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I am someone who for various reasons has a lot of spare time. Enough to play about 4 sessions each week, sometimes more. Even so, in my whole career I have only had one true horror story. A Curse of Strahd campaign in which the DM was playing adversarially and a player turned out to be a fucking Nazi. I left upon finding out and the group seemingly disbanded the next session due to the obvious.

Besides that not much interesting stuff happened. I had a good friend who was kinda' railroading people while trying to be Matt Mercer in the Wildsea, but the dynamics between players were all good and we all knew each other. He was a better friend than GM, I suppose.

And I was also part of a Numenera campaign where the GM decided to use the system to run an investigation, but he either did not know about the three clue rule or kept thinking that players would do specific things and it just wasn't working out. The players had a lot in common, maybe a little less with me, so again, group dynamic was good and table talk was fun. (This was a very chatty table.) The campaign was seemingly patched up to include more exploration and combat after I left.

I feel like my TED Talk is really boring because while the games were not without issues, we really didn't have personality problem . Even in the first group, the rest of the players were really cool.

I'm pulling up at straws to come up with anything else, because most of the time when I left a campaign it was because of playstyle differences or growing bored of the system as it was the case with DnD.

I need an RPG for my son and his friends (all 14, 15 or 16). I've sat down with them and asked them what they want and this is what I got:

• Explosive Shōnen action
• Character growth starting mundane but escalating to the divine
• A degree of tactical play, but not dependent on maps, squares or hexes - but where decisions have real impact.
• Fast gameplay, or at least gameplay that doesn't drag.
• Character powers unique enough that no two characters steel each others thunder.
• Powers that can be used in some way to boost, supplement, interact or tag team with each other.
• Martial Arts and powers.
• Inspired by the likes Jujutsu Kaisen / Solo Levelling / Tokyo Ghoul / Chainsaw man

My first thoughts were:

• Aberrant (1e)
• CAIN
• Exalted (1e or Essence)
• Weapons of the Gods

• Daggerheart

  But I'd be interested to know if I've missed something thats a better fit?

More of a fun theoretical question than anything, but here goes: what are some games that, by virtue of their premise or mechanics or both, are especially difficult to deliver a satisfying experience in just one sitting, in contrast to all the great oneshot-friendly or even oneshot-specific games out there, like CBR+PNK or Grant Howwitt's one-page games?

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/succubus-publishing/last-arc-tactics-analogue

Free public beta version, available in the page above: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z1hkgs3aak5w9u7ea5r33/LATA-Corebook-Layout-DEMO.pdf?rlkey=nwtkrovtsftrklxewgf6yh1rc&e=1&st=qgklpp6i&dl=0

Last Arc: Tactics Analogue puts on a JRPG-themed skin, but even a cursory inspection reveals that this is straight-up D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e. It is a d20-based, 20-level game with Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha (slightly renamed), races with a +2/+2/−2 spread, classes with 4/6/8 + Int modifier skills, feats at every even-numbered level (including old friends like Skill Focus, Improved Initiative, Precise Shot, and Combat Casting), a 3×3 alignment grid, the exact same XP table as D&D 3.5, and CR-based monsters.

An unironic, earnest chef's kiss to the people brave enough to put a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e heartbreaker out there. Never once does the game or the crowdfunding campaign mention D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder 1e, so this is more "If you know, you know."

There are some 4e-isms sprinkled here and there. Skills use trainings, not skill points. Attacks go up against Fortitude, Reflex, and Will... and yet, unlike in 4e, Reflex also acts as AC. Characters can use a second wind to regain a quarter of their maximum hit points, but unlike in 4e, there are no healing surges, and it is a minor action.

Character math is vastly different. Initiative is based on a single die, with the die size dependent on class. Feats are not quite what a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e veteran may be used to, even if they have identical names. Spells are original, and use an MP system. Equipment is also radically different. Monsters are simple-ish; they look like they should be quick to run, though they are not quite tactically deep.

I would say that this game has enough significant divergences from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e that it should be a fresh new take on the formula.

What do you think of this heartbreaker?

I felt like a sleeper agent awakening as I scrolled through the PDF and realized that, past the superficial JRPG skin, this is a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e heartbreaker.

I'm dipping my toes into simpler RPG systems lately, starting with hacks/de-makes like World of Dungeons and Risus, and it has me wondering: what are the simplest systems you've played that have adequately sustained long campaigns? i.e. where the simplicity of the system doesn't pose a problem after a couple of sessions?

Hey all,

I'm trying to determine a one shot I'm going to run at a convention the winter and am looking for ideas. Based on your experience, what's the most fun, published one shot from any system you've ever played?

Thanks!

The Cthulhu Solo Adventure Generator by Kent-Ove Lindström has won the gold at the Fenix Awards as Best Solo Adventure of 2026 at GothCon XLIX in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Fenix ​​Awards is a gala where we celebrate Swedish role-playing games and role-playing game creators. It is organized by the gaming magazine Fenix, whose readers vote for the winners.

