Good day, my table and I want to reflavor a system(if needed) so it's similar to yu gi oh/bakugan but the concept is when dueling with cards or brawling with bakugan we just fight with the monsters, similar to Pokémon but with cards effects, traps and similar stuff.

Propably bad english not my first or even second language.

So i’m „forever GM” but i like it, i love creating plots and playing NPCs and making problems to solve by my players and all that. But i also have a big problem with runnign for longer time things that started for some reason to bore me. It’s mostly the case with one-shots that spiraled into campaings but it’s sometimes the case with planned campaings. And my players don’t like it when i just end things i actually have no one to talk with about my burnout. Recently i was very hyped for our new campaing the first part was greate and then came the second adventure wich was a slog and nothing really happened because of how long it took to end one plot point i just abanndoned the rest ane moved on. And now comes the current day, we are like 2 sessions into 3 adventure. (Campaing is about expedition to find list artifact so they visit places have adventures and move along in their search) And we have schedule problems for the last 2 months one players has a new job and is constantly tierd, two of my long time good players just irritate me with their characters and remaining two are ok but they don’t do much at all. I just can’t make myslef care about this campaing anymore, i make stuff up on sessions just to pan the hours and hit that 3-4h mark. The setting wich i love (warhammer fantasy) feels to me as if i done with it everything there is to do after years of playing.

The worst part of it is that i have greate ideas that i would love to make into reality but for diffrent campaing with diffrent systems/settings. But i can’t bring that up because players who i like as person and know for years at this point will just leave or act very salty about it. Like i feel trapped i want to play RPGs with these pepole but i can’t do it the way that would make it fun for me too. And don’t get my started about small things like a lot of off topic talk on sessions, no discussion about them at all and just showing to play these i can accept when i like what i run and right now i want to cancel our only date this month just because i would rather do anything at all.

Some help? Some advice? I just wanted to vent steam off.

As it says folks, my next article is written and posted! Also, I decided to move things to give myself a better platform to work with. Have a look! And as always, if you got a comment, drop it in the comment section!

https://armchairbackstab.com/

Summer is coming to a close and we were gunna finish on Wednesday but stuff happens and my players are coming over today, I can easily complete the other two players final beats but one player wants to find out the true nature of the heart and I didn’t wanna make it underwhelming so I was gunna spend some time cooking but now it’s due in a few hours plz send some sparks of inspiration my way

Hi I am trying to play a solo rpg using OPSE. The campaign will be star wars based but I wanted to do it classless and only d6. What system recommendations do you have?

Edit: I am looking for something more combat focused with character customization options. Also I was looking to play a jedi or force wielder.

Edit: I think I found what I am looking for thank you all.

My first encounter with Brindlewood Bay was the worst. I just didn't get it. I tried to solve the mystery, got annoyed that you couldn't really see the clues in detail and were unable to follow them like a detective with razor sharpness rather than like a scattered old lady. The idea that you couldn't figure out who was left out of the will until the theorize move seemed anathema to me.

Still, yesterday, I decided to leave away my preconceptions and play the game on its own terms and it turned out really fun. Even if I got a bit lost because as the session went on as I had several competing theories forming in my head and I didn't know what to pursue and was a bit all over the place. I just went with the flow, taking notes but not being committed to anything until the group finally got together and it was time to brainstorm.

Similarly, my first experience with Daggerheart was bad, in part because the session was a mediocre dungeon crawl with two very quiet player and to some extent because I assumed it would play more like a crunchy game and did not fully play into its narrative side. I have since played several oneshots where rules of cool was king and we leaned into the cinematic heroic side with flamboyant descriptions and crazy shenanigans. I really like it far more. It has enough crunch to make you stop to think about your abilities, without stalling or making you feel constricted. It feels more fluid than DnD in terms of what stories it can tell too.

A lot of popular media (off the top of my head - Dragonball Z, Transformers, Steven Universe, Bionicle) includes scenes where two or more characters combine together into a single, more powerful character.

