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

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What is the problem you are having? Keeping track of npcs? Plotlines? Places? It might be worthwhile to get Foundry VTT if only as GM screen you can write in and keep track of stuff with.
Really everything, this world is bigger than anything I've designed before, I'm currently using CriticalNotes and have downloaded Obsidian since I've seen it mentioned elsewhere but seems a bit complicated to use. Google office suite may be a good option. Thanks everyone for the suggetions.
 
Don't be afraid to get rid of or reject players as harsh as this sounds
I have done this and the shocked reactions have been quite something. It is very much Not Done amongst the freak set. I mean, they're absolutely fine casting someone out if they have the wrong views, but the idea of it being done to them clearly never occurs to them.

Also, loads of good advice here though I personally would probably slap "No Freaks" on the ad. Those two simple words will both draw in people who are sick of freaks and send many actual freaks off in a huff because they just know that you're talking about them.
 
Also, loads of good advice here though I personally would probably slap "No Freaks" on the ad. Those two simple words will both draw in people who are sick of freaks and send many actual freaks off in a huff because they just know that you're talking about them.

"No Freaks" will get your ad banned from most places that host ads for RPGs. Thus my method of crafting that initial campaign to filter freaks.

Ultimately, I found people I like to play with, and now we play anything, from skirmish wargames to CoC to Shadowrun to D&D. The key thing is to remember that games are a means to have fun with people you like. Too many people in this hobby think people are a means of having fun with games you like.

Someone can throw a massive bitchfit about how Yet Another Greyhawk Megadungeon isn't as "original" as a cobbled together pastiche of cyberpunk, space horror, and Moby Dick, but such a person is not likable and would get filtered out of my group in 2 sessions max. The best game system in the world doesn't make spending 4 hours with a surly asshole fun. In my experience, anyone who cares more about what game he's playing than who he's playing it with is a deeply unpleasant person who can't find anyone to play with for a very a good reason.
 
"No Freaks" will get your ad banned from most places that host ads for RPGs.
That's part of the point of a strong theme, you narrow down the character options and backgrounds such that someone who just wants to play their coomer OC Donut Steele wouldn't even find it appealing. The fact that it also tends to result in more interesting characters and Roleplay is the main purpose though.
 
I use a mixture of notes in word documents for either my important NPCs, or homebrew, or a few other things I need to remember. I also tend to plan out only a couple of sessions worth of material at best with any firmness to avoid temptations to railroad and to account for how your plans often get shucked and jived by your players.
In skill based systems you "level up" by improving the skills you actually use. It makes sense that if you shoot guns a lot you get better at it. The AD&D leveling system where you level as a class may be easier to manage but it often makes no sense. Like you jump over a fence and now you're better with a sword.
 
Put out an ad:

"I am starting a Dungeons & Dragons Campaign in an unforgiving world where democracy is unknown, petty tyrants are more common than wise officials, slaves raid the coast, and the dark forests and threatening caves are full of barely-intelligent creatures who were created by dark gods for the sole purpose of causing mayhem. Do not write your character a long backstory, because your deeds and the dice tell the story. Many a notable historical figure has ended his story with, 'and he died to a chance arrow,' and your character may very well meet a similarly ignominous end. Monstrous races will not be allowed, as monsters are created evils in this setting."

The woke are allergic to campaigns where orcs aren't heckin' wholesome, evil is real, and your character isn't a special snowflake. This sort of campaign absolutely filters the worst of them.
Ngl that sounds like a pretty based game.
Close call there, internet racists! Just have to wait for the goddamn Eye to come back up to get my modules.
Yeah I had a buddy irl making that exact complaint several days ago.
My advice is to just go hogwild downloading everything you can and slapping it on a storage device when it comes back up. Its not first time the eye has went down.
You can find a lot on Internet Archive as well. The organization is pretty garbage though. But hey its free so yeah.
In skill based systems you "level up" by improving the skills you actually use.
Yeah that's why Im enjoying my Dragonquest group. It took holding them hostage but the group has shaken off having D&D brain.
I just run XP as written which is tied to play time plus give them % based XP for accomplishing X goals + being clever. If they come up with something that makes me have to sweat as a DM then that's awesome in my books.
Leveling up is just buying ranks in skills and stats as they see fit. It starts getting expensive around the mid ranks but after it slows down they're improving one or 2 abilities per session.
 
