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I'm a new GM, I'm posting here to maybe gain some insight to aid me in my GM journey. To keep it brief, prepping has become a bit of a slog recently. I spend a lot of time prepping for each session just for my players to completely blow through the things I have prepared. I think what I've narrowed it down to is that I tend to prepare exposition and information, and not tension. Exposition and lore drops last maybe minutes at a time when tension, creating situations, and presenting problems to my players create a longer and more immersive session at the table.

I know that kinda sounds like I get it, but I don't actually understand the process to get there. I've read Don't Prep Plots series by the Alexandrian many times over as well as similar posts online and I can't seem to grasp the concepts they're trying to get at.

I've seen tons of videos and posts online talking about DMing as giving a sandbox to the players, or giving the players toys (NPCs, setpieces, problems) to play with, experiment with, and live in the situation I've given them. Fundamentally, if I want to create tension and meaningful choices for the players, I don't understand how I can not prepare branching outcomes and waste prep on outcomes the players will never see depending on their choices.

I am mainly confused by this. if I don't prep branching outcomes to the player choices, I don't get how i should handle unexpected and open ended solutions the players create, without improvising everything on the spot. Unless improv is really the heart of the solution to all of this? That seems extremely hard.

Example: the party is hired to export cargo to Awesome City, but upon arriving at the dock, the ship they were guaranteed is missing.

Sure I can come up with the problem, however, i dont understand how to prep for players potentially stealing a boat, fighting a crew, or investigating the disappearance.

What does the process behind "prep situations, not plots" actually look like structurally? Any advice is welcome and helpful!

Hey all

I have a friend who is really into the cyberpunk lore and videogame and she really wants to play an rpg within the setting. The problem is that I really don't like the crunchy traditional style of roleplaying that cyberpunk red and others seem to have mechanically. I enjoy playing and running games like blades in the dark and powered by the apocalypse where big narrative swings can happen without it being grid based combat and spending thousands of eddies in minute ways. I enjoyed playing the sprawl. Is there any game that lends itself to being adapted to cyberpunk lore without being a combat sim?

I’m looking for a well-rounded setting to run high fantasy games in. Lately the impression I have is that a huge proportion of TTRPGs in fantasy settings (and maybe others as well) are set in dark worlds, with themes of horror, gothic horror, post-apocalyptic, survivalism, gritty, etc. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that and there are some that I have enjoyed, but it isn’t what I’m looking for right now, and it surprises me how much of what I find is in this vein.

Then a lot of what I do find that isn’t dark is on the opposite end of the spectrum: cozy. Which, again, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with and I have enjoyed some of, but also isn’t what I’m after.

I’d like a setting that feels like it has a balance of both. Not a cozy world with only minor conflict but also not a dark, unforgiving world with unending conflict. I want a setting that has a mix of downbeats and upbeats, of darkness and brightness, of cute and terrifying, of hope and fear, you get the idea.

If I think about video games that I enjoyed growing up that had that kind of feel, I think of things like Skies of Arcadia, the Tales series, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy, Loom, Baten Kaitos, the King’s Quest series, and others. Games that had dark moments, places and people mixed in with moments that felt bright or heroic, or curious or beautiful or mysterious.

So far the thing that has hit the closest is the Dales setting from Legend in the Mist, which is one of the things that I like about it. It’s good, and I also enjoy it but I’d also like something that lends itself to more high fantasy. Eberron has come up in my searches, I don’t know much about it but am interested in looking into it especially if others might recommend it for this.

Would love to hear thoughts and recommendations!

Anyone still playing Rifts?

How important is it for there be progression in an RPG?

Is it enough for the character to have money and agency. To be able to buy property and run businesses or are levels and xp a necessity?

What ways are there to make a player invest in their character and keep them coming back?

In many Space Opera works, there is this "Trope" which consists of having a giant planet sized space station which serves as a hub for all factions known in the galaxy. In Star Wars this station is Coruscant, in Mass Effect it's the Citadel, in Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 it's the eponymous station.

My goal is to make a Spy Campaign inspired by John le Carré which is set entirely within the walls of said station.

Is there a RPG sourcebook for such as setting?

I'm designing a TTRPG focused on character customization. And naturally, I've been playtesting it to hell and back at shows, friends, and online.

But the one thing I can't test super easily en masse is character creation. The basic design philosophy is that I want players to have choices -- to feel like they've made something truly theirs.

But, that means, there's a lot of choices. The nice thing is that I space them out. At any given level, you make only 1 choice. And every major choice chooses from 6ish options, medium choices choose from 10ish, and minor choices choose from 20 or so. And yes, the choices do actually matter. There's not really any "dead abilities".

Does that feel like a lot of reading? Its definitely more to read than a Mork Borg, but I'd like to think it's nicer than the reading of Pathfinder, where a lot of things are things you don't really care about.

What are game systems you like for their character creation? What parts do you like? What parts do you dislike?

the only one I can think of is noblis

What’s the most memorable example of players massively overthinking a simple situation in your TTRPG games?

I’m thinking about those moments where the GM presents a completely straightforward obstacle, NPC, door, clue, or encounter, and the players immediately assume there’s some deeper conspiracy, hidden trap, or elaborate puzzle involved.

What happened, how far did the overthinking go, and how did the situation finally get resolved?

Hi all,

I'm always a fan of RPG books with an "Appendix N" or an "inspirational material" section. It's great fun to dive into the works which inspired a fictional world; I like to think of it as an intellectual history.

I love that in Mage the Ascension Revised ed there is a reference to The Matrix but many people imagineMage inspired The Matrix.

I loved the shared DNA between GURPS Transhuman Space and Eclipse Phase being shown clearly by the works they reference.

With all that said; I'm looking for recommendations. What RPG book do you think has the best "Appendix N"?

preferably older systems with a lot of support