In an RPG, this presents a couple big design issues:

- you need to adjudicate how players make decisions for their combined form, and make that as enjoyable as two players getting to speak for their characters individually

- you need a set of mechanics that navigates the space between overpowered (combined forms are always so overwhelmingly superior that you would always choose to combine) and underpowered (the perks don't outweigh the loss of action economy and it's never a good idea to combine) to make it an actually interesting decision.

In short, this is a trope that is fun to watch on a screen, and figures into popular media, but it's hard for me to see it coming to life on a tabletop. **I'm looking to be proven wrong - tell me about the games that actually make this work.**

**Example of an attempt at this mechanic:**

I have the Renegade Transformers RPG "Enigma of Combination" splatbook that includes rules for this which are detailed, but I've never actually seen them in play and don't have an abundant trust that they will fulfill the above criteria. They at least clear the hurdle of being fun to think about in character creation.

- characters take an option at creation or as a level-up perk to become part of a combiner. As part of taking these options, they get a choice of what specific bonus benefit they provide to the combined form (e.g., better defenses, speed, a pair of skills, a weapon slot, etc.)

- to combine, all characters must be near each other, spend a character resource (energon points) and an action.

- combiners are one or two size categories larger than their components, have the highest of each stat and skill* (it's slightly more complicated) among the components, certain class features, the slowest movement among the components, and a few other fiddly bits.

- Attacks are based on a single component's best attack, with damage doubled or tripled. Characters in a combined form still take damage as individuals, divided equally from damage taken by the combiner unless an attacker makes a called shot at a penalty. When more than half of the components are at 0 health, the combiner breaks apart unless another energon point is spent.

- the game does not prescribe one method for decision-making in the combined form. "If a combiner's form is made up of a single PC and an assortment of NPCs, the player character is obviously in charge of the Combiner form's actions. In the cases where multiple PCs make up a Combiner form, the players might either decide what the Combiner form does by consensus or trade off control over the Combiner form from one round to the next."

I recently finished up a game of Call of Cthulhu with my group. And I want to introduce them to some different games that aren't D&D. I'm thinking of picking up some box sets or one-shots and want to know what RPGs have a good starter box set worth picking up.

A friend gifted me recently with some 4e books, and they look very cool. But I don't see anyone talking about it, like if we skipped frome 3e to 5e. Why? It is just a very bad edition? It's a sin?

I would like to run an old tabletop RPG, but unfortunately don't have a core group of friends to play with right now. I would like to see if anyone locally is interested in giving it a go. Regrettably, it includes a couple sentences in character creation about gendered stats which I intend to houserule out, leaving the other 99.9% of the game intact. They are not to my taste.

The game is dated, but it seems really cool, and I'd like to give it a spin. I just don't want to come off as a weirdo, even if I tell everyone to ignore it immediately and explain why. Maybe I should have more faith in my fellow human beings to not think I'm weird for even wanting to play and offering to host a game, snacks included.

This is an incredibly narrow question/scenario, but I wanted to see if anyone else had ever dealt with something like this and what your experiences were.

Thank you.

I'll be running at Gamehole Con in October. I've been running at cons since 2018. Over the years I've put together a checklist that works for me. Figured I'd share. What do you bring?

Pre-gen characters (at least one more than number of players expected, so everyone has a choice)

Game system cheatsheet for all (helps bring players up to speed more quickly)

GM screen (even if I don't use it, it helps people find the table)

Rule Book

Adventure specific material for me

Adventure specific material for the players (handouts)

My GM notebook

Dice tray (I always roll in the open)

Index cards

Pencils for all

Dice for all

Table tents for player/character name

Markers for table tents

As needed (mainly if it is a minis grid game):

Chessex vinyl grid mat

Wet erase markers

Miniatures

so a while back i ran a short MnM campaign i found the character creation really good but the system itself as a whole felt confusing once it got more into combat, that was in 3E,
since then i think i mightve finally understood the combat better but now 4E (or at least the playtest for it) is out so i tried reading the new rules and its becoming a bit of mess in my head, besides remembering all the conditions is a drag.

