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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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I have a group of players who have a deep interest in my lore, so this is by no means a problem I am trying to solve. I have, over time, found several occasions where a player or group has been offered, or asked about, an opportunity to change the steady state of the world.

If you have allowed your players to overthrow a regime, kill a god, or create a new technology, I would love to know how it changed their engagement going forward. Additionally, how did you feel about planning for the next story in a world that someone else 'broke'.

I've caught myself going down plenty of rabbit holes over the years, but one in particular really stands out.

At first, it seemed simple enough. I needed the blueprints for RRS Discovery II for one of my modules. They just weren't there. There were a handful of photographs, bits and pieces of information, but almost nothing that really helped me understand how the ship was constructed.

So I kept digging. Very quickly I realized that what I had wasn't enough. Along the way I ended up researching two other historical ships as well. They were completely different: different countries, different eras, different purposes. But somehow they answered questions that Discovery II couldn't.

It started with forums. Then archives. Documentaries. Museum videos. Old photographs. Eventually it led to emailing museums. Thanks to a museum in Tasmania, I managed to get a cross-section drawing of Discovery II that I hadn't been able to find anywhere else. At the same time, I was trying to track down other material through people connected with maritime collections in Greenwich.

Then, a few weeks ago, I found a first edition of a book written by one of the members of that very expedition. It went into my cart almost immediately. Not because I collect books like that, but because I couldn't help wondering if it contained details that had been lost everywhere else.

The stragest part is that all of this started with a single thought: "I just need to find the blueprints for one ship." The research is still ongoing, and honestly, at this point I'm just as curious as anyone else to see where this rabbit hole ends up taking me.

What's the biggest TTRPG rabbit hole you've ever fallen into? The kind where you look back and genuinely wonder how you even got there in the first place.

there are so many swords and sorcery systems and i want to know where to start. especially those with a moorcock or berserk vibe (I know that’s probably not helpful since they are very different)

Hi all! I’m trying build up to running a campaign of Stonetop, as a fairly green GM. The fact that it is a campaign game I’ve found a bit of a problem to sell, especially as I’m most practiced in & known in my groups for one-shots. Putting aside my lack of confidence with GM’ing; I’ve found some folks don’t get solid buy-in due to needing investing a lot into Lore (even when you make it up as a group). Yes, there are folks in spaces who are passionate & want to play the game, but I feel I want a table of folks I’m familiar with who know my GM’ing.

Thus: I’m trying to figure out what games can help me practice running Stonetop. I’ve considered Dungeon World, though from what I understand from this subreddit is that despite Stonetop being based on Dungeon World: they are very different games that go in different directions. I’m could attempt to cobble together something from Stonetop but a)the Pre-made scenarios have yet to be released, and b)my understanding is the heart of Stonetop is building your community together, which would have to be cut or reduced in a one-shot to make way for the standard mechanics during expeditions.

So I turn to the community to ask: What game would you suggest to practice/train up for a campaign of Stonetop? (Or otherwise: can you convince me to run a game of Stonetop for folks I’ve never played with before)?

Thanks for reading! 👍

im a huge sucker for history . been running 1920s Call of Cthulhu, Victoriana, Deadlands, Vaesen and i recently discovered the Sleepy Hollow ttrpg.

any other historical settings or TTRPGS that deserve some extra love? extra points if theres any horror rpg set during La conquista of america (im in LATAM so, that would be interesting to explore)

Heya folks. I don't often pimp new systems coming out, but I had to say something about this one. Embers of Humanity is a new (ish, I'll explain) rpg crowdfuning on Kickstarter right now, in it's final 4 days. The project has already funded, and I found out about it late, but I immediately funded it after reading up on it. The quick and dirty:

• No AI
• Made by fans with an active community
• 6 by 9 book (a minor thing, but I love this personally)
• Post-Apoc open, undefined world with tools to help you create/run it
• Trimmed down BRP (Basic Roleplaying) rules focusing on just what you need to survive after the end
• Settlment/Community rules
• It's already done (and has been for a while). This campaign is to print it with updates and revivisons. You can check out the original here (with a free quickstart)
• In addition to finding the 1.0 edition and quickstart on itch, they have marked down the full existing edition on RPG Trader to a buck fifty, if you prefer that vendor.

