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Somebody in our group took the GM seat to run a mystery for us in "Nancy Druid", a Polymorph-style RPG. We had been doing Cairn and Ben Milton's Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Adventure Game before this and I GM'd. I'm still thinking about something she did.

Beginning of Session 1, when our troop came to town (we were a business of ferret-scouts), the lady at the welcome center told us the museum in town had a new Sci-fi art exhibit. She introduced some places in town and the main mystery (we think). Then we went out and got entangled in different NPC's stories/lives and tried to make it to a plane crash site in the woods, look for clues, etc etc...

The party didn't get near to the museum until late in Session 2; we all remembered the science fiction exhibit and just had to go! Do you know what our GM did when we entered that exhibit? She read a real-life article about about the art of science fiction, and turned around her phone to show us pictures of the art as it came up in the article. Here's the article: https://www.thecollector.com/science-fiction-art/

This detour made the museum and town feel real somehow? I don't know how to describe it, but to me it was a cool GM move. It's not even related to the town's problems/mysteries/things, and yet his mirrors how museums work in life. We had in-game goals we could have pursued, but for a time we just learned about something we wouldn't have learned otherwise if we hadn't popped into the museum that day.

We all liked the sci-fi exhibit, but isn't that surprising? It's not interactable, there nothing in it from Arnold K's Dungeon Checklist or most gameability guides. At least I don't think. You guys ever experienced or brought something like this at or to the table?

I would like to talk about Godbound again. Specifically, I would like to talk about the gift Azure Oasis Spring.

Godbound is a game I have played for nearly a decade by now. More so than any other RPG I have ever played, and I do not say this lightly, Godbound is the one game I have seen suffer from major rifts between the GM's expectations and the players' expectations (or at least, my expectations). I have made at least one thread about this before.

Godbound is a game wherein the PCs are demigods. In the default setting, this is a very new phenomenon. It is up to the GM to determine how many NPC Godbound there are (if any at all). In other words, whatever the PCs are doing has not been done before, because there have been no demigods like them in the past.

The default setting is a fantasy world that is, all things considered, very awful for the average person to live in. There are no massive empires, although one militaristic nation has the pomp to call itself one. The tech level is "roughly equivalent to late medieval Europe," though one isolated nation has modern-day technology and computers that function nowhere else.

The PCs have the power to change the world. They can accomplish such with a mix of lesser gifts and greater gifts for on-screen usage, and resources called Influence and Dominion for downtime purposes. The book dedicates several pages to a section called "Changing the World," outlining this.

Even lesser gifts can achieve spectacular effects, like these:

Terror of the Skies, Constant. You have wings, and can fly at twice your normal ground movement rate. When allowed uninterrupted flight over long distances, you can travel up to one hundred miles an hour. You are sufficiently maneuverable to hover or perform other intricate aerial maneuvers if needed.

Forced March, Constant. You and any companions or soldiers you are leading can march overland at twenty miles an hour, requiring neither sleep nor sustenance. You can easily cross any terrain that is not a human-created fortification, regardless of the hostility or environmental peril of the terrain. You cannot use this gift if you are alone and without companions.

Ender of Plagues, Action. Commit Effort for the scene. Cure all diseases and poisonings within sight. If the Effort is expended for the day, the range of the cure extends to a half-mile around the hero, penetrates walls and other barriers, and you become immediately aware of any disease-inducing curses or sources of pestilence within that area.

Sire of Stone and Street, Action. Commit Effort for the day. You can summon forth constructions and civil engineering in a style appropriate to any city you have known. A single use of this gift creates structures within a hundred-foot cube per level of the character, the buildings rising and forming over the course of an hour. Any construction appropriate to a city can be called forth, even if the local environment lacks the necessary materials. Buildings are equipped with mundane furnishings and objects appropriate to their function. This gift is not usable as a miracle.

And one of my favorite gifts in all the game, Azure Oasis Spring:

Azure Oasis Spring, Action. Summon a water source, causing a new spring to gush forth. Repeated use of this ability can provide sufficient water supplies for almost any number of people, or erode and destroy non-magical structures within an hour. At the Godbound's discretion, this summoned water is magically invigorating, supplying all food needs for those who drink it. These springs last until physically destroyed or dispelled by the Godbound. Optionally, the Godbound may instead instantly destroy all open water and kill all natural springs within two hundred feet per character level, transforming ordinary land into sandy wastes.

I like Azure Oasis Spring because it costs no Effort at all. It can be spammed at will. Even if it is dispelled, which will take the intervention of a divine-level entity, it can simply be renewed. It is fully possible for some character with, say, Terror of the Skies to fly around the world, dropping down Azure Oasis Springs.

Spending Influence and Dominion during downtime can generate unforeseen consequences:

Faction Problems and Changes

While Godbound heroes can create marvels with their gifts, mortal societies can have a hard time coping with the changes. If you're using the faction rules, every time the Godbound adds a new Feature to a faction with their Influence or Dominion, the faction gains a one-point Problem related to the undesirable consequences of the change. Local merchants might be put out of business by cornucopian blessings, gentry might be upset at newly-educated peasants and their insolence, or some other backlash that is inevitable when great and rapid changes are afoot.

