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There is this person I once played D&D 4e alongside, long ago. By chance, I stumbled across him online and caught up. This person has been wanting to vent for a while about his side hustle as a paid 5e DM, and, for whatever reason, thought I would be a good listener.

At some point, I asked if I could share his story online, publicly. He agreed (citing that he highly doubts that anyone involved checks RPG-related Discord servers, subreddits, and such), under the condition that there would be no identifying information, no direct quotes aside from small phrases, no direct price tags, nobody trying to contact him, and so on. I have already run my posts by him.

I have no way of verifying if any of this is true. He could be fabricating everything. In turn, you have no way of verifying my own side. I suppose that is just how things go. I am sharing this story simply because I find it interesting.

• The DM has been doing this for nearly a decade, usually thrice a week, ~6 hours a session, in-person. He started off charging (X) USD per hour (for the whole group, not for each player), but gradually increased his price to ~3(X). The DM is aware that this is very high, but he gets away with it by relentlessly networking across a certain area in the U.S. where upper-middle-class 20- to 30-somethings are common. One current group, consisting of nobodies in the right-wing grifter sphere (who still manage to cough up money anyway), the DM charges ~5(X); he tells them that they are getting a premium experience, even when the DM is doing nothing particularly different.

• His clients are almost all white or white-passing, upper-middle-class, 20- to 30-something men. The DM freely admits that there is selection bias. This is probably the only demographic willing to pay such high prices for someone to run a game for them. Sometimes, someone brings a girlfriend, who may or may not play.

• The DM has run for 200+ players over the course of dozens of campaigns. No campaign has reached a proper conclusion.

• Group sizes are usually six or seven (I know, I know) players, but one or two almost always ghost on the session without sending advance notice. Players frequently show up for game night drunk, high, or both. Every single game thus far has ended with a critical mass of players ghosting and never showing up again. Fortunately, the DM insists on collecting payment beforehand; and yes, these players are indeed willing to just throw money away.

• Yes, many players mention Critical Role, Brennan Lee Mulligan, etc.

• The stereotypes of 5e-only players are true ~99% of the time. They either think that "D&D" is the only RPG in the world, or that it would be such a hassle to learn another system. They do not know how any of the rules work, they do not bother to roleplay, and they do not remember anything about the last session. (If you know how the rules work, you roleplay, or you remember events from the last session, then you are in the top ~1% of players.) They show up mostly for the very loose idea of "playing D&D" and having fun with friends.

• ~99% of the time, a player declares their turn in combat to be "I attack" or "I cast a spell" without specifying anything more than that (aside from the occasional "I cast fireball!" or "I cast lightning bolt!" even though the character could not possibly have the spell). The DM asks them to roll a d20; on anything but a natural 1 or 2, he tells them "You hit!" and the player gets excited. The DM does not ask them to roll damage. Sometimes, if he feels like the players will not be too dismayed, the DM tells a player who rolls in the 3 to 5 range that "You miss. This guy is really [tough/fast]!"

• The DM does not bother tracking anyone's hit points, and just tells players things like "You take some damage," "You are close to dying," or "You finally beat him. Tell us how you do it!"

• Players tend to panic and think that they are in a dire situation the moment the DM informs them that they take even "some damage." The tension ramps up even further whenever the DM says, "You are close to dying."

• A non-negligible number of players are really sweaty tryhards who know the ins and outs of damage math and tracking hit points... in video games. When it is time for "D&D," they simply turn off their brain, and all damage and all hit points are suddenly imaginary.

• Yes, players really do go crazy when someone rolls a natural 1, expecting something goofy to happen. They cheer when someone rolls a natural 20, expecting something absolutely epic. The DM indulges them.

• Players really do not know how ability checks, skills, or saving throws work. They get antsy if the DM tries to talk about the rules as actual rules, so he has learned to simply never bring up the rules to begin with.

