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A while ago I mentioned on another RPG community and social media a method I sometimes use to discourage metagaming, especially when it comes to enemies

Some GMs and Players told me it was unfair, that I was tricking my players, or even "lying" to them. That surprised me, because I've never really seen it that way

First, some context:

This is not how I run my games by default. It's a tool I only use if I notice the group is relying heavily on metagaming. Usually I only need it for a couple of sessions before everyone gets the message, and then I stop using it

I also ask to my players to avoid metagaming. Everyone slips up once in a while, and accidental metagaming is completely different from intentionally using out-of-character knowledge

The basic idea is simple: I sometimes change the abilities of well-known enemies

For example, imagine a Medusa, instead of petrifying people with her gaze, maybe this version uses a hypnotic siren-like song

There are two important rules, though

1. I never change enemies in the middle of a campaign just to surprise the players. If I decide my world's Medusas work differently, that's true from the start. I'm not changing things on the fly to counter whatever strategy the players came up with
2. The information is available in the world. I leave clues, rumors, books, witnesses, monster hunters, or simply allow Knowledge checks. If a player asks, "What does my character know about Medusas?", there's a very good chance they'll learn the correct information. In many cases, a character who should reasonably know about monsters doesn't even need to roll

So in this example, the only people who are actually punished are players who skip interacting with the world entirely.

If someone immediately says, "I blindfold myself and bring mirrors because Medusas petrify with their gaze," without ever asking what their character knows or trying to research the creature, they might discover that, in this setting, Medusas don't petrify people at all

I don't want to punishing players for being clever, but to reward players for engaging with the setting instead of assuming that the Monster Manual (or the wiki) is always correct

Nowadays, I actually use a "good" version of this idea much more often

Once a group has learned to separate player knowledge from character knowledge, or if they're already experienced, I usually stop changing monsters entirely

Instead, I add extra information that rewards investigation

For example:

• Green Medusas have a stronger petrifying gaze than yellow ones
• Bronze weapons are unusually effective against Medusas.
• A specific flower can temporarily weaken their magic.
• A particular species of troll can't regenerate from acid, only from fire

I want players to think, investigate, ask questions, and interact with the world instead of treating every combat like they already have the stat block open.

Do you consider this unfair, or is it a reasonable way to encourage players to rely on their characters' knowledge instead of their own?

I don't like to run 5e at all, but since my 15YO nephew loves theater and Stranger Things I wanted to get him into RPGs. I decided to go with DnD, because he is not into hobby yet and if you don't know about RPGs it's probably best to stick with the game everyone associates with the hobby. So I thought gifting him the Stranger Things starter set was a perfect starting point for him.

He was extremely excited about the gift and we're going to run it next month. But since DnD is expensive and the rules descriptions are bloated I would much rather buy Nimble to fill in the gaps. I don't think him and his friends will actually learn or care about the rules as long as it feels like DnD.

How easy is it to cherry pick Nimble rules, classes, and monsters and use them with the starter set? I like everything it does, but I think it would be a shame to remove the d20-to-hit-rolls, because it's the most iconic thing that everyone knows about DnD. Is it possible to mostly run DnD 5e, but then substitute Nimble rules here and there to make it a little smoother?

Edit: I appreciate the game recommendations, but I don't want to pull the rug under him and not run the game I gifted him.

Been in a cyberpunk mood lately due to playing 2077 and being an avid android netrunner fan for years now, and I'm now having the itch to run a cyberpunk game (one shot or campaign, not sure still) for my friends, and I was wondering what is this sub's favourite cyberpunk system?

I mostly have experience and preference with narrative heavy/rules light systems (bitd, heart the city beneath, mothership, etc.) so i've been leaning more towards cy_borg (that and the visual style) but i have also heard good things about Cyberpunk RED, but i still think it might be too crunchy for me.

I used this app for over a year and the performance is abysmal. Not sure what they run this on but I'm in SaaS business and I have never see an app perform so badly. Not only that buy they have so many Ui issues that they never fix. Not to mention UX being convoluted and strange.

