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

[Scream Aim Fire]

Makes sense, something I've also noticed the people who only play those D&D also never choose to be humans as their race. Its just strange that they don't even try something else I guess.

Eh, some people prefer playing monsters over regular humans in settings; before Woketards of the Coast fucked them up and turned everything into the same gendercultist blob, even 5E had a pretty solid selection of races. I think part of it is that a lot of RPGs already offer humans as a playable race, and these guys wanted to try something "different"; little bit ironic these days, as the prior versions of the game provided better playable monsters.

It's why I prefer 3E; the lore and general race designs all have a bit more development compared to the slop pushed out by WOTC.

1. Anything not D&D, including older versions of D&D, is just Temu D&D because the latest version is clearly the superior version
2. Lazy assholes.
3. These people want to appear to be playing D&D as it is a lifestyle brand because popular people play D&D, they don't play other games.

Don't forget how some people like to make games but not play them. For a certain kind of nerd, making up rules is more fun than using them.

Aside from these, I've also found that older versions of the game tend to be more "difficult" to get into. Not that because they're different, but because of either:

1. Older versions are just simply played less than 5E; like I said, advertisement.

2. Grognards that actively push newer players away. Not like how @Konigsberg did it, I'm talking about fucks that actively push even people genuinely interested in the older games away out of some "superiority complex" that they have. There's "gatekeeping", then there's "actively trying to kill your preferred Edition"...

Man all the GURPS talk in the funny picture thread really makes me want to play some GURPS we should get a campaign started

I really need to take a look at that setting, thanks for reminding me.

As an aside, I swear my current group didn't set out to make a stereotypical dnd party the dice made us (we rolled 3d6 down the line).

We're have a Human Barbarian, Halfling Rogue, Dwarf Cleric, and Elf Sorcerer.

I mean... if it works, don't bother changing it. My group tends to do the same; some races just work better with certain classes than others - not that making a "non-optimized" character is bad, it's just that some concepts are more interesting.

 

[Konigsberg]

Well, that falls under my "All roads lead to Ravenloft" rule in number 2.

Honestly, that went right over my head. I was lost in my flow state and pondering the platonic Form of D&D and its implications.

 

[Halbschwanz]

That's not how any of this works. True neutral actively tries to maintain a balance, so if it's unbalanced towards evil, they'll generally act good

Or morally noncommittal. Not actively malicious but not possessed of strong convictions. I have never IRL seen someone do the "active keeper of cosmic balance" shtick without turning into a contrarian retard in play.

On the topic of "it's what my character would do". I usually have my characters just leave the party if their goals become too unaligned and just roll a new one.

There's this strange apprehension among a lot of RPG players that you're only supposed to have one character in a game. Having a PC bow out or handle other business for a bit while you bring in a new one is reasonably common in games I've played even in non-meatgrinders. It's not even terribly hard to integrate if you talk about it with the GM and aren't doing it every other session or something.

He's a fine player and friend but I think this may genuinely be a generational issue.

I'm in the guy's age cohort but I've never specifically encountered this issue. Then again, most of the players I snag are either older than me or have played games other than D&D 5e.

 

[JJLiautaud]

Has anyone ever run a Banestorm campaign?

 

[AnOminous]

Or morally noncommittal. Not actively malicious but not possessed of strong convictions. I have never IRL seen someone do the "active keeper of cosmic balance" shtick without turning into a contrarian retard in play.

I'd just call that Neutral. The most common type of True Neutral I'd have is classes like the Druid. Tom Bombadil would be I think the best fictional character example of this. Since most of the evil monsters are direct threats to the nature and balance they care about more than people, the True Neutral adventurer would generally do the same thing as the Lawful Good, although they had completely different motivations for it.

They wouldn't just say "welp the world is a little too nice let's release the dickwolves."

No alignment should ever be an excuse for being a retard and fucking up the game.

 

[p1138]

He's a fine player and friend but I think this may genuinely be a generational issue. All the younger Zoomers I know seem to suffer from a combination of obsession over the surface level details of things, and a complete lack of vocabulary to express their inner thoughts or understand deeper level topics.

I don't know about it being a generational issue. I've got friends I'll play TTRPGs with, known them for years, no issue. The moment a wargame comes up, they're the biggest dickhead on the planet and it isn't even just about being obsessed with winning. I've also got friends I've known for years, that I'd never consider playing a TTRPG with because of either shit I've seen them do at the table or crap that comes out of their mouth regarding the topic without ever having even tried it.

