**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.

Im not big into the world of fantasy, never seen or read any Harry Potter or LOTR. Having a hard time keeping interest in Baldurs Gate games, or Divinity, or warhammer, or any platform of these types of universes. Dont get me wrong I can appreciate it, but its just not for me.

I see a lot of people having fun playing tabletop games, and I envy that. I play a lot of video games, but slowly losing interest in that as well.

What I AM interested in though, is the world of paranormal, primarily aliens and sasquatch, X files type stuff minus the ghosts.

Ive recently learned about Delta Green. This seems to suit my personal interests, but im curious if this would be a good introduction into tabletop games. And if maybe there's other tabletop lore I should look into that could be based on more modern real world scenarios.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/gandergaming/grok-2nd-edition

What is Grok?!

Grok?! 2e is a [100% human made] rules-light science fantasy RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world of advanced technomancy and boundless plausibility.

In this world of post-apocalyptic technomancy, nearly anything is plausible.

• Sail across the starry Aether and explore alien worlds.
• Rebel against authoritarian AI alongside trans-dimensional migrants.
• Discover disparate cultures atop hovering isles.
• Survive the chaotic mana-irradiated wasteland.
• Delve dungeons for powerful relics and combat devolved monstrosities.
• Confront the other-dimensional nothingness spawned within the hollow planet.

Inspirational touchstones for the world of Grok?! range from Arzach, Brazil, Discworld, Dying Earth, Fantastic Planet, Flash Gordon, Heavy Metal, Space Team, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Labyrinth, Wizards, and countless others.

The unique game system was developed with inspiration from both OSR/NSR and narrative tabletop RPGS, most notably Fate, Cortex Prime, Freeform Universal, Index Card RPG, Cairn, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, and Savage Worlds.

Grok?! 2nd Edition is content complete, and will be printed as a 240-page full-color hardcover, complete with Refined Core Rules, an Expanded Setting, a Full Campaign, Solo Rules, GM Toolkits, and a full complement of add-ons: a Quickstart Guide, GM Screen, Pregen Character Pad, System Reference Booklet, and Coloring Book.

The Setting

• Planet Grok was once a haven for trans-dimensional migrants, and a bastion of advanced technomancy, until a cataclysm splintered the world.
• Now, long abandoned travelers sail across the vast Aether between planets, struggling to survive the abyss of space and the hostile alien lifeforms they’ve awakened.
• Rebel indentured citizens revolt against the deranged AI that controls the deteriorating space station, called the Simulacrum, that encapsulates and irradiates the planet.
• Eccentric and isolated societies maturate within inverted cities that float among the clouds on Hovering Isles.
• Mutant vagabonds traverse the Wastelands for salvage, inundated with phosphorescent radiation from the space station above and hunted by monstrosities from below the surface.
• Devolved monstrosities haunt the labyrinthine Underworld passages, coveting the relics of immense power long abandoned within.
• And all the while, within the Nether megacity in the center of the planet, ancient other-dimensional gods and their eldritch brood offer worship to the Voidstar from which they were cast: an infinite nothingness that threatens to consume reality.

Why Grok?!

• Expansive setting. A world of boundless plausibility and streamlined rules that cater to adventures of nearly every type.
• Rules light. Draws heavy inspiration from NSR/OSR and narrative games alike, offering a versatile and intuitive system for any setting.
• Universal Action Resolution. Uses a single resolution system for all character actions, whether fighting a mechalizard, casting a magic spell, or repairing a flux-decombobulator.
• Description Based Modifiers. Descriptive Aspects are integral to the resolution system, allowing anything to have mechanical impact on an Action's success.
• Player Facing Rolls. Ensures fast action resolution with constant player engagement, where every roll matters.
• Slot Based Resources. An Asset Slot system distills resource management of inventory, spells, damage, and temporary effects, into a single cohesive system.
• Open License. The SRD is licensed under Creative Commons, allowing you to freely hack and publish your work based on the game.

What's In A Name

Grok, both the term and the game, existed before Elon named his AI slop-bot.

Ultimately, I chose to keep the name for several reasons:

• I'd rather ensure that fans of the Zine recognize the 2nd Edition as a continuation and have the opportunity to enjoy it.
• I'd rather keep my artistic integrity and trust my gut, even if the cost is losing out on potential new readers.
• I'd rather stand futilely opposed to the titanic weight of societal influence that the billionaire class has over the world. I know that sounds grandiose and naive, so to put it bluntly: Elon can kick rocks.

I'm an indie developer with a niche tabletop game. My work isn't going to take the world by storm regardless of its name.

I like the name, and I'm keeping it, market share be damned.

Tales of Argosa, which is billed as Low Fantasy Gaming 2e, but for some reason grabbed my interest in a way that LFG never really did, is DotD on Drivethrurpg.com, and it's now only $7.49.

I'm not affiliated with the game, with Drivethru, or anything. Also, I have to admit I haven't run, played, or even completely read this game. But it's sitting on my TBR pile with Legend in the Mist, Dolmenwood, and Stonetop, where LFG never even got pulled out of the download folder.

