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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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Kinda embarrassed to even type this out after running games for so long, but I need a reality check because I feel like a total fraud right now. I’ve been a forever DM for my group for about four years, almost exclusively running 5e and Pathfinder. Whenever the pacing dragged or I got mentally stuck, I’d just throw an ambush at them. Rolling initiative buys you an hour of game time where the system does teh heavy lifting for you.

Tonight we finally tried a Call of Cthulhu one-shot (The Haunting). No battlemaps, no tactical grid, just pure investigation and horror atmosphere. But about an hour in, my players tore through the library clues twice as fast as I planned, looked right at me, and asked "Where do we go next?" And my brain just completely flatlined.

I sat there in dead silence for two minutes, shuffling papers like an idiot. Without a monster stat block to drop onto a grid, I had zero clue how to maintain tension or improvise on the fly. I panicked so hard I basically fast-forwarded them to the basement and ended forty minutes early. has anyone else had this horrifying wake-up call when ditching combat, or am I just fundamentally bad at actual storytelling?

So they just announced a feature film based on iHunt. I am excited based on who they've got working on it. Dunno if this is allowed, but thought I would get other people's thoughts.

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/ihunt-killing-monsters-in-the-gig-economy-movie-1236930441/

Okay so, I would say I am somewhat experienced with d100 systems. I have played CoC 6e and 7e, WFRP 2e and Mothership. I have read (not played) CoC 1e, WFRP 4e and Dark Heresy 2e.

My reasons for listing these is recently I was considering picking up more d100 systems but looking back at it I find that they are different but not better then the other systems I own (in my opinion), they offer a higher degree of granularity when it comes to results, so you can have systems with a higher degree of granularity.

I like CoC because its the first ttrpg I have ever played but I consider Mothership to be much more elegant and interesting mechanically speaking. WFRP and Dark Heresy really benefit from the setting, though WFRP has a cool thing going on with their occupations.

But like, what are the strengths of d100 games I am missing?

Me and my wife are fans of classic horror and slasher films, so for Halloween season we invited a couple of friends over to our house for a game of Shiver (https://www.parablegames.co.uk/pages/shiver), with myself as the Director (GM). I bought the Slasher starter set a year ago but only just got around to running a game with it. I have to say it has a lot of potential in its premise but I was very disappointed. I really did want to enjoy it but for a roleplaying game based on surviving a slasher film, the stakes were very low for the characters and combat was very boring when it did happen. The mechanics themselves did not seem to live up to the theme of the game. And running the included one-shot was difficult with errors in the text and on the character sheets, and very little room for improvising the story based on PCs actions and choices.

Has anyone else tried it? Was there anything you did to improve the game?

Granted I bought this some time ago and I know a Cryptid module has just been released so I do not know if there are any changes in the game to improve the aspects I found to be not enjoyable.

In future if I want to run a horror film themed game I will probably just homebrew something in Call of Cthulhu which is my go-to TTRPG.

We all enjoy playing roleplaying games, that's why we're here.

But there are plenty of other reasons to enjoy a roleplaying game, besides actually playing it.

Worldbuilding, art, stories, dissecting mechanics.

What are your favourite games, if you don't account for actually playing the game? Doesn't mean you DON'T enjoy playing the game, just that you enjoy it for other reasons aswell.

11 years ago my crew and I sat down and used Dawn of Worlds to collaboratively make a campaign world. Then we played in it over three campaigns and over 100 sessions.

By making the world together including the species, cultures, factions, monsters, heroes of old, and more, everyone was invested.

People made characters with the species they created. They fell in love with each other’s monsters and wanted to fight them or harvest them. When I showed a monster, the creator would say, “Oh s%#*!” because they knew how tough they made it. And when one campaign ended and we advanced the world timeline by 40 years they knew intimately how to pick up the pieces.

Well, the world may have run its course. I can of course pick Dawn of Worlds up again. But I’m curious if people have other cooperative world/setting creation games you’d recommend.

It is one i remember seeing on itch.io and it looks incredibly fun. But i cant remember the name of it. Can you guys please help me find it?

Hey all, I am for all intents and purposes a total newbie, and have been drafted by my family into GMing RPGs. Exciting? Maybe, trying to learn a lot quickly in preparation.

My personal preference is higher-lethality/higher-consequences systems, but I am looking for some concrete examples of GMs killing off PCs and dealing with the consequences (roll a new character? OK, but how is she integrated into the game in progress? how do you handle the psychology at the table?).

I've looked, but haven't found an actual play podcast where the GM actually lets a PC die. Not in countless Mörk Borg APs, not in Cairn APs. Can anyone provide some tips, or some links, to study materials?

It feels like Deadlands is the D&D of the Weird West genre. It dominates the space so completely that it's hard for other games to gain oxygen. I'm trying to get a vibe check on whether people would still be interested in a different Western setting TTRPG. As players and GMs, do you feel like there's still a hunger for indie alternatives in this specific subgenre, or do games like Weird Frontiers or Fistful of Darkness already fill the gaps for people wanting a different system? If you were to back a new Western/supernatural Kickstarter, what would it have to bring to the table to differentiate itself?

I know about Hollows and I really like what they are cooking with it as far as what a tabletop soulslike could be. But I’m interested to hear if there are games where money, leveling experience etc is tied to the same value or currency.

I'm thinking of hunting down old Cyberpunk 2020 manuals, and I noticed that DriveThruRPG offers print-on-demand editions of the catalogue.

How do they compare to the original books? I don't plan on collecting everything, so I'm wondering whether it's better to hunt for second-hand copies or order the titles I'm interested in from DriveThruRPG. I'd especially appreciate feedback from anyone who's seen both versions in person, particularly regarding paper quality.