I love BRP, and have considered doing a post-apoc game with it, but the folks over at Memories of Sunshine have done a great job really distilling it down to the core elements that I look for in a parpg. Again, if you are interested, you should check it out.

I should note I'm not affiliated with Memories of Sunshine in any way. Just a new fan.

I am going to be running a game for a friend where a colony is being established on a long lost/blocked lands. I will be primarily running PF2e for the game but plan to use Seeds of War for factional things as well.

However, I wanted to know what systems have good detailed town building systems, 3rd party supplements or whatever so I can adapt and use them here as well. At first I would like it to be fairly indepth with building up the settlement and eventually expanding to other towns and such. I know Kingmaker exists for PF2e but I know there has to be systems I can adapt that would be much better off.

So for a couple of years, I've been slowly putting together an explanation of how I run tabletop roleplaying campaigns, and I finally got a good intro and summary that tie everything together and give me a foundation for organizing the details of what I do.

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A Sandbox Campaign is a way to run a tabletop roleplaying campaign in which the players, rather than the referee, determine the campaign's focus. The referee creates the world, its characters, locales, and geography. During play, the referee role-plays the creatures and non-player characters and adjudicates the players' attempts as their characters. The players are free to pursue whatever catches their interest or go wherever they believe will further their goals.

A Living World Sandbox extends the Sandbox Campaign by bringing the setting to life. The goal is to let the players feel as though they have stepped through a wardrobe into a living, breathing world while pursuing the adventures that interest them.

A Living World Sandbox is not a game system. It is a way to organize and run a campaign. The referee presents a setting whose inhabitants have their own motivations, resources, relationships, and plans. The players decide what their characters attempt, and the referee uses the rules and the setting's established circumstances to determine what happens next.

The referee does not prepare a predetermined story for the players to follow. Instead, the referee prepares the circumstances, places, and people that make up the setting. The campaign develops from the interaction between what the players attempt and how the setting's inhabitants respond.

Because of this, a Living World Sandbox can be run using many fantasy roleplaying systems, including the original 1974 rules, AD&D First Edition, GURPS, Fantasy Hero, Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, or others.

Some systems are easier to use than others. Generally, the more a system focuses on describing what characters can do rather than defining a story path or narrative structure, the easier it is to use for a Living World Sandbox. In my experience, most traditional roleplaying games lend themselves readily to this style of campaign.

How the Campaign Unfolds

The referee describes the characters' current circumstances. The players respond by describing or roleplaying what they attempt as their characters. The referee decides what happens, using the rules when the outcome is uncertain, and then describes how the setting's circumstances change or role-plays how its inhabitants react.

This process repeats throughout the session and throughout the campaign.

After the session, the referee considers what the players changed, who knows about it, and what the affected characters (or creatures) will do next. Those consequences become part of the circumstances presented during the next session.

The result is a continuing cycle of choices, consequences, and new circumstances propelling the campaign forward.

Elements of the Campaign

A Living World Sandbox has four important elements:

• Locales where events and adventures can occur.
• Characters with whom the players can interact.
• Plans made by characters and factions.
• Natural or supernatural events that occur independently of those plans.

These elements do not need to be detailed in advance of play. The referee only needs enough material to begin the campaign and respond to the players' initial choices.

Locales

The iconic adventure locale is the dungeon, a maze of rooms that may be empty or contain monsters, deadly traps, strange features, or glittering treasure. Dungeon mazes can be stacked upon one another to form multiple levels, with the danger of the monsters and the value of the treasure increasing as the characters venture deeper.

In the world outside of the dungeon, locales are just as varied. There are natural locales like creature lairs and hazardous terrain (deserts, icefields, and jungles). Some locales are built, like villages and towns, camps and castles. Some locales are old and no longer used, creating ruins that may be inhabited by monsters and their treasure.

At the beginning of a campaign, create or detail about half a dozen locales. These may be original creations or places taken from an existing setting.

About half should be places where the characters can seek adventure, such as dungeons, monster-haunted forests, abandoned mines, or ruined monasteries. The remainder should be inhabited locales that the party can use as bases or visit for aid and information. Examples include a large village, a castle belonging to a local lord, a roadside inn, a market town, or a druid circle hidden deep within the forest.

These locales establish the immediate geography of the campaign. They give the players places to explore, people to meet, and resources to use.

