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I'm looking to share some preferences on your favourite TTRPGS, where the mechanical complexity (or absence of it) perfectly matches the theme/setting they try to portray.

I'll give some example of my current favourites. Feel free to add cathegories based on your experience and preference:

- Horror/Investigation: Mothership.
Simple in rules (like all OSR), but has the BEST gm advice ever.
I still use its suggestions as baseline for all my stories in any rpg i gm.
I exclusively run it using its modules as they are probably the best in the market quality wise

- Heroic Fantasy: Draw Steel
This one makes you feel like a true hero.
The closest thematically to DnD (in the sense that it is high fantasy), it plays very differently though, since instead of an "attrition" games (your resources go down until you are forced to rest), it is a "momentum" game (meaning you become more powerful the more "victories" you accumulate, resetting at rest). This means that the players are incentivized to always push themself to the limit until their HP permits it.
Also attacks don't miss ever, which means that they will be forced to rest eventually, no matter what.

- Pulp: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
This is my personal favourite to gm, because you can literally improvise any encounter on the spot and it will work, and the meta-currency (the "Benny", a poker chip) is fantastic.
Character progression is horizontal: PCs become better at doing more stuff, but no encounter is ever trivial. It is also class-less: you customize you PC with features ("Edges") that you gain almost every level.
The meta-currency is essential to minimize randomness (the dice mechanics can feel very swingy), and I love that it gives a way for the players to influence the story, especially when they are willing to pay (literally) to do some crazy idea they have. It makes it feel earned.
Excellent for homebrews, excellent to fight lots of little guys, requires some house-rules to do solo boss fights (check out this comment it you're interested in doing that)

- Vibes: Blades in the Dark / Mythic Bastionland
These are two heavy hitters on the atmosphere they create.
Blades make you in a band of industrial punk criminals. Perfect heist game, very improvisational: you pay "stress" to have flashbacks that resolve a problem during the heist instead of having to think out a solution before, so you're always in the action.
Also it's Zero prep-time for the GM. The settings does the heavy-lifting (lots of pre-gen factions and locations that react to the players action).
Mythic is great for its random tables. I recommend rolling randomly for your PCs (they are arthurian knights fighting esoteric horror), since all of the option are extremely flavourful. Less improvisational than Blades, but still highly improvisational.

Newbie friendly: Lady Blackbird / The Witch is Dead
Both excellent one-shots for new players, rules-light and quick to the action.
Lady Blackbird is classic steam-punk adventure sillyness. Character are some flavourful pre-gens and the system allows the player to choose some world-building aspect when the GM asks them ("Lady Blackbird, you know magic: do only nobles like you knows it, or is it more commonplace in the Wild Blue?" stuff like this)
The Witch is Dead (or anything else by Grant Howitt, really) is an excellent on-page rpg. Players are the witch's familiars and have to defeat the witch hunter that killed the witch. I like to GM this straight, serious and dramatic, but it is very open to silliness. Very fun for people who are learning the ropes of rpgs

These are my recomendations, what are yours?

Pretty much what the title says. I really want to start playing some ttrpg’s with my friends but none of them are really familiar. I’d definitely have to DM for them which I don’t mind but I’ve never done before. Does anyone have any suggestions for good one shot games that could get some people interested and also be forgiving to a new dm? Thank yall in advance!!

EDIT: For everyone asking what genre I’m looking for I’d say that my friends aren’t super into fantasy like I am, but I think they’d enjoy games with maybe some Supernatural or sci fi elements. Idk, I’m just trying to broaden their horizons and add some whimsy to our lives lmao

Hello, I have gotten back into a Bionicle Hyperfixation, and I have been looking into ttrpgs that could be best used to emulate that franchise. While I am aware of Red Star Games' Doronai Nui, it seems to basically be a Fantasy Heartbreaker, not really what I want or feel is fitting for a Bionicle TTRPG. As such, I want to hear what suggestions people have.

So I’ve been wanting to run a campaign that is similar to the various Gundam series. The idea is to basically do what series like SEED and IBO do where they take the main outline of the story and premise of the 79 show with a whole new cast of characters, remixing the story and with some new twist and turns.

I doubt there is one system that has everything I am looking for so I am thinking of using two different systems at once, one for the core role play and on foot combat and one for the mech and vehicle combat. But if someone does know of a ttrpg system I can use for both, I’ll take the recommendations

So first, for the core roleplay and on foot I have been thinking of using the Alien RPG, it already has mechanics dealing with spaceships and fixing things around said ships, but what leans me more towards it is the stress die mechanic and the way that game sets up factions for pcs to choose from with their own (sometimes contradicting) goals. It also already has gun mechanics and I can easily reflavor the weapons to fit in a gundamisk theme.

