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

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Ghostse said:
That happens here too.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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I think that's the film I've heard of, but have never found. I've heard nothing but good things.


There's something I want to rant about, and something I want to ask.

OGL
Now the dust has settled on the OGL stuff, I want to vent a bit about things that have happened. First, that in the wake of it Paizo sold eight months of supply in three weeks. Not ideal as Paizo is woke, but I guess it's what people of as off-brand DnD.

The other thing is that players have quit DnD 5e, which I assumed would be my chance to suggest a new system. But instead these people seem to quit the hobby entirely. I always felt that TTRPGs were a fad, an influx of people inspired by Critical Roll and Stranger Things. Unlike most, I didn't mind these players as they tended to be more casual and easy going than grognards and power gamers.

I've had a feeling that the TTRPG "fad" was over for a while, and I think the OGL debacle was their excuse to go for the door. I was already struggling finding and keeping players before this.


Super Heroes
One of the requests I used to get a lot was for a super hero game. I was wondering if you guys had any game recommendations? I tried searching the internet, but all I get is soy faces shilling the new Marvel RPG and a PbtA game. Everything else is about old stuff like FASERIP and Mutants and Masterminds (which I'm not against, I just don't know much about them).

I want a game that's fun and simple, and for it to be easily available and/or affordable (even if it means the high seas). Ideally I'd like it to have enough depth for multiple sessions, but that's a nice-to-have as I might not even get one session.

I did consider my favourite game, Savage Worlds, but the super powers expansion is a complex point buy affair that makes sense to me, but might be confusing for people that have a hard time grasping character creation in SW to begin with. I can also run it by retheming the stock magic system if it's a lower powered game.

Power level and setting is a concern as well. Some people want to play as Superman tier demigods throwing tanks around, others want to play a Black Widow or DareDevil style guy with training.
 
Judge Dredd said:
I think that's the film I've heard of, but have never found. I've heard nothing but good things.


There's something I want to rant about, and something I want to ask.

OGL
Now the dust has settled on the OGL stuff, I want to vent a bit about things that have happened. First, that in the wake of it Paizo sold eight months of supply in three weeks. Not ideal as Paizo is woke, but I guess it's what people of as off-brand DnD.

The other thing is that players have quit DnD 5e, which I assumed would be my chance to suggest a new system. But instead these people seem to quit the hobby entirely. I always felt that TTRPGs were a fad, an influx of people inspired by Critical Roll and Stranger Things. Unlike most, I didn't mind these players as they tended to be more casual and easy going than grognards and power gamers.

I've had a feeling that the TTRPG "fad" was over for a while, and I think the OGL debacle was their excuse to go for the door. I was already struggling finding and keeping players before this.


Super Heroes
One of the requests I used to get a lot was for a super hero game. I was wondering if you guys had any game recommendations? I tried searching the internet, but all I get is soy faces shilling the new Marvel RPG and a PbtA game. Everything else is about old stuff like FASERIP and Mutants and Masterminds (which I'm not against, I just don't know much about them).

I want a game that's fun and simple, and for it to be easily available and/or affordable (even if it means the high seas). Ideally I'd like it to have enough depth for multiple sessions, but that's a nice-to-have as I might not even get one session.

I did consider my favourite game, Savage Worlds, but the super powers expansion is a complex point buy affair that makes sense to me, but might be confusing for people that have a hard time grasping character creation in SW to begin with. I can also run it by retheming the stock magic system if it's a lower powered game.

Power level and setting is a concern as well. Some people want to play as Superman tier demigods throwing tanks around, others want to play a Black Widow or DareDevil style guy with training.
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The savage world super hero is extremely busted. Your PC’s if built even halfway correctly will take no damage until they their heads explode from a crit.

Mutants and Masterminds makes a very diverse systems that’s more fun to make characters for than to actually play.
 
Judge Dredd said:
Super Heroes
One of the requests I used to get a lot was for a super hero game. I was wondering if you guys had any game recommendations? I tried searching the internet, but all I get is soy faces shilling the new Marvel RPG and a PbtA game. Everything else is about old stuff like FASERIP and Mutants and Masterminds (which I'm not against, I just don't know much about them).

I want a game that's fun and simple, and for it to be easily available and/or affordable (even if it means the high seas). Ideally I'd like it to have enough depth for multiple sessions, but that's a nice-to-have as I might not even get one session.

I did consider my favourite game, Savage Worlds, but the super powers expansion is a complex point buy affair that makes sense to me, but might be confusing for people that have a hard time grasping character creation in SW to begin with. I can also run it by retheming the stock magic system if it's a lower powered game.

Power level and setting is a concern as well. Some people want to play as Superman tier demigods throwing tanks around, others want to play a Black Widow or DareDevil style guy with training.
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I don't know what the newer editions have been up to, but I do remember Hero System being specifically made for superhero stuff, with a pretty vast array of customization options for powers. It would probably run afoul of the "simple" requirement, though. I remember character creation taking a little while, although playing the game itself didn't feel that much slower than D&D 3e back in the day.
 
