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Okay so long story short: I'm somewhat new to RPGs in the sense that most if not all the tables systems I've played were created by my friends (tho most of them were D&D-like mixed with other concepts).

I often heard about GURPS, the crunchy system, the infinite supplements for every genre you can imagine, the not-so-much beginner friendly and thought about giving a read through it and considering that me, 24yo, new to "actual" systems and definitely out of the loop about GURPS somewhat negative/positive reputation until recently... I don't think it's bad. I mean, the discussion is not about GURPS being bad in any way, but it's not THAT dated.

The basic set (characters and campaigns) have roughly 500 pages, few to no art at all and with an... Interesting choice of text formatting (looking at you 3 column page) and also some topics that... Eh (slave mentality). But the catch is: I don't think it really need cool 2 page art, a lot of illustrations, cool and "modern" format. GURPS is a rules-heavy game and almost all the 500 pages are exclusively rules, skills, (dis)advantages. Things that actually makes the game very exciting for it's deep character creation. It's deep if you want a deep game, it's light if you take out some rules, it's considerably balanced and the math most of the time checks out.

GURPS speaks against the modern trend of being quick to set and play, that I can agree, but that doesn't mean it's dated, it's just for a specific audience (which from what I can tell, it's for me). I prefer a beautiful system rather than a beautiful book. And still, even with some design choices that I do not agree, it's not ugly, it's not unreadable, it's not a relic stuck on it's time. It still has a charm to this day. I just wish there were more people playing, though SJ Games do a terrible job at marketing for newer audiences.

I played Dracurouge (2016) last November with one GM and two other players. I typed up this review just afterwards and have been sitting on it; I am sharing it only now.

Dracurouge is a zone-based tactical combat game about playing chivalrous vampire knights and other creatures of the night: wolf-men, intelligent zombies, fey of the seasonal courts, draconic folk, artificial beings, and many more. This uses the broader definition of "knight," which includes estate-managing lords, well-educated sages, nimble hunters, conquering generals, pious priests, pegasus-mounted sky knights, seafaring captains, brilliant engineers and doctors, and so on. While a knight is expected to be chivalrous, they are probably not some armored guy riding around; this said, a classical knight is absolutely an option.

The fan translation emphasizes specific nomenclature. These are not vampires who turn, convert, or reanimate people. These are "knights" who "knight" people, and confer "knighthood" or award an "accolade." Indeed, in-universe, the word "vampire" is explicitly an old-fashioned, rare slur.

This is a Japanese tabletop RPG. I have prior experience playing these: Maid and Kamigakari, mostly. Due to the tabletop culture over there, RPGs are generally meant for one-shots or, at the very most, shorter campaigns. A PC is generally complete even fresh from character creation. Any advancement is just small perks, and character death (or permanent, NPC-ifying corruption) is a very real possibility. Also due to Japanese tabletop culture, players are supposed to be fine with the GM simply telling them straight-up "This is a combat scene" or "This is a social scene," and to avoid doing anything disruptive, like trying to abruptly turn a social scene into combat.

I am fairly sure that this game is obscure even in Japan. The author of this game has also made a few other systems, including: Maid RPG (2004), Golden Sky Stories (2006), Nechronica (2011), and Ventangle (2021).

Setting

The game is set in a distinctly Franco-Germanic land called the Everdark. 1,999 years ago, the Great Ancestor Dracul gave up his (un)life to either cause the moon to swallow up the sun, personally swallow the sun himself, or personally shatter the sun himself. (The translation contradicts itself, and maybe in-world history does, too.) Whatever the case, day and night are now defined by the rising and falling of an eternally red moon. The sun's fragments still linger here and there, waiting to scorch creatures of the night to cinders.

Today, Dracul's descendant bloodlines rule. Their society is... somewhat unified, and based in Drac, the capital.

The great, great bulk of the populace is still regular old humans. Select individuals are inducted into knighthood. These knights do not hunger, but many still choose to eat: quality over quantity, though. They require no water, but they Thirst for Warmth: positive emotions.

Knights absorb Warmth through kisses: actual, literal kisses, usually upon the wrist. Kisses upon the neck are considered deeply intimate, never to be done in public. Actually sucking blood is a barbaric act reserved for the Fallen, those knights who have succumbed to their Thirst and become monsters. (There is also a vague insinuation that it is possible to nudge a knight towards Falling by tricking them into drinking blood: say, by mixing blood into wine. Personally, I am not a fan of this contrivance of "Oh, they do not actually drink blood," since it defeats some of the appeal of playing vampire knights to begin with.)

