**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.

Hello! I'm Ben Robbins.

I made Microscope, a fractal game of epic histories. And now many years later I'm hard at work on a new edition (which is kickstarting right now).

I also ran the original West Marches campaign. Is it weird that the same person who came up with West Marches makes GMless games of cooperative world-building?

I could talk about Microscope (or West Marches) all day, but I'm also happy to talk about other games I made like Kingdom, In This World, or This Means War. Or about Story Games Seattle, a public meetup I ran for eight years. Or how way back in the 80s I was a camper and then councilor at the Shippensburg D&D summer camp, and all the awesome teen-nerd shenanigans that entailed.

I've also been blogging about all this stuff for 20 years, because I love talking about games.

Ask me, as they say, anything.

Can be as simple or elaborate a theme or setting you want. What setting just immediately pulls you out of the table and into the game world in seconds?

I'm looking for alternatives to D&D that check a number of boxes for my needs, and I'd like recommendations. I'm reasonably well-versed in the TTRPG landscape, but I realize I have a gap in games that are actually intended to be D&D alternatives or can easily be used as one. I dislike the dumpster fire that Hasbro/WotC became as a company, and I'd like to broaden my options in terms of having something I could use to run a sword & sorcery or science-fantasy TTRPG campaign. I know a number of D&D alternatives by name, but little on their gameplay, so I'm hoping people can steer me in the direction of a game that does the following well.

• Low prep and easy to GM: This is a must; the amount of work D&D 5E was asking of me as a DM is the reason I kept dropping campaigns in recent years. I've been eyeing Numenera/Cypher on that front, but I have no idea how easy on the GM games like Daggerheart, 13th Age and Shadow of the Demon Lord are.
• A great toolbox for building your own fantasy world: I think D&D was at its best when it was light on lore, and supported the DM well in creating their own fantasy setting. I don't want to run someone else's world, I want to build my own.
• Easy to learn for players: My likely player group has learned D&D and is reluctant to learn a new game.
• Supports build-crafting and longer term character leveling: I have people in my group who are optimizers, they'll need something to sink their teeth in, but it shouldn't be the main focus of the game (Lancer or even D&D 5E-level of that would be too much, and I think Pathfinder 2 might be too much or too rule-heavy at least). My players like their characters getting new toys to play with in terms of abilities. This is why OSR/NSR fare or PbtA might not fit the bill.

So I was curious what suggestions people would throw my way. Stuff like Daggerheart, Shadow of the Demon Lord and 13th Age have been on my radar. I'm familiar with the Cypher system too though I've never played of GMed it. Thanks!

Are there any games that are built around a two-part before/after The Event structure?

I'm thinking about a period of "normalcy" with escalating tension, but then something happens (the contagion is released, the bombs fall, the rebellion is sparked) and the all the in-fiction assumptions/social rules are dramatically changed. Bonus points if the players' actions influence the nature of the The Event.

Some published campaigns will probably fit this, but I want to know if there are any games that are built around the premise, with designed-in support for the GM.

I recently came across the 1988 Task Force Games' "Central Casting: Heroes of Legend" book, a very detailed character background generator. What a gem! A lot of wonderful inspiration here.

Do you have any favorite flavor, setting, or other sourcebooks which, due to age or obscurity, may not be getting the attention they deserve?

As part of the Sincretismos de Arton project (focused on Brazilian RPG Tormenta 20), we started the Ludic License, to make it easier to create new RPG books, promote artists, and discourage the use of AI.

You can use these images (and many others, which are in this drive) as internal illustrations for your work, as long as you follow three little rules:

• Your work cannot contain internal illustrations or a cover generated by AI;
• All artists must receive credit for each illustration, with a link to their portfolio or contact;
• You must copy the full text of the License (below), which means your work also enters the License, and your internal illustrations also enter the collective collection.

As you can see, the Ludic License collection grows as new works use it. It's an initiative for the community to strengthen itself. At the moment there are 31 images available.

You can also get in touch with us to "donate" images to the License! If you have any questions, ask us or read our FAQ.

Good luck and success! Below, the full text of the Ludic License:

-------------

Ludic License

This work is under the Ludic License!

