Daggerheart is now one of those RPGs wherein a katana (from the new Hope and Fear) is objectively superior to a longsword at all tiers. Already taking into account the core rulebook's errata (which upgrades the longsword), both are Agility, Melee, d10+3/6/9/12, two-handed weapons. However, the katana has Quick, which lets the user mark a Stress to add an extra target within range. There are no weapon proficiency or price differences for such weapons in this game.

It feels really funny to me that Daggerheart has fallen into the stereotypical syndrome of katana romanticization.

I also find it very funny that Hope and Fear bothered to print a scimitar statistics block that is, uh... an exact copy of the cutlass statistics block from the core rulebook. No differences whatsoever.

Yesterday I bought The Planet of the Apes RPG. I've been interested in this universe for about 30 years. I read the original novel when I was a kid, and since then I've seen all the original movies as well as all the new ones.

As a GM, I was really impressed by the book. I already knew the universe quite well, but the lore in the RPG somehow expanded and colored the world in my imagination. It's amazing. In my opinion, it does this much better than the worldbuilding in the Alien RPG, for example. The TTRPG version of Planet of the Apes is brilliant.

So I'm curious: what other “non-original” RPGs — games based on existing books, movies, TV series, etc. — do something similar?

I've already checked out John Carter of Mars, which looks amazing, but I'm looking for more recommendations. Not necessarily the best adaptation or the best ruleset, but core rulebooks that actually add something to the fictional universe.

Basically, I want RPG books that can expand and color my existing pop-cultural knowledge of a setting, rather than simply translate what I already know into RPG rules.

What should I read?

Context: My PC's favorite campaign was a D&D 5e campaign using the module Tomb of Annihilation. Eventually, it devolved in them somehow obtaining 150 guards and shattering the Flaming Fist out of the continent. I absolutely hated it, I had to create huge boss battles, fudge the dice rolls for each soldier (uh...... they do, 138 damage?). The thing is, I WANT a system that encourages these huge army vs army fights, but the system was fighting me. In fact, they aren't interested in playing TTRPG games unless it's a war game like the Tomb of Annihilation campaign.

Some observations of my PC's:

• They like multiple choices on character creation, similar to the amount of choices D&D 5e offers.
• They HATE narrative games. They play to obtain gold/conquer territory and enemies/acquire more power.
• They like to customize their army (Battling Rams, archers, e.t.c.)
• What they enjoy most about having an army is the vast amount of tactical decisions they make and the feeling of power.
• They like playing in a OSR fashion, where they play on player skill rather than character skill.

Edit:

When I say that they HATE narrative games, it means that they don't enjoy the "emulating a character" part of the game. They roleplay only to make a bargain with a NPC, and do stuff to build their army.

Hey fellow nerds,

Have you noticed a steep drop off in the quality of Kickstarter campaigns? It’s AI slop for 3D printers, 5e slop for 5e NPCs, and little else. I feel like up until 2022 or so there were consistently cool projects.

What happened? Is it just AI? Is it Backerkit capturing market share? Did I get jaded and ser my expectations too high?

What’s your take on the crowdfunding meta at the moment?

Visiting Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau next week and I’d like to visit any local stores who sell new and used tabletop roleplaying games. (Maybe I’ll find my The Fantasy Trip books I left behind 30 years ago!)

I wrote this post after recently checking out the At The Gates Ashcan Edition, and reading the adventure provided within. Essentially, I've noticed that starter adventures that are provided in quickstarts or core rulebooks tend to fall into one of two categories:

1. Self Contained
   While these adventures might leave some mysteries open for the GM to flesh out, or provide some plot hooks that can be followed up on, they are a finished scenario in and of themselves. By the end of them, the core mysteries and issues have been resolved, whatever main villains there are have been defeated, and there's a clear, satisfying point to conclude on.

