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I've played cyberpunk 2020 and red. RED had better hacking rules because they were actually gamable, but still felt like the netrunner was never fully a part of the party, and monopolized a ton of time. In most cases, I'm okay with a simple hacking check then moving on, but when the party's plan hinges on this, it feels bad to just do a single roll and say yes/no. So what are the best Hacking rules you've seen. Bonus points if the ideas behind them are portable to other games.

See title. Not BAD sessions, just okay or mid ones.

To be really clear, I don’t want your theories on what happens at other tables, you can’t actually know that for sure.

But yeah, whether you are primarily a player or GM, I’d love to hear why for you some sessions have been just kinda “meh”.

Edit: It's wild to me that y'all comment and engage on the post but then don't upvote it so more folks see the stuff you like

A few years ago, I started building my own system. I had a friend who used to watch what I was putting together. Her suggestions were always about shaping a part of the system to be closer to D&D – and I didn't want that, but I kept going anyway.

She moved to another city and we stopped talking as much since we used to talk more in person. So I went back to doing things the way I wanted. Despite her tips turning the system into something more generic, she had great insights that I appreciated. But without her around, I had no one to analyze the system and discuss it with me, so I started talking to AIs – not to create, but to analyze.

In both cases – my friend and the AI – there was a serious problem in common: how was I going to sell this? They'd say no one would have fun with this kind of roll, this kind of fantasy, this and that. And that drove me crazy. I lost my sense of direction and did exactly what my friend used to do – I removed things I thought were cool because they didn't "make sense," I gave up on things that other systems hadn't already done, and I was inflating my system with fantasies that didn't even fit the game because I "should have something to please every type of person."

I still loved building it, but I was under pressure – I couldn't take references I liked, I couldn't do things the same way as other systems, I had to simplify my stuff, I had to make an extremely detailed rulebook with art and blah blah blah.

Until I realized: what my imagination wanted couldn't be sold as something good on a large scale. Then it hit me – from the very beginning, I didn't want to make something to sell. I wanted to make something for my friends. To fill it with references we all like, to copy mechanics without worrying about copyright, to make something small-scale just for us. And that didn't make everything I had already done any 'less valid' or 'less artful.' I tortured myself for months with this mindset that I, alone, had to balance things on a gigantic scale, that I had to surpass famous systems – I even started hating other indie systems and only looked at them to see what I hadn't done in mine.

Anyway, I just want to remind you: if you're going through this, even if you're planning to sell, you don't need to treat yourself like a company. You don't need to set aside what you think is cool because it's "too complicated" or whatever. People play Yu-Gi-Oh like it's simple – your system, they'll handle it. And remember why you're doing it – whether it's to have fun, create new mechanics, tell your story, or even sell – but don't treat yourself like a billion-dollar company with an experienced team.

Edit: When I talk about making something unique and complex, I don't mean making something sloppy or with bad design and saying "it's fine" – no. What I meant was innovations that might seem bad to people who never step outside the norm – not things like F.A.T.A.L.

Pls don’t answer any classically terrible games (RHW/FATAL, for example)- it’s a genuine q.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been jumping around different TTRPG systems for a while, and I’m starting to realize it’s probably not the games that are the issue - it’s 100% my group.

I’ve been the forever DM for my school mates since year 10. I honestly don’t mind DMing most of the time; I genuinely love building worlds and creating cool environments for people to play in. But looking back, I’ve basically spent the last two years acting as a drama manager instead of actually playing a game.