• Maybe the archetypal tiefling bard is popular in other communities, but not this one. Here, it is mostly bros playing "male human [fighter/barbarian/paladin]," with the occasional wizard if someone is feeling spicy.

• Players love to be showered with magic items that simply sound cool from vague descriptions, even though the DM never actually explains their mechanics (because there are none). Swords brimming with flame, frost, or lightning are usually smash hits.

• Since players will seldom remember anything from previous sessions, the DM just randomly throws the party into wacky action scenes, often as paper-thin as "You are in the king's castle when all of a sudden, a dragon attacks!" He does not even bother trying to maintain a consistent setting, whether published or homebrew.

• The DM frequently gets told that he is the "best DM ever!" even though he is fairly sure that these people have played under nobody else.

• There is minimal demand for non-5e DMs. If you want another RPG, look elsewhere.

Make of this what you will.

After years around RPG communities, I've noticed something strange.

Everyone says they want:

- deep roleplay

- long campaigns

- complex worlds

- meaningful consequences

But the most successful groups I've seen often have:

- inconsistent attendance

- forgotten plotlines

- half-understood rules

- campaigns that never finish

Yet everyone still has fun.

So what's the biggest lie RPG players tell themselves?

What do we say we want, but actually don't?

I figure this might be a long shot, but I thought I'd ask before attempting to do it myself.

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Are there any systems out there similar to or like Darkest Dungeon?

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Below is a list of what I think would covered:

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• Sanity Mechanics

• A limited number of combat moves selected from a slightly larger roster

• Dungeon survival mechanics (provisions, resting kn dungeons etc)

• Downtime mechanics

• Positive/Negative traits gained through play

• Position based combat

• High risk High reward

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Like I said this might be a longshot as it's pretty specific and I'm not sure how well all the mechanics would translate between video game/tabletop.

I'd made a thread last year asking if anyone knew what was up with Cartel, the PbtA game Magpie crowdfunded back in 2018, and backers finally got some news today. Unfortunately, it's the bad news we'd all expected for a while. A few excerpts below (emphasis NOT my own, it's in the original text):

I’ve got some tough news to deliver today. I am officially canceling the remaining Cartel stretch goals, namely Amigos y Enemigos and Sin Fronteras. We will still be releasing the CD of narcocorridos (Corridos de Durango)—read below for more—but that will be the last release for the Cartel Kickstarter.

Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly chipping away at the remaining work needed to release these stretch goal materials. I was able to collaborate with some amazing creators on them…but there’s still so much to be done—editing, graphic design, etc—and the financial headwinds have only gotten worse with the tariffs, the war in Iran, etc. [...] At some point, I have to admit that these remaining pieces are no longer viable on any reasonable timeline. And more importantly, you all deserve to have a definitive resolution instead of an open-ended project that never actually finishes.

For everyone who supported the now canceled books—either through a pledge level or via add-ons—I would very much like to make this right for you. While all the money for this project has long been spent bringing it to life, we are offering the following options for every backer affected by the cancellation of the physical books: 100% refund, delivered via Paypal (or other electronic method) or 150% refund, delivered via credit to the Magpie Games webstore.

If you backed at a level that included either of these supplements in print—or added one/both of them to your pledge at any level—please fill out this form to claim your refund/credit[...]

This is the final update for the Cartel Kickstarter. From this point forward, we consider this project to be closed—we won’t be updating it, and we won’t respond to comments. If you need something that’s not addressed by the above, please email us at [info@magpiegames.com](mailto:info@magpiegames.com).

The last update before this had been all the way back in October 2024, and that was after no updates in 2023 at all, so this isn't terribly shocking... but backers *did* previously receive several playbooks from Amigos y Enemigos and a playtest playset for Sin Fronteras' Berlin spinoff, which seem like they'll now never see a public release.

At least the story's over now, I suppose. Woof. My condolences to all my fellow backers; the whole reason I backed this initially was for the Aztlan playset in Sin Fronteras that we never saw any previews for.