Corn Flakes said:
I don't know what the newer editions have been up to, but I do remember Hero System being specifically made for superhero stuff, with a pretty vast array of customization options for powers. It would probably run afoul of the "simple" requirement, though. I remember character creation taking a little while, although playing the game itself didn't feel that much slower than D&D 3e back in the day.
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HERO is the best superhero system, but it's not really a one-shot game unless you have premade characters. And while it's possible to make it simple, it requires an experienced GM who knows what to ban. And while it can let you play different power levels in the same group, it gets wonky and needs a lot of GM intervention to make it work. And while (since I seem to have made a habit of saying this in this paragraph) it comes with a simple rule for balancing characters, it's only serviceable and needs tuning for what the group likes and the kind of game you're going for.

If you want a simple superhero game for a oneshot, Sentinel Comics Roleplaying Game is ok for that. It suffers from PC always being weaker than supervillains in their respective niche (as in, Summoner PC is always worse than Summoner villain and it's expected the party has to work together), which can be very frustrating. It also has next to none character advancement, but that shouldn't be trouble for a one-shot.

OVA: The Anime Roleplaying Game can be easily reskinned into a superhero game and it has a lot of character customization that's a bit simpler than Mutants and Masterminds. (I personally dislike Mutants and Masterminds, since the balance rules for it work, but are very binding, custom power building options are at awkward midpoint between being complex enough to do anything and simple enough to be fast, and d20 is a really swingy roll.)
 
I've not played it myself, but I've seen Prowlers & Paragons recommended as a lighter-weight Mutants & Masterminds. It allows for a wide variety of characters, though it requires the GM to reign in the more broken options.
 
SamTheEagle said:
I've not played it myself, but I've seen Prowlers & Paragons recommended as a lighter-weight Mutants & Masterminds. It allows for a wide variety of characters, though it requires the GM to reign in the more broken options.
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I have the new edition of Prowlers & Paragons, its good and no brain to build things in it. Like M&M (or any other super rpg who gives a fuck about rules) needs a GM who can say "Stop it, idiot". But the new owner of the license is kinda... SUS.

You can get BASH UE, who is pretty close to M&M but with much less d20 system BS, its a small little system i really like, and now its have his own "Supreme Powers" out in form of Awesome Powers Omnibus.

You can get Absolute Power... LoL, nope, just get Tri-Stat Core instead. Its cost less than AP or Besm 4e, and gives everything you want without the shit art (BESM) or setting/price (Absolute Power, the chapter about South America is absolute dogshit).
 
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Judge Dredd said:
I think that's the film I've heard of, but have never found. I've heard nothing but good things.
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Being brutally honest: It is VERY low budget, the overall plot is super predictable, some of the performances could have been better, and its not something you can share with normies and them get it.
It is still very, very much worth a watch but it is import to set expectations.

Judge Dredd said:
OGL
Now the dust has settled on the OGL stuff, I want to vent a bit about things that have happened. First, that in the wake of it Paizo sold eight months of supply in three weeks. Not ideal as Paizo is woke, but I guess it's what people of as off-brand DnD.

The other thing is that players have quit DnD 5e, which I assumed would be my chance to suggest a new system. But instead these people seem to quit the hobby entirely. I always felt that TTRPGs were a fad, an influx of people inspired by Critical Roll and Stranger Things. Unlike most, I didn't mind these players as they tended to be more casual and easy going than grognards and power gamers.

I've had a feeling that the TTRPG "fad" was over for a while, and I think the OGL debacle was their excuse to go for the door. I was already struggling finding and keeping players before this.
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In my personal experience, people trying out D&D because of Stranger things are less obnoxious than Critical Rollers, but I've yet to have one stay for more than 3 sessions. I've had one who passed the solid waste filter of a one-shot (Well two shot) enough for me to ask them if they wanted to come back for a longer adventure and they passed saying they wanted to see what it was all about.

A good percentage of CR people were only playing 5e because saying they play 5e and talking about their character is popular on social media.
I've had multiple CR people who just wanted to roll up a character and turn the session into vaguely campaign adjacent social hour. That is they want to roll up a character, plot their skill/feat/weapon progression, but don't actually want to play out that progression. They'd rather talk about work and Trump COVID Lockdowns Ukraine. They usually check all the way out during session, but one person who I "quiet booted" because they can watch soccer on their phone somewhere else, was making a FB post on a thread about D&D war stories about one the end of the multi-shot where they were betrayed by the King and the crazy scramble out of the castle, really drumming up their character's contribution while ignoring said contributions only came because after everyone else had been doing their bits, I addressed them by name, making them look up from a riveting 0-0 soccer match with a "Huh what?", and said "This is going on, this is what the party has one, what are you doing while this is happening?"

Its the Instagram fomo thot without needing to buy a plane ticket. You are staying in a roach-infested crusty sheeted hovel, but you get up at 6am so you can go to the 5-hotel on the other side of the city, sit down a recently vacated table, and take a picture with "Enjoying my morning coffee at the Ritz!"
 
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Judge Dredd said:
Super Heroes
One of the requests I used to get a lot was for a super hero game. I was wondering if you guys had any game recommendations? I tried searching the internet, but all I get is soy faces shilling the new Marvel RPG and a PbtA game. Everything else is about old stuff like FASERIP and Mutants and Masterminds (which I'm not against, I just don't know much about them).

