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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.

**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.

Well. I just turned 51 a month ago. I've been gaming almost 40 years now, mostly as the GM.

Recently pitched a Shadow of the Beanstalk game to my group, even added some new players - everyone's jazzed about the setting and the cyberpunk genre. Great says I, and figure I'll use the system for the SotB sourcebook, Genesys. I'd even run Star Wars before, many many years ago (and two sessions of Genesys when it first came out).

I can only game once a month, so, plenty of time to get ready, right? Well...life happened. Work got crazy; I have a lot to do and, as a university teacher, have to grade tests and such as I can (which often means weekends if I don't have office time for it). The war in Iran has actually caused the wife and I to have to move plans around and cancel others (which takes time to unravel).

What does this have to do with anything? Me, and learning Genesys. In the old days (a decade or two ago) I'd do all the above and still have time to read a game and learn it fast. Did it all the time, which is why I thought nothing of doing it now. But this time? No dice (pun intended).

I realized that as I started really getting into the prep (how to teach the game, rules and side rules, figuring out opposition, the actual situation/story, etc.) that I just didn't have the bandwidth for it all. I wrote my group yesterday that I'm not able to run Genesys; can't learn it fast and well enough. Can I run something else I know well, but in the same setting we're all here for (Fate Core in this case)? They've agreed and its a relief. But I realized that, partly, I have already so many games in my head, that fitting in yet another was...a chore. Or at least harder this time around. Genesys is a fine, mid-cruch game, but just felt like too much for me right now.

With Fate, I sat down yesterday and wrote up a version for the Andriod setting pretty fast (I had a previous cyberpunk game I'd run in Fate maybe a decade ago so I dusted off those notes and built from there). Didn't take long.

Realized that as I age, I feel like learning some new games isn't worth it. Like, conceptually I have nothing against it - I learned Mythras maybe two years ago and it ran really well; also relearned GURPS 4e to run it for a short campaign I just finished. Before that, Savage Worlds and I hadn't run that in like 15 years so it was sort of like new. I'm also a big Burning Wheel fan.

So it isn't that I can't handle complex rules or whatever, it's just...Genesys was new. After three weeks of prep I don't feel up to running it well. And so here I am, having to switch to something I know well so we can start the campaign next weekend.

Anyone else in this old person's boat? I'm a grognard, but a slightly sad one - are new rule sets always going to be this much effort? I like reading rules and trying them out, or at least, I used to...

I found 436 people who wanted to play TTRPGs in-person near me. Here’s how I did it and the 10 tips I learned along the way.

I really like it when games include "mundane" rules for stuff that characters can do. Like lifting and throwing anything, with rules which govern how far you can throw an object based on its weight and how much damage it would do. Or rules for how much you can dig through earth. Or rules for how weather affects travel or combat.

For example, GURPS includes rules for picking up objects (which includes characters) and throwing them, as well as rules for how much you can dig based on your physical stats, and how much you can drink! While some might turn their nose up at these things, I like them because it gives me a foundation to build upon, or allows me to make more consistent rulings.

I know there are a few instances in D&D where if you wanted to throw something, your options are to find the closest equivalent weapon for the range, and deal 1d4 damage. But throwing a creature? You would have to improvise based on a monster ability, which doesn't feel correct. And let's hope your players never ask to dig a hole. Sure, you can look up how long it takes to dig a grave or something and improvise from there -- but what if the character asking is a goliath with 24 strength and 18 con? It would be nice to not have to improvise it, but have some hard and fast rule that takes into consideration character statistics.

It seems to me that most games neglect these sorts of rules. Why is that? And what other games include these sorts of considerations?

Am I just being pedantic or am I on to something? lol

I see this type of antagonist often. Crucially, the mundane evils are (mostly) unaware of the existence of the supernatural evils. This often involves subtle mind control, but it is sometimes just a matter of superhuman persuasion or other incentives.

Two examples that come to mind are Eberron and Chronicles of Darkness. Both are full of rapacious industrialists, tyrannous rulers, myopic warmongerers, and other malefactors. (In Chronicles' case, it is simply due to modern-day Earth setting.)

In Eberron, warmongering Queen Aurala or short-sighted mad scientist Merrix Vown d'Cannith Jr. might be that way naturally, or they could be influenced by the fiends of the Lords of Dust, the dragons of the Chamber, the quori and their psionic powers, or the daelkyr and their mind-aberrating influence, all without knowing it.

In the Chronicles of Darkness, the local heartless billionaire might be be that way naturally, or they could be steered by a spirit from the Shadow, a devil from the Inferno, an angel from the God-Machine, or a mage of the Seers of the Throne, all without knowing it.

Sufficiently powerful characters can beat up these supernatural evils to make the world a brighter place. Indeed, I have run such adventures many times. It can be cathartic to fight and kill/banish an embodiment of greed, tyranny, warmongering, etc.

A tricky part is that it can reduce culpability. "You see, they were actually an innocent little bean who was being mind controlled." I prefer it when this is mitigated by the manipulation methods having involved minimal mind control. The rakshasa Mordakhesh in Eberron prints multiple inflammatory and disinformation-rife newspapers to gin up a war; and to use a non-RPG example, Ares in Wonder Woman (2017) mostly implants ideas for superweapons without directly exerting mind control.

What do you think?

To be clear, the concept of secret societies touches upon this to a degree. However, the kind of supernatural evil I am talking about is (mostly) unknown to the mundane evil.

