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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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Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice on a couple of issues I’ve been having as a GM.

I’ve been running Pathfinder and Pathfinder 2e for my friend group for a long while now, and lately I’ve noticed an adversarial mindset creeping into my games. Basically, my players spend a lot of time building very combat-focused characters with niche contingencies, and then they’ll talk trash about the combats being too easy or openly cheer for my bad rolls.

The problem is, I can feel myself reacting to that. I start playing enemies way more optimized, like a shark smelling blood in the water, and sometimes it gets to the point where I’m nearly TPK’ing the party. It ends up feeling less like a fun game and more like a weird arms race or dick-measuring contest.

That sucks, because I genuinely want the game to be fun. I want there to be room for storytelling, character moments, and chill adventuring instead of every session turning into “players vs GM.” I’ve talked to them before about not goading me, and I’ve also tried encouraging them to build characters with more story-driven choices instead of only combat optimization. But even when we have those conversations, we tend to slip back into the same pattern.

I know Pathfinder can attract combat-heavy players, and I don’t think that’s automatically bad. I also want to be clear that these are my best friends, and they’re awesome people despite this issue. I’m not looking to drop the group or anything like that. I just miss when our games felt more relaxed and less like a constant escalation.

For those of you who have dealt with something similar, how did you mend it? How do you get out of that GM-vs-player mindset when both sides keep accidentally feeding into it?

I’m putting together a sci-fi, anime-inspired RPG campaign and ran into a bit of a design problem. I found a system I really like, and one of the things that sold me on it is that the players can build their spaceship together — like a shared “party character,” which is exactly the vibe I wanted. The issue is that the ship only has one sheet. So in practice, during ship combat or checks, it feels like everything could end up in the hands of a single player (usually the pilot), while everyone else just kinda watches. I’ve thought about giving everyone their own small ships/fighters so they all have something to do, but I’m worried that kinda kills the whole idea of the main ship being this shared creation.

I really enjoy the maps for Dolmenwood, and Land of Eem. Both games are hex crawls and their campaign maps provide hours of content for players. Location and hexes in both games are very well detailed and super fun even to just read about. Another one I enjoy a lot is The One Ring 2e, it’s the most recognizable fantasy map(Middle Earth) but still fun to play or read about. I’m wondering about other settings and campaign maps that are well detailed in a similar way.

I am here to ask if anyone in this subreddit knows of any good board games that require a Game Master/Dungeon Master to run the game for the players, but that doesn't put the same weight as TTRPGs do upon said GM/DM to come up with the game, plot, and characters on the spot. I would also count games that aren't typically played with a GM/DM, but that could be enhanced by the presence of such a role.

Some examples I have already found that work for me are Betrayal on House on the Hill (especially the Legacy version), Blood on the Clocktower, The D&D Adventure System board games, and even Ultimate Werewolf.

For extra context, I'm trying to run games like these as a way to ease myself into the role of GM/DM for actual TTRPGs like D&D, Pathfinder, Lancer, Magnagothica Maleghast, etc.

TLDR: Board games that require a Game Master or could benefit from adding a Game Master.

Was it spooky? Did feel like something out of X-Files or Secret Saturdays? Was it enticing or bland?

I found myself checking out the Operators RPG again the other day, and it reminded me why my groups never warmed up to the game: the combat system, despite being quite evocative, depends on custom cards to produce its cinematic fighting scenes. (The same goes for Chase scenes.) I wish the designer had offered an alternative method in the book -- random tables would have been nice.

It took me back to when I tried to run Fireborn, another system that looked cool on paper, but felt cumbersome in play. The combat combos was a nice try, though.

And before that I remember playing a lot of Street Fighter back in the 90's, with an official variation for the White Wolf's Storyteller system.

It got me wondering whether more games gave it shot and how successful they are. My guess is there aren't many options out there, otherwise we would have more talk about online.

Hi all,

I recently switched to Audio Forge to play music in my games, and I'm absolutely loving it.

You can also share your libraries, so here's one that I'm building now as I progress in my DnD campaign, with music mostly sourced from Bardify. You can import the library in Audio Forge from settings.

Do you have any great soundboards you can share?

Hi Guys! We've just started out with our recording experience, with this video being our very first!
It is Mothership 1e and a homebrew story. We are really proud of it and hope you will come along for the adventure and enjoy it too!
If you do enjoy, we hope you'll pop on a like and sub and join us for future adventures. Who knows what we will be playing next!

https://youtu.be/rX8193FIxJA

Hello! I'm looking to put together a one-shot of Paranoia for a bunch of players who have never had the chance to experience that crazy game and since it's been quite a long time since I've played it myself I was wondering which edition people recommended these days?

This isn’t really addressed to those who simply play with THAC0 because their system uses it, but rather those who like it or even prefer it over ascending AC.

For context, I’ve recently been very intrigued by AD&D 2e. I like OSR stuff in general, but the big names of that genre often have quirks that I’m not a huge fan of (like the rulings over rules mantra, or the common absence of something like a skills system).

I’ve also heard, countless times, of people running decades’ long AD&D 2e games. That has me interested in dipping my toes into it with a mini campaign with my friends. I also like the idea of lots of classes and kits - it annoys me when a game has a very limited variety of classes and flavours of character to play.

THAC0 is obviously an elephant in the room with many discussions about TSR-era games. It didn’t take me long to understand it, but I can see why some people would take one look at it and say “let’s just play something with an ascending AC system instead”.

I also understand that THAC0 was to some extent a legacy import from wargames. And I’ve heard that some people actually prefer it.

If you’re one of those who really likes THAC0, what is it about it that you find more compelling than ascending AC systems? Or would you regard it as something more related to nostalgia?

I'm looking for a campaign diary (or actual play) in text or video form that leans into the sandbox/open world style. The only ones I know already are Matt Colville's D&D campaign diaries (which I loved) and the channel 3d6 down the line. I'm basically looking for more content of that style. It can be in any system. Ideally (but not nessecarily) fantasy.

Thank you in advance!