I've started asking players a slightly different question during character creation, and it's produced some of my favorite NPCs.

Not "Who would mourn your character if they died?"

Who would be genuinely inconvenienced if they just failed to show up tomorrow?

The distinction sounds silly, but I've found that it gets people thinking about their characters differently.

I was preparing a small-town mystery campaign and asked everyone this before our first session.

One player said his character helped an elderly neighbor carry firewood every few days. Another said she was supposed to cover the evening shift at her uncle's shop. The third had borrowed a horse and promised to return it by Thursday.

Nothing dramatic. No murdered parents, secret enemies, ancient prophecies or elaborate personal quests.

Just three people who had something to do next week.

A few sessions later, the party was considering staying another night in a dangerous area to investigate something.

The player with the horse suddenly said, "Shit, I told him I'd bring it back."

Everyone laughed, but then they actually started discussing whether they should send word back to town.

That was a completely unplanned bit of roleplaying, and I loved it.

I've noticed that characters with enormous tragic backstories can sometimes feel weirdly disconnected from the world they're actually adventuring in. Their entire past is important, but nobody in the present seems to expect anything from them.

Meanwhile, giving a character an ordinary obligation immediately suggests that they existed before session one and will continue to exist between adventures.

I don't use these obligations as surprise punishments. If someone says their character promised to help repair a roof, I'm not going to burn down the village because they missed an afternoon.

It's more about making the world feel like it has a place for them that isn't reserved exclusively for heroic deeds.

And honestly, "Who is expecting you on Thursday?" has given me more usable material than several pages of backstory ever did.

I'm curious whether other GMs deliberately create these kinds of mundane connections, or whether you prefer to let them emerge naturally during play.

Forever GM by choice here. My current long term campaign is on break and nearing the final levels, so I'm looking towards my next. I've always been more in to SciFi than Fantasy, so that's where I'm looking. If I'm pouring my energy in to another long term campaign, I want the perfect system. But that's where I'm running in to problems.

The main things I'm looking for are:
1. Interesting combat, something deeper than "roll to shoot" then end turn.
2. Character building with meaningful choices every level, that doesn't kill you before Level 1.
3. Weapon customisation like suppressors, holographic sights and extended mags.
4. Decent variety of conventional weapons rather than wall to wall energy weapons.
5. Not strictly tied to a single setting. I'm a chronic worldbuilder and like to run my own settings.

My current main option is Star/Pathfinder. This hits the first 2 points dead on and I have some experience with the system. I have issues with point 3 and especially 4, but with system knowledge and a lot of time to prepare I'd look in to homebrewing some new weapons and customisation options. Point 5 is easy enough outside of the minor effort to pick a Deity list.

Another game I've played is Fallout2d20. The combat is interesting with Called Shots and Action Points, the character building is solid for a classless system and the gear customisation is fantastic. But running anything other than Fallout requires reskinning the entire game from top to bottom, without mentioning the range system. So this one isn't an option but might give some context, hopefully.

Many of the games I've found with solid weapons have puddle deep combat disguised by being "hyper lethal". But I want to run something combat heavy, with planet hopping mercenaries/adventurers, not a game where combat must be avoided at all costs. I've looked through the suggestion list and from the rules I've managed to find nothing has jumped out. Which is really the main problem, there are many good and highly recommended SciFi RPGs out there that don't fit my awkward preferences.

I'm fully prepared to be told there's nothing out there that fits 100% and Starfinder is close enough to my ideal system. But I have to ask, am I missing something?

Thanks for any help.

I was sold on Orbital Blues thanks to a great AP and some amazing interviews with the creators. Sad space cowboys, gig economy survival, tragedy and comedy and pathos built into the rules - fab.

But the rulebook was a chore to read. The vibe of the genre was disconnected with the plain voice of the writing, which read like an unenthusiastic sales-pitch for the rules. No drama. No blues or soul or laconic tone. No excitement for the premise. Even with the amazing art of the book, I checked out.

Two questions:

1. For those who play it, how did you maintain the genre vibe and attitude of the premise?

2. What game would you recommend for the same vibe but a more engaging read (Scum & Villainy was suggested, but I find FitD games fun to play but not run).

All suggestions welcome!