I'm interested in something I could potentially slot into my already established scifi game, but if it's in another system I'll take a look at it too. I played the system for Pirate Borg and while it was cool, it felt like it had something lacking for a straight conversion to scifi. I don't want a full board game or wargame necessarily though.

what are some RPGs where character creation feels really meaningful, unique, customizable, or thematically important?

For a long time I have now been using the guidelines of the the alexandrian blog:

I start with the basic Idea, plot out where I want things to end, and then create the arc based on the three clue rule. If players get stuck I prepare escalation events that advance the plot anyways in a sort of failing forward mechanism. I also create 5 phases to each one shot. Each phase has a goal the players need to achieve in one way or the other (learn something about the world, find something, fight/catch someone, stop something bad from happening, escape etc.)

Now I was wondering what you do to create a one-shot?

Hello people, After playing and then being a forever DM for a long time, I'm trying my hand at creating a small TTRPG system, partly as an experience and partly because it's for a niche theme that existing options didn't interest me.

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However, I'm not here to talk about that just yet. I'm interested in knowing what keeps you interested in a mechanical standpoint, when playing a longer game.

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I find that for me, It's a lot about the next abilities or items I get and then getting to use them. I often stay involved not just for the story and world, but to get the next hit of cool stuff.

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I wonder if a lot of people feel the same, or differently. I'm eager to hear about what keeps you guys playing your favorite systems.

TLDR: VERY GOOD.

I am making this post as when I was looking to purchase from Exalted Funeral I'd seen some posts floating around here and there about slow turnover rate for orders, slow or lacking responses from their customer service representatives etc. I understand that people will post when something goes awry and not necessarily every time everything goes as expected, but before I ordered I wanted to do some due diligence.

I live VERY far away in the world, if an item is missing from a delivery to me then getting that rectified can be more of a hassle than it is for many, so despite the Exalted Funeral site clearly stating which items were in stock, I sent them an email just to double check before ordering..

I received a reply within 1 day. No signs of ai customer service, just a warm reply that got straight to the point. I then proceeded with my order.

Once again, I live in a far off corner of the world. Online orders can take months to reach me. I received a notification very immediately that my order had been sent off, and it arrived almost alarmingly fast. All items present and accounted for.

So that's that. I am making this post for other folks like me who look in to this sort of thing and may have seen posts about Exalted Funeral that caused them some concern. Of course my experiences will not be universal, but I wanted to share my very positive experience in dealing with them to show folks that whatever backlog they were dealing with across a small team seems to have not led to further issues.

Sorry this is so long winded! Just wanting to give credit where due. If you've had doubts about ordering through Exalted Funeral then here is my experience with them. They communicated well, delivered very quickly, and I couldn't be happier!

I was running a solo session of Mythic Bastionland yesterday, and as the game started rolling I noticed I was creating a very introspective, serious and somewhat burdened character. He had a weight to himself, a somber tone with which he paced his actions.

When I thought about other solo plays I did, I noticed most of my characters had this similarity: usually more somber, dealing with a past shadow, torn between conflicting desires, etc.

In contrast, when I'm on a game table with more people, my characters tend to be lighter in tone and personality, and occupy a broader range of themes (sometimes they're shy, sometimes extravagant, sometimes they have interesting quirks, sometimes they're just supportive to other folks who are in need of a more main character cycle, etc).

So I got curious! How do you usually portray your characters? Are there specific personality types, quirks or tone you tend to gravitate towards? Do they they have a pattern with the system? With the table you're in? With play style your going for? Or it's always something new?

I've been looking into Norse mythology recently and thought it'd be fun to run an RPG game in a world inspired by these old myths. What I'm looking for specifically is:

• Rules for travel between realms
• Rules heavy combat with rules for fighting + using giant creatures
• Comprehensive survival and crafting rules
• Reasonably in-depth character creation with good customisation
• And, if possible, a faith/worship system

Any suggestions would be welcome, thank you.