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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 was listening to a podcast/panel today about how a lot of smaller game studios closed down due to increases in costs. Anyone know of any that closed this last year or had to cancel projects to stay afloat?

They mentioned that they may be lesser known companies so I'm curious if anyone knows of any.

What sandbox adventures you've seen would you call the best, or your favorite? What do you like about them?

Personally I am really fond of the valley of flowers, has that perfect feel where the pcs can wander in any direction and find something fascinating, every inch if a full adventure.

Recently we have been playing a VTM chronicle and we noticed a small pattern with some of our characters being named after classic english characters (Alice, Henry (Jekyll), etc.), and with that I started to wonder if there is an rpg with a "victorian english literature" framework.

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I guess a bit like City of Mist but instead of gods, literary characters like Sherlock Holmes, Lupin, Doran Grey, etc.

Some "League of extraordinary gentlemen" vibes aswell. Ideally set in a "parallel world to ours" like World of Darkness.

After years around RPG communities, I've noticed something strange.

Everyone says they want:

- deep roleplay

- long campaigns

- complex worlds

- meaningful consequences

But the most successful groups I've seen often have:

- inconsistent attendance

- forgotten plotlines

- half-understood rules

- campaigns that never finish

Yet everyone still has fun.

So what's the biggest lie RPG players tell themselves?

What do we say we want, but actually don't?

As a teen I was big into games like D&D 4e and Hackmaster. Big crunchy games with lengthy combats and lots of moving parts. I also enjoyed dabbling in the OSR with LotFP. After taking a lengthy hiatus from the hobby for college and grad school I returned wanting to run a simulationist, rich, meaty game and run it online for months if not years.

However, life hits you differently in your 30s than 14. I yearn for the depth and richness of those sprawling systems but just can’t commit to running them with my schedule. Thus, I just bought the Troika starter bundle. :)

Curious if others here can relate.

Coming from games that either don't have mechanics for diseases or overly complex mechanics that don't add much (Pathfinder 1E), what are some game systems that do disease in an interesting or unique way?

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What makes it interesting?

I havn't touched ttrpg's in years, but I used to run some games online when I was between say maybe 15/16? The games would always hit either a scheduling problem, or there'd be a problem player and the game would end, the vibes would be off - and the game would falter. It would end.

But looking back, I know that I also "abandoned" a few games rather than sticking it out - I know "no dnd is better than bad dnd" is a phrase tossed around, but I've got a few OSR games I wanna have fun with (Fleaux specifically); and I'd love to run a more narrative given game too, I'm just worried that I'm going to burnout of the game again. How do I maintain my passion for it so it's not a spike.

There is this person I once played D&D 4e alongside, long ago. By chance, I stumbled across him online and caught up. This person has been wanting to vent for a while about his side hustle as a paid 5e DM, and, for whatever reason, thought I would be a good listener.

At some point, I asked if I could share his story online, publicly. He agreed (citing that he highly doubts that anyone involved checks RPG-related Discord servers, subreddits, and such), under the condition that there would be no identifying information, no direct quotes aside from small phrases, no direct price tags, nobody trying to contact him, and so on. I have already run my posts by him.

I have no way of verifying if any of this is true. He could be fabricating everything. In turn, you have no way of verifying my own side. I suppose that is just how things go. I am sharing this story simply because I find it interesting.

• The DM has been doing this for nearly a decade, usually thrice a week, ~6 hours a session, in-person. He started off charging (X) USD per hour (for the whole group, not for each player), but gradually increased his price to ~3(X). The DM is aware that this is very high, but he gets away with it by relentlessly networking across a certain area in the U.S. where upper-middle-class 20- to 30-somethings are common. One current group, consisting of nobodies in the right-wing grifter sphere (who still manage to cough up money anyway), the DM charges ~5(X); he tells them that they are getting a premium experience, even when the DM is doing nothing particularly different.

• His clients are almost all white or white-passing, upper-middle-class, 20- to 30-something men. The DM freely admits that there is selection bias. This is probably the only demographic willing to pay such high prices for someone to run a game for them. Sometimes, someone brings a girlfriend, who may or may not play.

• The DM has run for 200+ players over the course of dozens of campaigns. No campaign has reached a proper conclusion.