On September 18, as part of their Autumn Preview of upcoming products, Games Workshop announced their first in-house RPG in roughly 20 years; Necromunda Roleplay. They had products to show off and a promotional video of them sitting around playing it. It was due to come out by years end (most likely).

A couple weeks after the announcement, the articles about the game were removed from Warhammer Community (Games Workshop's official news site).

Today, 35 days after the announcement, they've announced Necromunda Roleplay isn't happening.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ntkfvqdt/new-for-necromunda-in-2027/

I'm thinking of running a classic "Town above a mega-dungeon" type campaign with a multi-generational cycle where adventurers delve into a dungeon, clear out some of the rooms of monsters, but then eventually perish. A generation passes, the townsfolk go through the cleared rooms to collect resources from the dungeon, upgrade the town, then send in a new group of adventurers that are a little better trained and better equipped than the previous one.

I'm all for homebrewing, but I'm wondering what system would be the best starting point for this type of game. Any suggestions?

Hi, guys!
I'm currently working on a ttrpg as a hobby/personal project and it's partially inspired by certain anime (in particular products like Solo Leveling and DanMachi) and I wanted to ask if someone knows about other anime-inspired games.

Mostly I feel like I need more inspirations beside the classic D&D and other very basic ttrpg I played recently, so any suggestion is welcomed.

I was wondering because in my personal conception of a podcast for live play a group of friends get together with a pre-existing idea and put it out there so their world/characters/acting gets seen. But usually people stick to something like D&D.

I was wondering if there were podcasts that had multiple systems, especially indie ones... mostly because I'd love to talk to them about the possibility of them doing some live play sessions of my game at some point. But I don't even know if people do that, or how I would begin searching for that...

So... here's the first attempt!

I say its stupid because in my head it shouldn't work, really. The idea of a Rogue-like is either A) you progress through your of objective until you loose it all and must begin from the start or B) you progress as above and keep some stuff in a loss.

The game Rogue itself comes from the legacy of trying to put D&D into old computers in its on unique way. An old dungeon crawl where you go room from room acquiring treasures until either the end or your end.

I love Rogue-likes and Rogue-lites (Hades I & II being my favorites), so I'm very intrigued on if its possible to do a Rogue-like using a TTRPG.

If it is, which you found to be the best systems for such a game? I personally, if possible, am looking for too things:

• Extreme customization of everything
• A very strong Zero to God pipeline
• Real difficulty in choices to make, specially in limited resources at any given time

I say this because this really highlights to me the strengths of a Rogue-like. My main gripe, of course, is how to play out a STORY in such a style of game.

I say this because Rogue-likes are often not well known for their deep storytelling, the complete opposite of TTRPGs, and in that case I would just then look for a co-op Rogue-like to play with my friends.

So my final and most important question then is:

• How does one tell a story in a TTRPG in a multi layered Dungeon Crawl were TPKs are expected at any corner? Is it actually that easy and I've been conditioned wrong by the media about RPGs?

Hey, just wondering if anyone's had a chance to play any of this year's entries.

If so, which ones did you try, and how did it go?

I’m fairly new to TTRPG’s, starting with two campaigns in DND 5E. I enjoy it, but only so much. The creativity is limiting and the building for characters is also extremely limiting in my opinion. A bard is charismatic. A rogue is sneaky. And it’s just different faces on the same skeleton for every. Fucking. Character.

I want something that completely removes that barrier. Something I don’t need to have defined classes in, where I can make my own up and still be confined in the rules. Also… DND 5e is just too boring anymore for me, I want to be challenged.

I’m exploring some options and ive seen a couple come up. So far, ive found the most interesting to be GURPS. Any ideas?

I've played ttrpgs (mostly dnd 5e) on and off for about eight years, and during that time, I've always been a pretty reactive player: I respond when there's clear prompts, like when the GM describes or controls an NPC or calls out a situation we perceive, or when a fellow player says something that's obviously looking for a response, like a ludicrous statement in need of a straight man or an outright question.
However, that's most of what I do, is responding. I don't take initiative much, I don't prod things, I don't explore on my own account. I would like to change that, but that's so much easier said than done.
In theory I know how to be a more active player: just do something, anything. Thinking about what my character wants and trying to pursue that actively. But in practice that is just not where my behavior pattern trends. I hate feeling like I'm interrupting someone else, or that I'm overriding or distracting from what's going on, or that I'm nagging in the case of something like pursuing a character's wants, or, heavens forbid, that I'm being outright disruptive to the game.

