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This post will stay stickied for (at least) the week-end. Please enjoy this space where you can talk about anything: your last game, your current project, your patreon, etc. You can even talk about video games, ask for a group, or post a survey or share a new meme you've just found. This is the place for small talk on r/rpg.

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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I'll start. Even after doing hundreds of hours of classes, workshops, shows and open jams of long-form comedy improv, it can feel awkward, overthinking, tense and vulnurable to jump back into improv. (As a side note, long-form just means interconnected performances compared to short-form where they use games like Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

There is a huge difference between when you've had time to warm up with improv games compared to jumping straight into improvising. These are just like stretching before exercise. They get you into an mindset (away from real world's social perspectives) that makes improvising so much easier and practice important specific skills to do it well. And the same is true for roleplaying.

I think Improv Game warm up is especially true for people who are newer to roleplay and feel intimidated that they will look ridiculous. If you want a good list of them organized and with good explanations, Improv For Gamers is a solid book to pick up. But you can find these free online - I'd specifically look up "Zip, Zap, Zop", "Five Things" and "Mind Meld". They do a great job focusing on Listening and Immediacy (not worrying about being right, be willing to be obvious). If you want one to be especially ridiculous and silly - "Kitty Cat Careers."

Making everyone do some of the most silly actions normalizes this extreme behavior so much that then roleplaying is not silly at all. It initially seems pretty intimidating to do these games especially some of the most active games. People will feel vulnerable acting that way but as they see others be just as ridiculous, they ease into it. Attending a couple intro workshops and it works like a charm for people from all kinds of backgrounds.

As a bonus, it serves a second purpose as a ritual to get the table from side chats to the mindset that we are now we are playing.

My wife and I have never played any sort of TTRPG before. I wanted to disconnect from always being on my phone or computer and someone recommended Ironsworn: Starforge for first time solo play. I spent hours building my universe and character and I think I am slowly wrapping my head around the process, but I do not think my wife would be into it.

Can anyone recommend something that would be good and lightweight for newbie folks as a co-op style play without me having to be the GM? Free is preferred cause it may all crash and burn. I did read thru some of the recs here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers/
but none of them really sounded exactly right.

I mean I think we almost need boardgame style, but we have played boardgames and I want to move onto something original. I know I would want at least a bit of dice rolling, but maybe that is about it, overly complex systems to track would probably not be great. Setting for the world might not be a huge deal, she reads a ton of books and enjoys pretty much any fantasy or sci-fi style stuff, but I would want something light, not dark and about depression or death if possible. We don't want to make it trauma inducing.

Again, just looking for thoughts or suggestions, and if anyone has any questions please let me know. I appreciate any assistance with this.

So, I guess this is different enough from an LFG post. I'm visiting my aunt with my family in Rhode Island for a week, and most of our plans involve visiting family. I'd love to know if anyone has recommendations for places to visit related to RPGs or board games. I tried searching on Google Maps, but I mostly found TCG shops.

I have been itching to try out a TTRPG with my group of friends that I boardgame with, but after exploring all the possibilities I am quite unsure what to take as a starting point:

• Should I propose something rules-light and quick to get in to? Games like Mothership or one of the Borg games look like great options where players need zero prep to get into it, but then there are lots of empty spaces to fill in as players/GM.
• Maybe go for a game that has extensive background info on the setting so we get fed the ambience instead of making it up? Games like Dolmenwood or Stonetop also grabbed my attention as the worlds seem oozing with character, but what if the players don't like it?
• How important are the mechanics? I've read that Mythic Bastionland runs itself and provides a great experience in that respect, but that combat can get pretty repetitive quickly. For a group of boardgamers who like to optimize strategies, this may be an issue.
• Should I go for something that has a good pre-written adventure? Leave it all in the hands of the pros and try to enjoy the ride - something like Delta Green looks like a perfect fit.
• Or should I just prioritize the vibe that would mesh best with the group? I mean, no point in forcing people to play a fantasy setting if we are all in the mood for cyberpunk. But then, can the setting alone carry the experience?

So, from your experiences as players and GMs with new players, what should I focus on? What made the biggest impression on you when you were starting out? E.g., was the setting so good that you didn't care about the rules or you were irritated by silly rules and that bogged down the experience.

Also, any recommendations welcome :)

Possibly going to be running a Star Wars sometime soon, and while I am familiar with all the officially published systems, and like things about all of them them, none of them are 100% there for me, so I wanted to get some opinions on hacking a system for Star Wars.

So the question is: If you were going to run Star Wars using a non Star Wars system, which would you use and why?

Now, my game likely won't include any Jedi, and very limited force use if any, but that doesn't really matter for this question.

I'm planning a horror one shot, think 80's/90's slasher. I got the town set fairly quickly, a handful of NPCs, got the supernatural slasher nailed down, but I think I'm doing too much. I don't want to write a book or screenplay that railroads the players but I also don't want to make up every little detail on the spot. So to GMs who have run a one shot like this or players who enjoyed one, how much is too much and what should my planning focus be?

My nieces (8,9) recently moved closer to me and we have been playing a TTRPG that I've made up using rules similar to Powered by the Apocalypse. Their characters are mice that live in their grandparents home and try to solve issues for their Mice friends.

