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.

----------

This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

Back at it again with a few updates and additions. It would be nice if I could do this regularly, but I am a habitual procrastinator and I often fail to see things through. These will be ordered with the newest bundles since last week appearing first, then any still ongoing bundles. Edit: Ordered from ending soonest to latest as well. Also going forward I'm just going to copy/write the exact name for each bundle.

Previous post for anyone who wants to see discussion about ongoing bundles (like Castles and Crusades).

Disclaimer: I am unaffiliated with any of the below sites and publishers and I have not as of yet read any of the books (unless I mention it). Basically just don't want people to miss out on books and plus I can get recommendations on what to buy.

Humble Bundle

Edit 3 for a quick gripe: Humble updated their website. I would like to say I approve, but their new Library section is currently worse. There's no immediate way to see WHEN I purchased a bundle, as it doesn't show the date anywhere in the Purchased or Bundles are of the Lbirary. Instead, I have to go to Order History, which only shows the Date, Order #, and Status. Which means to browse through each past purchase/order, I have to click on each one to see the actual name and not just the number. Bad design.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 40th Anniversary Celebration Bundle

24 items, $25, all Fourth Edition corebooks with the Enemy Within campaign and other supplements. About 15 days and 22 hours left.

My thoughts: I've actually purchased a previous WFRP bundle from Humble, so I own most of these. I think the Enemy Within has some interesting stuff and The ~~Monuments~~ Buildings of the Reikland book is cool. Would be easy to use it and throw in some buildings for other settings/systems. Worth mentioning though that there is a new edition, Fifth Edition, of WFRP apparently. Edit 2: Also just remembered that the previous bundle did not include the books on DriveThruRPG, but this new one does. Which is annoying. There also a few new books like The Imperial Zoo and Monuments of the Reikland (which I got confused with Buildings and have now fixed).

────────────────────

Castles & Crusades RPG Experience

65 items, $20, seems like the 2024 version. Ending soon, only about 1 days and 22 hours left.

My thoughts: I actually thought this ended already, but it got extended for an extra week (unlike Candela Obscura). It's also in the Software section for no reason.

Beadle & Grimm's D&D Classic Module Dice Sets (Physical)

6 items, $84, each is a fancy dice set with a coin and some cards with facts or something. US only, shipping averages $30. About 8 days and 22 hours left.

My thoughts: the expensive dice set bundle is still active. I'm still debating on it, because realistically I don't *need* more dice. It is cool though that Matthew Lillard is one of the founders of the company.

And that actually does it for Humble.

Bundle of Holding

Play to Win

2 items, $7.95. These are actually books talking about board games and TTRPGs. One is about the history of award winning board games and the other has essays from game designers. Ending VERY soon, only about 15 hours left.

My thoughts: Pretty interesting actually and overall cheap. I do think I might own Everybody Wins already though. And honestly, I'm just not too interested at the moment in reading the history/thoughts of board games.

Tales of the Old West

4 items (If I notice then I don't count the GM screen), $9.95. Looks like it uses the Year Zero Engine, but isn't published by Free League. About 14 days and 15 hours left.

My thoughts: I am not typically into Western RPGs. No idea how Tales of the Old West compares to something like Old Gods of Appalachia.

Ker Nethalas

5 items, $19.95. A single-player dungeon crawling RPG. About 19 days and 15 hours left.

My thoughts: For a long time I've looked down upon solo RPGs. I thought they were a neat little niche, but I had no desire to play them. Then my girlfriend mentioned being interested in the idea of journaling for one, so I began to actually look into a few and I'm actually very intrigued. I enjoy learning how the mechanics of a game work and play out, so I'm definitely considering this one.

────────────────────

Death in Space

$19.95 for the core rules from Free League Publishing, four third-party scenarios, and three mini-scenarios (mini-scenarios are on itch and not DriveThruRPG). About 13 days and 8 hours left.

My thoughts: I ended up listening to a video from Dave Thaumavore about the game to see if I wanted to buy it. Overall it sold me on it, but I haven't looked it over yet. The Hub mechanics sound interesting and I like how bleak and gritty seems for a space RPG.

Household

$14.95 for three books in the Household collection from Two Little Mice. About 12 days and 15 hours left.

Household Volume II

Separate bundle. $12.95 for two campaign supplements for Household. About 12 days and 15 hours left.