To give you some insight into the dynamic, the wheels started coming off after secondary school:

• The Gatekeeping & Ultimatums: I tried to bring in an outside friend who was super passionate about TTRPGs just to sit in on a session. One guy in our group, "K", absolutely despised him and threw a massive tantrum: "If he comes, I'm leaving." The rest of the party was mostly indifferent, but they backed K up anyway, so it became a massive pain.
• The Toxic Vibes vs. The Best Player: To be completely transparent, K was a massive contradiction. When we were 14/15, he literally tried to use the N-word as a "plot point." We shut that down, but he was also consistently, abjectly rude to another quieter player in our group, "Lo" (who mostly just tagged along for the social hang). K eventually bullied Lo to the point where Lo just quit. I struggled to address it properly because K and I were close, but also because K was hands-down our best player. He always hosted, he was the most engaged, and he actually fell into the heavy roleplay that I love to do.
• Deep-Rooted Group Issues: Because K was the loudest voice, it masked the fact that the rest of the group had major issues too. Even when K was gone or behaving, we had constant issues with bundling, lack of engagement, and people just treating it like a casual hangout where they happened to have a character sheet open.

By year 12, everyone split off into college while K and I went to 6th form. We drifted, had a massive falling out in January, and he left the campaign for good. Another one of my players ("Od") recently got his girlfriend pregnant. Real-life stuff and scheduling hell have just completely taken over.

Right now, we're trying to play Cyberpunk RED because the remaining guys love the video game. But we’ve managed a three fucking sessions in six months.

Every ounce of momentum just dies when there’s a two-month gap between games. It feels stale, and I’m losing my mind planning stuff knowing nothing is going to happen. On top of that, CPR is a struggle for me to run. I rely heavily on loose improv, passing notes, and Theater of the Mind, but CPR is so crunch-heavy with range-bands and cover mechanics that it feels like a slog.

Honestly, I’m looking at D&D again and wondering if I only started hating it because I was burning out on high-school drama. I way prefer sci-fi or urban settings over traditional high fantasy, but at this point, I just want a table where people actually want to play the game.

So here’s my dilemma:

I’ve got about a year and a bit until I head off to University, where I know I can find a dedicated RPG society with people my own age. Do I just wait it out?

My local library actually runs a D&D thing, and there's a local gaming cafe in town, but I'm terrified of two things. First, the classic stereotype that I’m going to end up stuck at a table with some uber-smelly neverwashers.

Second, the social suicide factor. I love TTRPGs because you get to completely be yourself, but my town isn't huge. If my acquaintances, or girls from my class walk into the library and catch me in public doing a voice and talking about "Baltazar the Evil Hobgoblin," I think I would genuinely sink straight into the ground and die.

Has anyone else had to break away from their childhood friend group to find a "proper" gaming table? Did you go local or online, and how did you deal with the cringe factor of playing in public spaces?

anyone got recommendations for a system for Stargate Atlantis?

theres a 5e official game for SG-1, but i dont like 5e enough to want to stat out stuff for Atlantis

Surrealism might even be the wrong word. I’m imagining a game set in the world of a David Cronenberg movie like Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ, or Videodrome.

HOWEVER, I’m pressed to think of a system that would mechanically support it and not get in the way too much. Lots of rigid mechanics wouldn’t work, because that’s too literal. A lot of the meta-currencies I can think of don’t feel right, because they’re about “winning”, which wouldn’t be quite relevant here.

Is there some system out there that supports ambiguity, complexity, blurriness, and a kind of literary intent?

Recently listened to a podcast that mentioned that PF2E was very hard to get into as there are a lot of rules. I've been GMing PF2E for over five years now and I never found it complicated. I have never played the game IRL though and do it solely through a VTT.

It got me thinking though is PF2E that much more complicated IRL when compared to online? I know that online does most of the heavy lifting and only past level ten did it really start to get noticeably harder for me to GM.

I feel like nearly all TTRPGs and especially D20 systems would be hard to manage IRL at the higher levels so I don't see in this case how DND could possibly be any easier than PF2E at that point for example.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts especially those who play IRL if you find this to be the case with PF2E.

I have an Idea for an adventure (3-7 sessions) heavily inspired by Overlord, BPRD, Hellboy, Inglorious Basterds, and How Zeke Got Religion. But I need a good pulp Nazi Punching system.