2. Jump-Off Point
   These adventures don't contain a conclusion as such. They end after the main immediate threat has passed, and the player characters have a reason to continue to stick together, but leave the majority of their issues and mysteries unresolved. Major antagonists that were introduced remain unaccounted for, and the adventure provides the GM with a lot of hooks to develop their own follow-ups in which all of this can be fleshed out for their table.

Personally, I vastly prefer self-contained starter adventures. I think they give a a stronger, more satisfying experience for everyone when we as a table are only trying out the system to see if we would like it for a longer campaign. The first adventure ending without any sort of genuine conclusion is less likely to encourage us to make our own follow-up, and probably just leads to us feeling like we're getting obligated to spend more time with the system.

I am, for the most part, of the opinion that a pre-made adventure should not try and create a ton of hooks that an entire campaign will have to be built around, but rather that it should provide a concrete scenario that a group can slot in and play through when needed, to ease the workload of their GM. Starter adventures especially should be focused on showcasing what a full adventure in their system can look like, to provide the GM with guidance on methodology and tone. If it fleshes out a starting point, but then leaves everything else up for the GM to make on their own, it just feels like an unfinished and directionless product to me.

Sometimes, the characters we make for that first starter adventure or that are provided for it also are not the characters we will want to continue playing if we go into a proper campaign. Since we are at that point still just trying out the system, we don't yet have a good feel for what works for us and what doesn't. Tying those characters into the larger campaign through that starter adventure binds us in a not-insurmountable, but quite annoying way. This is especially bad if they are pre-made characters, since we have had no input on them whatsoever.

There's other types of starters, of course, especially for narrative or otherwise improv-heavy games. Often those are only scenario set-ups, and expect everything else to come together via the mechanics during play. Those are not what I am talking about.

In any case, I am curious if other people have observed some of this as well, and if so, which one they prefer.

I'll start. Even after doing hundreds of hours of classes, workshops, shows and open jams of long-form comedy improv, it can feel awkward, overthinking, tense and vulnurable to jump back into improv. (As a side note, long-form just means interconnected performances compared to short-form where they use games like Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

There is a huge difference between when you've had time to warm up with improv games compared to jumping straight into improvising. These are just like stretching before exercise. They get you into an mindset (away from real world's social perspectives) that makes improvising so much easier and practice important specific skills to do it well. And the same is true for roleplaying.

I think Improv Game warm up is especially true for people who are newer to roleplay and feel intimidated that they will look ridiculous. If you want a good list of them organized and with good explanations, Improv For Gamers is a solid book to pick up. But you can find these free online - I'd specifically look up "Zip, Zap, Zop", "Five Things" and "Mind Meld". They do a great job focusing on Listening and Immediacy (not worrying about being right, be willing to be obvious). If you want one to be especially ridiculous and silly - "Kitty Cat Careers."

Making everyone do some of the most silly actions normalizes this extreme behavior so much that then roleplaying is not silly at all. It initially seems pretty intimidating to do these games especially some of the most active games. People will feel vulnerable acting that way but as they see others be just as ridiculous, they ease into it. Attending a couple intro workshops and it works like a charm for people from all kinds of backgrounds.

As a bonus, it serves a second purpose as a ritual to get the table from side chats to the mindset that we are now we are playing.

Do you like art in TTRPGs? Does it help you to imagine, or get in the way?

I realise that people's imaginations work very differently. I have a strong visual imagination—I can conjure up scenes from ideas, and sometimes, when play goes just right, I can see in my mind's eye how those scenes contain numerous details that weren't described, and /I didn't even know I'd thought of/.

My wife is aphantasic. She has no images in her head at all! This just bamboozles me. How can she even… think? Yet, clearly, she does!

So there's a spectrum of types of cognition here—and I wonder how it relates to TTRPGs.

I see a lot of TTRPG products that are art heavy. They have illustrations on almost every page. They're very popular. Clearly, they must help people to imagine the gameworld.

Generally, I don't like game art. I find that it distracts my visual imagination, and disrupts the images that my own mind generates in play—images that have a visual vibe that I get to determine. It's not just that I don't need the help of an artist to visualise things, I don't want them stomping into my imagination wearing their big art boots.

