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Daggerheart is now one of those RPGs wherein a katana (from the new Hope and Fear) is objectively superior to a longsword at all tiers. Already taking into account the core rulebook's errata (which upgrades the longsword), both are Agility, Melee, d10+3/6/9/12, two-handed weapons. However, the katana has Quick, which lets the user mark a Stress to add an extra target within range. There are no weapon proficiency or price differences for such weapons in this game.

It feels really funny to me that Daggerheart has fallen into the stereotypical syndrome of katana romanticization.

Yesterday I bought The Planet of the Apes RPG. I've been interested in this universe for about 30 years. I read the original novel when I was a kid, and since then I've seen all the original movies as well as all the new ones.

As a GM, I was really impressed by the book. I already knew the universe quite well, but the lore in the RPG somehow expanded and colored the world in my imagination. It's amazing. In my opinion, it does this much better than the worldbuilding in the Alien RPG, for example. The TTRPG version of Planet of the Apes is brilliant.

So I'm curious: what other “non-original” RPGs — games based on existing books, movies, TV series, etc. — do something similar?

I've already checked out John Carter of Mars, which looks amazing, but I'm looking for more recommendations. Not necessarily the best adaptation or the best ruleset, but core rulebooks that actually add something to the fictional universe.

Basically, I want RPG books that can expand and color my existing pop-cultural knowledge of a setting, rather than simply translate what I already know into RPG rules.

What should I read?

Context: My PC's favorite campaign was a D&D 5e campaign using the module Tomb of Annihilation. Eventually, it devolved in them somehow obtaining 150 guards and shattering the Flaming Fist out of the continent. I absolutely hated it, I had to create huge boss battles, fudge the dice rolls for each soldier (uh...... they do, 138 damage?). The thing is, I WANT a system that encourages these huge army vs army fights, but the system was fighting me. In fact, they aren't interested in playing TTRPG games unless it's a war game like the Tomb of Annihilation campaign.

Some observations of my PC's:

• They like multiple choices on character creation, similar to the amount of choices D&D 5e offers.
• They HATE narrative games. They play to obtain gold/conquer territory and enemies/acquire more power.
• They like to customize their army (Battling Rams, archers, e.t.c.)
• What they enjoy most about having an army is the vast amount of tactical decisions they make and the feeling of power.
• They like playing in a OSR fashion, where they play on player skill rather than character skill.

Edit:

When I say that they HATE narrative games, it means that they don't enjoy the "emulating a character" part of the game. They roleplay only to make a bargain with a NPC, and do stuff to build their army.

Hey fellow nerds,

Have you noticed a steep drop off in the quality of Kickstarter campaigns? It’s AI slop for 3D printers, 5e slop for 5e NPCs, and little else. I feel like up until 2022 or so there were consistently cool projects.

What happened? Is it just AI? Is it Backerkit capturing market share? Did I get jaded and ser my expectations too high?

What’s your take on the crowdfunding meta at the moment?

I'll start. Even after doing hundreds of hours of classes, workshops, shows and open jams of long-form comedy improv, it can feel awkward, overthinking, tense and vulnurable to jump back into improv. (As a side note, long-form just means interconnected performances compared to short-form where they use games like Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

There is a huge difference between when you've had time to warm up with improv games compared to jumping straight into improvising. These are just like stretching before exercise. They get you into an mindset (away from real world's social perspectives) that makes improvising so much easier and practice important specific skills to do it well. And the same is true for roleplaying.

I think Improv Game warm up is especially true for people who are newer to roleplay and feel intimidated that they will look ridiculous. If you want a good list of them organized and with good explanations, Improv For Gamers is a solid book to pick up. But you can find these free online - I'd specifically look up "Zip, Zap, Zop", "Five Things" and "Mind Meld". They do a great job focusing on Listening and Immediacy (not worrying about being right, be willing to be obvious). If you want one to be especially ridiculous and silly - "Kitty Cat Careers."

Making everyone do some of the most silly actions normalizes this extreme behavior so much that then roleplaying is not silly at all. It initially seems pretty intimidating to do these games especially some of the most active games. People will feel vulnerable acting that way but as they see others be just as ridiculous, they ease into it. Attending a couple intro workshops and it works like a charm for people from all kinds of backgrounds.

As a bonus, it serves a second purpose as a ritual to get the table from side chats to the mindset that we are now we are playing.

Hello everyone, long time lurker first time poster here.