But this is for Influence and Dominion. On-screen gifts simply do what they do.

In the great, great bulk of Godbound games I have played in, it feels like the GM just wants to run what amounts to a generic D&D campaign, except with a higher power level and flashier abilities for everyone. Instead of PCs fighting bandits and dragons terrorizing villages, the PCs fight demigod-bandits and demigod-dragons terrorizing villages.

I have found that these Godbound GMs are reasonably comfortable running such "save the status quo"-type adventures. The PCs defeat the demigod-bandits or demigod-dragon, nobody questions the PCs' motives at any step of the way whether in- or out-of-character, and NPCs happily throw feasts and celebrate the PCs as heroes. Simple and expected enough.

However, the moment a player (i.e. me) tries to proactively change the world for purely altruistic reasons, then these Godbound GMs take pause and get uncomfortable. They question the PCs' motives both in- and out-of-character (I was once met with extreme suspicion both in- and out-of-character for trying to embark on a project to supernaturally cure and immunize everyone against all diseases), NPCs give disproportionate pushback, and the GM staples on arbitrary consequences.

Nowhere has this been more true than with Azure Oasis Spring. In four separate games, it has been a source of friction. Could someone please help me understand why?

• Case #1: The GM says that the people are fine with this, but are not particularly happy about it, because they want to eat some actual food. The lore of this particular nation mentions: "The xiaoren of Dulimbai live in grinding poverty by the standards of most other nations. Every day is a struggle to ensure that there is enough food to feed all the dependents of the house, and children as young as seven are put to work if they are not lucky enough to be allowed to study. Hunger is the constant companion of many." Okay, that sounds rather spoiled for the commoners of an impoverished, hungry nation, but whatever. Not the worst.

• Case #2: The GM warns me that using Azure Oasis Spring will provoke war, as another nation is sure to invade. I point out that I can fly on over with Terror of the Skies and drop some Azure Oasis Springs along key points of the other nation. The GM bans Azure Oasis Spring on the spot.

• Case #3: The NPCs, despite being hungry and starving, refuse to drink from the Azure Oasis Springs. This nation has never been established as particularly superstitious, and indeed, the GM has shown a sizable population of magicians among them. Nevertheless, the people are adamant that the springs' water is cursed. The GM says it would take overt mind control to force them to drink.

• Case #4: I am warned that the true nature of Azure Oasis Spring is that it taps into the cosmic energies of the world, and therefore accelerates cosmic entropy. (Note that such entropy is especially problematic in a Godbound context, well above and beyond the real world.)

All of these have been with separate GMs. In none of the above cases did I have my character ask for payment.

I do not know. I can understand there being some pushback, but I do not know why this one gift has provoked visceral backlash from multiple GMs. Is it that disruptive? Would I have gotten the same reception if I had just created some generic "fighty fighter, except demigod-scale" character?

I imagine it does not help that while generic combat abilities have analogues in preexisting RPGs and fiction in general, Azure Oasis Spring is unlike virtually anything else in all other RPGs and fiction in general.

Usually, there would be some cost or catch, but here, nope. Usable at-will, no strings attached.

I saw that Sword World, the best seller of japanese ttrpg is finaly getting translate in english ! And so as always I got curious about what other TTRPG are exclusive to japan and that will unlikely be translate and there is so much more than Sword World.

And I guess it's the same around the world, even if it's nowhere as popular as in the USA i like to think every country has their TTRPG playgroups, artists, writers and designers.

And that's what I am asking, please if you know any TTRPG from the country your from share it with us ! Even if there is no translation or even if it's really niche. I want to know about every ttrpg from every country !

For example I'm French, and a french ttrpg that I really like is Donjons et Chatons (Dungeons and Kittens) a really sweet and beautiful TTRPG about Kittens going on adventure. A TTRPG who got the chance to get translated in english ! I could also talk about Shaan Renaissance, an incredible universe that could be compared to James Cameron's Avatar but even bigger with greater ambitions, it's original, really interesting and I don't think it got translated but if you speak french you should take a look !

So please share what you know even if your are not from the country you know the rpg from, sharing it would still be interesting. We could do a world map with only ttrpg !

My question is this - are there any pieces of horror or related media, such as movies or TV shows, that you like that you think would be fun to play a game in?

This came up as I was watching *Crimson Peak* today, and I thought it would be fun as a game of *Call of Cthulhu*, and as a Domain of Dread within *Ravenloft*.

Happy Halloween yall 🎃👻!

Hey all,

I'm curious about real, at-the-table experience with games from the 2400 line. How many sessions have you actually run or played? How did they go? Any recommendations, like which games to start with or what to watch out for?

I'm asking because I get the impression 2400 gets talked about quite a lot, but I'm not sure how much of that is actual play versus people reading the games and liking the idea. How well does it hold up in practice?