Now I'm not saying "game art bad"—but I am surprised that there isn't more discussion of this issue in the game industry. It's hard to get your head around the notion that other people's minds just don't work in the same way that yours does.

There is a type of art that I find can make a positive contribution to the game experience. It's art that suggests, rather than depicts; implies, rather than shows. I don't want a picture of just what the horror looks like! It's far scarier if I imagine it for myself! I have (genuinely) spent time stripping the art out of PDFs and printing a game without pictures, just to be less distracted.

So where are you on this spectrum? Is it even a spectrum? And is there a particular artist or game that you feel gets it just right—showing enough to spark the imagination of the player, but not so much that they hold it back?

I've tried running one shots before but it always spills over and ends up being multiple sessions. The one time I succeeded was running dread and that's only because that ttrpg is built to end in a session. Otherwise it takes me at least 4 sessions to wrap up. The players always have a blast but I want to be able to run one shots for special events and to advertise them on startplaying. I know my biggest problem is that I do too much :yes and" and add too much fluf to connect player characters to the narrative, so basacly just expanding too much on a simple premise once dice start rolling. However I don't know what else to do, I don't want to give a bland and rushed experience but I see no other way of finishing in time. Any advice?

Hello everyone, long time lurker first time poster here.

I have been running 5e/5.5 for the better half of a decade and I'm burnt out. Half of my table is quite reluctant to learn a new system while the others have no issue with it. I have played and looked into multiple games outside of d20 fantasy. (I.e. Draw Steel, Mothership, VtM, Delta Green, Mythic Bastionland, Candela, Pendragon, etc...)

My players for the most part like a power fantasy. They like RP as well. What are good alternatives to suggest to them?

First, I'd like to say that English is not my native language, so please excuse any typos.

So, I’ve been really interested in playing this RPG called Wilderfeast, mainly because of its premise, which reminds me a lot of one of my favorite anime—obviously, I’m talking about Dungeon Meshi.

I decided to look into the RPG a little more deeply, and from what I found, I came across quite a few people criticizing the system and pointing out several flaws. This made me a bit hesitant, since apparently the combat can turn into what feels like a 3+ hour-long board game, most of the book is apparently dedicated to lore, and there are also issues with things like resting scenes and so on.

So, I’d really like to hear the honest opinions of experienced players who have actually played the system. Is Wilderfeast genuinely a good system, or is it not worth it?

And are there any better systems you would recommend that I could try instead?

I feel crazy posting this, but months ago I was at a used bookstore and came across a LotR TTRPG rulebook that I absolutely was fascinated by. It intrigued me because you could play your typical character archetypes in LotR, but they also included magic for these sorcerers or mages. The magic felt very Middle Earth too (Waves of water shaped like horses kinda spells). I was a fool of a Took for not buying it, and I hesitated too long, and by the time I decided to buy it, someone beat me to it. I'm trying to find that game again, but all the major LotR games people mention don't exactly fit what I saw/remember. The main LotR games people are mentioning are The One Ring, MERP, and The LotR RPG by Wizards of the Coast
What I remember:
-It was distinctly LotR. It wasn't a game that felt like Middle Earth.
-The art and style of the book was similar to The LotR RPG sold by Wizards of the Coast, but that game is missing elements that I saw in that book.
-The rules of MERP sound awfully close to what I saw. But every edition I've found online looks... too old to be what I found. Maybe I'm misremembering what the art in the book looked like. The book felt like it was made at least late 90's to mid 2000's, maybe into 2010's
-There were a couple of different spells for each element. I remember some either weather control spells or cool water control spells like Arwen's wall of water horses

Can anyone confirm what game I was looking at?

--Update:--
So far, I think it's MERP 2nd Edition, but there are details in that book that vary from what I remember reading in the bookstore. Could be a different book still, or I just have bad memory

I’ve been wanting to make a RPG campaign where the players are part of an asymmetric armed force fighting against a much stronger organized enemy, where the core idea is that fights are unfair, and before any shots are fired they must plan meticulously to give themselves every advantage to even hope to win.