Gothcon is an annual gaming convention in Gothenburg, Sweden, with focus on role-playing games, board games, live action role-playing games, miniature wargaming, wargames and collectible card games. The convention has been held on the long weekend of Easter since 1977.

As the writer of the game I am honored and touched by the award. A big thank you to everyone.

Keep soloing!

Kent-Ove Lindström

Folks, has this ever happened to you? You’re prepping for a new investigative scenario, you’ve spun a goofy little idea you had into a full mystery, you’ve got all your contrived puns ready, then you turn the page in the rulebook and get hit with the section on sanity mechanics or incorporating Lovecraftian themes. Oh yeah, that stuff.

Essentially what I’m asking is if there’s an investigative RPG whose intended tone is light-hearted or comedic. Everyone gets a mystery to chew over, supernatural or not, but the situation tends towards the absurd or the surreal and the GM isn’t bogged down with a lot of different systems to manage.

As to why I’m after this, there’s two reasons. Firstly, game night is a fun hang out activity for me and a chance to catch up with the players. Even if I could somehow wrangle everyone and enforce some kind of dark and serious tone, I don’t think I’d want to. Secondly, as a GM I find the horror stuff particularly challenging to convey or land and some of the sanity stuff feels a bit tasteless.

Just to head-off three questions I can see coming up

1. Can’t you just ignore the horror and sanity mechanics and homebrew the game you want?

2. Isn’t this what Pulp Cthulhu is about?

3. Triangle Agency?

1: Sure, but I guess in my ideal world it’d be nice not to have to do this. All these game design people are I’m sure much cleverer than me and have the time to think about the best way to have a good time at the table in this particular way. I’d like to feel like I’m working with, rather than in spite of, their design. There is also a stickler in me that wants to respect the intent of the original author and to give players the intended experience of playing a game they may have heard of, not some Frankenstein I’ve hacked-up up.

Lastly, on a purely practical level, it’d be reassuring to hold the rulebook in my hand and know that everything printed in there is aligned with what I’m looking for. A lean ruleset with no pages that you have to skip over in a hurry.

2: Perhaps, the Pulp Cthulhu tone is definitely zanier, but in practice the focus seems more on adding new rules for action and heroism.

3: Triangle Agency might be the answer to my problems, but from what I’ve heard it’s very thoroughly its own thing with a lot of rules, which kind of brings us back to the earlier point about a lean ruleset. Inspectres might also be good fit but I’ve not seen much talk about it.

Reading the premise of the game it seems really cool but a lot of the stuff I've seen online said about calls it "fetishistic" or "problematic."

I can kinda use my imagination for how a horror game centered on witches and demons in the Middle Ages Spain could fit that description.

But at the same time I saw a lot of people say that Werewolf the Apocalypse is fetishistic and problematic and I ended up enjoying that a lot and I still am.

And it's actually popular in Spain so I don't expect the same kind of sensationalism I'm used to from depictions of Hispanic people as barbaric or superstitious.

But I'd like to get your first hand experiences!

Hello Everybody, my name is Mauro Longo, and I'm an Italian RPG designer (Ultima Forsan, Brancalonia, Inferno, Lex Arcana, and a lot of other things...)

I’ve been working on a series of adventure modules for Old-School Essentials under the label Midnight Ventures, and I’ve started describing my style as:

Cloak + Sword + Sorcery

It sits somewhere between intrigue-driven play and classic sword & sorcery, but filtered through an OSE lens. These scenarios add some layers to the simple exploration and dungeon crawling: investigation, intrigue, adventure, and mystery-hunting. Settings, locations, areas, and situations have a strong simulative sense and plausible logic. Architectures, societies, nature, and physics rules are credible and congruent with a fantastic version of our world. I don't like the "mythic underworld" concept.

In other words, I intended to blend my favorite eerie, mystery, swashbuckling, and sinister atmospheres with the typical situations of the classic fantasy role-playing game that we all love. The game still relies heavily on free exploration, random events, tactical infinity, and rulings over rules, but with a bit more intrigue, witchery, and consistency than usual.

Do you like this approach and style? Or I'm the only one loving it?

I don’t have a campaign running, so this is just a sweet little savory I’ll keep pocketed.

Anyways, I’m looking for a fresh idea for a Monk, Cleric, or Druid BBEG. Typically those classes are the hippies of the DnD round table, but I wanna shift them into something more sinister; something that goes against their nature for the worst.

I’m not asking for much, only a little kindling to light a flame. Maybe a bit of motivation here, an end goal there, an army of monsters or woodland creatures there. You know, basic stuff.

I’d also appreciate it if Shadow Monk, Death Cleric, Spore Circle Druid are kept out of this because “shadows scary” and “undead army” are things that have been so done to death so many times that a spore circle Druid is already using it as a summon. But if you got ideas then feel free to share!