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Was looking back at some trailers for the PS4 cancelled game, Deep Down. And its theme seem fun to me: Normal dungeon crawlers who can't cast magic on their own, and has to rely on "magic fused" item like scrolls, rune stones, flasks, etc bought from the local wizard's workshop. Basically, no magic classes, but magic still play an important role in the gameplay through magic items. Is there any system that fit this description of mine?

I've taken a look at Reign, I tracked down the Meikyu Kingdom rules that I'd seen mentioned here before, and while both systems look interesting neither were really scratching the itch I have.

I'm looking for a management game that's pretty in depth, with resources to manage, diplomacy, war, can be large scale or small scale. I'd like the population to have an actual value that means something and can be manipulated and utilised, instead of an abstracted grade or stat instead.

I'd like to be able to launch raids against rivals to steal population and resources, or to set up trade routes and expand the economic might of whatever region I control, setting up new business and ventures such as mines.

Anything from managing an entire kingdom to just a town would be good for me. I'd like exploration elements too, finding dungeons and ruins to send expeditions to, I don't mind if there are actual player characters or not. I'd be playing this solo for the most part, but the rules don't need to be designed for that, I can adapt.

If there are no rules that fit this exactly then I'd be willing to look at homebrew, if anyone can recommend some sources to pull from.

Thanks in advance for this rather niche request!

An art project I found online has inspired me to run a game heavily inspired by bloodborne aesthetics with the characters fighting monsters in complex dungeons and an emphasis on death and "respawning". The issue I've run into is that I'm not sure a good system to use. I'm willing to heavily homebrew so I'm mainly looking for a good foundation.

The only required trait is that it supports turn based grid/hex tactical combat but I'm also looking for features such as:

1. Immediately lethal combat instead of big HP blob PCs

2. Interesting choices in tactical combat

3. Some core respawn mechanic, I can homebrew this easily but it would be a plus if the game has consequences designed in.

4. Some form of magic system, ideally modifiable

Additional specifics would be stuff like guns built into the system or other aesthetic matches but these are much easier for me to add myself. Any ideas on systems that might work?

TLDR: What are some games where "success with a cost" is literally a failure that is made into a success by player using a meta-currency or a resource?

I feel like many games that have "success with a cost" typically frame it by starting with a success, then adding some complication to it. While I understand that the "cost" part of "success with a cost" should not undermine the success, I don't think it's easy to come up with a complication that doesn't feel like it undermines the success in someway—based on the now closed 1000 page thread in enworld talking about this topic. I think that for some folks, this comes naturally, and I think they are unable to comprehend why folks struggle with it.

The model of "success with a cost" that works better for me, I think, is a mechanic that allows the player to turn a failure into a success by "paying a price." So you roll some dice, and the result is a failure. The player can choose to accept the failure OR pay some kind of a price to turn that failure into a success. The cost could be some resource / meta-currency, and there can be some narrative attached to the loss. I prefer this model because there is literally a cost attached to the success. It allows you to just mark the resources and move on if you can't come up with anything on the spot.

What are some games where success with cost is modeled this way? Do you also struggle with "success with cost"? Do you feel like "success with cost" works better than the propose "turn failure into success"? Why or why not?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

For me, it's mazes that are not abstracted through rolls or other mechanics. Dealing with a strict, grid-set labyrinth is too much mental work if playing with theater of the mind, and if the players are permitted to draw the maze then it takes a million years even if you hold their hand with the map-making. Of course, IT CAN WORK, and I know that some people can enjoy taking their time with a challenge like that, but I wanna do more things in my sessions, lol.

I teach fourth graders. I’m wondering if there are any RPG board games or creative play games that would be appropriate/doable in a fourth grade classroom to play once or twice a week for 30 minutes or so.

I think the imaginative play and problem-solving would be really good for them. I also know they would really like it, they just haven’t been exposed to it.

Ideally, I would do something with the entire class at first, and then once they have an understanding they could break out into groups for future campaigns- but if that’s not realistic, they could just start with smaller groups.

The faster/easier it would be to set up for each game session, the better. I don’t mind spending some money to get it going. But overall cost is a factor as once again I am a teacher (in a bottom of the barrel paying state and district)

I just learned that Dungeon Dwellers has been delivered to its backers and is now available for everyone to buy off the Reaper website. If you have it, what do you think so far? Is it sufficiently different from other D&D-derived games to be worth the money?

Hello! I am interested in being more up to date with either recently launched titles or soon-to-launch ones. Is there any resource I can use to do that? I am a bit bored of the existing market (there's nothing wrong with it) and I am craving something new. I tried Itch, but it has plenty of obscure and niche games that are not exactly up my alley. Thank you.

I would like to preface this by saying that my exposure to PbtA is limited to Dungeon World and Ironsworn. I haven't ran both systems but if there is one thing I would like to take from it is its different degrees of success and failures. I am liking the playbooks and I can see there appeal as well as the asset cards of Ironsworn.

Now my question would is if there is such a PbtA system that exist where it is classless, progression is either item and/or diegetic based, and has a toolbox approach (hacks/homebrews encouraged similar to Index Card RPG)? World of Dungeon seems to be a good base but I want something a bit meatier that would be something along the lines of Mork Borg, Knave 2e, and Into the Odd in terms of amount of content.

So basically something that is a good solid base like Odd/Borg/Knave that encourages hack/homebrew like ICRPG. I need a PbtA representative of that for my emergency RPG kit.

So my players have told me they really want to do a Cyberpunk campaign in the future. But I've been advised by my long time Cyberpunk players that I might want to avoid Cyberpunk RED due to some of the balancing of the game making it so taking Cyberware is a detriment, (Which I feel is really detrimental to my players who want to try new things.) My friends have suggested there might be a homebrew version of RED which resolves the math, but I wouldn't know where to find it-and as I'm still super new, I think messing with Homebrew mechanics is a bad idea for the time being.

We've a mix of experience, but I am the newest as the "Baby" of the group, and exclusively a GM. (Although my players have been awesome, patient, and supportive. giving me feedback on what to improve and letting me know what I do well-setup, improv, and descriptions.)

Having mostly focused on VtM, Daggerheart, and Forged in the Dark-My players really tend to like systems that just allow us to focus on the fun of the story/campaign. (Character creation in V5 has been confusing, but we seem to mostly have it under control.) What we've determined is playing systems that are easier to learn, less map intensive, and focus more on roleplaying and interactions.

I know about Savage Worlds, and I have heard of Sprawlrunners (Although I'm not sure if it's compatible with the current edition of Savage Worlds or not.) Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 seems cool, but I'm uncertain if it's map intensive or newbie friendly. And Neon City Overdrive is another option I heard of, but I'm curious if there are any more that might fit with the cyberpunk setting with the rules light stuff my friends and I like.

I remember reading and loving a fanmade adventure time ttrpg in my youth and I can’t find it anymore. I remember it wasn’t the 4e conversion, had a princess, wizard, and scientist class, and had playable giants.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My Google-fu skills have not been sufficient.