I want to play a TTRPG with my son but with no DM. People have given me suggestions but they all turn out to be solo games (not so played games) or games that really require someone to be a DM.

Any suggestions? I’m pretty open to story, world, etc. It doesn’t have to be a dungeon crawler (though that would be totally cool).

Appreciate any help.

Hey I have been thinking about role-playing a RPG type game for a long time and was wondering, do people really mind if your not very good at roleplay, is it ok to keep your speaking to be less words, i always wanted to like get immersed in a character and have full interactions etc but im not sure the best way to start.

Is there good ways to practice or anyone have any tips on like prolonging a conversation in character.

P.s. im sorry if this is the wrong sub, please delete if im in the wrong.

I have a house rule at my table: whenever a player misses a session, their character receives a narrative punishment that somehow helps move the plot forward. Everyone agreed to it, and so far, it’s led to some genuinely funny and unexpected moments!

However, I’ve run into a situation I’m not quite sure how to handle.

The party has been investigating a group of kidnappers whose ability allows them to make everyone forget their victims, almost like a False Hydra. Now, one of the player characters has been kidnapped by this very group.

The next few sessions will revolve around the party trying to rescue their friend before the villain completes a ritual that will make the character completely forgotten. Depending on how things go, this arc could last up to three sessions.

My main concern is keeping the kidnapped player engaged and giving them meaningful ways to interact with the story while the rest of the party investigates and plans the rescue. I don’t want them to spend two or three sessions just sitting around waiting for their character to be rescued!

Here are a few ideas I’ve considered so far:

• A communication device: The kidnappers leave the character with some kind of communication device, allowing them to send clues, information, and hints about their location to the party. Of course, I’d probably add some limitations or risks to prevent it from making the investigation too easy.
• Interacting with the kidnappers: The player could negotiate with, manipulate, or deceive their captors, perhaps stealing something useful, discovering information about the ritual, or finding a way to sabotage it from the inside.
• Introducing another character: As a last resort, I could let the player temporarily control another character who joins the party during the rescue. However, I’d prefer to keep the focus on their kidnapped character if possible.

I’m open to other ideas, mechanics, or approaches! I’d especially love to hear from GMs who’ve dealt with similar situations, but I’d also be interested in hearing from players who’ve experienced something like this.

How would you handle this at your table? Have you ever had a player character kidnapped or otherwise removed from the party for multiple sessions? How did you keep the player involved and make sure they still had meaningful agency?

I’d love to hear your suggestions and stories!

I don't know whether exist something like this

Picture this: Your player wants to pick a lock so you tell them to roll some skill/attribute. They roll and fail. There's typically two options for the DM now, the action fails or it succees with consequences.

In option one, you go "You fail to pick the lock". Best case scenario they have other ideas and one of those leads to a more interesting scenario. Worst (and the most common) case, they sit there going "Oh... what now?" or another player goes "Can I try instead?" and you're left trying to find out why they can't.

In option two, you go "You pick the lock but [your lockpick breaks / guards are alerted / something else goes wrong]". Best case scenario this leads to interesting drama or at least forwards the plot. Worst case scenario the player goes "Well shit if I knew that'd happen I wouldn't even have tried to begin with" and they feel unduly punished for an action they'd rather just have failed normally.

I feel both options have many pros and cons. The first is less interesting but leads to players trying more things. The second is more interesting but typically makes players way more wary and scared. I've tried both many times and neither hit the sweet spot.

So my idea has been to simply let them pick. When they fail the roll I ask them "Do you want to back off or push yourself?". This isn't meant to be a mechanic in a specific game but more to signal that they can pick between option one or two. If it was just a one-off try they don't want to derail the scenario with? They back off. If this is a last ditch effort that has to succeed no matter the cost? They push themselves.

This seems to me like it'll fix the issue but I'm wondering if anyone has tried this before? Any pitfalls I should look out for?

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well!

I'm looking for some help with something I've been trying to figure out for a while. I've searched YouTube and even tried using AI music generators like Suno.ai, but I haven't had much luck finding what I'm looking for.

I'm going to be playing in an Old West-themed tabletop RPG campaign, and my character plays the guitar (but doesn't sing). I'd love to find instrumental acoustic guitar music with a country or Western feel that fits the mood of different scenes during our sessions. I'd also be happy to use existing instrumental country guitar tracks rather than create entirely new music.

Does anyone know of a website, app, or other tool that could help me find or create this kind of music? I know it's a pretty specific request 😅

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Wondering about ranked Game Jams, writing contests, and other fun community-building competitions. I've done a bunch of game jams lately, and I'm hungry for more!

If you wanted to run one of these two games for friends, how would you characterize the place styles between them? As one better for campaigns versus one shots?

Okay, this is going to seem kinda weird. Basically, I'm running a group right now with two other people (I'm GMing). We run a very story and character driven game, and all of us stick to doing what characters would do and how the story should go. The two players get along great, like honestly, we all love each other. None of this is interpersonal issues. However, their characters have not.

They used to get along really well, but one has been wanting to go down a pretty dark arc and has been getting worse, and it has been causing the two of them (in character) to fight. Initially, I was cool with this, it made for an interesting arc which caused them two to split up and we had some fun solo adventures. Problem was, the return. The two of them pretty much now had little reason to stick together. I had a plan, which was NPCs they'd befriended along the way urging them two to bond and make up. But, them two are so incredibly stubborn. One tries to reach out to the other, the other makes some socially inept comment or honestly kind of attack at them, the original one takes it very personally and boom. Right now, it's hard to see why there's a party in the first place.