Knights are virtually unkillable short of fragments of the sun, but they must manage their Thirst wisely. Otherwise, they Fall. Additionally, chivalry is expected. (Mechanically, knights are rewarded with metacurrency for being chivalrous. This could be viewed as an allegory for how, in the real world, chivalry may have been invented to try to keep knights disciplined, as opposed to riding off on their own to pillage and defile.)

Knights can work magic. These are called Realizations. (Confusingly, mechanics-wise, not all magical effects are tagged as Realizations. Summoning is not tagged as such, for instance.)

Knights work together to create prosperity in the Everdark. They must protect the land from multifarious threats:

• Rival knights. Some are depraved and destructively unchivalrous. Others are simply rivals born of circumstance and competition.

• The Fallen. Many mutate into monstrous forms: werewolf-like predators, churning masses of flesh, lindwurms, and other terrors.

• The fey. While many are amicable enough, others are more fickle and unpredictable, and some are downright nasty.

• Non-vampiric undead. Over 1,200 years ago, the lands of the Nosferas bloodline were stricken by plague and then a cataclysm. Those lands are now called Hell, and they teem with the shambling dead. Many are surprisingly intelligent, and organize shambling ghouls into dreadful armies.

• Fragments of the sun. Yes, unfortunately, the sun is rather vengeful. Some solar shards empower human cultists. Others manifest as independent monsters, up to and including city-sized birds with wings of flame.

• Myriad miscellaneous creatures of the night. Sometimes, a troublesome wolf-man is "merely" a troublesome wolf-man, who was never a knight to begin with.

• Mightiest of them all, the deadly sinners. These are specimens from one of the previous categories; they have committed evils so egregious that they have manifested additional powers atop everything else they could already do. (In other words, this is a template for superbosses.) This uses a model of six deadly sins, not seven.

• "Trials," as they are known. Sometimes, danger and high stakes come chiefly from an overarching set of circumstances: a lord's mistrust, an atmosphere of paranoia in the court, the anxiety of the common people, a perilous journey, enemies hidden in the shadows or in plain sight, etc. (These are statted out as if they were full-fledged enemies, and probably accompany other adversaries.)

Character Creation

Dracurouge has a core rulebook, an accompanying "replay" (i.e. highly extended example of play), and three expansion books. These supplements are beefy; one is significantly longer than the core rulebook, even!

The core rulebook has six knightly bloodlines to choose from: the ever-ruling Drac, the adventurous dreamers of Rosenberg, the wise and knowledgeable Dustheim, the fairy- and nature-bonded Avaloma, the inquisitors and exorcists of Hellsgarde, and the grim survivors of Nosferas. The core rules also give us six knightly paths: lord, guard (i.e. bodyguard), pilgrim (i.e. knight errant), sage, hunter, and nightbeast (i.e. someone who has come close to Falling and now draws edgy power from it). Each bloodline comes with three branches (e.g. Hellsgarde's summoning-specialized Chain branch), and each path likewise offers three branches (e.g. hunters of the Axe who can chop so hard that they cleave apart Realizations).

While some bloodlines and paths are iconic, like Drac lords, Rosenberg pilgrims, Hellsgarde hunters, and Dustheim sages, there is no real mechanical synergy to stereotypes. Players can mix and match as they please. It is hardly unthinkable for, say, a Dustheim knight to turn their extensive education towards lordship or the hunt.

Supplements offer more bloodlines and more paths. We have generals, priests, star readers (i.e. astrologians), sky riders (i.e. pegasus knights), captains (of naval ships), mediators, engineers, doctors, and more.

Maybe a player does not want to be a vampire knight. Plain humans are unavailable, but other creatures of the night are fine. We have the lupine Varcolac and Loup Garou, the intelligent zombie Nachzehrer, the feline Grimalkin, the piscean Melusine, the avian Striga, the devilish Faun, the fey Álfr, the draconic Vouivre, the floral Alrûna, the spiderlike Frigga, the artificial Homunculi (consciousnesses built from scratch) and Enamelum (vessels of preserved minds and souls), any of the above given vampiric knighthood, and many more. Sadly, all of these are still burdened with Thirst; that is just how things work around here.

For some reason, these beings are called "heretics." As a general rule, heretics have low social status, but this can vary significantly. For example, the Nachzehrer are particularly feared and hated, due to their resemblance to the undead of the former Nosferas lands. On the other hand, the Homunculi and the Enamelum are somewhat better-off than most heretics, and the Álfr, Vouivre, and Alrûna are seemingly the three most well-respected of all the heretics.

