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Been diving into a bunch of indie RPGs lately and keep running into these little mechanical ideas that solve problems I didn't even realize D&D/Pathfinder had - stuff like clocks for tracking tension, or resolution systems that make failure feel interesting instead of just "nothing happens."

Curious what your picks are. What's a rule or subsystem from a game most people haven't played that deserves way more attention?

From D&D 5e: "Advantage/Disadvantage" being roll twice take the highest/lowest. It has existed for a long time, but the name of it is perfect. So much so that I still use the name with other games.

Other than that, a more mechanical thing is the "Cheat" mechanic in Through the Breach. You flip cards to make a skill check instead of a roll and you have a hand of cards that you can replace your flip with. So you can almost guarantee a hit even if you flip poorly (unless it's the black joker which is a crit fail).

for example, playing monster hearts actually feels like playing an episode of vampire diaries, and the humanity and cybernetic leveling up of cyberpunk makes you make tough choices or die quick. which is very cyberpunk

I recently got the books for the Fragged Kingdom RPG. As I'm reading through them... I come to realize that the absolute Master Mind of an author to these books. Constantly adds page number annotations throughout paragraphs if you need to reference other rules or information. This is absolutely amazing.

As per title, what's some rpg mechanics you find get a lotta hate or at least confoundment as to why they exist that you find actually fun and typically well-justified?

Where do you find fun despite most finding none there?

Personally, I actually like having stuff like ammo and rations to personally keep inventory of, as opposed to it being waived off just because "it only matters if you hit literal zero and we aren't going to LET that happen".

TLDR: What questions would you ask for players to arrive at a collective ideal game?

Hey yall! I’m about to wrap a campaign prematurely— I’ve ran 4-5 13th Age sessions and, while I’ve been loving the system, the group doesn’t seem to be too engaged with the whole “combat as a main focus” thing of the game. People say they like it, but right after ask for “more puzzles”. I’ve also noticed that the majority haven’t read much of the rules (including their own classes).

Since we’re early in the game but long enough, I want to offer them to change to another game while we haven’t dived too deep— hence my question. What questions would you ask to get a good grip on the collective ideal game?

So we've been playing TTRPGs for about a decade now. Standard evolution. Started with 5e, moved on to pathfinder 2e, dabbled in Daggerheart and Forbidden Lands. Our current long term campaign is PF2e. We have just spent a whole week in Italy together enjoying the summer and playing Pathfinder every evening, which is something we try to do every year. And while we did have a blast, we felt like we need to move on to another system after this campaign. Here are the main issues we had with the system:

Because we are high level now (lvl 17) it's more apparent than ever that pathfinder can hardly be played without technical aid. We use Foundry. We miss the feeling of just rolling dice and pushing minis around on a flip side battle map. Also combat is taking way too long. We like combat and everybody is excited about it for 15-30 minutes but everything after that is just a slog and really tough to roleplay. Additionally I, the DM, feel like it's too prep heavy. Combat is very tough to make interesting or even know how to play a monster without prepping it beforehand. But also the "story" part of it. There is just not enough mechanics that facilitate interesting story beats or mechanics around emergent gameplay. For context we always play PC focused sandboxes where the story evolves around the decisions the players make at the table. We use fronts from dungeon world for that.

So I think what we are looking for is:
- crunch but complex not complicated (ie 6 different conditions not 27)
- can be played in person without technical aids
- combat that is fun, interesting, cinematic and somewhat short (this might be utopic ^^)
- a lot of character choices / interesting character choices
- emergent gameplay through mechanics and/or other systems
- low/no prep
- geared towards interesting stories/character development/character focused stories (probably narrative mechanics, but maybe there is other things I'm not aware of)

I loved forbidden lands personally for the emergent gameplay and the way monsters are played. Just rolling to see what the monster does was extremely fun. Same reason why I love the beholder. But I think for my players it's not.. heroic? crunchy? .. enough? With Daggerheart I really liked to spend fear because it felt like I, as the GM, was a player as well and creating bad circumstances felt more "justified". But it didn't have enough interesting character choices for us and combat didn't really feel challenging or deadly. One of the reasons we've played PF2e for so long is the crunchy combat and the feeling of danger. Please keep in mind all of this is personal experience and we've only played a couple sessions each. I'm not knocking these games or anything. They are great games.

