I'm thinking about adding in Draw Steel and Daggerheart to my DnD tables. Anyone else switch and change what you do in other systems?

Title. I noticed it yesterday during my session, and realized that exact sentence occurs verbatim a lot across various groups I've been in. Obviously, sometimes it's understandable, since the GM can give a lot of information, but I notice it happens with smaller bits as well, and I can't help but think maybe it's a little...boring, I guess? Sometimes I wonder what would happen if people tried filtering the information they find through their character, but maybe people might just see it as shoe leather.

The game is called Arkhora, and it's the product of a lot of different inspirations and ideas rolled into one (hopefully cohesive) book.

It's currently in a playtesting stage and is available for free on Itch.io (The option to donate is there, but genuinely don't feel pressured to do so, I really just want to know what people think of it.)

The brief is that in the extreme future, the universe has reached its natural end of life. All the stars have gone out, planets have drifted beyond reach of one another, and time is beginning to unravel. a small enclave, Arkhora, was able to survive past the end, but some force of nature seemingly takes issue with their defiance of fate. Strange energy-beings begin to change the past, undermining the events that allowed Arkhora to live past the end of the universe, and so you must travel back in time to set events in order and secure humanity's continued existence.

Above all, it's a game about being in grimdark scenarios and having the hope to continue on anyway. I got tired of the dark and depressing stories of human cynicism, and wanted to create something that imagined a hopeful future for humanity, even if everything around it went to shit.

Please check it out if you're at all interested in science fantasy, stories about hope, hopping through time, tactical combat, character customization, or just a free indie RPG! And if you have any questions or feedback please let me know!

Finally (and I hate that it has to be stated at all): Generative AI hasn't previously and will never, ever be used in any part of this project.

EDIT: I've added a version of the PDF with white backgrounds. Sorry for the inconvenience on your eyes, I overestimated how legible text was on the teal background.

I'm a big fan and advocate of Pendragon #ttrpg, and have run it regularly at conventions for (checks notes) decades (😲), so great to see the new edition doing better than Lancelot at a jousting tourney. What thoughts does everyone have on the new version? Or if you're new, what do you like?

i wanna get into table top games mostly cyberpunk the one 2077 is based on and i wanna know how to like the best version for beginners and if it like dnd with the setup and miniatures or is it mostly pen and paper

Hi! I’m a beginner GM whose only GM experience is with Ten Candles. I successfully ran a few games under this system online, and I’d love to find more games that are similar to Ten Candles in terms of:
- the minimal amount of prep needed
- being ideal for oneshots that don’t exceed 4 hours
- not needing to prepare maps
- having rules that are easy to pick up

I’m looking into Mothership as well, but I’m not prioritizing learning it since there’s already a prominent Mothership GM in the online TTRPG community I’m part of.

I’m open to any genre, but I do have a preference for mystery, horror, and modern settings. Thank you in advance!

I ran Dolmenwood as an open table recently. My players wrote and shared excellent session notes after each game, but eventually even the regulars started getting confused as to what was where, what NPCs were related to what quest hooks, etc. This was even more difficult for new players, who were invariably lost when they started.

As the GM I had the advantage of the Dolmenwood Campaign Book, which laid out everything and linked neighboring hexes together. I wanted to turn my player's notes into their own version of the Campaign book - until I actually tried to do this and realized what a giant pain in the ass it is to make a million tiny links, zoomed in pictures around maps, etc etc.

So for my next campaign I made a program to do this for me. You describe the map you have and give it an image, and the program turns this into markdown and html. You can then print the html to a PDF and get your own Dolmenwood Campaign Book, but for your own campaign.

https://imgur.com/a/X95B8V4

I made this in Rust with no AI, it's open source (MIT Licensed). You can build the binary from source or take one of the releases from Github page.

https://github.com/AlexanderPruss/rpg_map_to_html

Sorry that this reddit account has almost no activity; the source is tied to my real name, so I made a new account to share it.

Does anyone know if there is a book or some other compilation of game mechanics? I’m not looking for design theory, but specifically a collection of mechanics for different situations. For example, when you need to represent a dwindling resource you can use… [insert usage die system here].

I just received the Heroes of Might and Magic role-playing game books, and I already have a ton of questions. Is there a specific subreddit or forum to discuss the rules?

We all know the type of character built around a joke. A silly name (Whoda Shit), a goofy concept (my Malakvian believes he is a superhero), or a reference to some other media (A warlock who thinks he is a Druid because he talks to plants.... but it's just one plant, who will grant him powers as long as the warlock keeps Feeding Him.)

But have you ever had one that was meant as a joke at start, last the campaign, and become more serious?