Heretics follow all sorts of weird rules, depending on the specific heretic type. The Álfr are the closest to vampire knights mechanically, while others stray further and further with unusual mechanics. Most heretic types cannot even take conventional knightly paths, and are limited to unique heretical paths, such as spy, witch, and swordsman.

After picking out [knightly bloodline/heretic type], path, and branches for each, a character starts off with a Renown. These represent noteworthy deeds, and a PC gains a new Renown after each session. Some Renowns are generic good stuff, like rolling more dice. Other Renowns specialize a character's build; Harp improves summoning, Chalice or Spur enables body blocking for allies, and so on.

Some Renowns exist specifically to facilitate "multiclassing" or "multipathing" of sorts. They grant an ability from a bloodline or path other than one's own.

The core rulebook has 36 knightly Renowns. The supplement that introduces heretics gives us 14 heretical Renowns, as well as a unique bonus Renown for knights or heretics who happen to be over 300 years old. (There is a price to pay for getting this unique bonus Renown, though, namely, more Thirst.)

Knightly Renowns are for knights, while heretical Renowns are for heretics. Again, though, exceptions apply. The elflike Álfr are so knightlike that they can choose only from knightly Renowns, for example.

As far as mechanical character creation goes, that is almost it. [Knightly bloodline/heretic type], path, branches for each, Renown. No other statistics or gear.

There is a bit more. One supplement includes Storia: a mix of character backgrounds, arcs, and destinies. These include "Knight in Service to Two Sovereigns," "Love with the Lord," "Former Believer of the Sun," "Forbidden Knowledge," "Forbidden Book," "Mad Engineer," "Defender of Heretics," "Fairy Possession," and "Seeking the Blood Grail." Each offers a unique action, a unique Renown, or a miscellaneous unique advantage. For instance, if you suffer from the "Curse of Strife," then you gain the unique combat action My Sword Desire Thy Blood. There are 82 Storia, each with their own prerequisites and recommendations for knightly bloodline, heretic type, path, etc.

One reason why gear is purely cosmetic is because, apparently, all characters have one bizarrely specific Realization ability by default: creating items and mounts at will, including clothing, armor, weapons, and horses. It is specifically pointed out that these can be given to other people. It is also explicitly noted that these creations require concentration, so they vanish while the creator sleeps. Therefore, all characters... allegedly... sleep naked? Really? No character has ever heard of pajamas or nightgowns, it seems.

In any case, based on the broad-strokes overview of character options above, it would be easy to assume that characters have explicitly codified, path-based benefits. Maybe a lord has an estate, a sage is knowledgeable, a general has a small army, a priest has a congregation, a sky rider has a pegasus, a captain has a ship, an engineer has good technical skills, a doctor is an expert on all things medical, and so on. This is not the case, however.

All characters are simply assumed to have whatever in-universe perks fits their path, based on the lore written into the path's description. The captain path's lore describes all captains being knights who can Realize one or more ships (I can only assume they do not go away while sleeping), so that is what a captain PC is assumed to be capable of. This leaves more bare-bones path like guard, pilgrim, hunter, and nightbeast high and dry; they do not get any special perks based on their lore, since their in-universe niche is "Guy who fights good," and all PCs can equally fight good.

Yes, all PCs can equally fight good.

Each PC has 2 basic combat actions and 2 basic social actions; knights and Álfr all share the same basic actions, but heretics have a different array of basics, and certain knightly paths have special rules that modify basic actions. Atop that, everyone's [vampiric bloodline/heretic type] and specific branch gives 2 combat actions and 2 social actions, and everyone's path and specific branch also confers 2 combat actions and 2 social actions. All in all, a PC should have 6 combat actions and 6 social actions. Specific Renown choices and other miscellaneous perks grant extra actions, shifting the 6 and 6 equilibrium, but not by a major amount.

Confronting Enemies

PCs are PCs, and enemies are enemies. They do not use the same rules. Not including the starter scenario, the core rulebook has 19 enemy statistics blocks. There are another 19 + 24 + 6 = 49 blocks in the supplements, for a total of 68. Each has 4 unique combat actions and 4 unique social actions (yes, even a Fallen lindwurm or a city-sized bird of solar flame is up for a riveting debate), and potentially a unique Renown as a passive trait. Notably, 6 of these are "Trials," which are neither real people nor monsters, and are instead abstract representations of intangible barriers.