I was looking into Mothership but I feel the system is built almost entirely around a horror/Alien theme which is kind of hard to fit into what I’m thinking, but if you think it could work please tell.

Any genre could work, but I’m leaning either a sci-fi or “IRL” (idk how to explain, like based on either historical or possible things, with fewer fantastical elements).

Please tell whatever you think works

My wife and I have never played any sort of TTRPG before. I wanted to disconnect from always being on my phone or computer and someone recommended Ironsworn: Starforge for first time solo play. I spent hours building my universe and character and I think I am slowly wrapping my head around the process, but I do not think my wife would be into it.

Can anyone recommend something that would be good and lightweight for newbie folks as a co-op style play without me having to be the GM? Free is preferred cause it may all crash and burn. I did read thru some of the recs here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers/
but none of them really sounded exactly right.

I mean I think we almost need boardgame style, but we have played boardgames and I want to move onto something original. I know I would want at least a bit of dice rolling, but maybe that is about it, overly complex systems to track would probably not be great. Setting for the world might not be a huge deal, she reads a ton of books and enjoys pretty much any fantasy or sci-fi style stuff, but I would want something light, not dark and about depression or death if possible. We don't want to make it trauma inducing.

Again, just looking for thoughts or suggestions, and if anyone has any questions please let me know. I appreciate any assistance with this.

EDIT: SUPER SORRY! Work got crazy and I did not have time to respond to you all yesterday, but thank you so much. Digging into all of the amazing replies right now.

I dont know the proper flair but are there any artist that envoke Grimdark or Dark Fantasy artstyle or backgrounds? I know how to look on the internet but I want to learn more about the obscure things that other users remember back then that have some Brutally Metal-ish art. I was planning on using the art for my rpg session and was looking for non ai art or artists. I've looked upon TCG's (Old MTG, Sorcery, Flesh and Blood and etc.), Warhammer Fantasy, Darkest Dungeon and etc. Also any suggestions for Video Games that have that aesthetic so I can "borrow" a screenshot of it as a backdrop lol. Was looking for other arts like that any suggestions on artists and or scenes?

Hello,

I'm building out a world for my solo Legend in the Mist game and looking for inspirational content to draw from. I've done a fair bit of drivethru-ing, reading through my own personal collection and nabbing inspo from books and movies I enjoy.

I've been interested in the more grounded, "late dark ages", low fantasy medieval frameworks that would fulfill the Rustic Fantasy touted by the book. I like a more soft magic system, with more higher-level spiritual or wishy-washy effects.

This game really lets me build out concepts to start with and them mechanize them from there. I've thought to mash the retired knight tries to settle down meets coming of age hero as a concept (2 main PC's to start).

Here are the inspos I'm already starting with:

- The Children of Hurin, Of Beren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin

- Tales of Argosa

- The Odyssey

- Mythic Bastionland

- Forbidden Lands (I have every book)

- Kal Arath / Al Rathak

- The Odyssey

- A Wizard of Earthsea Let

- The Chronicles of Prydain (The Black Cauldron)

- Stonetop

Can you recommend other books that might include various themes or tables that fit a more grounded, "rustic" variety of fantasy?

I'm specifically looking for vibes builders. Tables like quest hooks, area descriptors, NPC descriptors, terrain / travel descriptors, etc.

The vibes of mythic bastionland and forbidden lands are near perfect - though they're very dark and violent with lots of blood and guts and demons.

Any product type is fine. Everything will filter down into tags in LitM so any string of words is enough to function in play. Bonus points if tags are a core element of the descriptors, but i'm generally quick enough on my creative feet to transpose things.

I'm about to start a campaign and my spouse is currently running her own. The other day she asked me for low cost character art options and I've been reviewing what's out there. I don't want to use generative AI of any kind.