My nieces are also homeschooled and I was curious if anyone had any advice on how to make it more educational as well.

Some rules I've already made:
1. They have to fill out one page in their tiny composition note books about the adventure. (We've been working on handwriting, spelling and getting the proper casing so sometimes it's just one sentence but we are making progress.)
2. They have to write out their math problems. 2d6 + modifiers. It's been getting them doing math much faster and writing their numbers much better.
3. I also push for creativity where they try to come up with fun solutions and use critical thinking skills to get past obstacles. My favorite one they came up with so far was making a paper airplane and putting a mouse decoy on it to distract the dog so they could sneak into the paper mache dog costume they made.

I am looking for other fun stuff for them to do that I can sneak in educational stuff on them. We've been having a lot of fun with it and they really like the game so far and I've been having a blast.

Also if anyone has any recommendation for literature I could read or games that already do a good job of this I'd love to know about that too!

Hi, welcome to Playtonics!

Every episode of Playtonics, Rocky and Jords (me!) take a genre, movie, or show apart at the seams, figure out what actually makes it feel like that thing, and rebuild those pieces into something you can structure, prep, and run at the table. Finally we discuss which systems we'd run it in. This time, we dig into the world after the fall with our Post-Apocalyptic episode. A while back, we ran an ep specifically for Mad Max, so this time we wanted to shift the focus a little.

In this ep we work through push vs pull for kicking the party out the sanctuary's gate (and why a push does the job better), apocalypse threats that have agency vs ones without, and point crawl vs hex crawl, and why you'd want one over the other. We get into which resources are worth tracking (beans!) and which ones you just.... quietly never mention again; factions; and how to add a layer with a reactions table. Finally, we build the session to land on an ending that isn't "we found the cure," but "we got our people to a slightly less terrible local minimum, and we live to do it again."

On systems: Rocky goes Mausritter, mostly for the tactile inventory and a magic system that generates quests instead of negating them. Jords prefers Knave or a Mark of the Odd game for the slot-based inventory, or Godless for the full Demon Lord character-building buffet. Honourable mentions to Red Markets, Ashes Without Number, Mutant Year Zero and Twilight 2000, and of course, Apocalypse World (though we go into why we wouldn't use it for the vibe we're after).

Got takes you want to share with us directly? Our Discord has walls, water and working plumbing - come trade. And as always, we'd also love to hear what you want us to cover next!

I was looking for some artwork for a project and followed an image back to Medieval Heritage. They have a ton of buildings, churches and castles listed on their page some of which have layouts or floorplans. Some even have reconstructions or historic art featuring the building. Might be a good resource for GM's looking for locations.

I have no affiliation and just wanted to share since I got so much help looking for an old book the other day.

Hello, I'm fairly new to this genre. While I've played a couple of games with my friends, I haven't done much outside of 5e. Does anyone have recommendations for a TTRPG that's good for 5-8 hours and wraps up nicely?

I’ve previously posted about the game back in November when we launched a prerelease version of the game, but now the book’s fully complete and funding for a physical print run.

40 years ago, people manifested psychic powers across the world, seemingly at random. Many of them had to leave their old lives behind, turned upside-down by potentially dangerous abilities they didn’t fully understand. Zener City has welcomed them with open arms.

How it's played

Checks in the game are resolved with a deck of poker cards instead of dice. Draw a hand of 5 cards at the start of the session, then play cards to resolve uncertain outcomes and use your psychic abilities. However, you don’t draw new cards until you’ve emptied your hand, so choosing when to fail something is vital! As play continues and the deck dwindles, players can be a little psychic themselves as they make guesses on what’s left in the deck and people’s hands.

Players create a House of Espers with a shared goal and visual aesthetic, then build out their individual members with a super flexible gear system and over 30 psychic abilities. Each ability has a flexible ‘Story Side’ and a more tactical ‘Action Side’, so your power choices remain useful no matter the scene and reward inventive usage.

A game about the city as much as the people in it

Something I always want city-focused games to dig into is "why do the characters care about living here?" so a lot of the rules for creating your House and the adventures they go on tie into exploring a local community.

Houses that navigate big challenges together might even psychically resonate with their own neighbourhood and create Turf, giving it a consciousness and a personality. Turf can change itself to reflect the will of the House that made it… but not all Houses create Turf for wholly altruistic ends.

The last 3rd of the book has profiles of 12 different Houses to find across Zener City, along with 10 districts with NPCs, key locations and rumours to springboard session writing.

In short, it’s X-Men meets Jet Set Radio. Or perhaps The Warriors by way of Mob Psycho 100. Necromunda but cheerful? However you slice it, it’s a love letter to graffiti culture, music and fashion subcultures, and the trials and tribulations of making (and maintaining) a community.

If you’d like to see the game played before you back, there are two demo session videos linked on the campaign page, and the aforesaid prerelease rules are still available via DriveThru RPG (although there have been a number of mechanical refinements since its release!).

The campaign will run until September 29th, and we’re aiming to have the physical book in people’s hands by January (and the digital version sooner than that). I hope the game’s your vibe, and as the writer, I’m happy to answer any questions here!