Supplements offer ways to customize enemies: giving them knight basic actions, giving them heretic basic actions, multiple options for mechanics for redeeming a Fallen, and so on. The 6 "deadly sins" create superbosses, giving 2 more combat actions, 2 more social actions, and a unique Renown.

The above count of enemies does not include Stewards, or in other words, minions or mooks. There are 13 generic NPC Stewards to work with. PC actions frequently summon even more types. Stewards are fragile, getting instantly "Wallflowered" (i.e. taken out, whether physically or socially) by even a single point of "damage." The Steward and summon rules are, honestly, a bit of a mess; my GM and I had a very hard time understanding them, and there were many ambiguities.

Now, how do we face these enemies, whether with blades or with well-spoken words?

In this game, all scenes wherein dice are rolled are zone- and turn-based conflicts, whether physical combat or social interaction. If you are rolling dice, then you are in a zone- and turn-based scene, full stop. There is no such thing as a noncombat scene wherein characters are rolling to know things, talk good in a one-and-done interaction, navigate the wilderness, or anything like that; the system simply expects these to be freeformed. All that matters is the meat and potatoes, the actual fights and social gatherings.

Important Terms

• Noblesse Oblige: Yet another PC-exclusive resource (again, short of variant rules). It is used to add more dice to your dice pools. PCs gain 1 Noblesse Oblige at the start of each round while in a zone- and turn-based scene. The GM can award a PC with Noblesse Oblige for being exceptionally chivalrous, valorous, and such. Heretics' Noblesse Oblige is renamed and reflavored to Awe instead, as they are less about chivalry and more about being strange, frightening, and yet wondrous creatures. Much as with Warmth, all Noblesse Oblige or Awe is lost at the end of an adventure arc.

• Thirst: A PC-exclusive resource. Gaining Thirst is bad, because every time a PC's Thirst increases to a value of 3 or more, the PC must roll on the Fall table (with a penalty equal to their current Thirst) to see how badly they are corrupted, and whether or not they get NPC-ified into a Fallen. If a PC ends the final zone- and turn-based scene of an adventure arc with Thirst 3+, they must roll yet again. There is a small upside, though, in that Thirst upgrades rolls just a teensy bit.

• Warmth: Another PC-exclusive resource (short of variant rules). Gaining Warmth is good. For the most part, Warmth is used to cancel Thirst on a one-for-one basis, though a few niche mechanics and actions cost Warmth. All Warmth at the end of an adventure arc is lost.

• Presence: An NPC-exclusive resource, essentially their HP in zone- and turn-based scenes. An NPC dropping to 0 Presence is "Wallflowered," or in other words, taken out. This can mean death (but probably not, seeing how many supernatural creatures are unkillable and can only be sealed away in Hell), but it could also mean incapacitation, being shamed or cowed into compliance, being so awed or rationally persuaded as to turn around to the PCs' side, and so on and so forth.

• Every time a non-Steward NPC gets Wallflowered, all PCs gain 1 Warmth.

• Noir: Negative emotions and physical aggression. NPCs take Noir as direct damage to their Presence, while a PC takes Noir as a Noir bond towards the inflicting character (or towards a Steward's controlling character). If a Noir bond reaches 5 points, it vanishes; the PC gains 1 Thirst, and any overflow Noir beyond 5 spills over into a new Noir bond towards the same inflicting character.

• In other words, while PCs find it effective to gang up on a single NPC to chip away at Presence, multiple NPCs ganging up on a single PC generate separate Noir bonds. Thus, PCs are resistant to being focused down by multiple NPCs.

• PCs are also resistant to taking friendly fire damage from AoE, because the inflicting character is a friendly PC. It takes a while for Noir from friendly fire to spill over into Thirst.

• A PC can reroll a check by taking 1 Noir towards themselves, and can keep doing so, until the Noir bond finally becomes a point of Thirst.

• Noir is an outright broken mechanic if run RAW. My GM and I looked this over and came to this conclusion. By RAW, incoming Noir can be split up into multiple different flavors of negative emotions, and only once one of these flavors reaches 5 does it become Thirst. This makes it virtually impossible for PCs to actually acquire thirst. In our game, we had to manually house-rule that it was impossible to split up Noir into different flavors of negative emotions.

