Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Corn Flakes]

I've DMed for years and I mildly disagree with it being hard. Oh don't get me wrong, if you overplan it, it does get hard at times, but that's more due to the axiom I always follow: if there are three paths to pick, the players will always blast open a fourth one. Basically, once you realize that you can't fall in love with your railroad tracks and setting and just roll with punches, it becomes a lot easier. It's actually not too bad, you just plan out the next... oh I'd say 2-3 sessions, and then improv like fuck as you go along.

It's mostly hard if you try to run multiple campaigns, which I do not recommend by the way.

Then again, I tend to do pretty well flying by the seat of my pants, so I may not be the best person to speak about it on here. Honestly, a lot of horseshit and improv will get you by pretty far as a DM.

Now my fucking gripe with Roll20 groups are that they plan out the game they want YOU to run it; in my experience they already have their campaign set or module set, and they just want to play. Always got bad vibes on that front, because I half-expect they'd gripe if it doesn't go the way THEY want.

Bonus points if it's all due to shit like Critical Role for their insistence.

Our GM has recently told us our campaign is nearing its end (and damn well it should be, we started at level 3 and we're almost at level 15) and that he's going to take a few months' break to plan out the next one. I'm planning on trying my hand at GMing during that time.

Frankly, I think I'll just stick to one-shots or short adventures, loosely connected at most. Trying to run a campaign these days, with how people's schedules are, is a level of cat-herding I just can't be assed with. I just want to get some players, put them through some cool setpieces, and get them to roll dice. My GM aside (and I recognize how lucky we are we got such a competent autist with us), most GMs with campaign ambitions I've met were either too railroad-y and the players felt stifled, or too sandbox-y and the players felt demotivated and/or lost.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

GMing really isn't the tough part. The tough part is worldbuilding and adventure planning.

Hence I have a preference for using prewritten modules and campaigns because it's less skull sweat for me.

 

[Adamska]

GMing really isn't the tough part. The tough part is worldbuilding and adventure planning.

Hence I have a preference for using prewritten modules and campaigns because it's less skull sweat for me.

Wait that's hard? That's usually the easiest part for me.

It's getting the maps you want (or making them) and plotting out encounters that's the harder parts IMO, since setting the scene is harder than bullshitting out a world.

Then again, it might be because I do like worldbuilding a lot, so it isn't hard for me due to said like.

Our GM has recently told us our campaign is nearing its end (and damn well it should be, we started at level 3 and we're almost at level 15) and that he's going to take a few months' break to plan out the next one. I'm planning on trying my hand at GMing during that time.

Frankly, I think I'll just stick to one-shots or short adventures, loosely connected at most. Trying to run a campaign these days, with how people's schedules are, is a level of cat-herding I just can't be assed with. I just want to get some players, put them through some cool setpieces, and get them to roll dice. My GM aside (and I recognize how lucky we are we got such a competent autist with us), most GMs with campaign ambitions I've met were either too railroad-y and the players felt stifled, or too sandbox-y and the players felt demotivated and/or lost.

I'm putting my long runner on hiatus mainly so I can destress with a different system. DnD's great, but sometimes you just want to play something else. Like Cyberpunk in this case. I do fully intend to come back, because there's more than enough items they can do that I can do that without the campaign sequel in mind yet.

It's also why an Only War game is in the works too, though I'm not running that one.

 

[EnemyStand]

I've DMed for years and I mildly disagree with it being hard. Oh don't get me wrong, if you overplan it, it does get hard at times, but that's more due to the axiom I always follow: if there are three paths to pick, the players will always blast open a fourth one. Basically, once you realize that you can't fall in love with your railroad tracks and setting and just roll with punches, it becomes a lot easier. It's actually not too bad, you just plan out the next... oh I'd say 2-3 sessions, and then improv like fuck as you go along.

It's mostly hard if you try to run multiple campaigns, which I do not recommend by the way.

Then again, I tend to do pretty well flying by the seat of my pants, so I may not be the best person to speak about it on here. Honestly, a lot of horseshit and improv will get you by pretty far as a DM.

Now my fucking gripe with Roll20 groups are that they plan out the game they want YOU to run it; in my experience they already have their campaign set or module set, and they just want to play. Always got bad vibes on that front, because I half-expect they'd gripe if it doesn't go the way THEY want.

