and heroic while giving flexibility in what archetype you want for them.

Stopped in a local comic book store while in town yesterday for the first time in 20 years. They had tons of ttrpg's but I didnt even know where to start! I had a couple when I was a kid (hero quest and battlemasters) and I would like it pick up one to play with the wife and our boys. Like to keep it somewhat simple for ease of play just getting back into it but perhaps just a little more involved than hero quest...TIA!

Hey everyone,

I’m curious what the usual expectation is for GMs when it comes to rules knowledge. With most RPGs being hundreds of pages long and full of rules, lore, stats and tables, memorizing everything feels unrealistic. In your experience, is a GM expected to know every rule, or just the core mechanics? Is it normal to look things up or have players help during play?

I’m just trying to get a sense of what’s generally considered “prepared enough” to run a game well.

Thanks!

Hi everyone! This is my first post here, even though I've been reading for a long time.

I have a question about prep. I've read a thousand posts about prep, and having been mastering for a while, I already know what I like and what's convenient to prepare. For me, it works great to prepare the NPCs with an idea of ​​what they want, preparing the main locations and factions, but leaving the "story" completely unwritten.

One thing, however, I'd never wondered about. Reading Into the Odd, I saw HOW in his adventure he recommends noting things differently (like bold, italics, in parentheses, etc.) based on things the PCs might notice first, or things they'll only find through investigation, and so on

-So I've never wondered how best to present what I prepare in written form, for better use at the table. Hence the question: how do you write your prep, and what do you find best?-

This is mainly a D&D/Pathfinder question, but I've seen it around for some other systems as well, mainly older ones, but still.

As an example, you get your adventure book, and the map it presents you is something like this: https://prints.mikeschley.com/p581848124/he7e8739#he7e8739 (The artist doesn't always do areas like that, just the example that came to mind)

Are you really expected to draw out on 1 inch graph paper a weirdly shaped, extremely wide area like for 5B on that map there? While keeping the right spaces for rocks and terrain and stuff in mind?

I can understand it a bit for the older versions of D&D and similar that were more focused on measurements than placing oneself on a grid, but for games that go for that, I'm not sure how such areas are expected to be ran by the player.