• Rouge: Positive emotions. NPCs take Rouge as direct damage to their Presence, so NPCs want to avoid taking Rouge... but crucially, Rouge is generally a good thing for PCs! A PC takes Rouge as a Rouge bond towards the inflicting character (or towards a Steward's controlling character). If a Rouge bond reaches 5 points, it vanishes; the PC gains 1 Warmth, and any overflow Rouge beyond 5 spills over into a new Rouge bond towards the same inflicting character.

• PCs want to inflict Rouge as much as possible: on NPCs to damage Presence, and on fellow PCs to generate Warmth.

Scenes

All turn- and zone-based scenes are either combat scenes, social scenes, or final scenes (of an adventure arc, anyway). Combat actions can be used only during combat scenes, social actions can be used only during social scenes, and both combat actions and social actions can be used during a final scene.

All turn- and zone-based scenes take place on a map consisting of three zones arranged in a straight line: the Throne at the top, the Court in the middle, and the Garden at the bottom. Occasionally, these are literal, but for the most part, they are metaphorical. The GM can deploy enemies anywhere, while PCs can choose to start in the either the Court or the Garden.

PCs act in an order based on their paths; for example, a nightbeast will almost always go first among PCs, while a sage will usually go last among PCs. Then, NPCs act. Stewards do not have independent turns.

When a PC starts their turn, they roll 4d6. The default way of expanding this dice pool is to spend Noblesse Oblige, but specific actions and Renowns can modify this as well. From there, the PC looks at the dice and spends it on actions.

• Let us say a certain action costs 5. A die with an outcome of 5 can pay for that, no problem. A die with an outcome of 6 can pay for that, too, but the excess is lost.

• Dice can be combined to pay for actions. If an action costs 9, then a player could pay that with a die of 5 and a die of 6: but again, the excess is lost.

• For each pair of 1s rolled, and for each pair of 6s rolled, a virtual die with a value of 10 is generated. This rule is called the "Pips of Glory."

• Individual actions, Renowns, and other effects can modify what dice results "read" as.

• PC actions cannot fail, full stop. They will always "hit." They will always do what they are supposed to do. PCs do not "miss."

• No action can be used more than 1/round, unless otherwise noted. For example, a Hunter (Bow and Arrow)'s Arrow Bearing a Grudge, a combat action, is a ranged Noir inflictor that can be used 3/round.

In addition to one zone of movement, a PC can take as many actions as they want during their turn, so long as they have the dice results to pay for those actions.

The PCs' objective during a turn- and zone-based scene is, generally, to Wallflower the enemy side by inflicting enough Noir and Rouge. Remember: all PCs gain 1 Warmth whenever a non-Steward enemy is Wallflowered.

Of course, enemies fight back. Enemies do not roll dice. Instead, the GM simply has a pool of points with which to activate actions. Yes, this means that NPC turns are much more deterministic.

Unlike PC actions, enemy actions can, in fact, fail or "miss." Each PCs has a pool of 2 Resistance dice each round, with which a PC can defend themselves or others from NPCs' actions. This is not guaranteed; a PC has to roll well enough to successfully negate an NPC action. Multiple PCs can pool together Resistance dice if they really want an NPC action to fail. Again, individual actions, Renowns, and other effects can manipulate these dice.

At the end of each round, it is common for all PCs to be instantly hit with 1 Noir (or in certain cases, 1 Rouge) towards a relevant NPC. From a mechanical perspective, this is a token concession to try to discourage turtling; in theory, PCs cannot just stay on the defensive forever, or else they will keep on incurring Noir.

Furthermore, there are round limits. Any turn- and zone-based scene that is not the final scene of an adventure arc is limited to 2 rounds, full stop. Thus, if the PCs have not completed their objective by the end of the second round, the PCs are simply out of luck.

So that is how turn- and zone-based scenes work, essentially. Roll dice, spend those dice on actions. Try to Wallflower the enemy side by overloading them with Noir and Rouge, try to avoid incurring Noir from enemy actions, maybe fill up other PCs with Warmth by overloading them with Rouge as well.

Example Builds

How does all of this tie together into PC builds, then? Some effective core-rulebook-only builds include...

• Drac (Dragon Head), Hunter (Bow and Arrow), Bell Renown: Hear the Dragon's Roar is a 16-cost (15 with Bell) combat action that deals 1 Rouge to everyone in the same zone as you, and makes everyone else take +1 Noir from you for the rest of the combat. Arrow Bearing a Grudge is a 3-cost (2-cost with Bell) combat action that deals 1 Noir to anyone on the map, and, unlike other actions, can be used up to thrice per round. Once Hear the Dragon's Roar is set up, Arrow Bearing a Grudge can be spammed for 2 Noir with each ping.