Characters

The characters encountered during the campaign are the key element that allows the players to make their mark upon the setting. Some may become allies. Others will remain neutral unless circumstances change. A few will oppose the player characters from the beginning.

Prepare about a dozen notable characters. As a starting point, three might be potential allies, six might be neutral, and three might be potential enemies. These are only the characters' initial attitudes. Do not be surprised when the players, through good or poor decisions and roleplaying, completely rearrange the list.

Examples include:

• A village reeve.
• A castle lord.
• A master druid.
• The chief of an Orc tribe.
• A merchant who controls the local smuggling ring.
• A priest of an evil god who commands a band of outlaws.
• A disgruntled old farmer who knows everybody within a day's travel.
• An ambitious yeoman seeking adventure.
• A retired Magic-User who sells potions from a cottage at the end of the lane.

Create a few relationships among these characters, but keep their number low at first. The old farmer and the castle lord may have been rivals for the love of the same woman when they were young and remained enemies ever since. The young yeoman may yearn for adventure so he can gain the fighting skill needed to avenge his family against the Orc chief.

Just as the passages and chambers of a dungeon provide natural avenues of exploration, the relationships among the characters provide social paths for the players to follow. At the end of these paths may be allies, enemies, information, resources, and complications that lead to further adventures.

Plans

The inhabitants of the setting have lives of their own. They possess hopes, fears, ambitions, and plans for the future.

The players decide the plans of their own characters. The referee decides the plans of the non-player characters and factions. Together, these plans become forces that shape the campaign.

Detailing the plans of three to five important characters or factions adds enough complexity to fuel numerous adventures.

For example, an evil priest has taken up residence in the forest. His god has commanded him to exact vengeance upon the region. Two generations ago, followers of the goddess of justice purged the dark god's worshippers and drove them from the area. The priest has now attracted a collection of outlaws and desperate peasants and organized them into a gang of bandits.

Most of the wealth and supplies stolen by the bandits are given to the priest. He uses these resources to search the forest for the lost axe of Chernak, a legendary Orc chief who led his tribe into the forest long ago. The priest hopes to use the axe to gain the allegiance of the present-day Orcs. Together, the priest, the axe, and the Orcs will become his god's instrument of vengeance against the followers of the goddess of justice.

Some plans are modest. A farmer may want to purchase another field. A merchant may want to eliminate a rival. A young knight may want to earn enough renown to receive a fief.

Other plans may threaten an entire region.

Regardless of their scope, these plans represent what could happen, not what will happen. They are not plots that must be completed. The actions of the players may advance a plan, delay it, change it, or make it impossible.

When that happens, the referee considers the character's motivations, knowledge, resources, and current circumstances and decides what they will attempt next.

Events

Events are natural or supernatural occurrences that happen for reasons largely independent of the choices made by the setting's characters (PCs or NPCs). Some events may be anticipated or prevented through timely action, but a character's plan does not normally cause them.

Natural events can include droughts, floods, fires, disease, severe storms, harsh winters, or earthquakes that devastate the countryside.

Supernatural events might include the opening of a passage into the realm of Faerie, a surge in the local flow of magic that makes spells dangerously effective, the awakening of a slumbering taigh, or a conjunction that allows the dead to walk abroad.

Events should occur because they follow from the setting's conditions, not simply because the referee wants to create excitement. Their number should be sufficient to make the campaign feel like a living world, but not so great that the players constantly feel beleaguered.

Too many natural disasters will cause the campaign to become focused on people struggling against nature. Too many supernatural disruptions will make extraordinary events feel ordinary.

Use events sparingly enough that they remain significant.

Running the Living World Sandbox

Once the groundwork has been laid, it is time to begin the campaign.

Three primary techniques help create the feeling that the players have stepped into the setting as their characters:

• The Initial Context establishes where the characters are and what they know at the beginning of the campaign.
• World in Motion manages how the setting changes as the campaign progresses.
• The Bag of Stuff provides material when the players do something unexpected, and the referee has no time for detailed preparation.

The Initial Context

The players' choices as their characters propel the Living World Sandbox forward. To make meaningful choices, however, the players must understand their circumstances and their characters' place within them. Otherwise, their choices are little better than random dice rolls.

This is particularly important at the beginning of a campaign, when there are no previous sessions or events for the players to use as reference points.

The Initial Context establishes the characters' circumstances at the beginning of the campaign and provides players with enough information to make informed choices from the outset.