I know we have some Argosa fans here. Maybe u/Logen_Nein could chime in with more of the virtues?

It's also got a ton of free online support tools, too, and a great publisher.

For a game that's usually almost $25, this is a great DotD price.

Anyhow, I hope someone who's been on the fence gets a bargain today!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/479871/tales-of-argosa

There aren't any additional rules or information that we wouldn't have access to that we would need to run the game, in order to determine if it's a fit for our group, right?

Does anyone know of some systems that have a lot of in-the-moment modification of attacks and spells?

E.g, you have stats/tokens/anything else and you use them to modify the rules a bit, e.g.

A mage casts magic shield and modifies it to:

- Enlarge the shield or increase its durability

- Cast it on someone else's turn to intercept something, e.g. as a dragon breathes fire or an arrow flies at someone vulnerable

- Bend rules/form, e.g. make a semi-circle magic shield into a dome or let it move with the caster?

Any ideas/inspiration I could look at? Either something where you just improvise on the spot how it gets changed with no mechanical guideline but where characters are somehow limited (e.g. by stats, tokens) on how much they can do it, or something where each modification is directly written into each spell (e.g. "If you use your stat/special item or ability, you can increase the size of your next magic shield by 5 feet")

Hey everyone! I'm currently planning a campaign where the players will take on the roles of private detectives running their own agency. I'm looking for TTRPGs that I could draw inspiration from, specifically games that feature mechanics for managing the agency itself, not just playing individual investigators (I have GUMSHOE for that).

I'm talking about stuff like resource management (budget, equipment, contacts), building your agency's reputation, etc.

Any edition, any genre welcome — noir, sci-fi, fantasy, modern. I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks in advance!

Various games have rules or mechanics for bonds between PCs to help bind the group together. But when I've tried them, they usually end up fairly desultory, with the players not really buying into the concept and treating that part of chargen as another box to tick. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get player buy-in on this? Maybe it's just my group, who tend not to be very back-story focussed anyway, but before I give up I would like to know if I could improve as a GM.

I have an opportunity to play either version of Harnmaster in the title. The one from Columbia and the one from Kelestria. However, I can't find any good videos on Youtube comparing the two, just reviewing one by itself.

Could someone give me the highlights of just the differences between the two? I'd appreciate it.

Note: I'm coming from a lot of systems, including Runequest/Mythras, Call of Cthulhu, ACKSII, etc. so I'm not uncomfortable with skills based on attribute combinations, etc.. I'm just wondering why I would pick one of these versions over the other.

James Introcaso (lead designer of Draw Steel) just released this video announcing an open alpha playtest for MCDM's next game. This came is called Crows and is designed to be the exact opposite of Draw Steel in many ways. Where Draw Steel is about epic heroes solving world ending problems with badass abilities, Crows is about nobodies risking it all to venture into the dungeons of a magical post apocalypse and hopefully bring back loot to improve lives back in their home town.

The playtest materials can be accessed here in a free Patreon post. Here's what's inside:

• A booklet containing the game's core rules
• A booklet containing character creation and advancement options, rules for gear, and rules for creating and advancing the PCs' village
• An adventure to, in, and from the Blood Library, a flesh-covered ruin containing spellbooks and other treasures
• A booklet containing the statistics of creatures used in the Blood Library
• Maps and art needed for the dungeon. The art is from the great Nick De Spain!

This is playtest material and so has not been fully laid out or edited. Feedback on these materials can be provided here through Monday June 29th at 8AM Eastern Pacific time.

For more details on Crows you can check out this intro post and this playlist on YouTube. MCDM is planning on crowdfunding this game in August and you can sign up for more details on that here.

I’ve been running an online D&D campaign for a group that met through Reddit. We’ve been playing together for over a year and have become close friends. For most of that time, sessions felt effortless. The players were excited to be there, roleplay happened naturally, everyone contributed to conversations, and the group always seemed eager to see what happened next.

Lately, though, something feels different. The game isn’t falling apart, nobody is causing issues, and everyone still shows up consistently. But the energy just isn’t there anymore. Players seem less engaged, roleplay is more limited, decision-making takes longer, and there are more moments where nobody has much to say. I find myself working much harder as a GM to keep things moving and get reactions from the group.

What makes it difficult is that I can’t tell whether this is just a normal phase in a long-running campaign or whether the players are genuinely getting bored. They still say they’re having fun, but the enthusiasm and excitement that used to be there feels noticeably diminished.

For GMs who have experienced this, what ended up being the cause? Was it burnout, campaign fatigue, story issues, real-life distractions, or something else entirely? More importantly, what actually helped restore player engagement and excitement after a campaign hit this kind of slump?

I have several books (GURPS, mainly) for games set in historical settings. Not mythic Greece or WWI dieselpunk or undead westerns, but actual historical settings. They look cool but I never find people or even online stuff about running them, like adventure ideas or campaign stories. Does anyone in here play full campaigns set in semi-realistic viking times, Renaissance, Vietnam War, stone age or the like??