• Avaloma (Unicorn), Lord (Phoenix Claw), Lion Rampant or Gauntlet Renown: Fairyland, Near and Far is a 14-cost combat action that turns your current zone into an impregnable domain for the rest of the combat. Characters can move into the zone only if you allow it, and at the start of each of your turns, everyone in the same zone as you gains Rouge equal to the current round number. All the Pieces in Place is a 6-cost combat action targeting everyone of your choice in either your zone or one adjacent zone; you Force Move all of the targets. This is a nasty combo (e.g. you can lock out enemies), and Lion Rampant or Gauntlet gives you more dice during combat to finance it.

• Avaloma (Great Tree), Lord (Phoenix Claw), Lion Rampant or Gauntlet Renown: As above, except that instead of Fairyland, we have Harvest of Unreality as a 14-cost combat action. It targets everyone of your choice in either your zone or one adjacent zone; you deal 1 Rouge to all targets and remove 1 Thirst from all targets. In other words, you help and heal allies, damage NPCs, and clear out hostile Stewards all in one fell swoop.

• Dustheim (Moonlight), high-initiative path, Lion Rampant or Gauntlet Renown: The Moon-Gate of Stars is a 14-cost combat action that lets all characters of your choice, map-wide, for the rest of the combat, use one Realization-tagged action for free on each of their turns. (Realization is a tag for long-lasting magic. It does not include summons, but it does include Hear the Dragon's Roar, Fairyland, and Moon-Gate itself.) This is fantastic for your allies, but you can benefit from it, too, potentially on the same turn in which you use Moon-Gate.

• Hellsgarde (Chain), Lord (Castle Wall), Harp Renown: Chain and Castle Wall have some of the best summons in the game, and Harp increases your number of summons.

For my own PC, I selected Avaloma (Unicorn), Lord (Phoenix Claw), Lion Rampant or Gauntlet Renown. One other player noticed this and took Dustheim (Moonlight) and a high-initiative path. The third player likewise twigged to what we were doing and created a character with strong ranged attacks. The idea was that the Dustheim knight would open up with the Moon-Gate of Stars. Then, I would follow with Fairyland, Near and Far + All the Pieces in Place to create an impregnable zone and shove all enemies out. Then, the three of us would simply pelt the enemies with ranged attacks; dedicated melee enemies would be screwed.

Starter Adventure

Under our GM, the three of us embarked on the premade starter adventure in the core rulebook: the Beast of Couronne. A werewolf-like creature was prowling the Avaloma-ruled land of Couronne, and it was up to the PCs to stop this beast.

The PCs did not have to do any actual investigation, because the PCs were instantly attacked by the Beast of Couronne to kick off the very first scene. We got our Moon-Gate + Fairyland going, locked out the Beast and his wolf Stewards, and used ranged attacks to drop the beast to 0 Presence within two rounds. Our strategy seemed to work. If anything, it was unnecessary, because simply bum-rushing the Beast and ganking him with raw Noir/Rouge inflictions would have easily taken him down as well.

The second scene was a turn- and zone-based "conflict" against the ruling lord of Couronne, Katarina Avaloma. This felt incongruous, because in-universe, she and her pet fairy dog were friendly and welcoming. Why were we in a "conflict" against her? One of Katarina's actions would apparently inflict Noir, for some reason, and we would gain Noir at the end of each round. Using our social actions, we filled up Katarina, the fairy dog, and ourselves with Rouge, but we overdid it; we wound up Wallflowering Katarina and the dog before they could take any turns. We avoided any end-of-round Noir, but we accidentally stopped ourselves from Rouge-ing one another up.

Actual investigation was still unnecessary, because Katarina gave the PCs some exposition on the backstory of the Beast of Couronne as a Fallen, only for the Beast to arrive and snatch her away. The adventure assumed that the PCs would quickly catch up to the Beast after a quick jog or something, commencing the final scene.

This time, we were up against a juiced-up Beast of Couronne and even more of his wolf Stewards. We got our Moon-Gate and Fairyland up. Once again did we safely pelt the Beast and the wolves with ranged attacks from afar, and once again did this cheesy strategy prove unnecessary, because it was clear that the PCs would have won simply by bum-rushing the Beast with raw Noir/Rouge inflictions anyway.

So that was that. The Beast was vanquished, and Katarina was rescued. By the end of the adventure, nobody had accumulated a single point of Thirst (and that was with the house rule specifically cutting off the "just funnel Noir into separate flavors of negative emotions" loophole), and we had over 20 points of Warmth between the three of us. According to one supplement, this was enough to redeem a Fallen.