In skill based systems you "level up" by improving the skills you actually use. It makes sense that if you shoot guns a lot you get better at it. The AD&D leveling system where you level as a class may be easier to manage but it often makes no sense. Like you jump over a fence and now you're better with a sword.
Love how CoC handles ability improvements. So satisfying and intuitive.
 
Don't get me wrong I like some intrigue subplot or political machinations on occasion in my ttrpgs, there is nothing wrong with that. But fiction first comes from a mindset of playing bad stage improv or being your own hack writer.
The core issue with fiction first games is that the narrative of rpgs is emergent. Its always been that way. "Fiction first" is just trying to force something that's supposed to develop natutally. Its like trying to script improv.
 
Put out an ad:

"I am starting a Dungeons & Dragons Campaign in an unforgiving world where democracy is unknown, petty tyrants are more common than wise officials, slaves raid the coast, and the dark forests and threatening caves are full of barely-intelligent creatures who were created by dark gods for the sole purpose of causing mayhem. Do not write your character a long backstory, because your deeds and the dice tell the story. Many a notable historical figure has ended his story with, 'and he died to a chance arrow,' and your character may very well meet a similarly ignominous end. Monstrous races will not be allowed, as monsters are created evils in this setting."

The woke are allergic to campaigns where orcs aren't heckin' wholesome, evil is real, and your character isn't a special snowflake. This sort of campaign absolutely filters the worst of them.
That's a baller ad, fuck the zero-taste hater, and I'm going to be stealing it to serve as the basis for recruitment calls in the future.

Any suggestions for campaign organization? We just started this one and I'm already having an issue keeping track of things.
Really everything, this world is bigger than anything I've designed before, I'm currently using CriticalNotes and have downloaded Obsidian since I've seen it mentioned elsewhere but seems a bit complicated to use. Google office suite may be a good option. Thanks everyone for the suggetions.
I use a combination of Gmail and notepad + pen & paper.

I take session notes on my pad, anything relevant goes into a text doc, and when doing campaigns I send the group a wrap-up email of the key parts of the session which I add a campaign label to. So when somethign looks like it will be relevant a search through the emails usually takes me to where it happened and I can refresh my memory.


I was looking into some old campaigns to get physical copies of books because they're pretty and I much prefer physical and not having to stare at a screen when DMing. So eventually I found myself on goodman games and that gave me pause because it got me thinking, hm where have I heard of this name before... Made me do a quick search on this thread's history and voila, it's on the Don't Do Business With Them list for terminal POZzery.

Close call there, internet racists! Just have to wait for the goddamn Eye to come back up to get my modules.
Yeah Goodman Games is a real sad story.

My personal take:
I will buy nothing original. DCC is dead system to me.

They have a book series of re-printed classic 1e modules with a 5e updates in hardcover; I cannot justify the spend & shelf space for the worthless 5e update, but if they offered the option buy just the original modules I would probably hold my nose and plunk down the geld because while it is driving sales its not driving sales of things that come from their tranny-filled writers room, it would very much be a "buy once" purchase, and I've seen them in store, the quality is good.
 
I send the group a wrap-up email of the key parts of the session which I add a campaign label to. So when somethign looks like it will be relevant a search through the emails usually takes me to where it happened and I can refresh my memory.

This is a good idea, I'll be doing something similar, thanks.
 