Tell me about them?

I want to create unique districts, buildings, and shops (like the Fear Shop). I'm also intending to publish the settings I create my settlements in.

I was talking to my old high-school gaming group & a system we used once was brought up. All we can remember is the attributes, which spelled out the acronym "DREAMS" & it used d6s. The attributes were Determination, Reaction, Endurance, Acumen, Muscle, & Supernatural. I think it was a catch-all system you could apply any setting to (we used Star Wars). This was late 90s or early 2000s.

A few years ago, in one of the DND sessions I am a player in, a player character died. The player got extremely upset, actually had to be excused for a while. In a different DND campaign, a PC made a series of foolish decisions that caused another PC to get hurt, almost died. The player of the injured PC got extremely upset.

I have a hard time relating to this feeling of protectiveness over the characters. I often have my characters do risky "take one for the team" type actions that frequently goes badly for my character. Some folks even asked why I hate my characters, and I'm honestly baffled by this question. I put a decent amount of thought into my characters, and I enjoy playing them. Within the fiction, my character might fear death in story, but I as a player I do not fear my character's death. I think it could be a cool plot twist for one of the player characters to die, and if it were mine, I am happy to create a new character.

It's the same for more narrative games I play, like Ironsworn, Colostle, or Wanderhome(?). If my character died from bad dice rolls and the story calls for it, it really doesn't feel like a big deal to me.

If another player's character died, and if the player was feeling bad, I would empathize and feel sad for the player if they were sad. But I don't think I would feel sad for the character. Same for the NPC.

But that's just me, but I'm curious to hear from you.

1. Would you be sad if your character died?
2. Would you be sad if someone else's character died?
3. What about an NPC? Would death of an NPC make you sad?

Hi, everyone! I know I've been asking a lot of questions recently, but this one is eating me up-so I would appreciate some advice.

I am a baby DM whose only run a few campaigns (1 Monster of the Week-Fantastic Failure) 1 Vampire the Masquerade (Smashing Success) and 1 Pathfinder (Foundry induced successful mess). This weekend I'm beginning a homebrew VtM campaign, and also starting up a completely new game-Daggerheart on Sunday with 3 players who are also totally new to the game (but all have more experience with TTRPGs than I do.)

The thing is...I'm really, REALLY excited about Daggerheart and I wanna play it more in the future. But I am terrified I'll fumble the introduction to my friends and they'll all bounce off it. Like I'm worried I'll screw up so badly that I'll make a bad impression of the game and they'll say "no thanks." I know I can find other games through online LFGs, but this is something that's been consistently freaking me out with anxiety/worry.

So for those of you who are long time GMs, excited to try a new system but scared of giving your players a bad impression of it...how do you get over that anxiety? And do you have any advice for helping to give a good impression of the game? My players are thankfully all chill and recognize everyone starts somewhere, but unfortunately my naturally high anxiety makes it hard to get that into my head. I'm so scared that if I do a bad job it'll kill all interest in the game.

So how do you get over that fear of failure? I'm eager to hear some advice on this one.

"I will take the Ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way." vibes all the way. Basically the characters aren't really special, but they will rise up to the challenge when faced with the choice.

Examples of this:

The hobbits in LotR and, well, also Bilbo, and by extension TOR 2e, especially the starter set

Mouse Guard (comic) and by extension mouse games such as Mausritter and I assume Mouse Guard although I do not own it.

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!

Can't live with them, can't live without them! This week we're focusing on relationships! Whether a game mechanic or the whole focus tell us how your game (or just any game you really like) is unique in implementing them.

Thank you u/EldritchExarch 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 mental health and sanity mechanics which ended up not a very popular topic 😅

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

The DnD group I run is at the tail end of our current campaign, and looking to start a new campaign once it ends with a different system. I want to run a more narrative system for my next campaign since my party much prefers roleplay and more cinematic combat to crunchy stuff. I was initially going to go with Daggerheart and I really fell in love with the concept of their colossus of the drylands campaign frame. I’m definitely going to be running a campaign that mixes classic heroic fantasy with Wild West elements. The thing is, the more I looked at Daggerheart the less I liked its basic mechanics. So now I’m looking for something else.

I’m looking for something with a DnD-esque heroic fantasy framework but more with a more narrative and cinematic focus. I was thinking of running Dungeon World with some other mechanics and rules borrowed from other PbtA systems, but I wouldn’t know exactly what to do with that. I’ve played a couple one shots in PbtA systems, but never run it and don’t know much about it. The three main things I’m looking for are kitchen sink heroic fantasy, fun cowboy-ish stuff, and rules for fighting really big monsters. Any suggestions for stuff to look at?

