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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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For me it's got to be:

• Red Dwarf the Roleplaying Game - Yes, based off of the Scifi Britcom of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, and 2020s. Out of print obviously. It plays a bit like Paranoia + Call of Cthulhu. The players need to maintain their Cool against monsters' Fear Factor.
• Men in Black: The Roleplaying Game - A guilty pleasure of mine, I think it uses the old West End d6 system. It was really fun and great for a one shot I ran where the players had to deal with a 4 armed gorilla alien trying to blow up the Bronx Botanical Garden where a bunch of plant like alien ambassadors reside.

For quite some time, I've been thinking about buying an e-reader to read "regular" books. I thought I could also use it during my TTRPG sessions, since e-readers are lighter and smaller than regular RPG manuals.
Do you use e-readers or tablets during your sessions, or just for reading TTRPG books? If so, do you have any recommendations, or would you advise me to just get a regular tablet?

I recently ran Old Gods of Appalachia for the first time, playing "The Luthier's Folly" from the core rulebook. Below are my take-aways and thoughts about the game for anyone curious or considering running it themselves. I have not listened to the podcast.

The best thing about this game is the setting. The wonderfully creepy and colorful world of this alternative Appalachia is just dripping with flavor. The book does a fantastic job of bringing this world to life with some of my favorite art work from a TTRPG, detailed descriptions of locales and people, and even a poster-size map that comes with the game. It's a version of Appalachia where every dark wood, holler, and church could be haunted by some of the scariest horrors you can't wait to meet. Through detailed investigation, exploration of unique locations (the noir-Appalachian city of Paradise is 10/10 cool), and utilization of weird folk magic, the game promises a tense and creepy horror investigation experience.

Unfortunately, I found that the Cypher system betrays that promise. Regardless of the "bloat" that is often the main criticism of this game (with which I agree), the mechanics of the Cypher system and powerful character abilities undercut the horror. Why should I be afraid of the things that go bump in the night when I have a weird little trinket (Cypher) that will tip the scales significantly in my favor every time? Even once I've exhausted its one-time use, the GM has been instructed to give me a new one soon, since that's the core underlying premise of the Cypher system. Horror, at least the form promised by the setting, depends on the PCs encountering adversaries and situations so deeply out of their small-town comfort zone that peeing your pants and running is as legitimate an approach as fighting the horror. In Old Gods of Appalachia, however, PCs feel like Dungeons & Dragons characters that inexplicably wandered into Appalachia to rid the mountains of their horrors. The result is a version of Appalachia that feels more mystical than scary, which is not what I wanted and not what the setting promises.

In addition to breaking the horror, the Cypher system also introduces a difficult challenge for the players: reconciling PC abilities with the setting. Putatively, the PCs live in a version of 1920s Appalachia that, on its surface, is mostly indistinguishable from the real world. Sure, there's a fictional location or organization here or there, but the world and general population look more-or-less how you would expect to have experienced them 100 years ago. That's what makes the horror of the game so appealing: in the dark recesses of this otherwise recognizable place lurk creatures that scoop up West Virginians in the night like boiled peanuts from an Appalachian gas station. How, then, do the GM and players explain the magic and seemingly unlimited supply of Cyphers sprinkled around the world? And how do they come equipped with a intuitive understanding of how to use said Cyphers? We might understand how a recluse that practices witchcraft deep in the woods could understand this magic. But what about our lawyer, our police man, or our school teacher? How have they arrived at their intuitive understanding and use of magic that isn't supposed to exist? While I managed to suspend my disbelief for a one-shot of this game, its not something I would want to maintain for more than a single session. Which is a shame, because this setting would really shine in a campaign.

All-in-all, while Old Gods of Appalachia introduces us to one of my favorite settings in the horror TTRPG genre, the Cypher system betrays it immediately. The result is a confusing experience that favors mysticism over horror and PC heroism over helplessness, opposites of the experience I expected and hoped for. If my group and I ever wanted to experience the horror of this deeply flavorful Appalachia setting again, they would probably be doing so with Call of Cthulhu characters.

