**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.

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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.

I've been running D&D 5e for about four years now and honestly I've hit a wall. My players are great but I keep feeling like the system is fighting me whenever I try to run anything that isn't a dungeon crawl or combatheavy adventure. Social encounters feel bolted on, exploration is basically just asking people to roll Perception, and I spend more time patching rules than actually prepping stories.

I've been lurking here for a while and keep seeing people talk about games like Blades in the Dark, Savage Worlds, Forbidden Lands, and a bunch of Free League stuff. Every time I read about them I get curious but there's a real intimidation factor around convincing my group to learn something new when they're already comfortable with what they know.

So I guess my questions are these. For those of you who made the switch, what finally pushed you over the edge? Was it a specific moment at the table where the system just couldn't do what you needed? Did your group resist at first and then come around? And practically speaking, what system did you move to and did it actually solve the problems you were having?

Looking for honest experiences here, not just system recommendations. I want to know what the actual transition felt like for you and your group

I've been itching to try out a new RPG, and I'd love if it could be affordable. All responses are appreciated.

Hello. I've always been interested in Fate but never got around to experiencing the system. I did however play and run Legend in the Mist, which I really enjoyed. Lately I've been wanting to finally give Fate a try now that I have some experience with a similar system, but a friend has discouraged me by saying that LitM just does what Fate does, but better.

I was wondering what the community thinks of this. Is Fate (I'm specifically thinking of Fate Accelerated but I know there are other versions as well) still a worthwhile game to play if you have experience with the Mist Engine?

'How I learned not to Railroad'.

Way back when, in the very early 90s, as a university age DM. Sick of D&D, murderhobo styles (I had been DMing for nearly all my highschool years). Had seen Dragonlance. I thought I could do a much better High fantasy and well plotted campaign with a system without a skyrocketing power level system. Real plot, stakes, and Heroic struggle. I decided on Fantasy Hero as a system.

I plotted an epic campaign. It centered around a world plagued by demons, an absence of gods, a pile of philosophical paths, and a deep belief in luck, fate and prophecy. There is a push by a demonlord to openly conquer the world, the PCs are trying to fill a prophecy in order to stop it. They are powerful Heroes, and all strongly motivated to work together to do this, despite some considerable cultural and ethical differences. 6 Players, make detailed characters and backgrounds.

I write the basis of the plot arcs, described in the prophecy, which they have, but is somewhat vague. The significant twists come through other, lesser demon lords, who really don't want the world takeover to succeed, as then they become vassals of the one that does the conquering. The demons have enough selfish, bickering politics that this can be used to let the Heroes succeed. One demon prince in particular, weaker but very cunning, has the complete prophecy, including the bit the PCs don't have, but doesn't want the other demon lords to know this.

Session Zero went well. Session 1 has the PCs perform a ritual in an old city in an ancient wasteland, and begin the quest. Someone has ratted them out, and their location is known to the BBEG. A column of wyvern mounted scout troops attacks them, wounds one badly, but the party kills several and the rest realise they are outclassed and fly off. From a high bluff in the wastes, they see the scouts flying off towards a huge marching army. 20 wyvern troops, they win easily. They know there is no way they can fight this army, and several have played with me before and know my style of 'stupidity tests' which start early (if you are dumb enough to think the 7 of you can smash that army single handed, we can just have you die now, establishing the genre and tone).

The Heroes try to hide and flee. The aerial scouts make hiding not a great solution in the fairly open semi-desert wasteland. They try to flee. The problem is that there are demonic and undead troops, that need no sleep or rest. Short term they are faster, long term they are run down. It looks grim, then the sneaky Demon lords lieutenant rocks up with retineue (on wyverns) and signals to parley. He offers them a free ride out of there, to wherever in wyern range they would like. Questioned, he replies about his lords motives for this present. Party lore guy confirms this does make sense.

Problem... In session 0, two characters had made 'no compromise with demons' fanatics. Made sense in lore. The RPed their characters well. One refused to touch the deal. The second killed the emissary...

Oh shit, my party is up a creek without a paddle in a barbed wire canoe, and my deus ex machina was just shot down by some good RPing. My (fairly good) GM improvising brain had in mind letting the lore master in the group 'remember' some underground tunnels from the city they were in, that lead out a long way (great adventure, a 'forced double time' dungeon crawl, pursued by foes, and having to cover their tracks, sounded great fun). Problem was, the whole freaking plot relied on 'deals' with demon lords that were not going to happen... I fucked the whole grand campaign, on session 1.