Does anyone know what is going on with them? Unfortunately for DaggerHeart I have no real alternatives since I bought the book on Demiplane, but I'm considering dumping it anyway.

What's really interesting is that Critical Role is working with them and when you buy CoreRule books from Critical Role, the digital versions are tied to Demiplane.

A comment in another thread prompted this one. Example settings are like Wildsea or Dark Sun - ones that are pretty far off the beaten track and require some knowledge to create a viable character with relationships to setting elements.

Do you (the GM) expect players to come in blind, with some understanding (say from a pitch doc), read up on the lore, or something else?

I'm planning on running a Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades session, and I wanted to sift through the weakness of some rules and share some of the homebrew solutions I am planning on implimenting. I am a new GM so I wanna make sure the homebrew I am producing isn't overtuned or ridiculous.

1) Adjudicating Ties

Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades has a major flaw in its design in that there isn't really anything that easily handles ties. There's some rules but they seem awkward to handle and track. So I thought about having the following

1. Those with more +d10 dice in their pool automatically wins any ties.

2. Those who have tied and have equal amounts of D10 dice will count the total result of their dice pool, and whoever has a higher result wins the tie. If there happens to be a tie at this point, a reroll will occur.

Hopefully this reduces the amount of dice rolled and better rewards smart point allocation.

2) Changing RIDE to STEADINESS

I hate very niche skills in TTRPGs, and Ride in RBRB feels incredibly niche. A skill dedicated solely to riding exotic creatures seems like a dump stat. I would like my players to have a better dilemma with Ride to make it more appealing to pick and more noticable when absent, so I altered it to STEADINESS. It has the same function of allowing you to more easily ride difficult mounts, but also with the added boon of avoiding being knocked down and maintaining balance, such as on a tightrope or on uneven ground, or when shoved by an opponent.

3) Some custom weapons

I wanted more weapons to cover more periods of time in China, as well as allow some more unique options for characters depending on the time period used.

1. Hand Cannons
   Roll STEADINESS - 1d10 to hit due to its awkwardness to handle. Upon a hit, roll DETECT + 2d10 for damage, representing the truth of your aim. Those attacked by the Hand Cannon suffer -3 Evasion against it, as the projectile shoots at dizzying speed.

2. Shield

Can be made of any material. Shields deal MUSCLE - 1d10 damage. While equipped, you may roll MUSCLE to defend against an attack every round of combat. Subsequent attacks against you require a Speed Check of 7 to use the shield, otherwise it is bypassed.

This is a bit of a multi question post along with me expressing some frustrations but bear with me. I hope this in no way seems like I'm breaking rule #2, I'm not trying to question anybody else's enjoyment of the hobby, just a mismatch between my own experiences and what other people seem to do.

I really would like to watch something like Critical Role or another actual play, because in theory it should be something I love. RPGs are an incredible medium for improvised storytelling. But I've never managed to find one that I enjoy, partially because it just differs so wildly from my own experiences with RPGs.

I haven't played RPGs much in recent years, I have played some on and off short campaigns over the years, but mostly in high school 20+ years ago now. So as far as the modern hobby is concerned I may as well be a newbie and lurker watching from the sidelines. I got started with RPGs in the early 2000s before youtube, podcasts and videos online was a thing, and I live in a small city in a small country so as a teenager meeting others into the same hobby was reliant on me introducing them to it, meaning nobody had any preconcieved notions of what roleplaying actually is. I had no reference point beyond posts on some obscure online forums, so we made up a lot of it as we went along. We told some amazing stories, had very memorable characters, built worlds, drew maps. The one thing we never really did was act anything out. I know there's notes in the D&D 3.0 DMG about learning to put on voices or acting out scenes but they are pretty minor and I always thought it was an optional minor aspect of the hobby - neither me nor my friends ever did it. We told stories mostly in third person, more like reading and making up a novel collectively and less like improvising a play.

