The /r/rpg mods have made a few minor changes to Rule 7 to tighten up some loopholes and clarify some questions that we get asked regularly in modmail.

These changes should result in absolutely zero impact to our regular users.

The changes simply document common things that we are seeing in the queues and modmail and will allow us to moderate more effectively without having to explain the same things over and over in modmail.

We have not changed the definition of an active user, or what is needed to post promotion.

There are some minor grammar changes for clarity, and a few sentences were rearranged.

The following are the non-trivial changes that were made:

OLD:

Affiliate links must be clearly disclosed or they will be removed

NEW:

Affiliate links and other profit-sharing schemes are not allowed.

ADDED TO THE "WHAT IS SELF PROMOTION" LIST:

• Discussing "a game you are working on", with obvious intent to fish for questions or requests for details and links.

• Asking for features to include or feedback on a game, site, app, or tool that you are building

And the most substantial change:

OLD:

"If you are using a newly created account and start immediately posting to other peoples' work, then you may be seen as a self-promoter in disguise."

NEW:

"If you are using a newly created or inactive account and start immediately posting promotion of other peoples' work, then you will be considered a self-promoter in disguise."

This change is being made because we regularly get into modmail discussions with brand new or inactive accounts that promote a product to multiple subs, but claim "I'm not affiliated" when there is clearly promotion being made. We see enough obvious "stealth promo" that we are now assuming that promo from non-active accounts is self-promo. This doesn't change how we've been moderating these posts (we've been using this assumption for a while now), merely documenting the change.

Thank you.

The /r/rpg mods

**Come here and talk about anything!**

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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.

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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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This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

I know book bloat is a significant issue with a lot of ttrpgs and can be something that turns away prospective players. What is something that you dislike books spending time on?

Personally for me there are two main things:

First is needless definitions in the glossary. Dont get me wrong, a glossary is incredibly useful for unique terms. However i roll my eyes whenever they spend time defining hp or other generic terms, bonus points if they redefine it in the book the first time the term is used. It was reasonable in 70s/80s, but if you dont recognise that term today i have serious questions. In the end it causes me to skip the glossary often causing me to overlook actual important definitions.

The second is decorum or "proper table ettquette". Im not talking about actual roles or vibe, but the generic "table tops are for everyone" hr speech. Its condesending and the people who dont obey that ettiquette arent going to listen to it. Its almost always packed in the beginning and usually kills my enthusiasm for the rest of the book.

Breathless Jam 3 has begun. So far there are more than 250 Breathless hacks in the first two jams, but now Breathless is at version 2, and it is PWYW to download.

It's got a cool mechanic where you choose different dice to be your stats, but whenever you use them, they step down a die, so you're always running out of ability. You can stop and catch your breath whenever you want, including in combat, and they all recover, but the GM gets to introduce a new complication.

Originally designed to be a zombie game, I've seen great looking games that run from Italian plague survivors to one about a unicorn trying to survive a unicorn hunt.

You can find the Jam Page here: https://itch.io/jam/breathless-jam-3

You can find Breathless here: https://farirpgs.itch.io/breathless

You can find the Breathless: Frightmare Edition Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythworks/breathless-frightmare-edition

(I am in no way affiliated with Fari RPGs beyond liking the system, being a backer of the KS that would like it to succeed, and intending to participate in the Jam.)

Dimension 20, a popular actual play show on Dropout, has chosen Vampire the Masquerade for their latest season. Surprisingly, rather than being a cloak-and-dagger supernatural thriller as VtM markets itself, the focus of the game appears to be on community building.

The players have been kicked to a struggling small city and tasked with turning it into a bustling hive for vampires. Shockingly, as the players learn, that actually means turning it into a better living space for people too! Per the most recent episode, equal weight is being given to stopping an evil ghost and identifying whoever has hollowed out the city's budget for things like urgent care and parking meters.

It's a very fun campaign to watch. On my bus ride to work, I was obsessed with "armchair quarterbacking" what the players' next moves should be. I'd love to play a similar game. Are there any systems whose mechanics focus not on common "cinematic" problems like a dragon trying to eat you, but on "big picture" problems like this?

Or is this less a "rules" thing and more of a "setting and story" thing?

Curious what's everyone's experience with running or playing diceless, rules-lite narrative games. For example, games like Fall of Magic where it's largely prompt based, and the decisions are made in a writer's room play style VS action rolls, stats, etc.