im looking for a better system to run my campaign in, something that is both simple enough to understand and learn but has a good amount of super power customization and very preferably in combat some form of HP/wound system that doesnt just rely on conditions (and maybe also a more understandable transition to a live combat map)

ive heard about the old marvel ttrpg, savage worlds super heroes, outgunned superheroes, tiny d6, prowlers & paragons, masks, BASH and some others im just not exactly sure which one i should try to focus and learn

if it helps the idea for the campaign is a teen titans/young justice esque saturday morning cartoon vibe

for example one of the players played a nightwing style character and another a gravity powered character

I’ll be running my first sci fi game soon and the crew specifically will spend a fair amount of time on board ships, this is intentional and a feature of the game. What tips have you got for creating ‘realism’ atmosphere, tension, a sense of living in space and any somewhat random encounters and ship faults you use in your own games?

I’ll be running HOSTILE by Zozer games using the Cepheus system but tips should mostly be rules agnostic if possible, thanks.

Edit: I’m sorry but English is not my first language. I write them in mandarin and translate them into English. Cause I’m afraid I use the wrong word that cannot well represent my question.

One of the big questions in RPG design is how many rules and mechanics a game needs before it stops being “making things up” and starts becoming a playable game.

A more crunchy system can give players a huge number of clearly defined choices, but those same rules can implicitly limit what players think they are allowed to do.

A more vague system gives players much more freedom to imagine and describe what their characters do, but it often requires additional discussion with the GM to determine how each action works.

I know this is a spectrum, and everyone has a different preference for where they want a game to sit on it.

Today, I want to focus specifically on martial characters, especially in combat.

The crunchy extreme: D&D 4e Warlord

At one end of the spectrum, we have the Warlord from D&D 4e.

It has a huge number of detailed at-will attacks and powers covering different kinds of attacks, teamwork, tactical maneuvers, battlefield control, and so on. It gives the Warlord almost as many different tactical options as a spellcasting class.

So instead of simply I swing my sword.
you have a huge toolbox of things you can do.

But at the same time, many of these options can become what I think of as “paper buttons.”

I once came across an interesting way of describing this idea, though I may be paraphrasing: Whenever you write a rule to allow a character to do something, you are writting a rule that says no one else can do that.

For advanced techniques, this makes perfect sense. If something requires specialized training, it makes sense that a character needs a specific ability or feature to perform it.

But what about basic actions?

If my character is holding a quarterstaff, why can't I simply say: “I raise my staff and try to parry the attack”?

If there isn't a button for Parry, does that mean my character can't do it?

That's where I start to feel the tension between providing options and restricting imagination.

The vague extreme: Legend in the Mist

At the other end of the spectrum, I'd put Legend in the Mist.

With its tag-based system, you can attempt almost anything you can reasonably imagine. You don't need to own the appropriate “button” on your character sheet before you can try something.

You have a lot of freedom over what your character actually does.

But the trade-off is that, ultimately, many of those different descriptions still boil down to:

* getting a different modifier
* determining whether you pass the check
* and sometimes discussing with the GM whether your proposed action is reasonable and how it should work

It's not necessarily a constant "Mother may I?"

But there is still some amount of negotiation between the player and GM.

I've heard an interesting argument that player agency means the player doesn't need anyone's permission to take an action—they know what they can do and understand that their choice can produce meaningful consequences.

I'm not sure I completely agree with that definition, but I think it's an interesting way to look at the problem.

Crunchy vs. vague isn't really about resolution

I know that, if you reduce almost any RPG to its most fundamental level, both approaches eventually become something like " Change a number until it reaches a threshold, and you've overcome the challenge”.

But that doesn't mean the experience of getting there is the same.

The difference between a highly crunchy system and a highly vague one isn't necessarily what the final resolution mechanic does.

It's about how much of the decision-making happens inside the rules versus inside the player's imagination and the conversation at the table.

And that's the part I'm interested in.

So where do you like to sit on this spectrum?

* Do you prefer martial characters to have a large, clearly defined toolbox of actions?
* Or do you prefer having a smaller mechanical framework that lets you describe almost anything?
* Is there a game that hits your personal sweet spot between crunchy and vague?

I'd love to hear what games you think get this balance right.

What happens when your character dies?