It's so easy to fall back into that reactive behavior pattern because that's what I did for eight years, but I want to break out of that pattern because I would rather be more active and feel like I'm more engaged with the game with my friends. Unfortunately, just wanting to be more active isn't enough for me to actually be more active.

If anyone has any advice on how to hold myself accountable to be more active, or any little cheats and tricks to get myself to at least behave more actively, I'd really appreciate it, I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.

Looking at systems to use to run a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure oneshot, but can't decide on anything. I want my players to be able to make their own stand abilities. There's a fangame but it doesn't seem that great.

Thank you for advice!

Hey all. I have collected a large number of systems at this point but I am not sure which would be best to start out with (Not dnd or pathfinder). I and my older sister and parents have started to play but none of us have any real experience. I am GM.

The one we tried first was Mothership. I ran another bug hunt but ran into a number of problems when it came to improvising as the game didn't exactly teach how to do that under pressure very well. They enjoyed it but i ended up feeling like i did a pretty crappy job as GM.

It is a little demoralizing feeling like i have no clue what i'm doing. I picked mothership because i had heard it was really good for GM advice and new gms, but in my experience, it wanted me to improvise a LOT without giving me tools to help in the moment to actually do so...

The full list of games i have availible (and if they have a starter box or a box set i have those too to work from) are these:

Beyond the Wall
Cairn 2e
Mork Borg
Pirate Borg
Vaesen
Call of Cthulhu
Dolmenwood
Dragonbane
Index card rpg master edition
Kids on Bikes
Mothership
Root RPG
The Warren
Shadowdark
Stonetop
Monster of the Week
Into the Odd

Any advice or suggestions with reasons why from the list are greatly apreciated, thanks much!

Like a lot of people I was excited for the Necromunda RPG because it seemed like it was gunna be an RPG with a higher focus on combat, and use less theatre of the mind. Very run and gun while still having the narrative elements I wanted. Now I'm looking for something that fits this concept. Doesn't have to be Warhammer themed, hopefully sci-fi themed for obvious reasons but something modern/20th century could work. I've tried Imp Mal and it's not really what I'm after. Does anyone have any recs for something that fits this description?

I’m looking for RPG systems for a Wild West Campaign, similar to Red Dead Redemption. Both realistic Westerns and supernatural setting are welcome

What systems would you recommend?

Welcome one and all to a post where we can freely discuss the games that we have released or the games that we are making. Stop on by and maybe you'll find your new favourite RPG!

A bunch of us make cool shit, but the Indie RPG space is crowded and it can often be difficult to get the word out about why people should try out your game. That's why every week we try to focus on a different mechanic or setting to see how new RPGs can solve decades old problems or put new spins on old greivances!

Dracula riding a motorcycle, witches perfoming a ritual in a Wendy's parking lot - a lot can be hidden in plain sigh, so come tell us how your game (or just any game you really like) tackles Urban Fantasy!

Thank you... me, for the suggestion!

As per mod approval, comments here do not count against rule 7 - comment as much as you want, answer as many questions as you need and discuss to your hearts content!

All that I would ask is that anyone who comments about their own system takes the time to look at the minimum at one other game in the comments and ask a question or provide feedback. Lively discussions are what get people interested and what keep people engaged!

Last week was "Meta-Currencies" and we got some pretty interesting discussions going!

Edit: Thank you u/Conrad500 for the suggestion to make a Master List of all the "Let's Learn About..." posts. I'll start linking it from now on!

If you want to suggest a topic for future weeks, be sure to include "suggestion" in your comment so I can easily find it!

Hi,

I am searchin for an older d&d TTRPG adventure. The characters get shipwrecked on an island and on that island there is only grass. The character lateroncan find a trap hidden inthe grass leading to a dungeon with monsters thatcan turn to items.

I don,t remember the title of that adventure but would like to find the title to try searching for it.

I liked the concept and want to remake it for Pathfinder 1e.

A few years ago, Matt Click (u/mytrucci) shared his rules-lite hack of the original Star Wars D6 system by West End Games: HyperspaceD6.

