**Come here and talk about anything!**

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.

----------

This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

**Come here and talk about anything!**

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.

----------

This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

I mean one where you barely have to touch the rules and just give the setting and tone a coat of paint. I ask cause I have been toying with making a Delta Green romcom module. In it, Sanity becomes your Heartbreak stat, and the Horrors of Delta Green are the agonies and mindgames your beloved puts you through to win their heart.

Just asked this over on Bluesky and getting some great answers so, for those of you who either write fiction or your own scenarios/adventures/campaigns etc (professionally or not), what is the nerdiest most pointless research rabbit hole you've gone down in the name of worldbuilding, which you're well aware that no one else will ever care about but you wanted to get right?

this was prompted by finding my old notes with all the phases of the moon & tides in Northern England in 1566, which for those of you thinking "well actually it's entirely reasonable that the players might want to know the tides & phases of the moon in 1566 over the course of a scenario, best to be prepared," the scenario in question took place in 1583

So i was thinking of ruining some like a spec ops/Gi joe inspired game while I personally like essence 20, my group does not and we are exploring other options. We prefer classless and skill based and maybe a little room for "powers" or upgrades like cyberware. I was thinking Shadowrun might be a springboard, But I would love to hear other suggestions.

Running games for a while now and I have always been a chronic overprepper. Statblocks for NPCs who never show up, maps for locations the party skips, contingency notes for decisions they never make. Classic stuff. My assumption going in was that a ruleslighter system would naturally produce lighter prep because there is less mechanical scaffolding to build around. What I actually found is that the prep just shifted shape. Less time on stats, more time secondguessing whether I had enough fictional texture to improvise confidently when the rules stop holding your hand.

Which is interesting because that second type of prep is harder to measure and easier to underdo. At least with a crunchier system you know when you are done because you have filled in the boxes.

Curious whether other GMs experienced something similar or whether the lighter prep thing actually delivered for you. Did you end up running more sessions on the fly, or did you just frontload different kinds of work? And does the answer change depending on the system? I suspect games like Ironsworn handle this differently than something like Fate, where the GM scaffolding is almost entirely vibebased

Also wondering if player experience level changes the equation. My group is pretty comfortable improvising, but I could see a newer group needing more GM prep to compensate regardless of what the rulebook says.

TL;DR: What's a lightweight ruleset that's still compatible with Mythic Constantinople?

---

As I grow older I feel myself shifting away from my youthful obsession with fantasy in all forms and finding an increased appreciation of historical fiction: the stories of real (or real adjacent) people, sometimes in extraordinary situations, sometimes just dealing with the everyday struggle for survival, connection, and purpose.

As such, I'm also interested in exploring those kinds of stories in RPGs, but RPGs devoted to historical fiction are relatively rare compared to the enormous wealth of options in the fantasy/sci-fi genre.

Rare, but not necessarily hard to find.

The best options I've seen are for GURPS (a veritable cornucopia for historical RP) and Mythras with its line of "Mythic ____" setting supplements.

As a GM, I prefer to run low-crunch systems:

• I like to keep my games flowing along at a nice clip, even in combat
• Fast character creation encourages me to not pull punches - death is always on the table if it's a realistic consequence
• I like to run small campaigns and switch systems fairly regularly because there's just so many interesting things to play. I can't ask my players to invest in a complex system that we'll be done with in a few months.

Mothership and Pirate Borg are my current favorites. So what's my best option for lightweight historical roleplaying?

1. Is there a version of BRP light enough for my tastes?
2. Should I suck it up and figure out a version of GURPS that works for me?
3. Is there another RPG that fits my preferences and is well suited for historical play?
4. Should I make my own Panic Engine or Borg hack to suit my needs?

Thanks!

The rules don't state a specific size -- how big have you made your mechs in your game?

This thread isn't meant to start angry arguments about whether or not this is good play, or the correct way to play, or a sign of some malaise in the hobby or whatever. Those arguments are relitigated every few weeks or so when someone asks a question about backstory and always go the same ways.

Every so often when there's discussion of how people run their games there's allusions to players "planning out a PC's arc and informing the GM of it"; it's always contentious and generally invites what to me feel like massive overreactions from commenters about it being bad play.