This means that the illustrations in this work are part of a community pool, and that you may use them, including for commercial purposes, as illustrations in your own work, under the following conditions:

• Your work must not contain illustrations or a cover generated by artificial intelligence.
• Every artist must receive credit for each of their illustrations (for example, in a credits section with attribution by page), with links to their portfolios and/or contact information.
• You must reproduce the full text of this license in your work (meaning your work also joins the Ludic License, and its illustrations become part of the license’s community pool).

Definitions:

• “Illustrations” are the images in the work, excluding the cover, supporting graphic elements (frames, ornaments, textures, typography, icons, etc.), logos, and signatures and photographs of real people (unless they are portraying characters).
• Images generated by artificial intelligence are those created through text prompts, reference images, sketches, generative fill, or any other similar means. Manual edits using digital tools (such as painting, color correction, filters) are not considered AI for the purposes of the Ludic License.
• Your work must be an editorial work (book, magazine, manual, etc.) that can accommodate the full text of the Ludic License and the credits for the authors of the illustrations. If you want to use an illustration in a way not covered by this License, contact the artist directly.

Exceptions:

• Illustrations in the public domain or made available to the public under other permissions for the creation of derivative works (e.g., CC‑BY, CC‑BY‑SA, CC0, or equivalent authorizations from the artist) keep their original terms, including regarding attribution, and do not enter the community pool. The condition regarding non-use of AI-generated images still applies to them.

Notices:

• If your work fails to meet the conditions of the Ludic License, the artists’ permission to use the illustrations is considered revoked.
• If an illustration enters the Ludic License through your work, ensuring the artist’s permission is your responsibility.
• This work and its illustrations may not be used for artificial intelligence training.
• The Portuguese version of the Ludic License, the Licença Lúdica, is the same license for all purposes.

Is there a system that strikes a better balance than Lancer between the mech and pilot experience?

I love Lancer; it's lore and how it runs mechs and mech combat. Mechs are by design its one thing and it does it very well. That means the pilot experience is left to be desired. I've read about people running dual system games pairing it with the likes of Traveller or Stars Without Numbers. Ideally there would be a single system that strikes a better balance between mech and pilot experience. It doesn't help that large chunks of what makes Lancer Lancer (NHPs, Horus) are player options that don't fit the world that has been built at the table through other campaigns. I would feel wrong to hand the players a book and say they can't touch large chunks of it. And the added insult to injury of adding a second system to patch other holes.

I've considered Armour Astir but if looks too pulpy. Not to say Lancer isn't itself pulpy. Coriolis recently came on my radar but I think it would fall under that dual system approach like Traveller. I've also considered scrapping the mechs and running Mothership or Dread. That would be an unfortunate last resort.

Warning: I haven't touched any of these non-Lancer titles yet. Opinions are all based on reviews and store-front info.

There's actually a good bundle for this good game!

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MotW2026

MotW is really well known, so with a quick search you should find any info about it. I just add that the book Codex of Worlds isn't very known, and it adds a lot of variety, so you can use it to run a medieval monster hunt a-la The Witcher with almost no effort.

Would you recommend it for playing alone? I'd like to play something space-themed by myself.

Wasn't sure how to tag this, but I remember a while back seeing a system that was inspired by Kingdom Hearts, but was an entirely original ttrpg system, rather than a conversion of an existing system with a KH skin. As an original system being sold for money it also didn't use any existing IPs or anything, but the idea was kind of the same; the players would be traveling between different worlds and I know that hearts played a big part in the theming of the game. Does anyone know what this might've been? I can't remember it.

Edit: Scratch that gang, I posted this after like an hour of searching with no results and then of course 30 seconds later i find it myself. It's called Interstitial, and it's a pbta thing.

I've been running this game with my friends using Cyberpunk 2020's system as I got it from a humble bundle a while back. We haven't been using a specific campaign and I've been largely writing my own story/lore/encounters using the system.

We finished the first arc of our campaign and took a break because we have been having difficulty adapting to the crunchiness of the system. Our group is primarily comfortable with DnD 5e and haven't done much outside of that system. Now that we're at a good spot in the campaign, I was hoping to try and switch to a new system. I've been looking into other systems like The Sprawl, Interface Zero, and RED, but I was wondering if other people have had the same experience transitioning from a common 5e group to a new system. The largest issue we're adapting to is the crunchiness of combat otherwise have been having very little issues.

I will say I'm not looking for a "5e with a cyberpunk skin" just something with an easier transition and would actually hope to work with a new system so it makes newer systems in future campaigns easier with our group.