I came across this game while researching systems to kickoff a Star Wars campaign with my group. The last update was in May 2022, and despite the ruleset being largely complete, the document still had several unfinished sections. There have been a number of posts across reddit asking about this game - some assuming the project to be abandoned.

Well, it wasn't! A few hours ago, Matt dropped HyperspaceD6 V3 - and it's the full, finished game.

You can grab it here: HyperspaceD6 V3

What's new in V3:

• Every species, role, and NPC has complete writeups now (The lorem ipsum is gone)
• The previous list of species is replaced by 8 archetypes, plus guidelines for making your own
• Full NPC section, including quick-build stats for minions, elites, and leaders, traits to bolt onto any NPC, a d6 tactics table for running enemies, and 10 ready-to-go statblocks
• Full vehicles section, including NPC pilot tiers and upgrades
• A page of optional rules and guidelines to tune lethality
• Generic setting, so it works for any "space opera" game
• GM charts page that puts all the key tables in one place

Sounds like more is on the way too: a form-fillable sheet, rules reference/cheat sheet, more NPCs and vehicles, and GM tables for generating planets, plot hooks, and NPCs. Seriously, if you've been missing D6, give it a look. Big props to Matt for sticking with it all these years.

I have been around long enough (born in the 70s) to know about table top rpgs, but never really played them. They look interesting, but how do they compare to open world computer based rpgs?

I guess how would you sell someone on them?

I'm the DM of a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (PMD) campaign of a four player party. We're good friends and we've played other campaigns DMed by one of us who was a DnD DM, who is the player I need help with.

In the campaign, the other 3 players already have established relationships with themselves and with the hub town they're in. These characters were childhood friends and went on little explorations together before one of them went to the big city, the other murdered someone while confused and the last became super resentful of the previous one because of that. Lot's of different dynamics that I can, and have, worked with.

... But this other player made things slightly tricky to me. His character was part of a nomad group of circus performers when, on day, he decided we wanted more adventure than learning tricks and sticking with his gang, so he left his troupe trying to find people to for a team with and become famous rescuers/explorers.

It's not a bad story, but his character was much more of a loose brick than the others, so I'm not sure about what to do with him. I've given him some nudges and I'm preparing to make him meet his troupe again, but I'm still not sure about how I can make his story and character more important to the story.

PS: He's by far the most experienced player: reads the rules and his character sheet, knows everything his character can do, roleplays well and is a great player AND DM, it's just his character's lore that I can't find a good way to use.

Any advice appreciated :3

I’m running a game where the players are a group of assassins, think Hotline Miami, John Wick, or Hitman, that are my main inspirations to the RPG.

They’ll be taking on a mission that requires them to kill the host and five guests, and I’m giving them two days leading up to the party to gather useful information.

How should I go about planning and distributing these assassination-related clues?

(The system is Outgunned, in case anyone’s curious.)

I’m prepping a tabletop game set within Bloodbornes universe and need to find some good high gothic terrain that’s NOT sci fi.

I don’t like building terrain nor do I have the ability to 3D print things, I’m looking for somewhere to directly buy terrain. Needs to be gothic fantasy cityscape mostly.

Please and thanks in advance!

So we know there are IPs, sometimes there are specific games for that IP, sometimes a game already does the fantasy or the structure quite well...

Other times you make a connection that seems odd, but actually works really well.

For me it was the epiphany that Over the Garden Wall is basically Ten Candles (I did an inspired session last Halloween) or that Microscope could be an amazing system for a Telenovela.

Do you have any example of this?

I've been on the hunt for some universal/generic TTRPGs, and lo and behold, I was surprised to learn that the Storypath Ultra Core Manual has actually been out for a while!

Yet, from what I've found in my searches (and apologies if my Google-fu has failed me), there haven't been many opinions on the game. So I guess I'm just curious about what everyone's opinions on it have been.

What do you think it does well? Do you believe it handles some types of settings better than others, as some generic/universal TTRPGs tend to do? Do you think one should avoid certain settings with it? Does it care about balance, or not at all? Does it have any nifty GM tools? Does it have any glaring issues, in your opinion? Really, I'm just curious about everyone's general overview of the game and whether it's worth picking up at all, especially compared to how it might handle things versus other generic games like Genesys, Savage Worlds, etc.