I want a game that's fun and simple, and for it to be easily available and/or affordable (even if it means the high seas). Ideally I'd like it to have enough depth for multiple sessions, but that's a nice-to-have as I might not even get one session.

I did consider my favourite game, Savage Worlds, but the super powers expansion is a complex point buy affair that makes sense to me, but might be confusing for people that have a hard time grasping character creation in SW to begin with. I can also run it by retheming the stock magic system if it's a lower powered game.

Power level and setting is a concern as well. Some people want to play as Superman tier demigods throwing tanks around, others want to play a Black Widow or DareDevil style guy with training.
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I'll raise Sentinel Comics RPG as a possibility. I skimmed it a while back since I was looking for something not Mutants and Masterminds related at the time, and it seems pretty simple but with enough framework to roll with for it. Some weird takes on resolutions, but I think you might like it since it does seem to use a Savage Worlds style dice system actually. Powers range quite a bit, with d6s being considered "above average" to the d12 dice being "god-like" in results for example.
 
Ghostse said:
They usually check all the way out during session, but one person who I "quiet booted" because they can watch soccer on their phone somewhere else, was making a FB post on a thread about D&D war stories about one the end of the multi-shot where they were betrayed by the King and the crazy scramble out of the castle, really drumming up their character's contribution while ignoring said contributions only came because after everyone else had been doing their bits, I addressed them by name, making them look up from a riveting 0-0 soccer match with a "Huh what?", and said "This is going on, this is what the party has one, what are you doing while this is happening?"
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This is painful. Absolutely painful. Watching some shit on your phone is the worst because you know it's just someone being straight up rude. It drives me crazy when I see people in between turns or when something is going on looking at shit on their phone that's completely unrelated and because you're just addicted to screens. The amount of times I've noticed instagram or goddamn 9gag is enough to cause an aneurysm. Look, I'm not saying I need everyone rapt the entire time but for God's sake, are things really that dull that you need DIRECT stimulation at all times?
 
Curious if anyone has played either the MHI or any of (apparently multiple) the Forgotten Ruins TTRPG's. I know both were kickgogo and haven't come out yet to mass audiences but am curious.
 
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The recent push from Chaosium and Paizo to ban AI art in their community-created work seems less like a way of giving in to community demand and more of a way to stifle smaller creators.
 

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Pendulous Dong said:
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The recent push from Chaosium and Paizo to ban AI art in their community-created work seems less like a way of giving in to community demand and more of a way to stifle smaller creators.
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Seems like wanting to make sure they're not on the wrong side of the pending lawsuit against SD if the plaintiffs win is a big part of it, based on their notice. If the plaintiffs win, Paizo would have to pull everything from their site that was submitte from it. Also, smaller creators are the ones getting gut-punched the hardest by AI, because those are the people who are losing business. Their private image files got harvested by DeviantArt and included in the library that StableDiffusion uses to generate new images (there's a related issue here, if DA gets away with this, then Google could conceivably hand over your private emails to be incorporated into an AI's content generation library). Wayne Reynolds (whose images also seem to be included in SD's library) isn't going to lose work, but the kinds of people who do work on commission to draw pictures of people's D&D parties will.

Looks like Getty's suing, too:
www.theverge.com

Getty Images is suing the creators of AI art tool Stable Diffusion for scraping its content

Getty Images claims Stability AI ‘unlawfully’ scraped millions of images from its site. It’s a significant escalation in the developing legal battles between generative AI firms and content creators.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
The Ugly One said:
Also, smaller creators are the ones getting gut-punched the hardest by AI, because those are the people who are losing business.
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If you mean twitter artists doing commissions, then some of them will be hurt. Most of them will keep on as they always were because they weren't making any money from commissions to start.

If you mean the people actually making games, the argument falls apart. It can't be understated how much a game lives or dies on its art. Having even subpar AI art is better than having no art at all if you're trying to sell people on your stuff. Hell, even Cities Without Number's playtest uses almost exclusively AI art made with Midjourney v3.

AI art serves to even the playing field and close the gap between established corporations like Paizo and someone just trying to enter the industry. The only reason to oppose smaller designers using it is because you're a big corporation that's afraid of not being able to throw money to make problems go away anymore.
 
Sumptinsfuckey said:
Curious if anyone has played either the MHI
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I have not, but I thought the Monster Hunter International RPG was just a Savage Worlds source book?


Frustrating day today.

HEMA guy started bitching again, this time about polymorph. How it should be a con save instead of a wisdom save because it's something physically happening to you, not something you can willpower through. I wasn't there for that particular game, but I'm guessing he got polymorphed into a chicken or something and is still mad about it. He complains that so many spells are wisdom and intelligence saves as an arbitrary way to screw over martials. He's not wrong, but does he expect fighters to just curb stomp every other class?

Something I ranted about previously happened again. Some of the group (especially HEMA guy and the power gamer) don't like 5e, and almost everybody hates WOTC for the OGL nonsense. The DM proposed that the next campaign should be a new system and setting. The group immediately rejected it before he finished his pitch.
 
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