**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.

I love TTRPGs. I love crunchy TTRPGs. I love Fantasy TTRPGs.

However, I do not like Spellcasters.

Sure, magic is really cool, but I've always been more of a "Warrior of Legend with its Mythical Sword" kind of person than a "The Great Wise Wizard of the Grand Tower". Those are still valid, but I'm looking for something more low to the ground.

I'm not looking necessarily for a simulationist approach, I can very much accept movie/game logic if that means cooler action, but at the same time it would be a big waste to go for Low Fantasy without a bit more realism than your tipical Hig Fantasy affair

https://i.imgur.com/oFyA3Ey.png

Im reading the rules for the soon-to-release game Tales From Elsewhere - Clockworld and I just loved this small section in the introduction and its play on Rule of Cool. :)

edit: I realize I have not properly contextualized this game/passage. Sorry. So this game is a horror survival in the weird west. It is meant to be somewhat scary and tense and the art and basic lore (which ive only read a little) set the stage well for this passage feeling right at home. I also just enjoyed the wordplay :)

Long time player and game master here, but Ive recently been on the hunt for a new game system to scratch that itch for narrative play like PbtA and exploration like OSR.

I stumbled across The Land of Eem, but I can barely find any reviews or talk about it. My first impression after reading the SRD is that while this game looks a little strange, the mechanics seem pretty good.

Can anyone share their experience with this game before I pick it up?

Otherwise, are there other suggestions for a narrative first, fantasy game system?

This week's RPG is Vaults of Vaarn!

Have you played it? Have you run/GM'd it? How did it go?

What's your favourite memory from the game?

What's the best thing about the game?

What's the worst? How would you improve it?

.

Last week was Numenera. Join us again next week for Savage Worlds [Adventure Edition]!

funny epiphany i had for some reason

My girlfriend loves mafia movies, so I recently decided to run a Fate Core mafia investigation one-shot for her and some friends.

I've been GMing for about 5–6 years. I've run a couple of medium-length campaigns, many one-shots, mostly D&D, plus some more narrative games like Girl Underground and Ten Candles.

The problem is that, once planning, I realized my ABC doesn't work here: No dungeons, no encounters, no cute monsters, etc... And I can't rely on the players to create most of the story as I would in a more narrative game.

So... how do you prep investigation one-shots? Any tips, advice, or resources you'd recommend?

I'm running a one shot in a couple weeks for a group of six friends on our annual vacation. The story is: Employees at a fan convention have to deal with their fun fantasy fandom actually coming to life within the con, and mopping up the ensuing supernatural havoc that unfolds.

I am looking for a fun system that's relatively easy for newbies to pick up, and easy for me to adapt a scenario like this to and run in 2-3 hours for 5-6 players.

I was thinking of Kids on Bikes - but I worry that the concept of multiple different shapes of dice will confuse people. Most of them are really new to this. And I mostly know systems that are best suited to multiple sessions of play.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations! 🧡

As stated I'm interested in a system that allows mid combat talks as a valid strategy. Not just a simple friendship recruitment thing, but full on negotiating, with various possible goals like begging for your life, declaring a truce, scaring them off with lies, convincing them their goals aren't worth it, etc. I'd love to take this idea and modify it into an existing system like Ironsworn or Mork Borg, and hopefully one day figure something out with it for a homebrew system

As huge fans of Winx Club , with my friends , we are planning to play a Winx Club themed ttrpg (taking place in Winx universe). I will be the game master for it but we don't have any custom systems for that. Can anybody recommend us a system/ttrpg that is pretty balanced between being crunchy (for combat mostly) and giving players freedom (i want this especially when it comes to spells and magic to solve problems)?

I GM a campaign every Wednesday for a group of friends. (we are all in our early to late 20s just including my age because everybody else does :P) Three of my Wednesday players (plus me) also play together in another campaign every Friday that’s been running for about four years. I absolutely love that Friday group, and honestly, their enthusiasm and encouragement are what inspired me to start GMing my own campaign.

Our Friday group has six people, but only three of them could commit to Wednesdays, which is completely understandable—jobs, kids, family, etc. To fill out the party, we invited one of my longtime players’ partner. For the sake of the story, let’s call them Jen and Taylor.

I’ve played with Jen for four years, and she’s fantastic. She’s an incredible roleplayer, throws herself into character, does voices, gets invested in the story, and is one of the most creative combat players I’ve ever seen. She’s genuinely a joy to have at the table.
Taylor has been… a very different experience.
Taylor is also a GM, and they are extremely rules-focused. The Rule of Cool basically doesn’t exist for them. Whenever I make a ruling that’s meant to create a fun cinematic moment instead of following RAW to the letter, they often point it out immediately. They’re comfortable challenging my rulings at the table, even when everyone else is ready to move on. They also tend to be very nitpicky about how I reward rolls and will monitor other players’ character sheets and abilities in ways that come across as policing rather than helping.

None of this is malicious, but it’s exhausting.
I didn’t know Taylor very well before inviting them. We mostly invited them because Jen was excited about finally getting to play in a game with her partner.
Here’s where things get complicated.
While I can usually brush off Taylor’s backseat GMing, one of my other players is reaching his limit. We’ll call him Mike. He’s actually the GM of our Friday campaign, so he understands what it’s like to run games.

This morning Mike asked if we could talk, and during our call he admitted he’s no longer having fun on Wednesdays. He said he’s constantly frustrated by Taylor correcting or questioning me, and he just wants to relax and enjoy being a player instead of feeling like every session turns into a rules discussion. To be honest… I don’t disagree.
The problem is that neither of us wants to hurt Jen. She’s genuinely wonderful, and she’s become a close friend over the last four years. To make matters worse, she recently messaged me saying how grateful she was that Taylor was having so much fun with our group and even mentioned Taylor had talked about maybe joining our Friday campaign someday. My immediate internal reaction was, “Absolutely not.”
If Taylor weren’t Jen’s partner, I probably would’ve already had a direct conversation with them—or, if that didn’t help, politely asked them to leave the game. But because of that relationship, I’m worried that addressing the issue could make Jen feel like she’s being punished too.

Has anyone successfully had a conversation with a player who unintentionally backseat GMs and argues rules without damaging friendships? Is this something I should address one-on-one with Taylor? Should I establish table expectations for everyone instead? Or am I overthinking this?

TL;DR: I invited a longtime player’s partner to my D&D game. They’re constantly backseat GMing, arguing rules, and frustrating the rest of the table. Another player has told me they’re no longer having fun, but I’m worried addressing it could hurt my friendship with the player’s partner. How do I handle this?