Personally, while I love rolling dice, I also find joy in simply creating a shared narrative with friends, and diceless, narrative heavy games like Fall of Magic satisfy that urge. BUT, it feels like I'm the outlier in my group. In the few times I've run these (oftentimes GM-less too) games, my groups just don't seem to vibe with them, often struggling with a sort of "blank page syndrome" when there aren't traditional health points, resource management, stats, and dice rolling. The biggest feedback I got was, "there needs to be more dice rolling" and "where's the game?". But I find this topic interesting and would like to dig in more.

For example, the aforementioned "blank page syndrome" is an interesting predicament because I actually think these games, if written well and paired with evocative artwork, offer a lot of inspiration. Using Fall of Magic as an example again, the setting is medieval fantasy, the tone is a combination of melancholic, reflective, and whimsical, and additionally pulling from your media touchstones, riffing off of your friends, and flexing your imagination are all enough to string together interesting scenes and decisions. I find that that's good enough, but the openness of these games tends to make it feel too vague for some players. I even had a player want to roll dice for the simple question of "is your character also present in this scene, too?".

I know I'm in a small group of people who enjoy these narrative heavy, rules-lite games, but I'd encourage people to try these games. It's a shift in play style, but it's not as daunting as it seems. And despite my friends preferring more traditional games, we still had a lot of fun. Many moments of cleverly calling back to previous scenes and characters, introspective character moments, discovering emergent themes as we played, etc., stuff that are more difficult to pull off in traditional games (in my experience at least). When it all clicks together, these games can truly sing, and I think people looking for strong storytelling in their games will find it just as rewarding as rolling over a difficulty check.

So just this month, a table of me and my friends finally hit the big 100 hour mark with a campaign we've been running since 4 years ago (right in the middle of COVID).

We play a hybrid ruleset that started off as D&D.

But after the first three months, we started doing fun little additions. Challenges to keep role-playing and combat interesting. We turned the social part of our game into something of a poker game where our cards were determined by Charisma and other little actions we did to boost our reputation. We had a short 5 months where our DM made us manage a fief temporarily while the lord was cursed and bedridden (very Weekend at Bernie's).

We slowed down levelling to keep up. Only three party members bave died and five retired (so we could change characters and keep it fresh).

Even now, the game is still going pretty strong. Honestly, we're just really stuck on the idea of how long we can push this game.

I wanted to share and know what's the longest game you played? Could even be recently or just in the past few years. Doesn't have to be the all-timer. I wanna hear about them :)

Hey everyone! I've been poking around for a system to run a game I've been putting together. It's a pretty heavy sci-fi setting, think The Expanse and Red Rising, for those who are familiar. I'm not new to DMing and don't have much trouble picking up new systems, though I do have the most experience with DnD 5e.

I also have a pretty large table - usually 6, though my current Curse of Strahd game is 7. So, I'm looking for a hard Sci-fi system, with good combat that isn't too lethal, that can handle a larger group. Bonus if there is some mechnanic for a drop of fantasy (like psionics or some kind of space magic).

Any suggestions?

I’m a bit lost. Love the setting, read the books, played the games. I’m looking for a ttrpg that can represent the book side more: people die (rapidly and unexpectedly); there is a bit of paranormal, but it is not explained; the resources are extremely scarce. I also need the system to support the inherent claustrophobia of Moscow metro, so nothing that would require an open combat map.

I know there are obscure solo games that use playing cards, but I wondered if anyone had any experience with TTRPG that replace dice with cards. What was your feedback from such a system (if it exists)?

I’m a big fan of medieval romances from the 13th through 15th centuries and would like to find a game that does a good job of replicating the adventures that we witness knights going on in them. I am looking at Chivalry & Sorcery, Pendragon, Aquellare, Mythic Bastionland, and Wolves of God. The closer I can get to literally feeling a medieval romance the better. Which of these would be the best? Are there any other better ones I should be looking at?

TIA

A few years back, I wrote some articles about things we can learn about characters and stories from soap operas. This year, I ended up heavily revising all of them and adding a new one, and I had a lot of fun with them all over again. I finally finished the last one this week.

• What Soaps Teach about Building Characters
• Soap Operas: A Guiding Light for Handling Characters During Play
• More than One Life to Live: Soap Operas, Gaming, & Death
• Soap Opera Storytelling, Part 1: Secrets

I'm hoping they'll offer some food for thought to folks here. If you've used soap opera tricks or tropes or you have constructive thoughts to share about the articles, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Happy gaming!