Closing Thoughts

How did the game feel overall? It was... okay. Character options did not feel particularly well-balanced against one another. It was clear that some strategies would produce far stronger results than others, like Moon-Gate or Fairyland builds (or both, together in the same party). Maybe this would be fine if the system had more narrativist mechanics, but no, all of the game's actual rules are focused squarely on zone- and turn-based scenes.

Perhaps it was just the starter adventure being specifically calibrated to provide an easy experience, but it felt like we really steamrolled through everything. Our cheese strategy was unnecessary; we could have crushed the opposition just by rushing at the enemies (even Lady Katarina, whom the social scene treated as just another enemy to be dropped to 0 Presence and Wallflowered) with raw Noir and Rouge inflictions. It felt a little ridiculous to come out of the adventure with 0 Thirst and with 20+ Warmth between the three of us, when the rest of the game made it seem like Thirst is a real danger and Warmth is a precious resource.

The starter adventure felt unsatisfying in other respects. There was no actual investigation, because the Beast came to the PCs (twice!) rather than the other way around. Furthermore, "Here is Lady Katarina, all nice and friendly; now drop her to 0 Presence and Wallflower her" felt like a gross misapplication of a turn- and zone-based social scene.

Would I play Dracurouge again? Maybe. The setting is intriguing, and the mechanics are novel to me. I wish they felt more balanced, though.

Bonus, One-Off Thoughts

• I am still not a fan of knights not being actual blood-sucking vampires. It seems to defeat some of the appeal.

• It seems to be a deliberate setting choice that a regular, unempowered human can never be more than a mere Steward (i.e. minion or mook).

• The way social actions work encourages simply firing them off based on tactical concerns. This can, at times, be absurd when some of them are flavored as overtly magical actions. For example, Lord (Phoenix Claw) offers This Cup Never Runs Dry, a fairly strong AoE Rouge inflictor that a character probably wants to spam; it is flavored as "It is said that the Holy Grail is a cup filled with mysterious drops of crimson. You realize the Holy Grail and treat everyone with the drops of crimson, filling them with warmth," which means a character has a high chance of continuously conjuring the Holy (Blood) Grail during a social scene. This is what we actually wound up doing.

Hi everyone. Planning my next campaign and was hoping for a shortlist of systems to consider. Gameplay will revolve around 3 pillars:

1) Hexcrawling. Big open hexmap covered in fog of war that players have to traverse. Starts blank and players fill in hexes as they explore. Not completely in the dark however as NPCs will say the next town is 4 days travel west etc. so PCs can ask around for options for where to go next. Consuming rations, not getting lost, passage of time etc. will hopefully be important.

2) Dungeoncrawling. One of two major "sites" to be found in a hex. Not much more to say, imagining this will be pretty standard fare. Fight monsters and get loot to help with further progression.

3) Faction game. Other major type of site are settlements. Map is split between various warring factions that are looking to gobble each other up or just keep their own head above water. PC actions can help or hinder certain factions to help their preferred "team" get ahead. I'm imagining a big battle at the end so warfare rules would be nice but not super necessary.

Only other consideration would be I'm quite a linear, plot and character focused, "trad" DM usually - whereas this is obviously a lot more of a OSR sandbox type deal. I'm interested in branching out and expanding my horizons a bit, but also don't want something *too* far out of my comfort zone. So a middle ground between the two would be appreciated. Thanks :)

Me and my pod have only ever played Gloomhaven, Jaws of the Lion. It was a blast! We all really enjoyed it, but we’re still very new to tabletop RPGs. I don’t know where to start, there’s so many options and I’d love to hear people’s experiences with their favorite games

The primary things I’m looking for:

• medieval fantasy setting (like LOTR or D&D)

• Custom characters, so we can bring our own miniatures and customize our classes/skills/weapons

• self guided (?) none of us have experience being a DM, I would be open to it, but I want to play as a character first. So a story that’s written but can be played without a DM would be great

• does not have to be super simple, we enjoyed the complexity of Gloomhaven, would be down to expand on it/more complex systems

• involves dice would be preferred

• 4 player

Hey hey! So I’ve been invited to join a Role Play campaign for the first time with some friends. It’s text based RP, so even though I’ve watched a lot of DND shows or podcasts it’s a little different. But also I suffer from social anxiety. I’ve done a couple of sessions, and I have been enjoying myself.