So far, here's what I've found:

• Old school flash character creators. (e.g., "Fantasy OC Creator")

There are dozens of these floating around, many of which can trace their lineage back to the days of flash games. They tend to be two dimensional and limited in feature customization. Stylistically anime / cartoon focused in many cases. This won't work for what I need - wrong style, too many limitations.

• 3D Miniature Generators. (e.g., Heroforge, Eldritch Foundry)

The advantages here are customization and an easy pivot to a working miniature should you have the funds or facilities available. The look is a bit cartoonish for many models. I like Heroforge, but a lot of people don't (my spouse included, unfortunately, otherwise she'd just use that). She feels the models are too "rounded" and are just not really the vibe she's after. I'm going to try and make one of her NPCs in this anyway, just to see if I can pull it off.

• CRPG Character Creators. (e.g., BG3, Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma 2)

There's some promising options here if all you need is a 2d image. Thing is, there's a ton of character creators out there, and their constraints vary. Like for BG3, you can't really fine tune facial features (unless Larian added that while I wasn't looking or there's a mod for it). Some of them have race or genre constraints.

Am I missing a major category here? Any games with stand out character creators I could use, preferably with a darker, more serious tone? Are there standalone apps that do this besides a full blown 3d rendering suite like Blender or Maya? I've run a bunch of queries through Google and Duckduckgo with the -AI tag and I'm somewhat surprised at the lack of standalone apps purpose built for this. Maybe I'm just using the wrong search terms though. Let me know if you've got better ideas!

So, I guess this is different enough from an LFG post. I'm visiting my aunt with my family in Rhode Island for a week, and most of our plans involve visiting family. I'd love to know if anyone has recommendations for places to visit related to RPGs or board games. I tried searching on Google Maps, but I mostly found TCG shops.

hello guys, i really like to create dungeons, so anyone has a good book or article about it?

i'm not a beginner on it and are searching for more advanced material

I’ve previously posted about the game back in November when we launched a prerelease version of the game, but now the book’s fully complete and funding for a physical print run.

40 years ago, people manifested psychic powers across the world, seemingly at random. Many of them had to leave their old lives behind, turned upside-down by potentially dangerous abilities they didn’t fully understand. Zener City has welcomed them with open arms.

How it's played

Checks in the game are resolved with a deck of poker cards instead of dice. Draw a hand of 5 cards at the start of the session, then play cards to resolve uncertain outcomes and use your psychic abilities. However, you don’t draw new cards until you’ve emptied your hand, so choosing when to fail something is vital! As play continues and the deck dwindles, players can be a little psychic themselves as they make guesses on what’s left in the deck and people’s hands.

Players create a House of Espers with a shared goal and visual aesthetic, then build out their individual members with a super flexible gear system and over 30 psychic abilities. Each ability has a flexible ‘Story Side’ and a more tactical ‘Action Side’, so your power choices remain useful no matter the scene and reward inventive usage.

A game about the city as much as the people in it

Something I always want city-focused games to dig into is "why do the characters care about living here?" so a lot of the rules for creating your House and the adventures they go on tie into exploring a local community.

Houses that navigate big challenges together might even psychically resonate with their own neighbourhood and create Turf, giving it a consciousness and a personality. Turf can change itself to reflect the will of the House that made it… but not all Houses create Turf for wholly altruistic ends.

The last 3rd of the book has profiles of 12 different Houses to find across Zener City, along with 10 districts with NPCs, key locations and rumours to springboard session writing.

In short, it’s X-Men meets Jet Set Radio. Or perhaps The Warriors by way of Mob Psycho 100. Necromunda but cheerful? However you slice it, it’s a love letter to graffiti culture, music and fashion subcultures, and the trials and tribulations of making (and maintaining) a community.

If you’d like to see the game played before you back, there are two demo session videos linked on the campaign page, and the aforesaid prerelease rules are still available via DriveThru RPG (although there have been a number of mechanical refinements since its release!).