In the above examples, Queen Aurala or Merrix Vown d'Cannith Jr. know nothing (relevant, anyway) about fiends, dragons, quori, or daelkyr; and the local heartless billionaire is ignorant of spirits, devils, God-Machine angels, mages, and so on.

So if secret societies are involved, they are unknown to the high-profile catspaw.

I've recently joined a table that plays the CAIN RPG. I really enjoy playing it, especially when the whole table gets into a string role-play swing, because the rules really reward character focused play. I enjoy the simple rolling rules, the limited resources, and the split between investigation and combat.

I do think it's a little narrow in scope, though. I especially think it would be difficult to adapt it meaningfully into a fantasy or sci-fi setting, since in those settings PC's are supposed to have more options available. Any given blasphemy ("class") in CAIN gets 5 abilities and a handful of passives, and only if they survive for long enough. In D&D, casters have access to endless spells and even martial classes have a lot of options for customization.

I'd like a ruleset that keeps all the action focused solely on the characters, but with an expanded scope. Really to make playing feel like an anime, where characters improvise flexibly rather than selecting specific abilities with specific rules.

I've heard good things about Monster of the Week. Would that be a decent place to start?

Was talking with some friends and have a loose group for at least looking for a new game to play. I'm doing my own looking but I'd like to ask here too.

What we are looking for:

-School life doesn't have to be CENTRAL to the setting but it should at least be present at the very least as a setting option. At the ground level it should not be actively hostile to playing as a teenager.

-This one isn't huge but it should be a bit of an homage to anime or japanese video games that people call anime like persona. Doesn't need to advertise as the ultimate anime homage game but just written by someone who is knowingly pulling from these sources in their work

-supernatural element of some sort. We aren't looking to play a 1-1 mundane school life sim.

I've been running a Legend of the 5 Rings 4e campaign for 2 years now, with a closeknit group of family, playing once or twice every week. great fun.

We are a few sessions away from the grand finale. my players know that. last night, my players were in the right place at the right time, a saw X npc running away, with her father's guards running behind to arrest/save her and bring her back. player G decides to go after her, while the rest of the party just said they'd go and inform her father about the whole thing. that's where the problem started

in the story, the players were supposed to spend the night at the lord/father's estate, and go in the following morning to look for the girl and the missing guards, leading to a big bad thing they need to find to almost complete the campaign (a portal to hell). they know this is why they are here, that's why they travelled here.

he run into the unknown, in a completely abandoned, dark and somewhat dangerous area of a city that was half destroyed a long time ago, with no armor, no weapons, and no magic of any kind (they were chilling in a geisha house so he had to give up his gear at the entrance). i let him play this, as to not block his free will, and keep following foot tracks. an hour passes in game, and i ask him if he plans to spend the whole night wandering the empty ruins. he says yes. another hour passes, i ask if he thinks he should rest and come back tomorrow. he wants to keep going. to make things interesting, i let him stumble upon the bad guys (that he is supposed to find tomorrow) and tell him they havent seen him yet. he spies on them, figures out what's what, and goes to find the guard looking for the girl. i ask if he wants to leave now. he says no. he takes the guards to the bad guys. everyone is fully armed and armored but him. he still doesnt leave. a fight breaks out, he stays to fight. i tell him his side is losing badly. he doesnt leave. they hurt him a lot, he's left with 3 hp and i spare his life, in order to recruit him. he says he will never serve them (he doesnt even know who exactly these guys are). i stopped the session there, as i didnt want to say "your character dies" right before "goodnight".

i have spent a lot of time and effort on this, and i want both player G, and the other 2 players to enjoy the finale. its too late for him to make a new character, and it wouldnt feel right to finish the campaign with only the other players participating. i also dont want to deny him his choices and say "no, your character wouldnt do that".

do you have any suggestions on what to do at this point?

I plan on running a mystery and I would love any recommendations or any books that touch on it

Hey there everyone, I'm preparing to introduce 2 new players to rpgs. They became interested when seeing a Cthulhu game at the bookstore and wanted to play something like that but were worried about how complicated it might be for them. I'm an experienced DM though i haven't run any Lovecraft or Cthulhu games yet. I'm confident in running horror games, I've run tons of Vaesen, Mothership, Deadlands, and other little Horror games, but wanted some recommendations as Lovecraft horror can lean pretty heavy on players being able to get into the game.

I already own Cthulhu Dark and like the system, my only worry is that with such little mechanical framework new players might feel a little lost. Sometimes having stats, skills and abilities can help orient newbies to what they can and should be doing. I also considered running Call of Cthulhu proper, I've never touched the system but its what first caught the players eyes, they just didn't want to invest in it knowing nothing about RPGs and the physical game being pretty pricey.

Basically is Cthulhu Dark good for new roleplayers, is Call of Cthulhu easy to run for new players with prep, pregens or a prewritten one shot? Any recommendations on Lovecraft One-Shots, I've heard a little of Delta Green being a good option too.

Lastly (I already have and) I'll be speaking more with the players to understand what they want and expect out of this experience, proper session 0 stuff. Just would like to come to the table with an option or two prepared to keep things moving quick and easy.

I’ve been thinking about a few things in an RPG I play often. And this is the question that bothers me the most: I have a winged character who’s a hand-to-hand combatant—is it possible to use wings in close quarters combat? If yes, how would you effectyvelu do that?! There is no special abilites that the wings can do except for... Well, flying