They’ve been really good about trying to keep me into conversations if I lag behind, or being patient with me as I figure out my response or actions for my character. But with said social anxiety, sometimes the Role Play can be hard. Sometimes dialog feels personal, like when someone calls my character out for something they said (not always in a negative way) and I get all clammy and stressed and I freeze up not knowing how to respond, and it feels personal when it isn’t (again the social anxiety)

Or I struggle to find the words that my character would say. To make things easier I kept him a little close to my personality but with a few things to shake it up and not just make ME. (I guess that also could be why I find some situations personal)

I would love it if anyone could share any tips and advice to help me through things easier. This is something I’ve always dreamed to be apart of but never have, and I understand it’s a skill that takes time but regardless any tips or advice you could give me would set my mind at ease. Thank you

The collected edition is out now. How are the tie-in comics based on the Traveller RPG?

https://www.drivethrucomics.com/en/product/545120/traveller-far-trader

Do they have any game mechanics included?

I want to run a game of Traveller. I am coming from a background that is basically just 5e. I’m currently in a group of 3, so I am not even sure that I could run a game for 2 people.

I’d like to run a West Marches style game with the players exploring a main planet and system.

I have really only been a player and feel out of my depth here.

I was thinking of playing Microscope and The Quiet Year to do some collaborative world building, but as I was writing a post about that I realized how much I might be complicating things.

I have tried running D&D games in the past, but I get stuck in what to prepare or how much and get overwhelmed with the endless possibilities of the noncombat encounters that could come up that I shut down and can’t prep. The West Marches style was appealing because of how Ben Robbins explained in a blog post about how the players would discuss out of the game what they wanted to do in the game which I hope to keep my prep more focused instead of scattered.

I’m wondering if there is advice anyone has or could point me to for:

- How do I prepare a west marches style game in a space opera setting?

- Is there a good way to collaboratively build that setting with the 2 players I have?

- Can I start a Traveller game with 2 players?

- How can I attract people to play a Traveller game?

- Are there any preconceived notions I need to dash and replace about this game and/or running it?

- Are there any tools I should use to managing things?

- Is there anything I should know that I didn’t think to ask about?

- Am I in over my head or just overthinking things again?

I’m considering doing drop-in RPG sessions at a local bar’s board game night. I think I’ll have 3 hours of reliable table time.

What are some formats that folks have seen work well (or be terrible)? One 3-hour session with a swings-both-ways open door policy? 1 hour “vanilla,” “So you want to try D&D,” and then 2 hours of something experimental/niche? Three 1-hour mini-dungeons?

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm considering buying the aforementioned system, so I'd like to know if it's worth investing time and money in. I quite like PbtA; from what I've heard, it's quite similar, with the addition of DnD. What do you think about it?

Got a weird one for you guys today. I am running a Call of Cthulu campaign right now, and the setting is a David Lynch/Kafkaesque type office setting. I am doing a block-universe theory thing where all moments in time exist simultaneously, and there have been a few occasions where they are able to interact with past or future versions of themselves. I am trying to think of some puzzles/scenarios that would fit well into this setting.

Last week was "Non-Linear Aptitude Testing," where they had to complete a few tests that examined their non-linear thinking skills. I'll give one example to give you an idea of what I am going for. There were 5 colored blocks on a table in front of them. The assignment read: "Stack the blocks in the correct order. You will be told the correct order after the assignment."

Their strategy, since they already knew they could interact with the present and future, was to fail the test and learn the correct order, then carve the answer into the table so that the past versions of them would be able to see it and get the correct answer. After they decided this, they checked the table and saw that the future versions of themselves had already gone through with this plan and the correct answer was already carved into the table, allowing them to stack the blocks in the correct order and pass on the message to the past.

The problem is that this took me a few days to come up with and now I am running out of scenarios. Can anybody help me come up with more stuff like this?

Hello, I’m looking for a new cyberpunk system for my players. I’ll be running a few sessions, so no need for robust advancement systems. it will all be focused around an investigation, and there will only be a few combats, so no need for really bloated tactical combat rules, rather a focus on investigation/skills would be appreciated.

The players mainly come from a 5e background, so I’d like it to be rules-lite; I want the players to be able to pick it up and learn it (not master, just understand the basics) in an evening.

Lastly, magic: the setting I have in mind blends magic and cyberpunk. Not high fantasy in the sense that Shadowrun is, but a ‘regular’ cyberpunk world that also has magic.

Thanks for your help!