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.

I’ve been reflecting on something and would love to hear your thoughts: how important do you consider mechanical progression to be for the flow of an RPG campaign?

I ask because many characters we follow in various forms of media remain at the same power level throughout their entire series—for instance, Batman (in the animated series), Indiana Jones, and so on.

Are you satisfied with character development occurring solely through the narrative, or do you feel like something is missing if you don’t get those extra points on your character sheet?

I’m about to wrap up my duet campaign for Fabula Ultima (amazing game, highly recommend) and I’m looking for new systems to try out. It would most likely be for another duet campaign or at max 2 players.

I prefer crunchier systems and while I have DM’ed multiple systems like LANCER, DND, and FU I would still consider myself a novice DM. I’m open to all types of games but my group prefers a 50/50 split to combat and RP. Thank you in advance!

I am planning to run a *Mass Effect* TTRPG campaign using the *Genesys* system. I am currently weighing which ending to consider "canon," as the campaign will take place after the events of the games.

Synthesis: While I personally find this the most compelling from a narrative standpoint, it is the least useful for a TTRPG. We simply know the least about what the world would look like afterward, and it seems to offer the least potential for generating new storylines.

Control: From an RPG perspective, this is definitely more interesting than Synthesis; it leaves the world largely as we know and love it. It introduces the fewest changes, though it also fails to open up any new possibilities. A potential drawback for more epic-scale narratives is the ever-present option of "Shepard just fixes it."

Destroy: Objectively the "worst" ending, yet it seems quite intriguing for a TTRPG campaign. It presents the player characters with numerous challenges—such as the need to rebuild the galaxy without the mass relays, or the presence of thousands of aliens effectively stranded on Earth.

I have no idea how to find out what conventions are happening. I've never been to one and would like to go and get to try some other games or maybe run something

Also, what should I expect at a RPG Con?

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 takes the system wholesale or iterates upon it, Powered by the Apocalypse games have become a huge staple of the RPG scene! So come tell us about your PbtA game (or just any game you really like)!

I'm refraining from putting a personal definition this time around as PbtA is something I don't know or personally care that much about, so I'd rather not poison the well 😅

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 "Innovation" 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!

You can also check out the Master List for previous weeks' topics!

Edit: This thread has heavily derailed from its intended purpose. It's meant as a space to talk about games that fit a certain topic that the average hobbyist might not have heard of. I didn't want to start yet another "PbtA bad vs. PbtA good" or "what is PbtA" argument thread.

So I implore you to come and suggest (indie) games that most would categorize as PbtA and let's refocus on talking about the cool stuff that's out there!

There are no limits but your time. You've got a committed pool of players, either small or large as is your preference. The only things holding you back are bodily functions (sleep, eating, etc).

How are you spending this time? All in the GM seat, all as a player, a mix of the two? What games are you finally going to get around to playing?

Edit: Removed Table Trouble flair because on second thought it's probably not right.

Hi, today i want to share a couple of thoughts that i have had ruminating in my brain for a week or so. TL;DR at bottom.

The Issue

I have a problem, clinical depression aside. When i run games i burn out after a few sessions. Make it four, for example. It's not my players, they're amazing. It's me and I know it. I loose interest and i dread the next session. I love prepping, be it recording something or making maps or handouts. But ultimately it takes the wind out of my sails because I know that in a couple sessions my focus will shift elsewhere.

"Playing to find out what happens" is an ideology that I wanted to subscribe to, but i don't think i have fully commited. Now, that brings us to

The Solution

I know that in session 0 we involve our players in the worldbuilding. Be it the Paladins order, the favorite diner of a Delta Green agent, the characters hometown or kingdom or continent etc. ad nauseum

We involve them, is the quintessential part i wanna highlight. But after session 0? Sure, i might ask questions about their session 0 input. Who runs the order? What do you usually order at the diner?
But i want to go beyond that.

What if instead of small narrative bites, they get to have control over larger portions of the narrative. I know that some systems handle this via a metacurrency that players can spend to invoke something. "I have a friend who lives here", "My cousins owns this place", "I used to date the dragon".

But i want to go beyond that as well.

The Idea

At the start of each session, to settle into the game night, i want to ask my players questions about the campaign. Some they can openly discuss, some where i want input from one specific player, some where they can all message me with their ideas.

I love improvisation just as much as prep. So this is in hopes that it will keep me engaged in the session. Retroactively fitting the seeded hooks to work around the group decisions, the singular input of a player or the secret messages.

My question to the community is this, if you would be so kind to humor my musings:

If your group started doing this, do you think it would further your investment that you have in the story because you shaped more than just the part your character occupies?

Or would this be a huge turn off?

I know, that my table is different to yours, but i hope that it sparks some interesting discussions.

Thanks for reading!

TL;DR:

If your group did small questionnairs at the start of gamenight, so that the GM can impovise off of the answers during the session - would that make you more invested or less?

Im stuck between Dolmenwood, Land of Eem or one of the Cursed Scrolls for shadowdark. Any other suggestions are welcome too.

I'm burnt out from writing my own adventures and am really interested in starting a hexcrawl. We recently finished a mythic bastionland campaign and while it was really fun, i still had to do a lot of prep trying to intepret the myths

So lately I've been thinking about making a character whose main theme/ideal would be "honor" when I realised, I don't really know what that means. In dnd 2014, a paladin oath describes honor as "Being fair, doing good, avoid doing evil" in V20 the path of honorable accord is about always keeping your word, don't break your promises.

So I figured that this subject was a bit broader and more complex then I first thought, and would then like to ask you guys if you guys have seen other games with a "honor system" that stood out to you, how they describe/define honor, or just an experience playing as or with an character that you would acknowledge as being very honorable, but without crossing the line into "lawful stupid"?

I started working on War of the Worlds for an RPG 20 years ago (Blog link) and last week I managed to release something that I was pretty happy with. It's a book for Twilight 2000. I'm debating whether to release a version for Vaesen as well (Vaesen is a kinda obscure game compared to T2000.

Anyway, here's the link. As usualy if there's interest I'll add more content. I've already got some encounter tables I'm working through which will be added to the book and my artist is working on another image. I figure it will slot right into the hexcrawl system

these are essentially Martians stats for YZE, with a bit more expansion.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/593384/twilight-tangents-ulla-the-martian-invasion-of-earth

I've seen people like JamesRPGArt who create art of locations for sci fi and fantasy games.

I typically run horror games in modern day, obviously a lot of scenes I can just go out and take a photo of something or jump on google street view and take a screenshot of somewhere, but the more supernatural things I find it much harder to find art of

Does anyone have any suggestions?