Bonus points if it's all due to shit like Critical Role for their insistence.

I never got that. Especially if they write a setting and say they want to play in it. I stayed far away from that shit. A buddy of mine tried it once because he wanted to test his chops and wound up quitting after one session. Dude who wrote the setting metagamed like a motherfuck, and tried to turn it into more or less an adventure about his character while the other people were stuck just following him around. When the DM tried to smack him down, he threw a hissy fit and complained he wasn't DMing "right," and he knew since he wrote the setting. So my friend just said "You run the game then, peace."

 

[Judge Dredd]

Twitter is how these things are going to advertise. These are then picked up by CritRoles, which have to toe the line to not get removed, which then become the advertisement, while other indie games will get left in the dirt. Writing a Kickstarter game about troons in PbtA fighting penguins will not only be signal boosted within the community (as they all fund each other), but if you're lucky, picked up by Twitter and pushed further and with the low effort artwork needed? All you need is some basic writing, some rules made by copy-pasting OGL and you're sorted.

I see RPGs now as kind of like where video games where in 2012, or where comics were in 2015.

There are key differences of course. There is no one widely known figurehead like Anita Sarkeesian, and no Zoe Quinn or Brianna Wu analogue, but I won't be surprised if we see the same things happen. AAA games companies/the big 2 comics publishers pumping out pretty, but ultimately worthless grey mush that appeals to no one, all promoted by soulless consoomer husks. Maybe there will be a comics gate style event where they try to stop a profitable rival by cancelling them.

Now my fucking gripe with Roll20 groups are that they plan out the game they want YOU to run it; in my experience they already have their campaign set or module set, and they just want to play. Always got bad vibes on that front, because I half-expect they'd gripe if it doesn't go the way THEY want.

It's the same with Discord LFG servers. In one server, to get a DM tag you had to run a game for the mods, and run all future games on their Discord server. Advertising your game without a DM tag is a ban, as is advertising any off server game.

 

[Fictional Character]

Any recommendations on jap systems? I sort of am growing fond of the idea of switching since they're allegedly more based around short campaigns/oneshots that it's easier to wrangle enough busy people to consistently show up to.

From what's translated into English and what I remember:
Tenra Bansho Zero: anime as fuck, easy to pick up since chargen is mostly just picking up premade archetypes and adding them together, you can end up rolling 60 dice, so online play or dice roller software is recommended. It's fun, but it'll only take 5-6 games for players to exhaust all they wanted to play in the system.

Maid RPG: Exactly what it says on the box. Very GM-centric, since GM plays the Master the maids are constantly trying to appeal to. Mostly suitable for wacky hijinks and generally also anime as fuck, though more in a slice of life, harem anime kind of way. The English translation took out the Iron Cross item that gave your maid command over a squad of Waffen SS.

Golden Sky Stories: Low-key, heartwarming slice of life adventures. It's the one I remember the least. IIRC, it's diceless and the mechanics are all about using what limited power you have most effectively.

Shinobigami: Not sure if it already came out in English, but the kickstarter beta translation has been out for some time. Anime ninjas, potentially PvP oriented. It's the origin of a system that's basically the Japanese equivalent of PbTA (meaning relatively simple system that can be easily modified to shit out a ton of variant games.)

I've DMed for years and I mildly disagree with it being hard. Oh don't get me wrong, if you overplan it, it does get hard at times, but that's more due to the axiom I always follow: if there are three paths to pick, the players will always blast open a fourth one. Basically, once you realize that you can't fall in love with your railroad tracks and setting and just roll with punches, it becomes a lot easier. It's actually not too bad, you just plan out the next... oh I'd say 2-3 sessions, and then improv like fuck as you go along.

Only plan 2-3 sessions ahead, leave any further plans to broad strokes, and be ready to reshuffle what you prepared in response to players' actions has always worked for me when I was GMing and it got me from some tight spots. (Including "Oops, I only read the character's powers when vetting the sheet and didn't notice the lack of a crucial defense. Now the character is dead and half the campaign will be about bringing her back to life.")

 

[Punished “Venom” pH]

show me your dice

 

[Waifuwars]

Any recommendations on jap systems? I sort of am growing fond of the idea of switching since they're allegedly more based around short campaigns/oneshots that it's easier to wrangle enough busy people to consistently show up to.