Enter Critical Role and other actual plays. There's professional voice acting, fancy props, sometimes even whole themed rooms. I found the whole thing honestly kinda crazy, and I just have never enjoyed it. I'm not wanting to insult anybody who does enjoy it, good for you, but I always wanted to see a group of people improvise a story together, not improv act. The often over the top acting (and often yelling) puts me off because it's nothing like how I'm used to playing RPGs. I'm aware of the whole Mercer effect thing, where people have unrealistic expectations of how roleplaying actually looks when they get into it, but I almost have the opposite thing where whenever I play with anybody new I always hope they're not planning on trying to push things that way, I prefer to feel like I'm focussing on playing a game and telling a story, not doing voices and acting out scenes. Again no hate to people who do enjoy that style but it's such a wild mismatch to what I grew up doing that it feels almost like an entirely different hobby.

So I guess my question is, how does roleplaying actually look at your table? Are things like Critical Role a style of roleplaying you aspire to do? Have many others had similar experiences or did I just grow up doing things quite differently? Do most people actually act out scenes and put on voices, or is it more third person collective storytelling? Are there any actual play podcasts or youtube channels that lean more towards the style I prefer, while still having a good level of quality and stories?

EDIT: Thank you to those who recommended 3D6 Down The Line, I've just skipped through a couple of their videos but it seems to be pretty much exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for!

I recently wrote a similar query into r/wargaming but realized that I am probably not looking for a wargame.

So I am looking to play at the domain level. Basically I want to assume the role of a general or warlord and conquer places on a map that allow me to recruit certain troops or generate certain resources.

I wouldn't mind a certain level of abstraction but I would like it to be crunchy enough to feel like a game in itself and not just a side aspect to a more traditional rpg that focuses on the actions of individuals.

I plan on running this a the dm for other people but it would be a bonus if there is a decent AI available that allows me to have npc factions or play solo for a bit.

I have played around with the birthright setting a bit a few years ago. Maybe that would be kind of fitting.

Anyways, I am very curious to hear your suggestions.

Hi, everyone. When I was 16 (around 2018) I got invited to regular sessions with a group playing a game I had never heard of before. Unfortunately, lots of illicit substances were involved in these sessions, and I sincerely have no clue what I spent six months playing. I would very much like to find this game again.

Here are a couple pieces of the game I am certain about:

1. It took place in an urban setting, with the player characters being monsters. I know I played as a Frankenstein-esque flesh golem creature, and another player was a vampire.

2. It was a roll-under d100 system.

3. The art of the core book was very dreary, I think black and white. Sort of a rough amateur look.

I've been down this search rabbit hole a few times and haven't dug anything up. From what I've seen of the WoD suite, this seems like a close match, though not exactly.

I would greatly appreciate any insight or nudges in the right direction. Honestly, at this point, I'm not entirely sure if this was an actual published game or an insane custom hack of some other system by the GM.

Regardless, thanks for reading. Hopefully someone here can help me get this bug out of my system once and for all.

EDIT: Solved! u/theycallmejake nailed it, I was playing 1st edition Nightlife! Side note, this game looks terrible! Thanks for your help everyone <3

Hello,

Some of my players are really into Thorgal comics, basically a viking that interacts with the nordic gods.

Eg. during basic and human aventures he might kill a monster causing death and chaos, but no luck it was sent by Odin to harass people that honored the wrong god and he finally seeks help to Frigg to avoid Odin anger etc.

I've seen Fates of norns but it is a bit complicated with the specific runes system, vaesen is too recent to really have the mythology. (We want drakkars, war, swords and blood etc.)

I'm considering to re-use the Hitos or Tales from the loop system as we like simple systems that allows more narration with dices but not too much simulation. Basic stats and dice rolling with - Luck points from TFTL, anarchy points from shadowrun, destiny tokens in Star Wars etc. kind of systems.

If you have any idea of a full rule book/universe or just a set of aventures that I could use with other rules, that would help me :)

Regards,

Call me Dwish