**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.

I run and play all of my games via pure text (and image links). Sometimes, these are synchronous, live text. At other times, they are play-by-post; I have run and finished several PbP adventures in a compact time frame (e.g. just under a week for a core rulebook's starter adventure) by consistently keeping things moving.

I often join PbP games that recruit online. There are often rifts in expectations. Across the past several months, one recurring issue I have seen crop up three times is the "sandbox + PbP + nothing to actually do" phenomenon. I am sure that not all sandbox PbP GMs are like this, but it feels like a non-negligible number of GMs start up a sandbox PbP because they want to put in the least effort possible.

These three games played out the exact same way. The GM starts off the PCs in an uneventful location, like some generic town, describing it noncommittally. The players and their PCs (including me and my own character) search around for plot hooks, opportunities, and points or persons of interest: job boards, reports of monsters or criminals, rumors of treasure or strange activities, word of what lies in a certain direction away from town, chances to fulfill some backstory-related goal, and so on. The GM tells the players and the PCs that they turn up nothing. The game fizzles out after a while, because there is nothing to do but aimlessly wander.

What was the GM expecting? Was the GM thinking that the players and their PCs would, completely by themselves, kick off some epic and exciting sequence of events? Even with nothing of interest to actually work off?

Two of the aforementioned games indeed petered out. One, which started last March, is still ongoing. It is a superhero game, and we have lost players. Superpowers are new in the setting, and yet the GM has been having NPCs act unimpressed or skeptical about our powers. Only now, three months later, have we finally managed to find an antagonist with superpowers to confront.

What do you think?

Let me expound on the superhero game example. We began last March, and have lost players since.

The GM starts our characters in a tech expo: a mundane tech expo, nothing super. We search around for any strange activity or opportunities, and turn up nothing. We try to impress people with our superpowers, but our efforts are brushed off or disbelieved, despite superpowers being a new phenomenon in this setting. (Honestly: Is it any wonder why some PCs flip out and start acting like chaotic, violent murderhobos "for no reason"?)

We finally find some scientist giving a speech. We crash the speech with our superpowers. The scientist takes us back to his lab for testing. However, it is a mundane scientist and a mundane laboratory, and the GM has us roleplay out the most banal, uneventful tests possible. At one point, the GM asks me to make a roll to see if my speedster character can successfully wave their hand really fast.

Rolling to see if something bad happens. Something catches fire, being on the spot makes you nervous, and you can't go super fast, or you open a rift in space/time. Lots of things can happen when showing off something at high speeds.

I just saw it as an opportunity to put some drama/unpredictability into the situation. Everyone has already seen you move quickly so far.

I tell the GM that this seems too random and punitive, and that a roll would be too arbitrary. The GM goes along with it, thankfully.

The prosaic tests continue, then conclude. Eventually, we are let back out into the city with no real plot hooks. We resume our attempts at finding opportunities. At last, after three real-time months, we find our first... "supervillain" of sorts. He is a mentally unwell, telekinetic tweaker in an alley; he rambles out violent intentions while menacingly displaying his destructive powers. It is... a start, at least?

I do not know. Should it really have taken three real-time months to reach this point?

How would you have handled this game setup?

So I joined my first DnD campain last week and uh, there were situations that made me uncomfortable / uneasy / weirded out. I don't want to write exactly what happened bc i'm worried about other players also being on this subreddit.

​

But the point stands - what are the early red flags to look out for? I really don't want to leave since I love the story and other players' characters. DM has ton of ideas and I like where everything is going but I need to know if I'm going crazy or that stuff isn't normal.

This week's RPG is Mage: The Ascension!

Have you played it? Have you run/GM'd it? How did it go?

What's your favourite memory from the game?

What's the best thing about the game?

What's the worst? How would you improve it?

.

Last week was Symbaroum. Join us again next week for Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition!

Obviously, Deadlands is the standard bearer for this little corner of our hobby, but I see Frontier Scum getting a lot of love these days. Have you played either? Something else? What did you like? Or if you didn't like it, what made you bounce off?

just what the title is asking for. surreal, wacky, but not totally unserious RPGs. like troika for example

I picked up the Troika starter bundle recently and I would love to hear what you’ve done with the system. It looks like the advancement math caps out eventually, so this isn’t exactly built for years-long campaigns, but the 1:5 modules and the machine with which you run them all seem great.

90% of what I’ve come across that’s third-party seems more conceptual and “weird” than gameable, but maybe I’m just not on enough acid.

New to the system, not running ttrpgs - I've been doing that for almost 10 years. But I came up with a setting I want to play around with for a campaign, and the best system I could find that fits it is Apocalypse World: Burned Over. I've read through the playbooks and my moves as MC (as well as the original Apocalypse World), but I don't have real experience with the system. I imagine the closest would be that I've been a player in a few Monster of the Week sessions a couple years ago.

​

If anyone has tips, beginners guides, things you pulled from other pbta systems to enhance this one, things that worked for you when you used the system, or things that didn't work at all, I would love to hear them! The more information I can gather while I'm learning a new system, the better.

It's the final 7-days of my Kickstarter.
If you haven't check it out yet, I'd really appreciate your support!