That's a baller ad, fuck the zero-taste hater, and I'm going to be stealing it to serve as the basis for recruitment calls in the future.
There would be far more in running Dark Sun or EotPT, those are actual settings beyond the mere trappings of generic OSR grimderp that is so common in the scene. My problem with it is that it doesn't stand out at all, never mind the fact that it doesn't mention anything pertinent to the actual playing of the game! What system? OSE, ACKS, AD&D, BECMI? Hell there are systems I have played and run which fulfil the same tone and lethality like WHFRP and HarnMaster, but have clear settings attached to them and something to stand out from the rest. Magic will fuck you over in WHFRP and none of the antagonistic forces are reasonable, sane or even comprehensible in some cases. You can die of an untreated gangrenous wound, in a slow and painful manner, in HarnMaster, and the orcs of the setting, the Gargun, are rapacious little eusocial monsters born from leathery eggs, totally devoid of any redeeming qualities.
I need a reason to be intersted, because if I wanted to just play "roll up a new jobber every other week and dungeon crawl," I wouldn't bother, I'd just play ADOM or Nethack and save myself the time.
 
They have a book series of re-printed classic 1e modules with a 5e updates in hardcover; I cannot justify the spend & shelf space for the worthless 5e update, but if they offered the option buy just the original modules I would probably hold my nose and plunk down the geld because while it is driving sales its not driving sales of things that come from their tranny-filled writers room, it would very much be a "buy once" purchase, and I've seen them in store, the quality is good.
When they went full retard, I just opted to pirate the damn things. They're actually pretty useful if you want to run a classic module with 5e mechanics.

As you said, it is a shame.
 
When they went full retard, I just opted to pirate the damn things. They're actually pretty useful if you want to run a classic module with 5e mechanics.

As you said, it is a shame.
Yes, if you care about the conversions or the modules you can just pirate them (though honestly I don't know why you'd bother, 5e sucks and if you are yo ho ho ing you can just get the OG modules). I meant more from a "wanting a physical book instead of a digital one" for those of us who still like to go full analogue with our TTRPG.
Though honestly if you are going to desecrate the memory of Gygax by trying to run good modules in the SparkleSoy system, there are 1e/1e AD&D to 5e conversion guides you could use.

I know there are various methods of getting some of those modules that doesn't involve grabbing your ankles for the ebay market, but GG had nice, hard-bound editions of good quality.
 
Yes, if you care about the conversions or the modules you can just pirate them (though honestly I don't know why you'd bother, 5e sucks and if you are yo ho ho ing you can just get the OG modules). I meant more from a "wanting a physical book instead of a digital one" for those of us who still like to go full analogue with our TTRPG.
Though honestly if you are going to desecrate the memory of Gygax by trying to run good modules in the SparkleSoy system, there are 1e/1e AD&D to 5e conversion guides you could use.

I know there are various methods of getting some of those modules that doesn't involve grabbing your ankles for the ebay market, but GG had nice, hard-bound editions of good quality.
Yeah that's the thing, the reprints looked lovely and oldschool. I've found that you can throw entire old modules into LLMs and it can convert everything to whatever edition you choose very very nicely. What can I say, I'm a sucker for physical media, especially nicely made ones that don't look like embarrassing garbage on your shelf next to your actual embarrassing garbage.
 
Somehwhat related?

The Kickstarter for Final Girl Series 4 started 15 minutes ago and is already about to cross $400,000 bucks raised of a $100,000 goal.

It is a very good single player (you can play collaboratively too) game where you have to survive as the final girl in the horror movie and kill the bad guy.

From the people that made the great game Hostage Negotiator.
 
What can I say, I'm a sucker for physical media, especially nicely made ones that don't look like embarrassing garbage on your shelf next to your actual embarrassing garbage.

I own three of these books, and they are absolutely gorgeous, high quality printings, and the conversions are very good, so they'll look great on your shelf and signal to the world that you are a man of culture. However, they're totally unusable if you decide you want to bring one to a table. They weigh a ton because they're huge hardcover books with glossy page, and they don't lay flat. Both the original reprints and the conversions, as well as essays about the modules, are in the books, so they're twice as large as it could be if you only needed one version.
 
so they're twice as large as it could be if you only needed one version.
That's my issue and primary reason I never bought them. Though, and I might be high and misremembering, I thoguht I saw versions in my FLGS (rip) that were two volumes, one the classic and the other the soyboy conversion.
 
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