**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.

A lot of times, when people talk about the "pillars" of (mostly d20 fantasy) RPGs, there's a discussion of combat, noncombat/social, and exploration.

Combat is easily covered by rules/mechanics/game sub-systems.

Social, much the same, though a lot has been said over the years about how social often gets the short end of the stick in many systems unless they're intentionally "about" it.

Exploration is the messier one for me, because depending on how it's being discussed, it can mean a few very different things:

Map traversal: hexcrawl/point-crawl/etc, and rules for traveling between them/time management.

(Though, I might personally be inclined to say that "travel" doesn't imply exploration on its own)

Resource management: Food/water/sleep/etc matter and there are mechanics to reflect that.

World construction/campaign direction: there is a big map with lots of "stuff" in it the players don't know about. They are broadly able to freely investigate these things as suits their interests, with maybe 1-2 hints to get them started as needed.

(This feels like campaign structure more than a mechanic, interested in hearing from other perspectives)

So, especially for people who really love exploration style play... What does "good exploration" mean? How do you want it to feel like as a player? What are systems that do this "right" and how?

Asking because I'm too Forever-GM brained and there's nothing on the map I don't put there, so I can't wrap my head around it. Unless it's Quiet Year and we collectively as a table put it there.

Can't respond to everyone, but here are some other cool answers I'm seeing:

- Exploration means an internally consistent world with lots of details to follow up on, regardless of system. I'd call this world building.

- Exploration is extremely procedural, with dungeon turns, resource tracking, stacked on top of each other depending on the system. Very common in OSR style.

- Exploration is everything not combat.

- Zen answer: there is only the situation and the actions the players take.

I am looking for adventure modules for any fantasy RPG with the following characteristics:

1. Setting: A monastery, fortress, villa, or library.
2. Genre: Investigative / Mystery.
3. Gameplay: Focused on puzzles, riddles, and uncovering secrets.

I am looking for something that uses Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" as a blueprint or model for the adventure. Any fantasy ruleset or system is fine.

I've got a weird craving for weird fantasy. I haven't exactly seen this term used elsewhere (and I'm hoping it catches on), but I saw a post on r/y2kaesthetic with some stills from games like Oddworld, Planescape Torment, Riven and the like. And I want more of that. I want giant, weird, alien industrial machinery that's old and rusting. I want strange tribalism either fused or warring with technology. I want stuff that looks outlandish and desiccated, remnants of an alien empire that was grand once but no longer. Post apocalyptic perhaps, but definitely odd and crusty even if the setting isn't fully in collapse. 'Biopunk' is another term that fits, I think.

I'm vaguely familiar with Tribe 8 and I suspect it fits a similar vibe (though I'd be grateful for any experienced review of this). Maybe Vaults of Vaarn too? The Electrum Archives, perhaps? Is there any other RPGs out there like this? Things that revel in the strange and grungy? If it had rules I would absolutely add 'GODHUSK' by Plastiboo in here, but alas it is merely an artbook. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind would fit too in a lot of ways, especially with the intersection of the Dwemer ruins.

Thanks in advance for any help with this. Hoping to find some true gems here.

I'm a big fan of running Stars Without Numbers, but one of it's few letdowns is ship combat. I'd love to hear some community thoughts and opinions on various games that tackle this.

I love Dungeon Crawl Classics. But the very oldschool layout, while dope as fuck, and fitting, can make it quite hard to find and parse information sometimes, especially compared to something like Old School Essentials. Same goes for every Borg game to a certain extent, but punk instead of oldschool.

While like a lot of people here, I'm not a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, and I generally prefer when race in games have more impact (be it mechanically like DCC or in-world like Symbaroum), for a "generic fantasy setting", I think it's races are fantastic!

Also, while not inventing it, popularizing the fantastic Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic I'm thankful for, is great. Popularizing roleplaying in general I guess, alot of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for Fifth Edition.

So let's hear yours!

I'm well aware of the scruples people have with them. I personally haven't played a game and used them, I see the faults in them, and I IMAGINE that most tables just say "you can be lawful or neutral".

BUT,

What are the BENEFITS of an alignment system in your mind? What does it ADD to your table?

I'm aware that Shadowdark and Dolmenwood retain an alignment system, I'm sure others do too. What are the things you like about it?

Curious about the benefits that I do not see on the surface level, I think it's an easy concept to beat on but I'm interested in what it can bring to the table. (I like to run games RAW but am thinking of omitting this).

Edit: specifically referring to what it brings to player characters/character creation!

Hi there.