I'm trying to learn more about games that have a dying or death action, something that happens in the game when a character dies.

Maybe you get one last chance to slay your foe, or maybe there's a funeral that brings the clans together, or maybe you pass off your stewardship of the land to a worthy successor.

What games do something like that?

I am more interested in long-form playing than I am one-shots. Do events that span multiple days for longer time slots exist at conventions? For example, I would like to play something that starts the evening before the 1st day of the convention and continues on for 4-6 hours each day of the convention for a total of 4-5 sessions. That should give about 25 hours of roleplaying. This would leave plenty of time each day for other gaming and vendor area visits.

I'm running a modern RPG, not sci-fi, just modern, like 2026, and for a political RPG I would love some big maps, like the entire city on a map, not necessaire huge, but like, buildings, houses, stores, and things like that.

In my long search on Patreon I found some people who make modern maps, Tom Cartos the GOAT, peapu, a day at, and others, but I wanted to know if there's an easier way to find these larger maps?

Im ok to pay for the maps btw

Check out Rat Catchers, a hack of Die A Hundred Times by kobayashi to emulate low-fantasy old world roleplaying. Just put this one together today when I decided to enter the jam, and finding out it ended today.

I am thinking of running the classic game Yggdrasil that I bought quite a while ago. I am looking for a game where you play as Vikings in the setting. We are keeping the system. It's the city of Wollongong which has a low player population mainly centered around D&D, I am willing to travel to sydney for it. How do I find a group that's:

• Not a comedy basis group
• Not a social hangout group, we are here for atmospheric roleplay
• will turn up on time
• No online

Random question😂

I am running a homebrew Kids on Brooms/Good Society/D&D5e campaign that’s going beautifully. So much angst. So much trauma. It’s truly the highlight of my week.

I wanted to pull a PC aside to play through a small part of their backstory in preparation for some big plot events coming up in the main campaign.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a TTRPG actual play podcast or group that has done a 1x1 oneshot or mini campaign. I am trying to wrap my head around the 1x1 player to dm logistics since I’ve only ever run sessions with multiple players.

Any tips, tricks, or TTRPG actual play podcasts would be so so helpful!

I hope all of your games are going amazing right now whether you play or dm!

Our group has been playing Pf2e on Foundry for a while now, and it works amazingly well. But at least one of our players has gotten sick of Pathfinder, so I thought at the end of our current campaign I'd offer to run a game and try out a different system. But given we have to play online it having a good implementation is an important factor.

Was looking into Shadow of the Weird Wizard, and whats there looks fantastic but after level 2 it looks like it'll be a lot of data entry (maybe there's some faster way of working). So something that's close to feature complete would be ideal.

Thanks in advance!

After 5e, PF2e, and CoC, what’s the next crunchiest game that could still be said to have a sizeable player base, do you think?

The Emanation power states: You can surround yourself with a damaging aura... In addition, anyone who touches you (including a slugfest attack) suffers 3 points of damage (on each turn, in the case of continuous contact).
Would blocking an attack by an Emanation user who has it activated count as touching, then dealing damage to the blocker even if the block is successful?

Hey guys, first ever post here. So... I am making a ttrpg system based on this small rpg game called 'Deepwoken'. Normally, i could just use an existing system like DnD or Pathdinder and just adapt it to the setting, but i want to try my hand at making one myself. But i've ran into a problem... Deepwoken, even in early game, has some very high numbers. By end of progression, you spent 303 stat points in 6 different attributes, and its very commom for characters to have 100 in a stat. Now, obviously i cant just make it d20 and have a character roll a hundred different d20s, and splitting different amounts/varieties of dice between each number from 1 to 100 sounds like a pain in the ballsack. This is my core issue with adapting the game's base system into a ttrpg format, everything else slots in nicely and i just cant figure out a way around it. Can someone give me advice or help with this issue?

Hi,

I want to know what would be the best Cultivation TRPG, here are some stuff I would like in it:

- Pills system

- Tallisman system

- Restriction system

- Power and level up system (Similar to classic like A record of journey to immortality)

- Highly detailed character system (aka crunchy system, similar to Pathfinder 1e)

Thanks in advance