My thoughts (copied from last time because I have nothing new to add): Playing as miniature people/creatures could be cool. And the art looks nice.

Fanatical

Symbaroum Dark Fantasy RPG Bundle

25 items, $14.99. Made by Free League, this bundle is returning after having been posted a few months ago. About 50 days left.

My thoughts: I bought this back in April and haven't put much effort into reading the books. I think the setting is neat though. Who doesn't like a big spooky forest? Worth mentioning that these are NOT the revised editions, so if you're wanting the most updated versions then you'll need to wait.

────────────────────
Going to just copy the bundles from last post without my thoughts and with updated timers/countdowns as I have no new info.

Traveller RPG Ultimate GDW Collection

128 items for $32.99. The GDW version of Traveller, I assume. Ending soon, about 1 days and 4 hours left.

My thoughts: zer0k0ol pointed out that the previous collection is included specifically in the top tier of this bundle, so you can easily just opt out of it and get only the new stuff by buying the 67 items for $19.99.

X-Crawl RPG Bundle

41 items for $17.99. These are the same books that were included in a previous Humble Bundle a while back. Ending soon, about 6 days and 4 hours left.

Call of Cthulhu RPG Bundle

33 items for $24.99. A few new additions compared to a previous Humble Bundle, like Children of Fear and Secrets of Tibet. About 16 day left.

Mutants and Masterminds Classic RPG Collection

57 items for $19.99. Superhero RPG from Green Ronin Publishing. About 36 days left.

Old-School Essentials RPG Collection

31 items for $14.99. Basically everything for OSE. About 50 days left.

────────────────────

RPG Trader

RCRF Charity Bundle

125 items, Pay What You Want with a minimum of $10. A lot of indie RPGs and since it's an alternative to DriveThruRPG your books will be on the RPG Trader site. About 19 days left.

My thoughts: I'm not sure if I'll be browsing RPG Trader consistently enough to include bundles from it, but PatRowdy mentioned it last time so I'm throwing it in. Anything for charity is always nice. I have virtually no idea if there are any books that stand out in such a big collection, so feel free to share.

────────────────────

Alright that's everything (that I'm aware of).

Edit 1 for a sentence at the opener, Edit 2 for a fix on WFRP, and Edit 3 for a complaint about the new Humble Bundle website.

I have been playing (and DMing) -DND 5e for two years now, I should love it, but I don't. What I did love however, was being a player in Call of Cthulhu, with lots of roleplay. No combat, but if the situation called for it, I could pull my gun out. But little initiative and so on.

I have also played(and GMed) some OSR games: Old-school essentials and Shadowdark. I love it. Until we get to combat. Then that takes all my energy, and so much time and it feels like a slog.

Games I own- but have not played: Vaesen, Dungeon World, Fabula Ultima and Oldschool Essentials.

In conclusion, I would like to play a game that is roleplay heavy, extremely low-combat, yet still forces people to be creative. I want people to use their inventory and so on.

Recently I played in an "Onia" game("forged in the dark system" of some sort) - loved it. There was a conflict scene- but not combat. Any other games that could give me that experience?

I've always enjoyed stories where the characters don't know how magic works. They know magic exists, they have access to it, but they don't know all the rules so they have to experiment and figure out how to use magic.

I think playing a game where you have to discover how magic works, and such sounds delightful. It also sounds like it would be difficult to make the system fun and balanced for the players.

Are there any systems where the players specifically don't know how magic works and have to discover some/all of it?

Grew out of it? Don’t have the time? Don’t have a group? Tired of current systems? Bad experiences? Do you miss it? Do you want to come back? What would bring you back?
I’m curious what sometimes drives away from one of the best hobbies.

I think for me it's as soon as characters have different named attacks. I don't know why. I think it reminds me too much of World of Warcraft. As soon as I hear a player monologuing a list of abilities like an MMO rotation, I just mentally check out. I know some of these are good systems, like PF2E, but it's just not for me.

I love Cyberpunk RED. Move, shoot, aim, hadshot, autofire. Unless someone is doing martial arts or netrunning, it's just right to the point, y'know?

What about you guys? What just immediately signals "not for me" to you?