I did the only thing I could do, apologised to the players, and ended the game. It was my mistake. But I learned, that day, why railroading is bad, even 'the party doesn't care if they are on a railroad as long as it goes to awesome' railroading.

(reposted from an RPG forum).

The Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland has inscribed new entries to the National Inventory of Living Heritage; one among them, role-playing culture in Finland. Here’s the inventory entry: https://wiki.aineetonkulttuuriperinto.fi/wiki/Role-playing_culture .

The national inventory is mandated by UNESCO for all signatories of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The point of the convention is to increase the visibility of living heritage and awareness of its importance, and to help ensure its continued transmission. Finnish Government’s article about the new inscriptions: https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/1410845/national-inventory-of-living-heritage-expands-with-22-new-elements .

Finland has one of the most extensive such inventories in Europe, perhaps due to the bottom-up, wiki-based, community-led process. Finnish Heritage Agency article about the 22 new entries: https://www.museovirasto.fi/en/articles/22-new-entries-added-to-finlands-national-inventory-of-living-heritage .

Disclosure: I was one of the people who helped write the application. I run a small Finnish TTRPG studio.

So hey folks, I'm running a summer smorgasbord of oneshots of different systems for my players to pick our next big campaign.

One that caught my eye is stonetop, BUT i'm pretty sure it doesn't have quickstart rules or anything like that;

So if not stonetop itself is there are system like it (I know it's vaguely Pbta) that I can use to kind of show off how the game would be? Or am I better off just buying the full game and then making a oneshot myself?

EDIT: i don't think I explained this clearly, I'm aware (like any system that revolves around consequences and actions) a oneshot does not do it justice, I just wanted to show my players the game MECHANICS the PBTA system itself - so I can be lile "hey this is what that game is like"

Just curious if there are other RPGs that use the “Zocchi dice” that DCC uses (d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, d30).

Everyone knows Waterdeep, Minas Tirith and Ankh-Morpork.

Which real historical city do you think would make an amazing RPG setting?

And I guess that begs the additional question, what does amazing mean to you in this context?

Hi all,

I'm Gareth Hanrahan, author of a whole bunch of stuff (1/2 of Dracula Dossier, Eyes of the Stone Thief, Pirates of Drinax, Darkening of Mirkwood, Hands of the White Wizard, Dagger in the Heart).

Crowdfunding soon is MERRYSHIRE DETECTIVE CLUB, a GUMSHOE-powered game of Halfling Detectives solving murders in a cosy little village.

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/pelgrane-press/merryshire-detective-club/launch_party?ref=GRHAMA

Anyway, as the title says, Ask Me Anything.

I am a cheapskate and didn’t want to pay for the physical copy of the RPG Im running right now (exit: I did pay for the PDF! Don’t pirate RPGs). Instead I printed out a copy at work, punched it with a hole punch, and stuck it in a binder. But what started as a way to save a couple bucks until I could save up money ended up actually being waaay more convenient than having a book ever was:

For one, I can write all over the damn thing. This is really nice for adventures where I want to change stuff- I can just make notes directly in the text instead of having to cross-reference with my notes. But it’s also nice for tracking changes to the world. Players killed Bob the shopkeeper in Dwarf town? Just cross him out on the page.

Second, I can freely re-order pages and insert stuff where I want it. If I print out a monster online I can just put it in the middle of the monster manual in alphabetical order, making it easy to find. If I have a replacement for one of the hexes in my hex crawl I just put the new hex directly in the middle where it goes. If I have an home brew race I just print it out and stick it next to the other races Z Amazing!

Third, It makes the game way more accessible for my players. Previously we either had a rulebook we had to pass around when someone needed to check how a class ability worked, or people needed to have their phones on them. Now? I just print out a copy of everyone’s class snd race and give it to them. They have exactly the information they need right in front of them the whole time we play, which is great for new players. If two players have the same race or class they can sit next to each other and share, like in school.

Fourth, I find carrying around binders overfilled with paper sticking out everywhere just has a DIY, retro punk sort of aesthetic to it. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea but I like it.