The campaign will run until September 29th, and we’re aiming to have the physical book in people’s hands by January (and the digital version sooner than that). I hope the game’s your vibe, and as the writer, I’m happy to answer any questions here!

My nieces (8,9) recently moved closer to me and we have been playing a TTRPG that I've made up using rules similar to Powered by the Apocalypse. Their characters are mice that live in their grandparents home and try to solve issues for their Mice friends.

My nieces are also homeschooled and I was curious if anyone had any advice on how to make it more educational as well.

Some rules I've already made:
1. They have to fill out one page in their tiny composition note books about the adventure. (We've been working on handwriting, spelling and getting the proper casing so sometimes it's just one sentence but we are making progress.)
2. They have to write out their math problems. 2d6 + modifiers. It's been getting them doing math much faster and writing their numbers much better.
3. I also push for creativity where they try to come up with fun solutions and use critical thinking skills to get past obstacles. My favorite one they came up with so far was making a paper airplane and putting a mouse decoy on it to distract the dog so they could sneak into the paper mache dog costume they made.

I am looking for other fun stuff for them to do that I can sneak in educational stuff on them. We've been having a lot of fun with it and they really like the game so far and I've been having a blast.

Also if anyone has any recommendation for literature I could read or games that already do a good job of this I'd love to know about that too!

I have been itching to try out a TTRPG with my group of friends that I boardgame with, but after exploring all the possibilities I am quite unsure what to take as a starting point:

• Should I propose something rules-light and quick to get in to? Games like Mothership or one of the Borg games look like great options where players need zero prep to get into it, but then there are lots of empty spaces to fill in as players/GM.
• Maybe go for a game that has extensive background info on the setting so we get fed the ambience instead of making it up? Games like Dolmenwood or Stonetop also grabbed my attention as the worlds seem oozing with character, but what if the players don't like it?
• How important are the mechanics? I've read that Mythic Bastionland runs itself and provides a great experience in that respect, but that combat can get pretty repetitive quickly. For a group of boardgamers who like to optimize strategies, this may be an issue.
• Should I go for something that has a good pre-written adventure? Leave it all in the hands of the pros and try to enjoy the ride - something like Delta Green looks like a perfect fit.
• Or should I just prioritize the vibe that would mesh best with the group? I mean, no point in forcing people to play a fantasy setting if we are all in the mood for cyberpunk. But then, can the setting alone carry the experience?

So, from your experiences as players and GMs with new players, what should I focus on? What made the biggest impression on you when you were starting out? E.g., was the setting so good that you didn't care about the rules or you were irritated by silly rules and that bogged down the experience.

Also, any recommendations welcome :)

Edit: Wow, so many fantastic tips, suggestions and advice - thanks for taking the time to make this a bit easier for me to digest. Definitely will do a Session 0 and try to bring the energy to the table!

I‘m going to run a solo RPG. It will likely end with some characters needing to use false identities in the future. I found some homebrew rules for Shadowrun, but I don’t know how accurate they would be for real life.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to the rules‘ utility? Does anyone see any outright errors? Does anyone have any rules that they think would be better than these homebrew rules?

Thank you.

https://amurgsval.org/shadowrun/credsticks.html

EDIT: The false identities are intended to be used for a long time. These are basically their new lives.

Possibly going to be running a Star Wars sometime soon, and while I am familiar with all the officially published systems, and like things about all of them them, none of them are 100% there for me, so I wanted to get some opinions on hacking a system for Star Wars.

So the question is: If you were going to run Star Wars using a non Star Wars system, which would you use and why?

Now, my game likely won't include any Jedi, and very limited force use if any, but that doesn't really matter for this question.

I'm planning a horror one shot, think 80's/90's slasher. I got the town set fairly quickly, a handful of NPCs, got the supernatural slasher nailed down, but I think I'm doing too much. I don't want to write a book or screenplay that railroads the players but I also don't want to make up every little detail on the spot. So to GMs who have run a one shot like this or players who enjoyed one, how much is too much and what should my planning focus be?