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Hadn’t seen this posted anywhere else but just got the update email from Mythworks about the Slugblaster reprint. They’re holding off to see if anything changes in the coming months, but otherwise their shipment is on indefinite hold. They’ve already paid $30k for production and would need to pay an additional $43k in taxes to import it to the US (the original import costs were estimated around $6k so it’s about $37k in new taxes).

It’s a bummer. I was excited to get my hands on the physical book, but it doesn’t really seem that there’s a way forward for publishers in the near term. This all seems so pointless and is just going to hurt (and maybe kill) small businesses like Mythworks who paid for goods before this administration blew everything up.

Hope you brought a microscope, this one's got (almost) everything...

What's New:

• The results from the recent "What are your Top 5-10 RPGs of all time?" thread were added to the data.
• Connections between games are now weighted by similarity, so more similar games tend to be closer together.
• No more hard cutoffs- all games with at least 10 mentions are included, and each game's top 10 strongest connections are represented.
• Node outlines now get bolder the more connected to other games they are, and can change color if there are lots of connections to games outside their community.

I'm sure many people will prefer the last iteration, but for those of you who were disappointed your favorite game wasn't represented before, you're very likely to find it here now! I think this one's also very cool in that it really isolated four broad "categories" of games, OSR/Narrative/Trad among them.

Anyways, this has been a very fun exercise for me- but I'm definitely done iterating now. Hope y'all have enjoyed looking at network graphs as much as I have!

Like I make my own rule book and character archetypes and world building, all the kind of stuff you get in a typical ttrpgs books.

I like the medieval setting, I don't like magic as a plot device, but I like mythical creatures.

What do I do? I asked on r/DND and I was recommended to not do DND because of my dislike for magic and how it can really hard to do DND without magic, so I came here.

Help.

Edit: thanks for all the advice, I think I'm gonna start by looking at other TTRPGs, I already have a few game mechanics in mind, are there any TTRPGs that are free online? I don't have an awful lot of money and it might be easier to check those out until I do. Also if nobody objects, I wouldn't mind letting you guys be the game testers, like this subreddit, maybe I could post the work in progress and let you guys try it?

I'm on the cusp of printing the hardcovers of my game, Grimwild, and I have a chance to expand our print run just before I give the final go ahead. The game's complete, all the files are ready at the printers. You can back this campaign to get a hardcover copy of the game if you're interested.

For those unfamiliar with Grimwild, it's a cinematic heroic fantasy game. You can grab the full version (minus an Extras chapter) for free by following the above link.

Also a heads up - we have no plans for retail sales of the game and won't be printing extra copies, so this'll be the only chance to grab the hardcover until we run another campaign down the road.

At the very least, you should pick up the free edition to check out artist's Per Janke's great work! There's also a bunch of GM tools, monster descriptions, adventure ideas, and so on that you can pull out of the game and drop into your own campaign.

I think in general understanding the design intent behind systems and mechanics is a bit underrated in terms of the usual "GM skills" that are talked about. We've all heard about the importance of acting, engagement, storytelling, etc, but I think actually taking the time to learn game mechanics and the theory behind them might be more useful long-term.

Understanding things like combat as sport/ combat as war, for example, helped me realize the different functions a common mechanic (combat) has. It helped me learn which players enjoyed the gamey, tactical, "fair" fights of something like DND vs the more asymmetrical, fast paced, and lethal combat of OSRs. From there, actually looking into the importance of balance in something like DND helped me better understand that balance isn't necessarily "the fights aren't excruciatingly hard", but rather "the fights are designed in a way so that each player has satisfying and meaningful choices to make on their turns, and this is what drives engagement in these instances." From there, it was a matter of designing encounters that facilitated these things, and I noticed that the players that enjoyed tactical combat were better engaged than if I simply tried "being a better storyteller".

I understand to a lot of people in this sub specifically this is obvious, and I think a lot of the benefits from understanding game mechanics is probably more felt on a subconscious level, but I do think it's important to understand WHY certain mechanics exist. To be clear, I think a lot of the regular GM advice mentioned above is important and helpful, especially for more casual players/Gms, but I think if even more casual Gms looked more into the purpose behind skills checks, the goals of various systems, etc we'd have far fewer instances of tables falling apart due to mismatched expectations and less GM frustration when they try to hack systems.

Hi everybody!

A couple of friends and I have had a lot of fun playing a (very stripped-down) version of 5e on Zoom during lockdown. We very quickly realised that we were more interested in inventing insane characters and performing wild stunts than actually engaging with the mechanics of the game.

The campaign I wrote is now coming to an end, and I'm wondering whether there are game alternatives to classic RPGs that give the same opportunity to goof around and have fun, without the necessity of doing all the prep work as dungeon master (as I probably won't find the time soon anymore), checking rule books, etc.

(We've had some fun with Jackbox)

If anybody has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it! :)

So i've been looking everywhere cause i wanna make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. based campaing but it seems there are no official resources. i found many people have been doing it in twilight 2000 4e for years. Before i jump and buy it can someone explain how or if there are some homebrew stuff to add and create the best experience to get an immersive feeling in the zone?
i already know about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the scifi game but it's not what im looking to do.,

I was so stoked for the official Cowboy Bebop RPG, but I found I enjoyed See You Space Cowboy a lot more. Were there any unofficial RPGs that beat out or outperformed the official one for you?

This is probably a wildly stupid question, but as I've been trying to branch off from D&D more, and reading more systems, I'm curious as to what people are looking for when they look for interesting roleplay rules. Like if you could only have one set of rules for how roleplay encounters go, what would they look like?

The more systems I read about the more systems I've read just boil down to your basic roll over or under a given number - sometimes set by the GM, sometimes on your sheet, sometimes on a giant table.

For context, I've personally only played AD&D, 4e, 5e, Lancer, PF2e and the FFXIV TTRPG which all essentially boil down to the above. I'm sure I've just missed the games that have more interesting systems, but I'm just curious and trying to learn.

Also, please be nice. I'm just trying to learn about other systems and broaden my horizons.

I'm thinking about running a campaign set in a homebrew world using Whitehack and I'm curious about other people's experiences with the system.

What went well? What went went off the rails? Was it a sandbox or a dungeon? What did your players think? Would you run it again?