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I don't mean some Vampire the Mascarade or something, the real obscure stuff.

I'm not sure if I'm actually looking for an RPG in this case or if what I want is closer to a board game, but I figured I'd ask here anyway.

Do you guys know of any RPGs or dungeon crawlers where progression comes from learning more about the dungeon or the game itself as you play, rather than through character leveling?

I did something similar in one of my campaigns once. I created my own script for an ancient language, and my players had to decipher it using context clues they discovered throughout the campaign. By piecing everything together, they were eventually able to figure out what was really going on and how to defeat the final boss.

I know this kind of thing isn't for everyone, since it essentially shifts the mystery-solving aspect from the characters to the players themselves. It doesn't really matter how intelligent their characters are if the players can't figure things out on their own. However, my players absolutely loved it, so now I'm looking for something similar.

Are there any prewritten dungeons or modules that use this kind of knowledge-based, meta-progression? Alternatively, are there any RPGs built around this concept?

Just out of a curiosity.

I've started asking players a slightly different question during character creation, and it's produced some of my favorite NPCs.

Not "Who would mourn your character if they died?"

Who would be genuinely inconvenienced if they just failed to show up tomorrow?

The distinction sounds silly, but I've found that it gets people thinking about their characters differently.

I was preparing a small-town mystery campaign and asked everyone this before our first session.

One player said his character helped an elderly neighbor carry firewood every few days. Another said she was supposed to cover the evening shift at her uncle's shop. The third had borrowed a horse and promised to return it by Thursday.

Nothing dramatic. No murdered parents, secret enemies, ancient prophecies or elaborate personal quests.

Just three people who had something to do next week.

A few sessions later, the party was considering staying another night in a dangerous area to investigate something.

The player with the horse suddenly said, "Shit, I told him I'd bring it back."

Everyone laughed, but then they actually started discussing whether they should send word back to town.

That was a completely unplanned bit of roleplaying, and I loved it.

I've noticed that characters with enormous tragic backstories can sometimes feel weirdly disconnected from the world they're actually adventuring in. Their entire past is important, but nobody in the present seems to expect anything from them.

Meanwhile, giving a character an ordinary obligation immediately suggests that they existed before session one and will continue to exist between adventures.

I don't use these obligations as surprise punishments. If someone says their character promised to help repair a roof, I'm not going to burn down the village because they missed an afternoon.

It's more about making the world feel like it has a place for them that isn't reserved exclusively for heroic deeds.

And honestly, "Who is expecting you on Thursday?" has given me more usable material than several pages of backstory ever did.

I'm curious whether other GMs deliberately create these kinds of mundane connections, or whether you prefer to let them emerge naturally during play.

So, as a preface, I usually really strongly dislike prewritten adventure modules - I struggle reading through and prepping them, and get a lot of anxiety around keeping things 'on track', so I've generally shied away from the big, linear adventures you see for games like Pathfinder.

There is however, one format that seems to mentally work a lot better for me, which is what the OSR game Mausritter uses for its boxed sets like The Estate or the upcoming Junk City, along with some 3rd party offerings that follow the same formula - a central campaign booklet (8-36 pages in Mausritter's cases) outlining the main premise and overarching location, its factions, and the like, with various smaller adventures keyed to specific locations throughout the area, each basically a three-panel pamphlet.

That feels a lot more digestible and flexible to me, without feeling like there's any one prescribed way for things to unfold. I want more of that!

(I know the key word here is 'sandbox', but I've struggled trying to read some ...traditionally-written sandboxes before - I'm not particularly eager to try running Kingmaker).

The question is - do any other games structure their modules in a comparable way? I'd love to know of anything similar - it doesn't have to be the same form factor of booklets and pamphlets, but a clear framework for short adventures that add up to a larger narrative sounds really enticing!

This summer I was looking through a stack of RPGs at a vendor at a summer festival. They had a game that I can’t remember many details about but would love to find again.

What I do remember:

1. It was a “regular” sized RPG book with excellent production value. There was a touch of art deco to the book cover design.

2. The game loop is a literal loop: you try, you die, you go back with what you’ve learned and try (and usually die) again.

I wish I could remember more details but hopefully one of you fine folks can help me with finding it again.

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a roll20 map of New York City (the single citys parts or a complete map, both would be fine). Does anyone has something like this already?

I wanna invite my friends over and basically larp I think?? But I’m not to versed in these types of games. Should go without saying but it should be relatively easy to play since we’re all beginners. Oh and if u know any free ones that would be awesome we’re broke teenagers. I don’t have any preferences on the story as long as it’s interesting

I suck at running heists. I've even tried to run blades in the dark but I just suck at designing heists and they often devolve into unexciting skill checks. Clearly I'm missing some structure or template for them.

Are there any GM books that talk about that. For example, I love the way the mothership GM manual talks about designing horror adventures.

I'm about to run a heist session in nimble (arasaka raid cyberpunk iykwim)

I’m making a 3-shot Halloween special.

Evil dead: The lost tapes will cover 3 classic horror movies.

Session 1 - evil dead 2
Session 2 - Halloween (more Halloween kills in vibe)
Session 3 - The shinning

The story will follow up a group of young adults who accidentally releases the evil and have to track it down leading to a blast of horror and comedy.

My own problem in the moment is, even tho I’m an veteran GM, horror was never that much my focus.

What’s your best tips to build a good horror vibe? I have my own idea for time passing (the first session is set in a single night) but more tips would be welcomed

Hey all. I'm looking for systems that suit a particular playstyle. Specifically I'd like a system that could support fantasy adventures, like questing and monster slaying and such, but without forcing a power curve that ends in "fight god" like 5e does. Some suggestions I've heard include 7th Sea and Ryuutama, but I'd like to get some more options to look into as 7th Sea looks a bit more pulp than I'd like and Ryuutama is a bit too cutesy.