I want the players to feel like the Basterds and then right at the end Eldrich stuff starts happening. They're not super-heroes, they're not Delta Force, they're good soldiers.

Pulp Cthulhu was my first choice, but it's a bit too crunchy. I might use it worst case scenario.

F.I.S.T. was next, but characters die way too easy, and are too... weird?

I've looked at a couple of others but this adventure really is meant for a squad of G.I. Joes dropping behind enemy lines.

Any suggestions?

Have you guys ever had trouble playing a game because of the way the game was written or because the rule system didn't make sense? Did you get frustrated with the flashback mechanic in Blades in the Dark or didn't like how the rules of combat worked in something say Cyberpunk or did you look at F.A.T.A.L and screamed "What the f**k am I looking at?" These are just examples that I could come up with at the moment, but I'm curious to see what games, mechanics, or rules systems you guys have came across that you or your group have struggled with.

And just as a P.S. I know someone will probably swing by and drop a multi paragraph comment about the subjectivity of such a question is, I'm just going to stop you there and say; I don't care, name the game, system, or mechanic, give your reason why, and move on. It's not that hard.

A few years ago, when my two friends and I were teenagers, we had a lot of free time and played RPG regularly. I wasn't a good GM, but my players were incredible. They were a group that always took action and moved the world toward consequences; the story would mold itself around their actions, and they also suffered from the changes in the story.

Years passed, and now I play with these same two players much less often. But when we do play, I feel like I'm the one begging us to play RPG and spend time together, even though they also like RPG and going out. Yet every session ends with me feeling frustrated, because I feel like that GIF of a clown dancing in front of the king—where I have to provide all the entertainment and they just have to watch. I'm the one who has to give the pushes, not just the world.

Before, they would go, fight, explore, investigate, discuss the lore. Now they barely create their characters and procrastinate on filling out the sheets, picking anything at all.

I'm fed up with this culture where the GM isn't a player too, but rather a big babysitter who has to manage the players' actions and serves as a clown, instead of someone who also wants to have fun.

I don't know if it was time, if my GMing has gotten bad, or if they've just grown tired, but they still ask me about RPG and invite me to hang out. I know some might say it's work fatigue, but honestly, they act the same way with digital games.

At the end of every session, I always think about never wanting to GM again, because it generates a huge demotivation in me. I don't know if it's them who have lost their spark or if I'm GMing poorly. I GM even worse with these thoughts that I'm just a clown, that they don't really care, and that they make no effort when I have to create an entire story. I feel like an asshole saying this. I think my mood depends a lot on how excited the others are to see what I have to show. Especially one of them, who gives me disapproving looks during boring sessions, as if they weren't also responsible for the fun.

Before, I could invent a horrible session out of nowhere because we were bored, and thanks to them, it would turn into a proper secondary campaign. Today, even the best sessions turn into an afternoon cartoon that I have to push the story through.

Edit: I had already talked to them about this in those moments of vulnerability, several times actually. They say they understand and know the effort I'm talking about, and I really think they see it and try, but their "trying" is more like making an extra effort in X scenes, or in one whole session, and then stopping. Even when I try to praise and give bonuses for it. I've also tried stopping the bonuses and it remains the same. Sometimes it gets to a point where they just want to die in the game and they don't even hide it well. Before the session starts, they always want to go get food instead of doing it on the way to my house. I don't know why they would agree to play, come over, and free up their schedule for something they're not even enjoying. I invite them to play but I don't insist if they don't want to or can't, just like sometimes they also ask me, but the story repeats itself every time.

I insist so much on them because I like them. But many of you in the comments are right, maybe they're friends for other things but not for RPG anymore.

Not trying to be arrogant, but I blame TikTok a little, because I've tested putting music at full volume and constantly describing epic scenes and they focus more. But an RPG can't just be epic scenes. And responding to other comments, we're not a fixed group for one system, unless it's a long campaign. We've tested D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, among other indies, even some about anime and superheroes."