Me and my players like the aesthetics of JRPGs and also like to play them. However in TTRPGs we like more narrative games rather than combat-centered ones. Fabula Ultima and BREAK!! were almost entirely combat-focused in mechanics which is kind of a bummer.

@edit1: Equipment slots or boardless combat (or their lack thereof) aren't important, it's more about support for familiar themes (Red Mages, a hundred kemonomimi species, etc).

@edit2: Leaning towards ICON and Storypath Ultra. Open to other suggestions.

Hello fine scholars of the TTRPG scene. This is sort of a long one, TLDR at the end.

I've been a DM/GM for about seven years consistently. I've run tons of systems, from DnD derivatives to PbtA and BitD derivatives, and everything in between. But lately, I just... Don't feel like doing it anymore.

Have it hit some sort of "DM/GM Plateau"? Nothing excites me about running Pathfinder First Edition (our current home game). Nothing excites me about 5e/5.5e, Shadows of the Weird Wizard, Monster of the Week, Vaesen, DnD ADND/2e, 3e, 4e, Sentinels of the Multiverse, and any other one I've ran in the last half decade.

And honestly your buns me out. Where's that spark? I used to love riffing with the gang, improvising scenes and encounters. I thought it was burn out, so I tried printed modules to ease the tax on my brain. Then that got stale. I tried to go back to homebrew, but as a 37 yr old with a full time job (not to mention ADHD), I can barely focus on running a game in general.

It's not because I work so much (I work from home, take a few zoom meetings a day, and generally chill). It's not because I've run out of material (I have a sizable book and PDF collection). There's absolutely no shortage of games to run!

I've tried rules light. I've tried rules heavy. I've tried narrative systems. I've tried action packed combat oriented systems. I've tried fantasy, sci fi, anime, JRPG, you name it. And I loved every single one!!

But lately I'm just feeling sort of out of it. April 18th was my last home game, and for other reasons I have been unable to run another. Then, last week, I tried again and it fell through due to life reasons. Whatever, no biggy.

But I found myself relishing the fact I didn't have to run it! I had everything ready to go: mini's, maps, printed out stuff, the whole thing, I was going to start up again! Then it got canceled and I just sighed. I got to sit at my computer and play vidya. I got to -STOP- for a change.

The workload might be the issue but honestly I've tried more and less workload when running stuff and, this is still the end result.

I don't know, I genuinely hope I'm not falling out of love with TTRPGs. I hope I'm not losing interest in the social side of it either because I love my group. I've played week after week, I tried every other week, I tried two weeks between...

Is this a common feeling? Does this happen to everyone? It's genuinely depressing me man.

TLDR: Been a DM and GM for seven years, tons of systems ran, feeling worried I may be quitting for good for some reason I can't figure out. Is this typical for DM/GMs?

I am gearing up to run either Miseries & Misfortunes or HarnMaster online because finding people IRL has proven impossible.

What’s your white whale game?

Has this happened to anyone else? It has happened to me in the past with other content in English, apparently since they find it hard to get they just decide they can have you pay for what you think is the actual thing but then they ship a super low quality, printed-on-demand copy, and they don't even disclose that on the product page. I'm stuck with it tho because it's the only way I can get a physical copy (it's so low quality they didn't even align the printheads and there are obvious streaks of white and darker columns). I'm not even sure they pay the publisher or ask permission to do this?! Did the author even see a dime?

TLDR: Does anyone else feel a disconnect in pre-written RPG modules where the gameplay is fun but the story doesn’t feel personally meaningful or tied to the characters?

I’m currently playing the Delian Tomb pre-written module for Draw Steel. The combat system is great and the abilities are fun to use. Draw Steel is a very fun game to play and our GM is great too.

But I’ve been struggling with a narrative disconnect with the story.

The stakes exist in the fiction, but they don’t feel personally connected to my character or even the group as a whole. Because of that, even though the fights are mechanically fun and we know why we're fighting plot-wise, the fights sometimes feel more like completing encounters than the characters actually living through a meaningful story.

We still roleplay, have scenes, downtime, and character interactions, so it’s not that those moments don't exist at all. They do and we have fun doing them, but those moments feel detached from the actual module stuff.

What I’m missing is a sense of personal investment, something that makes the events feel emotionally tied to the characters rather than just the next encounter hook.

I realize this is a preference thing for me, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with an encounter-focused game like this Draw Steel module. But the longer we play the module, the more I notice a sense of detachment between me and the story we're being told.

It’s made me wonder how common this feeling actually is in RPGs that run on pre-written modules since I don't play too many of them.

Does this kind of disconnect happen to other players too?

Is this a game system issue, or a pre-written module issue, or a GM style issue, or a player expectation issue?