**Come here and talk about anything!**

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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.

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Sorry i seen this phenomena more and more. Lots of new Dms want to try other games (like cyberpunk, cthulhu etc..) but instead of you know...grabbing the books and reading them, they keep holding into D&D and trying to brute force mechanics or adventures into D&D.

The most infamous example is how a magazine was trying to turn David Martinez and Gang (edgerunners) into D&D characters to which the obvious answer was "How about play Cyberpunk?." right now i saw a guy trying to adapt Curse of Strahd into Call of Cthulhu and thats fundamentally missing the point.

Why do you think this shite happens? do the D&D players and Gms feel like they are going to loose their characters if they escape the hands of the Wizards of the Coast? will the Pinkertons TTRPG police chase them and beat them with dice bags full of metal dice and beat them with 5E/D&D One corebooks over the head if they "Defy" wizards of the coast/Hasbro? ... i mean...probably. but still

Geeks I need a little help...

Backstory: I(40s) am running a 40k chaos RPG for a group. Recently we added a younger trans gal to the group and I asked about some help integrating her into the game and group, and thankfully it's gone good! I'm catholic and more conservative than not, so wanted to do my homework so she had a good time with us.

Current issue: I'd love to add a trans character to the game BUT I don't want it to seem pandering or to introduce the character in a terrible way. How in a rpg would you signal trans without being heavy handed? I have an idea for the character and everything but don't wanna fuck this up lol

We are playing black crusade(the ffg rpg where you play chaos bad guys) and my current idea is a trans slaanesh marine leading some cultist.

I’ve been reflecting on Lancer and where it sits in the mecha TTRPG scene, and honestly, I’m struggling to find my footing in this space. Lancer just doesn’t click for me, either as a GM or a player. It leans too far into tactical board game territory. Combat prep feels like crunching spreadsheets, and mech customization, while deep on paper, often boils down to “same numbers, different names.” It ends up feeling more like system mastery than meaningful character expression.

What I do love about Lancer are the moments between missions: the downtime, the character interactions, the cinematic drama. That’s where I see the soul of the game. But when it comes time to actually run combat, I find myself dragging my feet. I dread the prep, and it slows the game down right when it should be hitting its emotional and narrative highs.

I’ve tried looking at other narrative-focused mecha games like Beam Saber but most of them, while doing a better job of handling story, feel a bit too stale or lightweight for what I’m after. They often lack the sense of scale, tension, or expressive build variety that drew me to Lancer in the first place.

I know I’m basically asking for a unicorn: Lancer-style customization without the number crunch or tactical bloat. Something cinematic, fast-playing, emotionally rich, but where the mechs still feel like unique extensions of the pilot, not just narrative tags.

Unfortunately, Lancer has become the de facto mecha TTRPG, so it's hard to find traction for anything outside of it. Most of the community energy is centered there, and pitching something else often gets met with silence.

Is anyone else chasing that same unicorn? Have you found or hacked something that hits the right balance between narrative focus and expressive mech builds?

Will someone still recommend GURPs...? Let's see!

To me, even games like Shadowrun are too broad for this: Shadowrun's various editions try to allow for too many genres and tones inside the overall setting.

I know there are dnd specific subs, but something tells me it will be far easier to fund people who dislike the system on this sub.

Hello everyone! My understanding of ttrpgs is that the same system can feel very different depending on gm style and the table you play in.

This leaves me wondering: what did peak 5E look like for people who dislike the system? What aspects of the table made it particularly fun for you compared to the average experience?

Feel free to also share what your ideal 5E game would hypothetically look like (I can already hear it "my ideal 5E session is playing a different system lol").

I have a blog myself and I'd like to try to discover my peers and connect with them, Google is nearly useless these days only linking big brands, I can barely find myself on that let alone others lol

So can you help out and link some of the small or new ttrpg blogs you've read recently below?

(Big blogs are fine to mention too, but I imagine they'd be less interested or available to connect)

Thanks in advance folks

I'm looking for a modern game that gives the same feel of realistic gear as I had in the 1990s with Shadowrun 2E. Ideally something that is grounded in the real world, rather than fantasy or far future sci fi.

World of Darkness games—like Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc.—are designed to be deeply narrative and character-driven. They ask a lot from both players and Storytellers: tone, pacing, moral nuance, and personal horror aren’t easy to pull off. And yet, despite being called a “Storytelling System,” not everyone brings their A-game.

So now I’m curious—what’s the worst or most misguided way you’ve seen someone run or play a WoD game? Maybe a Storyteller mistook “personal horror” for endless trauma dumping, or a player treated Vampire like a superhero sandbox.

Tell me about the time someone completely missed the point. I know those stories are out there. 🍿

Title.

Sure, I’ve enjoyed running and playing some White Wolf games in my time, but in my experience, VtM and VtR are not ideally suited to doing what they claim to be all about. This happens a fair bit in the TTRPG world, but anyway..

What would you recommend, that absolutely nails that whole “gothy-gory world of darkness” / “inevitable downward spiral of humanity loss” / “neverending bloodthirst grind” / “vicious politics and infighting” schtick?

I prefer no clans/classes/similar. Rules-heavy is right out. What ya got?