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Brief rant: I just checked out a game's preview on DriveThruRPG. Here's what I got: a cover, a copyright page, 3 pages of table of contents, a full-page art page with "Introduction" at the bottom followed by another full-page art page.

That's it.

I won't buy your product without some inkling of what I'm getting, especially since I can't return the product if I don't like it. If I'm looking at your book on the shelf at a store I'm going to flip through it before I buy. For a digital sale you can at least give us a couple of random pages of rules, setting, something so we know how the book is laid out and whether we'd want to buy it.

I heard these three are similar and have been interested in trying them out. Can anyone tell me about their experiences with these games and which one they think is best.

So, came across this and it looks like fantasy Into the Odd. Have y’all played? Looks like it could be good for short- or long-term games depending on the group.

“Diegetic advancement” is kind of breaking and fixing my brain simultaneously lol

Hello! I enjoy trying new systems and thus I’m asking here for more recommendations as I’m on a big dark fantasy kick, thus far I’ve played the Dark Souls rpg (though it’s just knock off 5E tbh) SOTDL and Ker Nethalas, if this helps show the vibe I’m going for, I’m looking to try new systems so I’m not too strict on what exactly it is outside of wanting it to be dark and gritty and my great dislike of PBTA games. Thanks in advance

I want to start a game in my own custom homebrew setting, but I don't know how to make it actually playable for people who don't have all the information about the world.

The setting is heavily customized, with an universe that doesn't seem too similar to most things you can see out there - think, an alien ecosystem with its own rules, plants, animals, creatures, etc, with hundreds of custom names for custom entities everywhere. Plants work weird, animals work weird, magic works weird, everything is different than the most common settings you see in rpgs. You can't just go in and assume that humans are doing typical human jobs, lifestock is cows and pigs, pets are dogs, etc. Everything is different, but it's common different to characters in-universe.

The issue is the fact that my players simply won't know things that are common in the setting unless they read the 100 page encyclopedia of all most common things in the world, which isn't fun. Literally no one wants to read pages upon pages of entries of alien creatures that they should commonly know just so that their peasant character will recognize the creature, as people in-universe would.

So their characters end up not knowing a lot of things that should be common in-universe, and no one likes constantly hearing "actually, that's not how it works-" or "any peasant out there knows this" every time they try to do or say something, which complicates things.

How could I tackle making a campaign in the setting without making the players feel stupid for not knowing the universe?

What could I do to make learning of the custom alien ecosystem interesting, rather than have it feel like infodumping / sharing a hundred names that are homework to remember?

I love my setting, but I just need help with making it feel good to play for those who didn't spend the past five years creating the world and don't know every detail about living there.

I was vaguely considering going the "isekai" path - they are beings from a different world placed in this one, so that their characters can learn how everything works alongside the players, but then it could end up feeling unfair when a common alien plant eats them or something.

Either that, or maybe have them all be very sheltered people who recently escaped imprisonment, but then once again, the lack of knowledge could doom them.

How could I make it work?

Sessions are about 2-3 hours each.

Blades, Mothership, Apocalypse World, Mythic Bastionland are all out, they're already on the list for later in the year(s)

I could do four one-shots and I'm not totally opposed to that but I've prefer to do something with a little arc to it.

I'd prefer to avoid rules-heavy stuff as this would be squeezing a game between two others and there's a limit on how much I can force myself to learn.

Any suggestions welcome, thanks

Hello!

I've been thinking about migrating my campaign to a different system. Right now, we play D&D 5e.

Our game is heavily focused on storytelling and roleplay, with very little emphasis on mechanics. We rarely roll dice, and most of the fun comes from the narrative itself. I originally chose D&D 5e because I'm very comfortable running it, but lately I've started to feel that the system's level of complexity doesn't really add much to the kind of game we play.

Another issue is that my players often want to do things that go beyond what their character sheets explicitly allow. For example, one hero might want to permanently cripple an enemy, while a slime-like character wants to stretch their limbs to reach something far away. In many cases, the rules don't provide a satisfying way to handle these kinds of actions.

Do you have any recommendations for systems that might fit this style of play better? Alternatively, if you've dealt with a similar situation while running D&D 5e, how did you handle it?

Thanks!

Edit: A bit more context on the game's vibe:

We're playing in a pretty dystopian setting, so random and seemingly out-of-place things tend to show up. Think of moments in *Hunter x Hunter* where Togashi suddenly introduces something like a car in the middle of a tribal society. That kind of anime-esque contrast is exactly the vibe we're going for.

The world itself is a strange mix of fantasy, ruins of lost civilizations, forgotten technology, and bizarre discoveries that nobody can fully explain. It's the kind of setting where ancient spirits, magical artifacts, and remnants of advanced technology can all exist side by side without anyone batting an eye.

The protagonists are literally a Zelda-style Link, a perpetually hungry slime, and a princess who ran away from her family. So the campaign leans much more toward adventurous, character-driven storytelling and weird discoveries than strict realism or grounded worldbuilding.

Do you think a light PbtA system would work well to introduce players to RPGs?

Anyone have any game suggestions that are great for one GM and two players?

Systems that use dice as well and no gm-less/tokens/cards.

Preferably systems that were specifically made for that, but open to others as well.

I changed the system, I don't like too much the fact that every spell is a different skill, and I wanted to go for something a bit more pulpy (I'm gonna play a weird WWII campaign inspired by the Achtung! Cthulhu system)

I created the "magic" skill. When a character learns magic (has to be justified, either via background or in game) the player earns POWx2 (or maybe x3, I'm not entirely sure yet) points in the "magic" skill. From then on, the skill is levelled like every other skill.

You roll on this skill every time you make an opposed test that involves spellcasting (e.g. trying to mind control someone), to learn a new spell, or to identify spells that you do not know.

Using magic has a price: I used fatigue points as a mana pool. Every spell costs 1dX fatigue points to cast, and once you get to 0, you faint, or you can spend 1 hit point to keep going: from then on you can use your hit point to cast, but if you get to zero by casting spells, you die. If you get to zero hit points by mundane wounds, you simply faint (rules about major wounds still apply).

Casting simpler spells does not have a sanity cost. the most gruesome ones, or the ones that will put you in contact with unnameable horrors will.

After all you need to be a certain kind of person to willingly, knowingly cast a spell that liquefies someone's innards.

Learning a new spell has a sanity cost, because it exposes your brain to a new facet of the true reality of the world. New spells are found in game, either by researching them or by finding old grimoires. (I'm using call of cthulhu as a source for spells, since it's based on the BRP engine).

What do y'all thing? Is this system balanced?

An example of what I mean: https://www.nordiclarp.org/2018/02/21/play-lift-not-just-lose/

I wouldn’t be too surprised if some FKR game get mentioned. And that’s okay, btw - go ahead. Any level of complexity, any setting or no setting, any dice or diceless; all are welcome.

As long as they, somehow or other, try their level best to do as the title ^ suggests, that is.

So anyway, for a start, actual levels and XP (etc.) are probably not the idea here.

I’m aware, Larp is its own thing - I’ve done a few. And Nordic Larp is a distinct subtype therein. Indeed. The request, though, is for TTRPGs that get as close as possible to that approach / those priorities, implicitly or otherwise.