I recently played a game of Mothership RPG and had an absolute blast (not just because I was the only survivor). I found that the rules surrounding stress and injury were really engaging, with rolls becoming riskier with each prior failure, making one really consider what they'd want to attempt.

Are there other systems with similar rules, but in the fantasy or modern sci-fi genres?

Title says it all really. I mainly run dnd and honestly combat is becoming my least favourite part of it, hilarious given the fact that its a combat game.

No amount of exposition or fancy descriptions can alter the fact that combat is basically following steps or whatever, cycling through movement, action and bonus action in various combinations. It all feels very staggered and stop-start.

I'm ideally looking for something like the below-

GM: the spellblade rushes you, mace in one hand and a burning flame in the other. He makes a hard swing at you while flicking his opposite wrist to control the fire, how do you respond?

Player: I'll dodge back away from the mace and raise my shield against the flames.

GM: the mace swing was easy to dodge and you recognised it's purpose to force you back, the spellblade sends an arc of searing fire towards you.

mechanics are resolved somewhere here

Compare that to dnd where having the above occurr and be resolved is 3 turns of stuff, or needless description that adds nothing mechanical.

Genre can be anything, not specifically looking for high fantasy dnd setting replacement.

Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 is by a long shot the best, most agile and fun version of the classic cyberpunk fantasy. Their recent Kickstarter for the supplement books allows you to pick the Corebook too, and it's absolutely worth it.

If you want a quick rundown and peek of the system basics, you mays check the Quick Reference / cheat sheets on DriveThruRPG, linked above.

I have been looking for games similar to Dialect and Hilltop/Dramasystem where the mechanics is geared towards creating a story rather than combat. I have also played around with the works of Ben Robbin such as Microscope and it fits a similar idea, but seemingly it's very hard to find a big list of these types of games. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Looking for fantasy games that do sandbox play particularly well, might be a little vague of a question but would love to hear your suggestions!

So, I bought myself the physical Vaesen Starter Kit. I can't play it right now since I'm on vacation, but I would like some tips or tricks I should know about Vaesen.

That would be tremendously helpful.

I plan to try solo first and, hopefully, later with a group through one of the many digital TTRPG places out here.

Our Delta Green campaign nears its end and I will continue our traveller game once it’s finished.
Both are more on the somber side and I thought about running an action packed one shot as a palette cleanser.
It shouldn’t be grimdark or horror and no pbta.

I already ran Eat the Reich, but that fits pretty well what I am looking for.

I was thinking about Outgunned, invincible or Draw Steel.

Any suggestions?

Edit:

Thank you all for the advice. i have a bunch to read up.

Welcome one and all to a post where we can freely discuss the games that we have released or the games that we are making. Stop on by and maybe you'll find your new favourite RPG!

A bunch of us make cool shit, but the Indie RPG space is crowded and it can often be difficult to get the word out about why people should try out your game. That's why every week we try to focus on a different mechanic or setting to see how new RPGs can solve decades old problems or put new spins on old greivances!

Whether it's throwing confetti and seeing what result it lands on or hitting dildo with sticky hands, RPGs since time immemorial have tried to innovate, so come tell us how your game (or just any game you really like) tackles Innovation!

This time around I'm testing out putting a personal definition of the topic in as well, but by no means take it as law:

For me, Innovation is anything that is either new or has seen very little use (to your knowledge) in other RPGs. Whether this be setting or mechanics or something else entirely. This weeks' topic is extremely broad on purpose!

Thank you... me, for the suggestion!

As per mod approval, comments here do not count against rule 7 - comment as much as you want, answer as many questions as you need and discuss to your hearts content!

All that I would ask is that anyone who comments about their own system takes the time to look at the minimum at one other game in the comments and ask a question or provide feedback. Lively discussions are what get people interested and what keep people engaged!

Last week was "Kingdom Builders" and we got some pretty interesting discussions going!

If you want to suggest a topic for future weeks, be sure to include "suggestion" in your comment so I can easily find it!

If you want to check out any of the previous weeks' topics you can browse the Master List!