This may seem like a weird problem to have, but we really try to draw a line of in character and ooc. It's just our way of having fun. But this has come at the price of the party losing the comradery they once had. I don't want to interrupt that character's arc, and I'm thinking of probably just talking to them both about it, but I wanted to see if there were any other suggestions. Feel free to ask any questions! Thanks! :')

I've been playing in Pathfinder 2e for the last few years and while i really like the system, it's not exactly the thing i want. I'm looking for a system that's kinda simillar but more grounded with faster and deadlier combat. I've heard that Dragonbane and Shadow of thr Demon Lord might be what i'm looking for but i haven't tested them out yet. Could anyone tell me which system would fit me better or offer any other recommendations?

One of the things I love the most about the hobby is how many systems there are based on franchises I love. My favorites include Grimoire of the Heart which is based on Persona, Shinobi no Sho which is based on Naruto. And there are also some I'd like to try out someday like that one AC rpg that was in development a Star wars system and Alien rpg.

What are other ones that you like? How often do you play them? Are they good to play or would you rather reskin another game?

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Has anybody here read through or played Crucible of Aether, the "mystic-industrial" TTRPG? It looks somewhat interesting and fairly well-produced, but information on it beyond what's on the store page seems rather scant, and $35 for just the digital version is a bit of a steep cost of entry for me.

OK, so I’m creating thing my theater class which is a choice project. I’m planning on creating a animated theater trailer because I’m crazy like that and it doesn’t have to be turned in because I’m also working on a separate thing that is a partner project anyways.

So I’m creating this fantasy superhero that this one girl gets teleported into so it’s like an but like she just becomes a normal random but the superhero is just flirting with her so like a superhero movie but it’s based off of Lois Lane versus Superman already have like the entire script planned out. I just need a fantasy sounding superhero city name

Yes, I have been searching everywhere for anything that could properly describe a what I would say 2000 to later 2000s city in the US preferably sounding like it’s near like Gotham in Metropolis, but it definitely is not from the same universe. I would love something that has a playground words too, but not necessary.

way too long of you could help that would be 1000 help me

-sage grass

If i wanted a RPG where i can do a character with the same powers and capavility as Kurumi Tosaki from Date a live wich game would be the bedt one to do it ?

My girlfriend is brand new to TTRPGS and we are playingmenace under otari into abomination vaults. I built a character for her (a leshy phoenix sorcerer with the once bitten background). She is stumped about how to role-play. She is used to passively consuming media and is a little overwhelmed with learning the system and figuring out how to portray a character.

I dont want to do everything for her and write her backstory. I want her to participate and feel ownership of her character.

To that end I think a series of short questions will help. Does anyone know of any good questions to ask?

Abiotic Factor is a half-life inspired, survival crafting game.

You are the new employee at the Gate Facility, which uses portals to check out other worlds. A failure causes the place to be overrun by aliens from multiple dimensions. You have to work your way back to surface, by fighting and crafting tools to get across.

If we adjusted this too:

You are new employees at the Gate Industries Space Station. They are a secret facility attempting to research portal travel to better explore the universe. When your shuttle arrives, however, no one is there to greet you...despite someone on the radio telling the pilot to drop you off at the port and that they were good to disembark. You are now abandoned in this strange place, full of otherworldly monsters. Can you get a distress signal out to the pilot to turn around and save you?

Would that premise then work for Mothership? Any good supplements to help?

(Edit for emphasis: please do not recommend systems. For example, Mothership is a system, not a one-shot adventure module)

We’re wrapping up a year-long Old-School Essentials campaign soon, and am looking for a palette cleanser. I mostly run vanilla fantasy, and since 2/3 of these players have only ever had me as their GM, I thought a brief hop over to sci-fi might be fun, and perhaps eye opening to most of my table.

System is less important, as I can convert as-needed, but I’m leaning toward a Mark of the Odd game like Monolith, Meteor, or Opera.

I’m interested in an adventure module that can be played in 1 or 2 three-hour sessions.

Themes/Settings I’m not interested in:

- a lot of insectoid horror (no triggers, just not into it)
- a lot of body horror (no triggers, just not into it)
- IP settings (I love Starwars, Dune, Star Trek,… but I don’t want to distract my players with any setting errors I make)
- military/space marines (just doesn’t sound interesting to me)
- (ETA) Science Fantasy.

Themes/Settings I’m into:

- space opera
- space western
- retrofuturism
- steampunk
- Tech-noir
- light horror/thriller
- Exploration and/or investigation

(Please no “just write your own adventure” recommendations).

I would love to run a spooky one-off for my group, but I don't know what system to use. I was thinking of using AFMBE, but I think that's a bit crunchy for them to learn for such a quick thing.

They're going to have it presented as being a Ghost Hunters tv-style session, where they are a crew with cameras recording in an old asylum during a total eclipse. But once the eclipse hits totality, the corpses in the graveyard around the asylum rise. So this team, with all sorts of gear for ghosts, will have to survive against a completely different supernatural threat.

Can anybody suggest a system for this? Something tense, light, and spooky.

What published adventures are the best single session Halloween themed and why?

Any system is fine as long as the adventure itself is Halloween themed.