The Initial Context does not have to be elaborate. It only has to be sufficient.

What is sufficient varies from player to player. I have had players create detailed histories and backgrounds. Others found a single sentence sufficient.

"Max likes to hang out at bars in Eastgate and gets involved in trouble."

That player decided to create a Human Thug for a campaign set in the City-State of Eastgate.

Most players find a paragraph or two of personal background sufficient, along with a handout describing the region, town, or city where the campaign begins.

When the players are uncertain about the available options, prepare three to five rumors, pieces of lore, problems, or contacts for them to investigate. Anything their characters would certainly know should be included in a short handout or explained by the referee.

Keep the handout as brief as possible while still covering what the players need to know.

Ideally, the Initial Context should answer the following questions:

• Where is the character starting?
• Who does the character know?
• What are the character's immediate goals?
• What social complications exist for the character at the beginning?

The answers do not have to point toward a specific adventure. Their purpose is to give the player enough context to begin making decisions as the character.

The Pre-game

The basic idea of the pre-game is to sit down one-on-one with each player before the first session and flesh out the character's background. This usually consists of discussion mixed with a little light roleplaying.

The referee might ask how the character knows a local merchant, why the character left home, what obligation they owe to a temple, or why a local lord considers them troublesome.

This technique reduces the amount of written material needed for handouts. Discussion and roleplaying often work better and are more enjoyable than reading a document, particularly for players or groups who want detailed backgrounds at the beginning of the campaign.

If this feels too formal, or if the time is not available, that is fine. The important point is that the Initial Context is sufficient for the group's time and interest.

Setting the World in Motion

After each session, review the plans of the important characters and factions affected by what occurred.

Begin with what the players did as their characters. Then consider:

• Who knows what happened?
• What do they believe happened?
• How does it affect their plans?
• What resources do they have available?
• What will they attempt next?
• What signs of their response will the players be able to observe?

The distinction between what happened and what the inhabitants believe happened is important. Characters act upon what they know, what they have been told, and what they can reasonably discover. They do not automatically possess the referee's knowledge of events.

You do not have to manage the entire world at once, or even an entire region.

The players' choices usually affect their immediate social circle first. This includes the characters with whom they directly interacted, followed by those connected to them. Beyond that, your notes only need to be updated when you have the time or when events make those distant characters relevant.

For most purposes, characters more than two degrees removed from the player characters are beyond the campaign's social event horizon for a session or two.

As the player characters gain experience, wealth, allies, and authority, their actions will begin to affect a wider area. A fight in a tavern may concern only the owner, the local watch, and the participants. Killing a baron, destroying a temple, or founding a mercenary company may concern an entire realm.

After each session, review the relevant plans in light of what the players did or failed to do. Sometimes an NPC's existing plan will become impossible. When that happens, consider the character's personality and motivations and determine what they now want from the future.

This process helps the referee avoid forcing the players along a predetermined path. The non-player characters may pursue their own goals, but they need to respond to changing circumstances just as the player characters do.

When you suspect that your preferences are influencing the outcome too strongly, use a good set of random tables you like. Random results can help you create unexpected reactions, complications, decisions, or new plans that you would not have considered.

Balance random results with judgment.

Overreliance on judgment may cause the campaign to reflect the referee's biases. Too much reliance on random tables can make events feel disconnected from the personalities, motives, and circumstances already established.

The purpose of the random result is to address uncertainty, not to replace the setting's logic.

The Bag of Stuff

When acting as their characters, players do the unexpected all the time.

They may decide to visit a shrine you noted but did not detail. They may abandon the dungeon you prepared and explore the forest instead. They may take an interest in a nameless guard, travel down a road you never expected them to use, or attempt to speak with a monster you assumed they would fight.

When this happens, the referee must improvise.

The Bag of Stuff is a collection of locales, characters, plans, situations, and other material that can be pulled out and used to run part of the campaign without preparation.

The material does not need to be elaborate. It only needs to give you enough information to adapt the material, begin describing the situation, and roleplay with the players.

Once something from the Bag of Stuff enters play, take notes. It is now part of the setting. If the players return to it, you can develop it further between sessions.

Locales

Prepare or gather six to twelve generic locations that commonly appear in the campaign.

