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While I've never played it, "Tomb of Horrors" seems to lead this category.

"Masks of Nyarlathotep" for Call of Cthulhu has a reputation that I found fully warranted when I ran it. There were infantry units in the Somme that had lower casualty rates than that party.

"Night Train" for Deadlands is a notorious total party killer.

Any others?

A lot of times, when people talk about the "pillars" of (mostly d20 fantasy) RPGs, there's a discussion of combat, noncombat/social, and exploration.

Combat is easily covered by rules/mechanics/game sub-systems.

Social, much the same, though a lot has been said over the years about how social often gets the short end of the stick in many systems unless they're intentionally "about" it.

Exploration is the messier one for me, because depending on how it's being discussed, it can mean a few very different things:

Map traversal: hexcrawl/point-crawl/etc, and rules for traveling between them/time management.

(Though, I might personally be inclined to say that "travel" doesn't imply exploration on its own)

Resource management: Food/water/sleep/etc matter and there are mechanics to reflect that.

World construction/campaign direction: there is a big map with lots of "stuff" in it the players don't know about. They are broadly able to freely investigate these things as suits their interests, with maybe 1-2 hints to get them started as needed.

(This feels like campaign structure more than a mechanic, interested in hearing from other perspectives)

So, especially for people who really love exploration style play... What does "good exploration" mean? How do you want it to feel like as a player? What are systems that do this "right" and how?

Asking because I'm too Forever-GM brained and there's nothing on the map I don't put there, so I can't wrap my head around it. Unless it's Quiet Year and we collectively as a table put it there.

Can't respond to everyone, but here are some other cool answers I'm seeing:

- Exploration means an internally consistent world with lots of details to follow up on, regardless of system. I'd call this world building.

- Exploration is extremely procedural, with dungeon turns, resource tracking, stacked on top of each other depending on the system. Very common in OSR style.

- Exploration is everything not combat.

- Zen answer: there is only the situation and the actions the players take.

Additional thought: I'm seeing a lot of "in DnD... " with a sprinkling of "In OSR"....

Hi all! I am a long time ttrpg player (I'm planning an actual play soon!) And I am always looking for new experiences and new ttrpgs.

Recently, I've heard a lot of talk about Cosmere as a potential 5e competitor with some really cool character progression and mechanics. I have found myself incredibly interested in the system and everything it has to offer.

The only issue is Cosmere SEEMS incredibly setting specific, and I have never engaged with any of Brandon Sanderson's work in the past. I want to know from those who know more about the system: Will Cosmere be accessible and fun for those who know nothing about the setting and source material?

Thank you!!!

Picture this: you're a band of adventurers with a home base, some small frontier village. You go out, explore the wilderness, bring back treasure.

But as your band gets better at exploring the wilderness, the village grows, too. All that treasure props up the economy, after all, attracting new talent, more influence, more politics, more corruption, etc. The band builds a castle toto look over the village, they get more well known in the kingdom, in all the lands.

What systems are out there to track that growth? Sure, it can all be just story handwaving, but can it be managed systematically? Can the village's fortunes be compared with the major port city? Can we measure what damage marauding barbarians might cause? What rare equipment might be available? What benevolent and nefarious factions might be attracted?

Can we give that band of adventurers a feeling of a sense of place, of belonging, a sign that their successes matter in the world around them? Or can we track what happens if the band moves on to the next village? Perhaps the barbarian camp has an economic value, itself, that can go up and down as it invades?

Does anyone know of any ttrpg systems that, unlike D&D, don’t actively encourage getting into combat? I’m trying to cobble together something for my own campaign I’m running, but I don’t want to run it in a way that directly encourages fighting everyone you run into. I’d also be interested in hearing about systems that have a few rules on alternatives to combat.

So! I've had an idea for doing a game, and just having a bit of an issue with finding a system.

I'd love to do a game where there players are all members of a small time, local gang. Think a neighborhood thing, with the potential for them to grow larger. For the characters to go up in ranks within the gang, and to build their powerbase. Setting wise, I'm pretty open to, as I can adjust things that I don't like or that I want to include. Ideally, it would have something of a Dishonored vibe to it.

Now, here is the hard part. I am 100% NOT interested in anything Pbta. Nor am I interested in anything Blades in the Dark, or any hack based on it.

I'm not a huge fan of the 2d20 system, so the actual Dishonored rpg is already meh to me.

I prefer dice pool systems to that of a single die, but that is not a dealbreaker for me. I am familiar with GURPS and that it could do a game like this, but I am not fully interested in teaching GURPS at this moment. So, let's just get that out of the way and say that GURPS has been suggested. As well, let's just get Savage Worlds out of the way as well. I am fully aware of both.

Any thoughts? Ideas? Thank you!

Edit: Since it was asked multiple times, I thought it would be easier to answer here than under each question. I am not wishing Blades in the Dark because I do not like the flashback mechanic of the game. And from what I have seen, it is a pretty integral part of the game as a whole, thus hard to just handwave away.

Also, someone can just not mesh with a system. It can be something just as simple as that. I don't vibe with Blades in the Dark, so even if it is a perfect fit for everyone else? It is not a perfect, or even good, fit for me. There doesn't have to be so many negative comments about it.

I never said that the game explicitly HAS to be a dice pool, just that I personally prefer them.

Hello everyone!

I am looking for games where there are no predetermined lists of spells, feats and abilities. Perhaps only a few ones as example and guidance.

I am looking for games where players are meant to invent their own spells, feats and abilities. Maybe even classes (or maybe the game is classless). I am looking for games that give you robust rules or guidelines to make this process possible and fun.

Something like "Pathfinder has rules to make your own spells!" does NOT work for me, because games with spell lists come with the implicit challenge of having to make spells that aren't redundant to the ones that already exist. I'm looking for true blank slates.

I also take suggestions of games where you don't have concrete spells and abilities but instead you negotiate this stuff during play. So long as there are rules/guidelines on doing so.

I would also like these games to have similar guidelines for gms: rules on how to make monster statblocks and balanced encounters, etc

Thanks in advance!

I am looking for adventure modules for any fantasy RPG with the following characteristics:

1. Setting: A monastery, fortress, villa, or library.
2. Genre: Investigative / Mystery.
3. Gameplay: Focused on puzzles, riddles, and uncovering secrets.

I am looking for something that uses Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" as a blueprint or model for the adventure. Any fantasy ruleset or system is fine.

Has anyone ever run a campaign where the each session takes place (in universe) just before the last one? If so, how did it go and what was the reasoning for doing it that way?

This is kind of a shower thought I just had. . .

Hi everyone. I have had my eye on The Laundry Files RPG for a while and am currently weighing up whether to buy the books and play the game. I like what I have seen so far and the few reviews I have seen seem to be positive, but while I had hoped that I would see more interest and more reviews once the physical books became available, that doesn't seem to have happened.

Does anyone know if the game has proved popular for Cubicle 7 and, more than that, does anyone know if Cubicle 7 will continue to support The Laundry RPG in the future? Also, has anyone played The Laundry, and if so what did you think?

Hi everyone,

​I’m currently putting together my (first!) short campaign, ran in D&D 5e, for a group of friends and want to make sure our Session Zero sets us up for success.

​What are the absolute essentials on your Session Zero checklist?

​More importantly: What is something people often forget to include, or what is a unique point a DM/player once brought up that made you think, "Wow, I'm glad we talked about that"?

​Thanks in advance!