I don’t really know where to start looking for one for the mech combat. I want something that lets pcs target specific parts (like limbs or what not) and the damage based around said parts. I would like a system that has both hand to hand combat as well as range combat, and preferably one that also allows for a decent amount of mobility across the battlefield. It doesn’t need to be a mecha rpg, just something I can work with to reflavor it to mechs.

Thank you for all your help!!

Edit: after seeing the comments I am moving against using two systems and I think I am leaning towards either Armour Astrir or Mekton Zeta, I’ll be doing some more research on them and maybe posting asking for more information. I’m still reading through everything so all suggestions are welcomed!!

Hey y'all,

I'm looking to run a tabletop game for The Division when it comes out in October, but right now I'm trying to decide which rule set to use, and I'm stuck between Twilight: 2000 4e (specifically with the Urban Operations expansion) and GURPS.

So most comparisons I see focus on gunplay, cover mechanics, and gritty survival rules and for my table, that part of the equation is already pretty clear with Twilight being the better of the two.

What I'm really trying to figure out is how to handle the signature Strategic Homeland Division tech without breaking the game or making prep a nightmare.

I love the urban survival structure and city-sector framework of Urban Ops, but the base game is obviously grounded in cold war military grit.

How feasible is it to adapt or homebrew Division-specific hardware into the Year Zero engine?

I'm talking about things like:

* ISAC integration and tactical HUD overlays

* Deployable seeker mines and assault turrets

* Pulse scanners showing enemy locations through walls

* Ballistic assault shields and mobile cover

* Revive hives and micro-drones

If you've run high-tech military gear or Division like game in T2K4e, how did you handle this?

On the flip side, GURPS has books like Ultra-Tech and High-Tech that can mechanically model every single microchip and gadget down to the decimal, but it comes with the usual upfront system bloat.

Is GURPS simply the better call because it already has the infrastructure for high-tech modular gadgets, or is it easy enough to tack SHD tech onto Twilight 2000 UO without blues and lethality?

To be clear I haven't purchased anything but the division game and I'm still waiting for it to be delivered in October.

I'll be purchasing the books for the rule set I end up with from a local shop.

Thanks for any help!

Here in Salzburg, we ended up using a WhatsApp community to keep track of local one-shots. It works surprisingly well, but it made me wonder how other local TTRPG scenes handle this.

Discord? Meetup? Local game stores? Clubs? Facebook? Reddit? Something completely different?

What actually works where you live — and what tends to get overlooked?

I was recommended the game by a trusted comrade, and as a historian I found its premise intriguing. The game is premised on surviving a Gestapo raid as an undesirable in Nazi Germany.

But it doesn’t seem to have been mentioned much on the internet despite being five years old. I was just wondering if anyone ran it and what their experiences with it were.

Sometimes it sucks to fail a roll. But other times, it gets fun. Glorious, even. So I'm curious, what are some games or mechanics that make failure really satisfying?

I’m looking for a tabletop RPG that I can play as an adult (32f) with my dad (69m).
I’ve been spending a lot more time back at home with my dad and I’m looking for a TTRPG to spend meaningful time creating and reminiscing with him. I know there’s a whole bunch of 2 player RPGS based around conversation, memories, and bonding out there but most seemed to be angled toward couples.
The only ones I can find based around family connections are more for younger children and family game nights.
Looking for something that an adult child can play with their Dad for an evening of bonding, learning more about each other, reminiscing on our life and adventures together while creating something new!
Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thank you! 🌻

I don't just mean mechanics and lore. I mean games where the GM has to interpret rolls and manage the setting, but not write plot from session to session.

I'm thinking games like Blades In The Dark, Mythic Bastionland, Stonetop, Apocalypse World, Slugblaster.

I'm in a large local TTRPG group where there's many weekly one shots, and at least a dozen ongoing campaigns. Unfortunately (IMO) the vast majority of what is played is DnD 5e. A few members of my group have expressed interest in trying out some one shots with universal systems, and I've agreed to run a couple.

I've played Savage Worlds, and while there were some elements of it I thought really worked well, I hated the combat and some of the fights seem to drag on forever. GURPS honestly just seems too intimidating to attempt to run. I'd have to play it at least once to get a feel for it and I don't know of anyone in my group who's played it or even has the books. FATE is...maybe it was just the way the GM who ran it for my group the one time I played it, but it just felt so completely devoid of challenge or consequences. It was like we were having a sloppy improv session with some dice rolls that really didn't mean anything.

Have there been any new universal systems in the last few years that are rules-light, to rules-medium, that are easy to create characters, and have novel concepts for truly running any genre/story in and still being cohesive and a lot of fun for players? Are there any older ones that fit the bill?