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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.

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Sessions are about 2-3 hours each.

Blades, Mothership, Apocalypse World, Mythic Bastionland are all out, they're already on the list for later in the year(s)

I could do four one-shots and I'm not totally opposed to that but I've prefer to do something with a little arc to it.

I'd prefer to avoid rules-heavy stuff as this would be squeezing a game between two others and there's a limit on how much I can force myself to learn.

Any suggestions welcome, thanks

An example of what I mean: https://www.nordiclarp.org/2018/02/21/play-lift-not-just-lose/

I wouldn’t be too surprised if some FKR game get mentioned. And that’s okay, btw - go ahead. Any level of complexity, any setting or no setting, any dice or diceless; all are welcome.

As long as they, somehow or other, try their level best to do as the title ^ suggests, that is.

So anyway, for a start, actual levels and XP (etc.) are probably not the idea here.

I’m aware, Larp is its own thing - I’ve done a few. And Nordic Larp is a distinct subtype therein. Indeed. The request, though, is for TTRPGs that get as close as possible to that approach / those priorities, implicitly or otherwise.

I changed the system, I don't like too much the fact that every spell is a different skill, and I wanted to go for something a bit more pulpy (I'm gonna play a weird WWII campaign inspired by the Achtung! Cthulhu system)

I created the "magic" skill. When a character learns magic (has to be justified, either via background or in game) the player earns POWx2 (or maybe x3, I'm not entirely sure yet) points in the "magic" skill. From then on, the skill is levelled like every other skill.

You roll on this skill every time you make an opposed test that involves spellcasting (e.g. trying to mind control someone), to learn a new spell, or to identify spells that you do not know.

Using magic has a price: I used fatigue points as a mana pool. Every spell costs 1dX fatigue points to cast, and once you get to 0, you faint, or you can spend 1 hit point to keep going: from then on you can use your hit point to cast, but if you get to zero by casting spells, you die. If you get to zero hit points by mundane wounds, you simply faint (rules about major wounds still apply).

Casting simpler spells does not have a sanity cost. the most gruesome ones, or the ones that will put you in contact with unnameable horrors will.

After all you need to be a certain kind of person to willingly, knowingly cast a spell that liquefies someone's innards.

Learning a new spell has a sanity cost, because it exposes your brain to a new facet of the true reality of the world. New spells are found in game, either by researching them or by finding old grimoires. (I'm using call of cthulhu as a source for spells, since it's based on the BRP engine).

What do y'all thing? Is this system balanced?

Heya people! So I am very lucky to go to Japan for an extended period of time this gear. Specifically Tokyo and the surrounding areas.

Anyone from there / who has been there got any recommendations for cool ttrpg stuff? Store, cafes, hotspots etc. Would love some things to check out!

Also any Japanese ttrpgs you'd recommend I check out as well I would appreciate.

Thanks

I'm very new to TTRPG, I've only dabbled, playing a session or two of dnd5e or Pathfinder 2e. I have the deluxe box for mother ship and wanted to try playing that. I need to DM though and so I'm wondering if you all have advice on how to do this?

I read the players handbook, and I'm going to read the wardens Manuel, then run another bug hunt, but it feels a bit overwhelming. Trying to keep everything in mind, coming up with good judgement calls and rulings, coming up with good description and dialogue to speak as characters. How do you all do it?

I've pretty much accepted that if I want to play anything besides DND or Pathfinder I need to gm it myself. And while I'm nervous over it I feel willing to, I just want to make sure I do a good job for my players.

Hey RPG Reddit!

I recently joined a long-running Pathfinder 1e game as a short-term guest, and the character I rolled up is a Elder Mythos Wizard since that made the most sense to fit into the storyline. I knew the PCs would be facing off against a bunch of Lovecraftian aberrations, so I focused on force damage spells since those tend to not have as much resistance compared to things like fire or lightning.

That said, it's been a long while since I played D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e, so I can't quite remember what spells were kind of "must haves" outside of Protection from Evil, Glitterdust, Dispel Magic and Haste/Slow. I know in the old 3.5 D&D days Fly was basically essential and expected, but I wasn't sure if that was still the case in Pathfinder.

Are there spells I should make sure I've got in my spellbook, even if they aren't prepared or any ones that I absolutely must have on the ready? I kinda jumped into the deep end by joining a group who is around 8th level, and I wanna be certain there's not a spell where everyone asks "Wait, why don't you have that?!"

A comment in another thread prompted this one. Example settings are like Wildsea or Dark Sun - ones that are pretty far off the beaten track and require some knowledge to create a viable character with relationships to setting elements.

Do you (the GM) expect players to come in blind, with some understanding (say from a pitch doc), read up on the lore, or something else?

Has anyone produced a setting like Shadowrun, with metahumans, dragons, and such but set in the “4th World?” Not Earthdawn. I’m looking for criptids and aliens. Atlantis and prehistoric civilizations.
Has someone put this out, or am I going to have to brew it myself. THANKS!

I am in a point in my life where I need to downsize, iv collected so many books over the years as tools to DM or just out of passion. However my wife and I have made the decision to be in a smaller location as we get older. This is going to mean condensing my office size GREATLY.

I hate reading PDFs on my phone but I dislike sitting at my laptop, I like to read in bed or on a hike etc without a ton of bulk. I honestly know nothing about the world of tablets and readers to even get started.

What's your favorite reading devices?

I'm looking for not just customized dice faces, or materials, I'm specifically looking for custom sets of dice. This would include customizing what polyhedrals come in the set. I'm looking for a nontraditional setup (6d6 // 4d8 // 3d10 // 2d12 // 1d20). I understand I could just buy a massive amount of bag dice and sort through, but I was hoping to get them in a pre-made set if possible for a variety of reasons. I haven't been able to find much online and was wondering if anyone knew of a storefront that would allow you to do that without purchasing individual massive (500+) bulk of one die type at a time to put something like this together.

A few things we've used in our Pathfinder campaign:

1. We use health bars on our tokens in the VTT we sit around. If the heroes want to figure out whether a monster has a weakness, resistance or immunity they have to pay very close attention to the health bar and how it drops. (They've gotten surprisingly good at this).

2. Diplomacy, Deception, and Intimidation are just as influenced by the role playing as they are the die roll. Naturally, this requires players to be comfortable role playing.

3. A countdown timer always sits on the table in front of me. When something is going to happen after X rounds/minutes/whatever, I will discreetly spin the timer down. When players notice, that is essentially them succeeding at their perception check.

What are some other clever things you've seen groups do to shift a skill check or other mechanic into a real world interaction?