A Bunch of Links

Actual Play Video: https://youtu.be/Tu26wmY54kU?si=FyI2mhMXANNLw83B

Flip-Thru Video: https://youtu.be/zSRaDMY6QMg?si=LmoTa2BJowdWjlf0

Free Quick-Start Guide: https://gander-gaming.itch.io/grok-2e-quickstart-guide

What is Grok?!

Grok?! 2e is a [100% human made] rules-light science fantasy RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world of advanced technomancy and boundless plausibility.

In this world of post-apocalyptic technomancy, nearly anything is plausible.

• Sail across the starry Aether and explore alien worlds.
• Rebel against authoritarian AI alongside trans-dimensional migrants.
• Discover disparate cultures atop hovering isles.
• Survive the chaotic mana-irradiated wasteland.
• Delve dungeons for powerful relics and combat devolved monstrosities.
• Confront the other-dimensional nothingness spawned within the hollow planet.

Inspirational touchstones for the world of Grok?! range from Arzach, Brazil, Discworld, Dying Earth, Fantastic Planet, Flash Gordon, Heavy Metal, Space Team, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Labyrinth, Wizards, and countless others.

The unique game system was developed with inspiration from both OSR/NSR and narrative tabletop RPGS, most notably Fate, Cortex Prime, Freeform Universal, Index Card RPG, Cairn, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, and Savage Worlds.

Grok?! 2nd Edition is content complete, and will be printed as a 240-page full-color hardcover, complete with Refined Core Rules, an Expanded Setting, a Full Campaign, Solo Rules, GM Toolkits, and a full complement of add-ons: a Quickstart Guide, GM Screen, Pregen Character Pad, System Reference Booklet, and Coloring Book.

The Setting

• The planet was once a haven for trans-dimensional migrants, and a bastion of advanced technomancy, until a cataclysm splintered the world.
• Now, long abandoned travelers sail across the vast Aether between planets, struggling to survive the abyss of space and the hostile alien lifeforms they’ve awakened.
• Rebel indentured citizens revolt against the deranged AI that controls the deteriorating space station, called the Simulacrum, that encapsulates and irradiates the planet.
• Eccentric and isolated societies maturate within inverted cities that float among the clouds on Hovering Isles.
• Mutant vagabonds traverse the Wastelands for salvage, inundated with phosphorescent radiation from the space station above and hunted by monstrosities from below the surface.
• Devolved monstrosities haunt the labyrinthine Underworld passages, coveting the relics of immense power long abandoned within.
• And all the while, within the Nether megacity in the center of the planet, ancient other-dimensional gods and their eldritch brood offer worship to the Voidstar from which they were cast: an infinite nothingness that threatens to consume reality.

Why Grok?!

• Expansive setting. A world of boundless plausibility and streamlined rules that cater to adventures of nearly every type.
• Rules light. Draws heavy inspiration from NSR/OSR and narrative games alike, offering a versatile and intuitive system for any setting.
• Universal Action Resolution. Uses a single resolution system for all character actions, whether fighting a mechalizard, casting a magic spell, or repairing a flux-decombobulator.
• Description Based Modifiers. Descriptive Aspects are integral to the resolution system, allowing anything to have mechanical impact on an Action's success.
• Player Facing Rolls. Ensures fast action resolution with constant player engagement, where every roll matters.
• Slot Based Resources. An Asset Slot system distills resource management of inventory, spells, damage, and temporary effects, into a single cohesive system.
• Open License. The SRD is licensed under Creative Commons, allowing you to freely hack and publish your work based on the game.

When i started getting into TTRPGs besides DnD, I watched a lot of reviews. This would have been 2020ish?

There was a review i watched of this one gane. I think it was Questing Beast? Im not sure though, it was a top down review of someone flip through a book

The front cover was neon and colorful. I think it had a giant pyramid on it? The book was this weird gonzo setting of this future post apocalypse.

There was one specifc thing i remember. In the book, there was this faction of (i think) women named after the Gillette razor company? I think when the book was published, Gillette was under some controversy for how they marketed some razors aimed at women? The author named the faction after them becasue of this.

This is the only thing i remember that was definitely in the book. Does this ring any bells?

Thanks!

English is not my first language, sorry in advance.

I have such a bad retention of players.

I post the annuncement, set a date for session 0 and prepare a discord server in the meantime.

We meet and seems like everybody is exited to talk about Expectations and Boundries.

But 3/4 out of 5 players give up a couple days prior or during the same day.

It doesn't matter which system, setting or if it's a Sandbox, West marches or linear.

Even if I say I'm avaible at any minute if you want to talk or discuss any topic, most of the time I recive a message of this kind.

"Cuz of my work schedule changed, I won't be able to play regularly for a little while. Very sorry I won't be joining y'all. Wish you only the best of luck on your adventures and hope I will be able to jump in if the spot opens at a later date. If not, maybe on some other adventure."

it drains the fun to meet new people with this hobby and the trill to reach out of the confort zone.

And so, Rpgs community, do you have any tips that you can give me to help out?

• Thx in Advance

• This is a throw away account as I'm too embarrassed to post with the main one.

And we're back with the next episode of our Chuubos Exocolonist actual play:

Episode 10 - (YT, Podbean) - Our Exocolonists track down some missing equipment and discover someone's secret... Episode 11 - (YT, Podbean) - Our Exocolonists negotiate with a child who drives a hard bargain and take down the colony's drone network. I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen as a result...

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