This also extends beyond "nerd" hobbies. Same thing goes with going to the shooting range, I know plenty of intelligent people who have self awareness and normally a self preservation instinct but if a couple of them get to the range they just go full retard even if you've taken courses with them and they should know better. I've got a pile of friends that like to go fishing, they hardly catch shit, and mostly just sit at the ass crack of dawn looking bored to death not even holding conversation but will spend hundreds and even thousands on fishing gear, but I know that shit's not for me so I just don't interact with them if that's what they're up to as I'd just make everyone miserable the entire time.

And I'm not talking about people in a certain age range either. I mean people in their late 20s, all the way into their late 50s can fall into the "yeah you're cool but, you clearly can't do this without fucking it up for everyone".

What might be a generational thing(and really it's just more of an age/experience thing) is that knowing which friends you can do what with, and that not every friend needs to be a friend involved in every activity.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Question for all the RL bros out there: how do you guys handle the dark powers checks? Do you go by the book, simplify it, expand it? Same for failures and what not.

Addtionally, one of the things I wish I spent more time on and maybe is easier now because I can just crack the whip on the machine, is to make cleverer curses from Vistanis or other characters.

Depends on which book you use.

I would strongly avoid powers checks for basic mechanical systems (if I recall right, one edition had PCs making a powers check every time they leveled up). A powers check should be the result of, at the very least, a poor decision if not an overtly immoral or unethical choice.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Current talk about Ravenloft reminds me; any predictions for the upcoming book next month? I mean, we know it's (most likely) going to be complete shit; any ideas on how it'll fail specifically? I mean, we know they're bringing Cthulhu in...

Surprised they're bringing back the Lupin, especially as the 3E version and not Mystara's; I know it's pissing at least a few grognards off.

 

[Manly_Brony]

Chaosium is desperately trying to reel in that modern audience again...

 

[HomosexualCheezeMaker]

Chaosium is desperately trying to reel in that modern audience again...

View attachment 9047429View attachment 9047430

I've honestly just given up on most modern books
Why would I buy something worse than a pre-made fan or old set online?

 

[HomosexualCheezeMaker]

Anyone have some less talked about Rpgs?

Recently got Pilgrims of the murky dome which has a wooden cover
Conspiracy X set for 90$
Mortasheen
And Red markets

I'm looking to expand my collection again and want something different from DnD CoC or WoD

 

[LovisXVI]

Anyone have some less talked about Rpgs?

HarnMaster/HarnWorld, a low fantasy world with an attached system that has a 50-year-long history, which my players have really come to like, as both are super detailed with a focus on authenticity.
But don't take my word for it, here's convicted murderer Varg Vikernes's take:

 

[Judge Dredd]

Anyone have some less talked about Rpgs?

I'm looking to expand my collection again and want something different from DnD CoC or WoD

I assume you include PbtA in the list of talked about RPGs. On the internet it keeps coming up and I'm sick of it.

In physical, only Savage Worlds and some expansions for BESM. I want an american friend to buy me a proper rule book as it's supposedly common, but no takers yet. I have a Paladium post apocalypses RPG that is fucking horrible. Of these, only Savage Worlds is recommended.

Digitally, I have Tiny d6. Don't pay for it as most of the games feel incomplete, but you can combine Mecha and Monsters, Frontiers Revised, Frontier (the original) and the fan made Star Wars book into a fun sci-fi system. Mecha and Monsters is the most complete, but is limited to the mechs vs kaiju theme.


Old stuff digital is more interesting. Hollow Earth Expedition, Spycraft 2, and Ironclaw (I'm never escaping the alligations).
Hollow Earth and Ironclaw I'd never get to the table, but iirc they are basically similar to Savage Worlds where die size determines stats. Pretty neat.
Spycraft 2 I got because a friend is a big fan. Tells me stories of the games he played with it back in the day, including GI-Joe and X-Files. He especially loved the martial arts system that made melee builds unique, and that you could build a character that specializes in cutting red tape. No idea how that would work and I never read it properly.

As an aside, I never a got to play with the guy. He's one of those that would go on and on about giving anything for one more game, but then always has some excuse to not join mine.