Thanks!

Does anyone know any good tools for making maps of galaxies that I can intricately edit but also share a broad scale map of the grand picture and also like planets and systems and what have you?

I am hoping to run a campaign of the Legends of Avantris "Neon Odyssey" module that turns DnD into a sci-fi fantasy space opera. And I thought it would be cool to make a galaxy map of the Rhapsody, the setting of the game. But I don't know what tools there might be that I could play with.

I found one tool that I have to pay for, something called Stellar Navigator. It's on steam for $15. But I just wanted to find alternatives.

The Cover

The "New" Table

The "Old" Table

I’ve been writing a series of articles about designing mysteries for tabletop RPGs, particularly Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, and Vaesen.

For the latest article, I accepted a suggestion from a reader of the blog and, rather than simply discussing principles of scenario design, I take an original horror mystery (for Delta green, but easily adaptable) and work through how I would construct it.

The central idea is that a good horror mystery should be more than a trail of clues leading to a predetermined revelation. The investigation should gradually expose an increasingly disturbing reality, while the situation develops in response to what the characters actually do.

I try to show how I approach the underlying events, the clues, the escalation, and the opportunities for the players to intervene, without having to prescribe a sequence of scenes.

The article is fairly substantial, but I hope the concrete example makes it more useful than another collection of general advice. I think the scenario itself requires only a bit of preparation to be playable. My intention is play testing it and eventually making a full version available… but it will take some time.

I already noticed some issues. The countdowns, for instance, should be more clearly related to actual encounters the player characters must solve. I started to work on an updated version, but it will take some time.

For now, you can review and “alpha test” what I already wrote.

Designing Better RPG Mysteries — A Worked Example

I’d be interested in criticism from people who have designed or run investigative horror scenarios. Are there weaknesses in the approach? Would you structure the mystery differently?

And, do you have any ideas to improve the scenario?

Ps: marked as “self-promotion” according to forum rules.

For context, I've run a LOT of games featuring mass combat and the like. Weirdly, though, I've never run an actual military RPG campaign (meaning, players as members of a professional military). So, I've never had them deal with rank, social norms of soldiers, notions of duty and honor in these contexts, etc etc.

For a very long time, I've had a notion to run a Honor Harrington-esque space navy game, mixing miltiary, political, and intrigue. Players would most likely be serving space navy officers (say, an Admiral and their staff).

My main issue is the chain of command. In the above idea, there would be an admiral in charge (one of the PCs, in command of the other PCs). Of course, this is the same problem on a smaller scale with, say, a ship captain and their senior officers (so, Star Trek); one player "in charge" and the others their subordinates.

How do you handle it? Better, how HAVE you handled it? I've had plenty of games where one player might be socially "higher" (so, we are playing a game now where one player is the heir to their noble house, and within their task they're expected to be "in charge"), but not under military discipline.

How do you handle it?

Hello all! I've truly tried my best not to ask this question by searching on the sub already, but the vast array of options confused me even more and thus I plead for your help.

I have been recently approached by a couple of relatives who were curious about all the buzz around tabletop RPGs, and wondered if I'd be down to try and DM something that could last a session or two to see if it's our vibe. I love the idea and have expressed interest in the past, and they asked me because I'm the most seasoned gamer out of them all. However, I have absolutely no clue on how to decide on a system, with my only experience of tabletop rpgs stemming from watching a couple of seasons of Dimension 20 (which I know is not a standard, these are professional actors being very great at what they do and I wouldn't expect my future players to be so pro-active).

One thing I know about this group is that they're not the most "high fantasy" bunch. They wouldn't mind it, but they would much prefer something set in the last couple hundred of years, and for it to have a general "we're investigating a mystery, something ill is a foot" type of vibe. Naturally, I still would like for dice checks to be thrilling, hence why I think there should be some sort of combat system with simple rules.

Now, of all the options I've noticed out there:

• Out of the various free ones (Cairn, Quest...) I've eyed both Mausritter and DURF, which both sport a nice full translation in my language. Cairn also does, but only for 1e, and I've seen mixed feelings about that particular one.
• At the same time, I've also seen more slightly complex system such as Call of Cthulhu and Mothership recommended for the DM to have a stronger based set of system that would make the play less reliant on improv for new players.
• Vaesen also looks kinda sick? It does have a translation in my language.
• Lastly, the names of "gumshoe-based" systems like The Fall of DELTA GREEN and Nights Black Agents were dropped in suggestion threads, which piqued my interest as I'm sure the players I'm thinking of would love the settings... but it would require me to study on english manuals before coming up with an adventure, which is a lot of work on my end.

Hello everyone! So to explain my situation, two years ago I bought Magpie Games' Avatar Legends (Legendary Bundle) for my friend group. The problem is, we never ended up using it and so it's been just at my place collecting dust. I really want to sell it but I don't really know where to start. What should my expectations be of if people would want to buy it or not?

Thank you so much for any advice.