What I want to ask is the GMs and players who do this what it actually entails, how it plays out in the course of a campaign and just generally what your experiences of it are precisely because it's not a form of play I've experienced. Or, is this the internet being what it is and bad expression of an idea is making something routine seem exceptional and inviting bad-faith interpretations of it?

I feel a lot of fiction-forward systems see character progression as deepening of narrative role, in a sense; playbook advancements strengthening whichever trope or role the playbook represents, for example. I also see systems like World of Darkness encouraging you to have ideals, or goals, or ambitions and having those shape your character and give themes for the GM to include (in a Mage game if your Obsession is about seeking immortality, then the GM can use that to shape the encounters and events you'll see along the way, as a basic example).

Or, even less mechanically shaped, am I "planning an arc" if I say at session zero "my character is someone who's never wanted for anything and now has to deal with losing all their privilege", which is describing how I'll shape my RP throughout the game and potentially suggesting to the GM I'd be interested in stuff about class consciousness and so on.

I think in the end I've got a few main questions here which I'm asking not to give me food to mock people who play in different ways to my table but to try and learn how other tables run games in good faith.

1. In practice, as a PC or DM, what does "planning an arc" entail?
2. Does this even happen in statistically significant amounts or is it a canard invented by people trying to mischaracterise fiction-forward or character-driven RPGs and do down alternative styles of play?

Because if you listen to some people it's "each session the player tells the GM what will happen to their character" which sounds a gross exaggeration, and if you listen to others it's anything more than having a purely emergent characterisation revealed through play.

As a DM, Im terrible at taking session notes. I pro.ise myself I'll do it, get my notebook out, start the session....and then realize 2 hrs in I have been so wrapped up in running the game I haven't written anything. Has anyone tried recording their sessions audio and using a tool to summarize the session? ​what tools did you use? How successful was it?

HELLO EVERYONE!

I run a Virtual Tabletop called One More Multiverse! It's an accessibility focused, art-forward VTT that has a beautiful Pixel art aesthetic inspired by some of the more visually evocative pixel art games that we've all played (or will play).

What makes our platform unique!

• Aforementioned Pixel Art Aesthetic
  • A growing library of over 20,000 Pixel art assets, We add more every month! (All Artist drawn, and always will be)
  • NPCs, Tilesets, Environmental Pieces, Building pieces, LIGHTING!
• Focus on accessibility, feeling more tactile, and keeping players more engaged!
• System Agnostic, while also having tools to enter rulesets for games you want to play that we don't currently support.
• A bustling community of artists and users who make their own content for OMM as well!

We currently support small number of games such as Blades in the Dark, Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, and 5e. BUT RECENTLY, we have been partnering up with a few projects that are coming out within the next year, such as Dreams of No Sleep, Last Arc: Tactics Analogue, Legends of Akeroth, and Night Shift: Devil Division.

Our goal right now is to be able to be a dedicated spot to play your favourite TTRPGs in their ideal online form, and would love to see you all there! We are also lining up more partnerships in the future, so would also just love to hear what games you are all into! A personal goal of MINE, is to be a platform that spotlights indie TTRPGs, and makes having VTT support accessible to game devs when it might not always be.

Mostly writing this post as a bit of an awareness piece as well as a soft launch about us actively developing (rather than just adding to our art library)! Which means I would love fresh eyes on it, and want to make sure we're developing in a direction that is actually helpful to folks, while also staying fun!

And obligatory: Yes we did announce closing around 4 years ago, however we did not end up closing, and found a way to become sustainable instead! We will not be closing anymore, and are not in risk of it either.

Right now we operate as a free to play platform (just requiring you to follow our Patreon for free), however if you are looking to GM more than 1 simultaneous game group, we just ask that you subscribe to our Patreon as it helps us cover hosting costs!

Our website (and also where the VTT is located): www.playmultiverse.com

Our platform's community discord server: www.discord.gg/multiverse

Will be super happy to answer any and all Qs in the comments, so please feel free to shoot them by if you have any questions or concerns!

I've never played an RPG. Neither has my wife or my friend. I want to try it with them this weekend and maybe make it a regular thing.

Three of us total — me running it, two players.

Looking for a game that's simple to learn fast, works with two players, we can finish in one evening, and that can get us hooked.

What game should we start with, and what do I actually need to have ready? And any beginner mistakes to avoid?

Thanks.