I also have an archive of a bunch of shit I downloaded from the high seas (likely when the trove was still a thing) that I barely read or skimmed and never used. Some of them include-
Outgunned (great theme, shitty fail forward system. I hear the adventures are all movie licenses, which sounds neat but I'd never pay for them, Escape From New York as a TTRPG? Yes please.)
Cypher System (cool ideas, but dependent on disposable gadgets)
Eclipse Phase (was the king sci-fi horror game for a time)
Cartoon Action Hour (was a player in a club for a visionaries game, but no-one at the table had saw the cartoon and were completely fucking lost. Also, the DM insisted that we sing the theme tune at the start of the session, which I found to be cringe. Rules lite impossible to lose system)
RIFTs
Judge Dredd, Ghost in the Shell, Bubblegum Crisis, and Macross were all anime/comic based reskins of different systems. I think most were based on Fuzion or CP2020?

None of those are recommendations, but maybe you'd find something you like.

 

[HomosexualCheezeMaker]

Yes you can get a physical SW book on Ebay no problem or at most hobby shops in America but are usually limited in choice

The deluxe editions are around 120-200usd after taxes and shipping while the standard core and supplements are 25-40 Usd
You can also buy from the owners website

https://shop.peginc.com/collections/all?filter.p.m.custom.product_format=Physical&sort_by=best-selling

Just filter physical books

 

[HomosexualCheezeMaker]

HarnMaster/HarnWorld, a low fantasy world with an attached system that has a 50-year-long history, which my players have really come to like, as both are super detailed with a focus on authenticity.
But don't take my word for it, here's convicted murderer Varg Vikernes's take:
View attachment 9047497

Definitely will try it thanks

 

[Manly_Brony]

Anyone have some less talked about Rpgs?

I found FGU's Psi World in a corner of the web and I swear that it's calling to me so I printed it out. It's kind of like the Scanners/Scanner Cop franchise I'm a fan of. You're either ostracized psychics trying to survive in a near future (for the 80s) setting or the ones hunting them. I already wrote down some notes for a campaign set in the restored Kingdom of Hawaii but I'm up to my neck in CoC and WFRP and will be for a time.

How's Conspiracy X? I was really into Ufology in my younger days so it looks like my jam.

 

[CrunkLord420]

Recently got Pilgrims of the murky dome which has a wooden cover
Conspiracy X set for 90$
Mortasheen
And Red markets

I'm looking to expand my collection again and want something different from DnD CoC or WoD

Cease purchasing luxury pulp. Intellectual property isn't real.

It's crazy how expensive books are, but it also makes sense considering how bulky and heavy they can be. It still blows my mind that people want like $10 for a dozen page PDF of slop with bad artwork meanwhile you can buy amazing indie games off steam for like $5. The amount of effort that gets put into TTRPG products is very low, and despite that they expect a premium for it.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

Escape From New York as a TTRPG?

That already exists, it's the Armies of the Night module for Twilight: 2000. There's even an evil Duke!



A campaign with 4e rules that started with this module and the Urban Operations supplement would be another sick all Kiwis game.

Mortasheen

300 mb rulebook...

Anyone have some less talked about Rpgs?

I have a physical copy of Nightlife, a game that's like if Vampire the Masquerade wasn't for fags.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Chaosium is desperately trying to reel in that modern audience again...

View attachment 9047429View attachment 9047430

You sure they didn't get the cover art from WOTC? This looks more DND than CoC, especially the right one.

 

[Manly_Brony]

You sure they didn't get the cover art from WOTC? This looks more DND than CoC, especially the right one.

Someone told me months ago that Chaosium is trying to diversify it's audience of middle aged White men and so far it's been working very poorly because it's fans keep pushing against any attempts to change even the most slightest thing about the game. How about focusing on other eras if you crave diversity and representation so much like an 80s or 90s setting? Those are pretty nostalgic and popular now. Or how about leaving it the fuck alone since it's been a beloved game since 1981??? These look more like covers for their action oriented PulpCthulhu line. There's a worse cover BTW... But at least they're scared and not smiling or chomping on cigars like badasses. I honestly wouldn't mind these covers if it was always the same investigator group like in other games and not "We know that Lovecraft was a horrible Chud but look at all these wonderful POCs all over our books!"

I have a physical copy of Nightlife, a game that's like if Vampire the Masquerade wasn't for fags.

That sounded like fun when I read about it. Good old dirty, sleazy NYC with a twist. It hit the market a few months before VTM IIRC. I always wondered if it was a coincidence.