• Group sizes are usually six or seven (I know, I know) players, but one or two almost always ghost on the session without sending advance notice. Players frequently show up for game night drunk, high, or both. Every single game thus far has ended with a critical mass of players ghosting and never showing up again. Fortunately, the DM insists on collecting payment beforehand; and yes, these players are indeed willing to just throw money away.

• Yes, many players mention Critical Role, Brennan Lee Mulligan, etc.

• The stereotypes of 5e-only players are true ~99% of the time. They either think that "D&D" is the only RPG in the world, or that it would be such a hassle to learn another system. They do not know how any of the rules work, they do not bother to roleplay, and they do not remember anything about the last session. (If you know how the rules work, you roleplay, or you remember events from the last session, then you are in the top ~1% of players.) They show up mostly for the very loose idea of "playing D&D" and having fun with friends.

• ~99% of the time, a player declares their turn in combat to be "I attack" or "I cast a spell" without specifying anything more than that (aside from the occasional "I cast fireball!" or "I cast lightning bolt!" even though the character could not possibly have the spell). The DM asks them to roll a d20; on anything but a natural 1 or 2, he tells them "You hit!" and the player gets excited. The DM does not ask them to roll damage. Sometimes, if he feels like the players will not be too dismayed, the DM tells a player who rolls in the 3 to 5 range that "You miss. This guy is really [tough/fast]!"

• The DM does not bother tracking anyone's hit points, and just tells players things like "You take some damage," "You are close to dying," or "You finally beat him. Tell us how you do it!"

• Players tend to panic and think that they are in a dire situation the moment the DM informs them that they take even "some damage." The tension ramps up even further whenever the DM says, "You are close to dying."

• A non-negligible number of players are really sweaty tryhards who know the ins and outs of damage math and tracking hit points... in video games. When it is time for "D&D," they simply turn off their brain, and all damage and all hit points are suddenly imaginary.

• Yes, players really do go crazy when someone rolls a natural 1, expecting something goofy to happen. They cheer when someone rolls a natural 20, expecting something absolutely epic. The DM indulges them.

• Players really do not know how ability checks, skills, or saving throws work. They get antsy if the DM tries to talk about the rules as actual rules, so he has learned to simply never bring up the rules to begin with.

• Maybe the archetypal tiefling bard is popular in other communities, but not this one. Here, it is mostly bros playing "male human [fighter/barbarian/paladin]," with the occasional wizard if someone is feeling spicy.

• Players love to be showered with magic items that simply sound cool from vague descriptions, even though the DM never actually explains their mechanics (because there are none). Swords brimming with flame, frost, or lightning are usually smash hits.

• Since players will seldom remember anything from previous sessions, the DM just randomly throws the party into wacky action scenes, often as paper-thin as "You are in the king's castle when all of a sudden, a dragon attacks!" He does not even bother trying to maintain a consistent setting, whether published or homebrew.

• The DM frequently gets told that he is the "best DM ever!" even though he is fairly sure that these people have played under nobody else.

• There is minimal demand for non-5e DMs. If you want another RPG, look elsewhere.

Make of this what you will.

So I just got a job as an activities coordinator in a care home and I'm really excited. I've been thinking about creating a TTRPG (minus the table) short sessions with plushie dice and really simplified rules, because I feel like there could be so many emotional and cognitive benefits for the residents.

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Has anyone else ever heard of projects that do this, or is there some kind of way to do a bunch of simplified short sessions while still having an ongoing story they can come back to every week?

I haven't seen any TTRPGs that have a mobster thematic. With this I mean The Godfather, Goodfellas or the Mafia videogames. Can you recommend me a system that has a mobster theme? Or should I use a generic system?

I love WFRP 2e and 4e it is such a wonderful mechanical representation of the Old World. However my players (and myself to a lesser extend) require something less restrictive. They find it works best for them when the premise of the campaign is the restriction, not the mechanics.

I have for about half a year been considering for the second time if the switch to BRP was in order. Half of the WFRP group is already in my CoC (7e) game so they're quite familiar with it, and the rest have played a one-shot of it before under my GMing.

I am confident I could make BRP work in the world of Mallus, though I am uncertain it would retain the same feeling since the mechanics are nowhere near as lore-tied as they are in WFRP systems. Anyone here with experience in using BRP as a generic sword & sorcery gritty style game or just outright Warhammer Fantasy game that can tell me what to expect or simply your experience?