Examples include:

• A shop.
• A crossroads.
• A forest clearing.
• A section of swamp.
• A peasant's hut.
• A roadside shrine.
• A ruined tower.
• A small cave.
• A merchant camp.
• A manor house.

These locations do not need extensive descriptions. A sketch map, a short list of features, and a note about who may be present are usually sufficient.

When you use one, alter a few details to make it fit the circumstances. A generic forest clearing may contain an abandoned cart in one session and a weathered stone idol in another.

Take notes during play if the locale is likely to be revisited. Later, when you have time, develop it into something more distinctive.

Characters

A major section of these rules describes common non-player character types in the same general format used for monsters. These entries are useful when preparing an adventure or locale, and when you need to draw something from your Bag of Stuff.

When the players unexpectedly interact with someone, choose an appropriate NPC entry and change a few details.

Give the character a name, a mannerism, an immediate concern, and a reason for being present. That is usually enough to begin roleplaying the encounter.

If the character becomes important, make a note of what happened and develop them further after the session.

Plans

Prepare a short list of personality types, immediate concerns, and broad goals. Add to the list whenever you have a useful idea.

Examples include:

• Wants recognition from a superior.
• Needs money to pay a debt.
• Is concealing a past crime.
• Wants revenge against a rival.
• Is afraid of losing social standing.
• Wants to protect a family member.
• Is searching for forbidden knowledge.
• Wants to leave but lacks the courage.
• Is loyal to an institution but distrusts its leader.

These ideas provide a starting point for players interacting with someone you did not expect to become important.

As with locales and characters, use only enough detail to serve as a memory aid. The character's fuller personality and plans can develop through play.

Afterword on the Living World Sandbox

What started me on the path of running campaigns as Living World Sandboxes was a willingness to let the players trash my setting.

In the early 1980s, I gained a reputation as the referee who allowed the players to kill the king, build wizard towers, and become magnates controlling the underworld of a city-state. The referee who let his players trash his setting.

Much of this came from my background in early wargaming. My friends and I would set up scenarios and battle them out to see what happened. When I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons, that same fascination carried over into my campaigns.

I built the world, detailed the characters, let the players decide where to begin, and then ran the campaign to see what happened. I had no particular destination or conclusion in mind.

My creativity was engaged not by writing stories, but by considering what could happen and then accepting the constraints of roleplaying the non-player characters under the same circumstances and rules as the players.

The results were often unexpected, surprising, and memorable for the entire group.

Across the decade, that remained the heart of the Living World Sandbox. The referee creates the setting and brings its inhabitants to life. The players step into the setting as their characters and decide what interests them and what adventures to pursue.

And they will trash your setting as a result.

Introducing The Company.

A solo roleplaying game about surviving a war and fulfilling your duty.

The Company puts you, the Captain, in command of an infantry company of about 150 men, in the middle of a near-modern war. You will have to keep your men well fed, motivated and popular within the army. Both the Battle and the Camp will test you with random events that will force you to adapt. You will also have to keep you, the Captain, alive and effective.

The objective is not military victory. The objective is going home in the best possible terms. How that happens is up to you. Mostly.

The game, nearly forty A5 pages long, is rules-light and narrative. It involves d6 dice and a Company sheet, and you are also invited to keep a journal at hand to write down and narrate events, with as much or as little detail as you want. The game comes with both English and Spanish versions.

The three campaigns involve 30 scenarios, including:

• the War of the Triple Alliance (Paraguay, 1865),
• the Franco-Mexican war (1861),
• and the US Civil War (1861).

You can, of course, come up with your own campaigns or even worlds.

The game contains no gore nor depictions of sexual nature, but violence is mentioned and narrated.

Link

I'm curious how popular RPG content creators among community? I know lot of people who don't play RPGs or play them occasionally but are really into channels like Critical role.

For myself I never could really get into other people playing it as most feel overproduced and far removed from how actual game look like. Which isn't bad thing, they seem enjoyable but I can't connect them in my head with actual table play. Exception of Time for chaos by Glass cannon network which I do enjoy a fair bit even though things I said apply still.

I did watch advice/tips videos for some systems and RPGs in general and I read some books about a topic and even now that I'm experienced GM I still like them because they give you examples and insights into how other people run their tables.

I do also enjoy funny reel and meme on Instagram from time to time.

As it says. Bonus question: what are some trends you'd like to see?