I have been running 5e/5.5 for the better half of a decade and I'm burnt out. Half of my table is quite reluctant to learn a new system while the others have no issue with it. I have played and looked into multiple games outside of d20 fantasy. (I.e. Draw Steel, Mothership, VtM, Delta Green, Mythic Bastionland, Candela, Pendragon, etc...)

My players for the most part like a power fantasy. They like RP as well. What are good alternatives to suggest to them?

I've tried running one shots before but it always spills over and ends up being multiple sessions. The one time I succeeded was running dread and that's only because that ttrpg is built to end in a session. Otherwise it takes me at least 4 sessions to wrap up. The players always have a blast but I want to be able to run one shots for special events and to advertise them on startplaying. I know my biggest problem is that I do too much :yes and" and add too much fluf to connect player characters to the narrative, so basacly just expanding too much on a simple premise once dice start rolling. However I don't know what else to do, I don't want to give a bland and rushed experience but I see no other way of finishing in time. Any advice?

My wife and I have never played any sort of TTRPG before. I wanted to disconnect from always being on my phone or computer and someone recommended Ironsworn: Starforge for first time solo play. I spent hours building my universe and character and I think I am slowly wrapping my head around the process, but I do not think my wife would be into it.

Can anyone recommend something that would be good and lightweight for newbie folks as a co-op style play without me having to be the GM? Free is preferred cause it may all crash and burn. I did read thru some of the recs here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers/
but none of them really sounded exactly right.

I mean I think we almost need boardgame style, but we have played boardgames and I want to move onto something original. I know I would want at least a bit of dice rolling, but maybe that is about it, overly complex systems to track would probably not be great. Setting for the world might not be a huge deal, she reads a ton of books and enjoys pretty much any fantasy or sci-fi style stuff, but I would want something light, not dark and about depression or death if possible. We don't want to make it trauma inducing.

Again, just looking for thoughts or suggestions, and if anyone has any questions please let me know. I appreciate any assistance with this.

First, I'd like to say that English is not my native language, so please excuse any typos.

So, I’ve been really interested in playing this RPG called Wilderfeast, mainly because of its premise, which reminds me a lot of one of my favorite anime—obviously, I’m talking about Dungeon Meshi.

I decided to look into the RPG a little more deeply, and from what I found, I came across quite a few people criticizing the system and pointing out several flaws. This made me a bit hesitant, since apparently the combat can turn into what feels like a 3+ hour-long board game, most of the book is apparently dedicated to lore, and there are also issues with things like resting scenes and so on.

So, I’d really like to hear the honest opinions of experienced players who have actually played the system. Is Wilderfeast genuinely a good system, or is it not worth it?

And are there any better systems you would recommend that I could try instead?

I’ve been wanting to make a RPG campaign where the players are part of an asymmetric armed force fighting against a much stronger organized enemy, where the core idea is that fights are unfair, and before any shots are fired they must plan meticulously to give themselves every advantage to even hope to win.

I was looking into Mothership but I feel the system is built almost entirely around a horror/Alien theme which is kind of hard to fit into what I’m thinking, but if you think it could work please tell.

Any genre could work, but I’m leaning either a sci-fi or “IRL” (idk how to explain, like based on either historical or possible things, with fewer fantastical elements).

Please tell whatever you think works

I feel crazy posting this, but months ago I was at a used bookstore and came across a LotR TTRPG rulebook that I absolutely was fascinated by. It intrigued me because you could play your typical character archetypes in LotR, but they also included magic for these sorcerers or mages. The magic felt very Middle Earth too (Waves of water shaped like horses kinda spells). I was a fool of a Took for not buying it, and I hesitated too long, and by the time I decided to buy it, someone beat me to it. I'm trying to find that game again, but all the major LotR games people mention don't exactly fit what I saw/remember. The main LotR games people are mentioning are The One Ring, MERP, and The LotR RPG by Wizards of the Coast
What I remember:
-It was distinctly LotR. It wasn't a game that felt like Middle Earth.
-The art and style of the book was similar to The LotR RPG sold by Wizards of the Coast, but that game is missing elements that I saw in that book.
-The rules of MERP sound awfully close to what I saw. But every edition I've found online looks... too old to be what I found. Maybe I'm misremembering what the art in the book looked like. The book felt like it was made at least late 90's to mid 2000's, maybe into 2010's
-There were a couple of different spells for each element. I remember some either weather control spells or cool water control spells like Arwen's wall of water horses

Can anyone confirm what game I was looking at?

--Update:--
So far, I think it's MERP 2nd Edition, but there are details in that book that vary from what I remember reading in the bookstore. Could be a different book still, or I just have bad memory