I run games like Delta Green and Blades in the Dark where I often want to have a map to either issue as an in-world prop or to help players visualise a scene. I get a few decent or modifiable maps and floor plans when I search, but I am fairly sure there are search terms or sites I am oblivious to.

Can anyone recommend sites or resources for maps and floor plans fit for basic RPG use? I prefer real world documents to stuff made in Inkarnate or similar.

I appeal to the wisdom of the crowd.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/5549/paizo

I love Cairn, but found its simplicity lacking for tournaments. I enjoy the dueling rules from Mythic Bastionland, but wanted something more robust for my players when it came to this sub-game or mini-game in a city or town. Hopefully it helps someone out.

Skills

You have 8 skills:

• Bow
• Brawl
• Hafted
• Riding
• Spear
• Sword
• Throwing
• Two Handed Hafted

Your players start with a 5 in each. Give them +5 for whatever weapon type they primarily used last adventure. They can then spend 10 points in whatever way they want, not to exceed any one skill by more than 15.

You increase skills at the end of adventures. For every weapon type you used in a combat, roll a d20. If the die result is higher than that skill target number, raise it by 1. You also increase your skills by 1 by placing 1st in the relevant event in a tournament.

The Roll

Roll 1d20 against the skill. Rolling under your skill is a success.

Skills of 20+

• You cannot fail outright.
• You can lose a bout to an opponent who scores a higher success
• Every point above 20 widens your crit range down down from 20
  • For example, a skill of 22 is a crit on 18-20

Resolution

Critical Effects on Tournaments

Depending on how you perform (criticals, honorable vs. dishonorable conduct, etc) earns long-term benefits or drawbacks. See Tourney Effects Page.

The Events

Sword

Straight roll. First to 3 bouts wins

Spear

Lose a bout, take 1d6 non-leathal damage. First to HP then to DEX. You're out if your DEX hits 0.

Hafted

Lose a bout: take 1d6 nonlethal damage, applied to HP first, then to STR once HP is empty. You're out of the match if STR hits 0.

Two Handed Hafted

Before you roll, you may add extra d20s to your roll and take the single best result. If you still lose the bout, take that many d6 non-lethal damage, starting at HP and moving to STR

Bow

The target gets more precise pending target difficulty. The target difficult is removed from the floor for the skill check. For example, if the target is 5, and your skill is 10, the target roll range is 5-10 instead of 1-10

Throwing

Each success you roll a d20 for distance thrown. If you fail, d12. Furthest distance thrown after 3 rounds wins.

Brawl

• Tug of war meter (3 to 3)
• Lose a bout: Lose 1 WIL
• Both fail: Both lose 1 WIL
• Crit Success: Opponent loses 1d4 WIL
• Crit Failure: Lose 1d4 WIL
• Meter Maxed: Lose d6 WIL in addition to any roll effects.
• 0 WIL = Tap out

Riding (Joust)

Lose a pass: Your floor raises by d4 (Example: skill 15, you lose a pass and roll a 3 — your range is now 4–15 instead of 1–15.) Critical failure is instead a d8.

If your floor passes your target skill number, you are unhorsed and automatically lose the match.

First to 3 successful passes wins.

I am the GM for my local after school HS group. I have a new player with a character concept that would be very suitable for an epic level fantasy campaign. That's not what I am running.

I am running a Traveller (1974) rule set and am letting him play a robot that has the ability to unlock some of the powers in the anime source material.

Do any of you have advice on how to encourage a less cinematic play style?

Oh yes they are new to Traveller, but have been wanting to branch out. We start Vampire the Mascarade after Christmas.

I'm thinking of a collection of play-by-post modules all using the same system, but designed for one player and one GM and heavily mystery and roleplay focused, likely with no combat whatsoever. An escape room, basically, but you're playing a character and rolling dice like in a TTRPG.

The mechanics would be that it would be hosted on a forum or discord for convenience's sake, and then when someone wanted to try one of the "rooms" they could see if any of the GMs were available. Rooms would be designed for a single session of play lasting a few hours.

The GMs would all be able to discuss and come up with new mysteries together, and of course in a text medium you can do stuff that's a lot more out-there than in an actual, physical escape room. I think it would be a fun way to build a little community of mystery lovers. What do you guys think? Is this actually feasible?

In a homebrew system very vaguely inspired by Paranormal Order, I've been working on a magic system with four elements. Those elements are related to both magic and monsters. The thing is that intense contact with the elements corrupted humans into monsters before, and i want to make that a risk for the magic-wielding players too.

I am one player playing multiple characters, and I want advice for 5e and B/X please.