I've mostly played 2 systems:
Kamigakari - Official translation came out last year. Formatted as a monster-of-the-week game where you have one major "boss" battle during the session and have rp "scenes" which play out like anime. Player characters don't have to be all present for those so you can have quick exposition scenes. Battles are fought inside spirit barriers (kind of like a mirrored dimension) and dungeons are basically the huge spirit barriers of powerful entities. Mechanics involve managing a pool of d6 dice which you can use to power your abilities or swap out to increase/decrease your skill rolls.

Ryuutama - Cute, light-hearted West Marches-esque system with a focus on traveling as player characters set out on "journeys" . Everyone is expected to have set off on their own journeys at some point in order to explore the world and fulfill their goal or satisfy their wanderlust. Haven't played much but there are cute dragon waifus/husbandos. Also has a very nice official translation which has kept all of the original art.

 

[40 Year Old Boomer]

Maid RPG: Exactly what it says on the box. Very GM-centric, since GM plays the Master the maids are constantly trying to appeal to. Mostly suitable for wacky hijinks and generally also anime as fuck, though more in a slice of life, harem anime kind of way. The English translation took out the Iron Cross item that gave your maid command over a squad of Waffen SS.

My group has a tradition where you get to choose any game on your birthday and I used that opportunity to introduce Maid RPG to them. The DM was trying for Hayate the Combat Butler but quickly devolved into Mai-Chan's Daily Life and I still use the picture of our DM curled up in the fetal position for his address book avatar on my phone.

show me your dice

LEWD! Seriously though, I'm not dumping them out right now since I'm about to hit the sack, but I can scrounge up an older pic. I may take one at work later tonight if I'm not too busy. This first one is about a year old or so I think.
Edit: I truly am an old dumb boomer that is having trouble with the files.
Bag my better half made for me.

Seashell beach dice with a d10 with a smaller d10 inside it.

I love the way these shine, probably my favorites.

The collection as of a year or so ago.

 

[Punished “Venom” pH]

My group has a tradition where you get to choose any game on your birthday and I used that opportunity to introduce Maid RPG to them. The DM was trying for Hayate the Combat Butler but quickly devolved into Mai-Chan's Daily Life and I still use the picture of our DM curled up in the fetal position for his address book avatar on my phone.

LEWD! Seriously though, I'm not dumping them out right now since I'm about to hit the sack, but I can scrounge up an older pic. I may take one at work later tonight if I'm not too busy. This first one is about a year old or so I think.
Edit: I truly am an old dumb boomer that is having trouble with the files.

In the meantime... these aren’t mine, I 3D printed them for a friend and they came out really good! It’s the cracked dice file on thingyverse up to the maximum size the 3D printer could do.

 

[Seven Devil Wolf]

Any recommendations on jap systems? I sort of am growing fond of the idea of switching since they're allegedly more based around short campaigns/oneshots that it's easier to wrangle enough busy people to consistently show up to.

Double X (Cross) is exactly that. Long story short, virus starts creating people with superpowers, who fight each other in magic fields which protect the local population, similar to Senran Kagura's Shinobi Fields. The various strains of virus give you different abilities, like Black Dog who's all about electricity - which covers everything from Raiden style lightning fists, to just jamming cybernetic legs on and powering it via your own bioelectricity.

The main focus of the game is pretty much the drama revolving the characters and their Lois' (after Lois Lane), who act as anchors for their humanity. There's no limit to how much power you can throw around in a fight, but the more you use/the stronger the power, the more the virus takes over. If you finish a fight with 100%+ Infection, you freak out and become an NPC, mutated by the power of the virus. After fights, you roleplay/roll for Lois's, which reduce your Infection. If you're still over 100%, you can get into dramatics, burn bridges with Lois's for a huge reduction in Infection, but losing that Lois. It leads to situations similar to Madoka Magicka, where Sayaka goes off on her lone crusade, cuts out all her relationships and forsakes her humanity until it finally consooms her.

(And Lois/burning can be changed depending on circumstances. A Lois could die in a combat which reignites your want to fight off the virus 'until I get revenge', or it could be your Lois just getting sick of your constant venting to her. And Lois can be anything from Uncle Ben, your friends, your pet dog, etc. Not specifically love interests.)