Ok so the strongest contestants at the moment are:
- 13th age 2e (seems like a really good fit)
- DnD 4e (just the monster roles and ease of encounter design alone make it very enticing)
- savage worlds?

I don't know if there is a game system that does everything I've listed. But please let me know what you think the right system for our group would be.

Hey guys! New Vaesen GM here.

So, I have a bunch of official mysteries ready to run. I'm loving all the content and the whole rpg, it's really up my alley, but i have a question regarding the way the core rulebook suggests writing mysteries.

I've been trying to follow it mostly and it's been fine, the one part that kind of threw me off track were the Clues. In the book, their section comes right after Atmosphere, so i assume it suggests crafting them after figuring out the mysteries atmosphere, but i feel like to do that I need to have a better grasp on location, characters, etc., which come afterwards.

My question is, has anyone tried to do it in this order? Like, figure the clues out first? Did it work out well, and how did you go about it?

Mainly I'd like to hear how you go about writing your Vaesen mysteries, I guess :) what order you figure stuff out. I don't really have a formula yet, so I'm very interested in learning more about other people's way of running things (perhaps overthinking a bit but oh well)

Hi,

I recently picked up "Sigil and Shadow" because it had been recommended to me a while back, and after playing Hunter Reckoning 5th Edition, I felt like I wanted more. But, for example, I was looking for something that would allow hunters to use a variety of magic and, generally, something closer to a rulebook than a ready-made setting-and so far, it looks like this system fits my needs perfectly.

I’ve finished reading the section on character creation (I’m still reading) and I don’t understand the rule regarding equipment. It mentions that there are equipment packages, but it also says that a player can have 5 items, one of which must come from a package. Does that mean they can have 5 random items, but, for example, as a detective, they should have one notebook? Can player pick weapon/vehicle or that will be too much for beginning of game?

I'm also curious about how to run, in practice, a team made up of the "light" and "dark" sides—is that possible, or should I stick to just one category?

Of course, I know that many rules can be adapted to suit the game, but I'd like to try the "vanilla" version of the game first, so that I can make modifications later if necessary.

This is for players and has to do with actual play experience. (If you find none of it's relevant to your gaming experience, thanks for reading, we're all set.)

Any TTRPG you've ever played: When you're playing, what makes a setting "pop" for you? What gave you that "you are there" feeling? What did your GM tell you about the setting (whether it was homebrew or a canon detail about a pre-made setting) that made it really 'work' for you?

Here's why I ask: I'm midway through doing some worldbuilding for a campaign-setting and there's lots of really good technical stuff like a couple of guys who have worksheets for "how many people can your fantasy city's agricultural base support?" or "Where is their metal coming from, and how does that build into court politics?" (or for that matter "what are your setting's court politics?")

And ngl, there's sort of a 'building a ship in a bottle' sort of fun in making a setting where, if anyone asked, everything works... but also ngl, I've never been in an actual campaign where a player asked the GM where the metal and grain was coming from.

So, I put it to you: what details actually *did* it for you? Gave the place a lived-in feel, I mean. Specific in-play examples especially if you have any. This will help a bit, as I course correct a little. Also it's sort of a chance to brag on your favorite GM, which is good too. Thanks in advance.

I'm not talking about ambient music or those epic Shadow of the Colossus OST you play during a boss fight. I mean more "normal" or traditional songs, if that makes sense.

For me, it's Lord of the Rings by Blind Guardian. It just feels like an RPG in musical form to me, and I'd love to discover more songs that capture that same feeling.

I hope this question makes sense to yall.