I'm thinking of running a short (3-4 sessions) game in a pre-Bronze Age/Neolithic era setting, perhaps some low-fantasy elements (or just science/knowledge that seems magical) and am seeking suggestions. I know of Würm, and did a one-shot of Land of Og before (great fun, not what I want this time though); are there any other good systems/sourcebooks covering this era of human history? My group and I veer strongly into the 'simple rules' territory over something complex (and I'm not interested in anything from Savage Worlds; just not a system I gel with).

I'm tired of the same races in every system ive played (dwarves, elves, orcs). I need some new settings (fantasy) that are not tolkeineque fantasies

Whenever I see a group of players looking for a DM, I get (probably irrationally) irritated and make bad assumptions about these players.

It tells me that they're not really looking for another person to play with equally, they're looking for someone to entertain them like a movie or video game.

Why doesn't one of them DM? What sort of dynamic are they looking for? What sort of players are they at the table where they won't even run games for each other?

I stay away from these LFGs. And I'm probably wrong 90% of the time.

I'm a big Alien fan. For a while now, I've planned to host a Sci-fi Horror campaign with my friends (who are mostly new to TTRPGs). Originally I was planning an actual Alien RPG one-shot, but I got afraid of feeling too restricted by the universe and lore of the Alien Franchise in case I wanted to tell a new story, with new creatures and concepts.

Then I found out about Death in Space, and got really excited! I'm a big fan of Space Horror (Dead Space, Prey, Alien, etc), and the book seemed so well polished. But then I read some comments about how it's not really designed for horror, and it got me thinking:

What's the best system that would allow me to explore different kinds of sci-fi horror? Should I just stick to Alien? Is Death in Space good for it?

I'm sure other GMs can relate to this.

Cyberpunk Red is the first game I've ever run as the GM, I host it online on Discord on Roll20 and then Foundry VTT once a week. I started out at the start of this year with only a couple of friends, all new to TTRPG and we chose to learn the game together and making a lot of hilarious mistakes while we're at it but we had fun and several months later once I got a much better hang of GMing the game, the size of our table grew from 3 to 6, up to that point we were mostly just playing random NCPD one-shots I made, so then I decided that it was time for us to try playing with official modules and it was a blast, there were plenty of dramatic moments and cliffhangers that kept everyone excited for the next session, the team even got together and rented a HQ so they can be a proper team and from the perspective of the GM it felt so wholesome, as in, this is what I wanted to see when I chose to run this game.

But recently, life got in the way and players started to stop showing up for sessions, some clearly also having completely lost interest and only showed up occasionally for the sake of being present. Now I'm left with only 2 players once again, only one is among the 2 that I started the game with. Then I looked at all the maps and prepworks I've made ahead of them, for them, and I felt this cold ache in my heart because I know that I've just wasted my time, that those maps and prepworks I've done will be left forgotten and that the 2 players that remain will also gradually lose interest and that I oughta just take a break. I know that the campaign must end sooner or later, but I pictured it would end at a much more bittersweet note rather than being this mundane.

After making the decision to take a break, I felt this odd feeling of freedom but also this overwhelming feeling of loneliness because for the good chunk of this year, Cyberpunk and our sessions were all that we talked about every time I opened discord on my phone before or after sleeping. Before that, the players all couldn't stop talking about how much they enjoyed my sessions, how much they're looking forward to the next one and I guess it makes me felt like I mattered. Maybe the game made me forget all of my IRL problems and let me completely immerse myself in Night City and once the game is over, I'm forced to face my reality again. I don't know how to describe this feeling, but it's really awful and I wonder if other GMs have felt the same and knows how to deal with it?

There was a post years ago describing a quirky, low-fi home-brew RPG called "People in Patrick" (Original post).

The link to the rules PDF is now busted. Does anyone have a copy they'd be willing and able to put up on google drive/dropbox/email to me directly/etc?

If you haven't heard of it, the premise is just fantastic. The players are tiny aliens inside of, and operating, "Patrick": a human-shaped jaeger. "Patrick" works a corporate job in the modern era, and the goal is to "blend in" and not get fired.

No dice rolls. Players write down what they want Patrick to do or say, GM pulls a name out of a hat, that thing is what Patrick tries to do. Sometimes TWO names get drawn and the jaeger gets two orders at once with often hilarious consequences.

I played it a few times during COVID as the mechanics worked very well for a casual one-shot over video chat. But over the years I've forgotten the specifics.

Anyone still have that PDF saved locally or in a group chat or something? Thanks!!