 

[Punished “Venom” pH]

My group has a tradition where you get to choose any game on your birthday and I used that opportunity to introduce Maid RPG to them. The DM was trying for Hayate the Combat Butler but quickly devolved into Mai-Chan's Daily Life and I still use the picture of our DM curled up in the fetal position for his address book avatar on my phone.

LEWD! Seriously though, I'm not dumping them out right now since I'm about to hit the sack, but I can scrounge up an older pic. I may take one at work later tonight if I'm not too busy. This first one is about a year old or so I think.
Edit: I truly am an old dumb boomer that is having trouble with the files.
Bag my better half made for me.
View attachment 1933446
Seashell beach dice with a d10 with a smaller d10 inside it.
View attachment 1933447
I love the way these shine, probably my favorites.
View attachment 1933448
The collection as of a year or so ago.
View attachment 1933449

Wooooow you have so many colors!
Apparently I already saw this but it enchanted me thricefold

 

[Wormy]

Any souls about who know about or have played Feng Shui, to continue on the subject of lesser known systems?

 

[Adamska]

Any souls about who know about or have played Feng Shui, to continue on the subject of lesser known systems?

I brought it up once when I found it; it drived some interest from my group but we never played with said system. I think it was mostly interesting due to a JoJo inspired game that some of them wanted to run.

 

[It'sallabitsillyreally]

In 3.0, it was amazing. On it's own, it's not fantastic - Iaijutsu Focus was a separate skill which any class could take. Normally, it's used in dueling, which is a huge part of L5R. The main reason Kakita Duelist was a big focus was because in 3.0, there's not many ways to get damage outside of high Strength, two-handing and Power Attack shenannigins.

Kakita Duelist was the Crane Clan PrC, which in L5R, are basically the Anime Samurai. They're pretty, they focus on katanas and they loooove dueling. They focus on being fast. But in every edition of L5R I'm familiar with, they get the ability to use dueling rules -in the middle of a combat-, as otherwise, they'd be useless.

So, Kakita Duelist did a similar thing. It allowed you to use Weapon Finesse with katanas (which normally isn't possible), so you could drop Strength. It also allowed you to use Iaijutsu Focus in combat for massive damage, but additionally, as it's a skill and not an attribute, it could be increased every level (and Samurai, like Fighters, don't really have much in terms of skills to really bother with. So it was essentially a free damage boost every level, which could be further buffed with Skill Focus, etc.)

Late I know but some people might be trying to find Kakita Duelist. They never actually got a unique Prestige class, they instead had the non-specific Iaijutsu Master prestige class. The fluff for it confirmed it's the Kakita since any of the Cranes trained for this went in the Kakita dueling academy but it did not get called Kakita Duelist.

Between the core books and the non-D&D d20 ones for L5R there's some surprisingly nifty prestige classes. They, like the ones from the 7th Sea d20 stuff, do suffer a bit from being balanced for campaigns in those settings but there's some interestingly gimmicky stuff in there I've nabbed for games I've run.

 

[Fictional Character]

Any souls about who know about or have played Feng Shui, to continue on the subject of lesser known systems?

I played one session of it and then the game died because my group found the combat system far too slow and clunky in practice which is bad for a combat-focused game. I don't remember why exactly we thought that, though.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Feng Shui (1E, at least) is kinda clunky, mechanically. Thematically and fluffwise, it's bonkers as fuck but fun to play in. Don't know anything about FS 2nd Edition though.

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

It's the same with Discord LFG servers. In one server, to get a DM tag you had to run a game for the mods, and run all future games on their Discord server. Advertising your game without a DM tag is a ban, as is advertising any off server game.

Sounds similar to how the Meetup group in Montreal was being run by this one woman. Couldn't have a game going without her approval.

 

[Gingervitis]

How do you guys find a game irl? Ive been trapped in the NJ/NY area, and it feels like everyone is hiding inside. I'll even take a 5e game at this rate, just to have people to talk to.

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

How do you guys find a game irl? Ive been trapped in the NJ/NY area, and it feels like everyone is hiding inside. I'll even take a 5e game at this rate, just to have people to talk to.

Card shops, comic book stores. Meetup if that's still a thing. Facebook groups if you got a Facebook account. .