So over the Pandemic my girlfriend started playing 5e with her friends and managed to also play in a second group. It's your usual story of people who have never really been exposed to RPGs only really knowing D&D. Some rules are forgotten about and it's all rather casual cause that what was fun for them. Sadly, my girlfriend has fallen into the time old RPG trap of never getting to play/groups falling apart. She has no intention of running a game and I don't really like 5e at all as a player or GM (I've run Lancer, Heart, Monster of the Week, and soon to play Forbidden Lands). I sadly don't think I can be her source of consistent play since our group of friends is pretty flakey but I am absolutely down to run a few sessions or a one shot of a simple system for her and them when we can (and maybe in the process get her other groups away from D&D into some new stuff that's easier to run so hopefully leading to more sessions for her).

I've mostly been looking at both Dungeon World and Index Card RPG since they're narrative and fast, so easy to play and teach. My girlfriend doesn't really like D&D combat or care about combat all that much so narrative stuff being quick and dirty works well. I think some of her fondest RPG memories are the more silly D&D moments you'd find in Adventure Zone and the like with her group burning a house down accidentally or spending an entire session just trying to break into a building where their quest was. It's the fantasy but sorta modern and silly vibe stuff, not the classic sword and sorcery things (in my mind it feels like trendy 21st century fantasy). Also as a silly note, she loves her dice so a d20 system is definitely a plus (like ICRPG), I think dungeon world being 2d6 would make her a little wistful for her dice she loves.

I'm sure both of these systems would work fine for this style of game but I was curious if there was anything that might work better.

I am learning a new RPG, The Warren by Marshall Miller, it is not like anything else I have played and I am excited. However, I am confused as to what the book means by Compete. I know it isn't exactly combat based but, I am not sure how this would play out in a game. It says the following:

"When you compete with another PC rabbit, both of you choose a value on a die and then reveal it. If one rabbit's die shows a higher face, they get their way and choose a value from one of the dice-- both of you take that much Panic. If neither is higher no one gets their way and you both take panic equal to the dice value."

What I am understanding if that if PCs are in competition with each other is more about the RP and if they have a big brawny rabbit or say a meek character has a serious passion about something they will choose higher than the other (this can be something they work out). It definitely seems that there is no clear winner or looser and that is fine. I am just wondering if my interpretation is accurate to what I am reading?

I absolutely love a good dungeon. What is the very best dungeon you've ever seen? Was it made by someone you know? Is it a pre-gen available for purchase? Heck, was it from a book or film, and just something you'd love to see ported into a TTRPG?

Hi folks, I beg your patience while I self-promo a bit here. (Minding the 1x per week rule!)

We've decided to go ahead and keep publishing things on the DM's Guild for now. This is the next installment in our series of one-sheet adventures, "The Lost Caravan!"

On a dark road beneath the boughs of a mysterious forest, you come across strangers in need. People have vanished amongst the gnarled trees of this wood... can you help find them? There is strange magic afoot. And what is that brightly lit manor you can see in the distance?

You can buy it or just check it out here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/431977/The-Lost-Caravan

/self-promo done

I have a group of people (around 5) that are interested in getting a game going and obviously we’ve all heard of dnd, but one of us have any experience in any actual table top rpgs, or being a dm or anything like that. So, I’ve been looking for something maybe online that we could use to get our feet wet. Is there anything that is just a basic 2D gameboard that allows us to have our character sheets, play a basic campaign, but doesn’t require someone creating the world and running as a dm? In all honesty I’d probably be the only one that would be willing to put that effort into this, but since I have 0 play experience I’d at least like to get to know the games and understand the rules. Thanks and I appreciate any and all suggestions and advice!

Hey community, I hope everyone is doing well! I was wondering anyone has any suggestions for TTRPGs with short, sweet, and to the point large-scale combat. Nothing too crunchy, time consuming, or that needs a ton of referencing. I am hoping to do a little research for a much needed overhaul of my own large-scale combat mechanics. Does anyone here know any systems (whether popular or niche) that has great and simple large-scale combat rules?

I did come across one discord server that seemed promising but no one had posted anything in months. So I'm still looking for communities where maybe I can learn from other creators (I make ttrpg maps). I would really value the opportunity to just talk and learn from others making various things for the rpg games we love. So, if anyone knows any good groups/discords/reddit communities, please let me know!

Hi, my group is not very experienced, majority only played 5e. I mostly ran 5e and a bit of some other systems. We like RP but some crunch/game would be good. I do not like Fate while Starfinder might be to crunchy for the players.

I know of Stars without numbers. I own Traveller and Edge of empire Star Wars. All 3 of these would require me to really get into them before I introduce the players. Therefore I was hoping someone could tell me which one to use:).

What other systems I could look at in that genre?

Thanks for advice.

I'm looking to run Death on the Reik with some extra content in the next few months and I'm interested in some alternate systems that might work with it out of the box (minimal work, if possible). I ran Shadows over Bogenhafen using a slightly modified Sword of Cepheus and it worked pretty well but I'm not exactly keen to go back to my freeform magic rules, now I'm eyeballing Warlock! but my buddy says his players didn't feel like they were able to catch a break (I'm assuming because the low success rate for starting characters).

I'm not really interested in the official WHFRP games (or Zweihander for that matter), they've always felt a bit cumbersome to me and the 4th edition one is just way too crunchy for my table. Same goes with any D&D or derivative, if it has hit points per level it's not going to be featured at my table. Do you maybe have any ideas on games that would match the tone of Warhammer Fantasy out of the box?

(I’m going to avoid spoilers as much as possible.)

Seriously, it’s a perfect example of how the environment can be used to great effect to alter how a combat can be run.

Every single action scene felt different even though it’s just John Wick shooting Goon 1, 2, & 3 over and over again. (It’s literally the same extras every fight with different haircuts.)

How do you make something like that fun and exciting? You add in cars zooming around, not caring who they hit or a long staircase where even a minor failure can send you tumbling, or a house with corners everywhere and holes you can fall in or many other scenarios.

Vary the type of enemies in your combats and throw minion groups at the players. Not only that but give the enemies tools to deal with the characters strengths from time to time. Make the players have to come up with new tactics.

And lastly, give the players another objective besides just destroying the enemy. Give them time or round limits before something bad happens. Make escape the only way for enemies to stop spawning.

This is just another roundabout way of saying as a DM, you should be stealing as many ideas as you can from everywhere.

What are the things you really like about the system?

What are the things you dislike about the system?

What does it do that you haven't found in any other RPG system?

Hi, so a while ago someone posted about a one-shot game where you play as time travelers. The game was played using a piece of string to represent the time line and you'd cut it and reknot it in various ways to represent parallel time lines you created by jumping. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find this game again?

I have a system called Anima Beyond Fantasy. A fun medieval fantasy styled system with magical elements bordering on scifi. Thematically it hit a bunch of cool notes: anime and final fantasy'esque illustrations and setting design. A character crafting system that allowed a lot of flexibility. It had quite a bit of extra content beyond the core rulebook too. It looked right and it felt right. So I grabbed it, learned it, and ran it.

Layout wise, I hated it. Looking up anything in the book was a massive chore as it lacked a proper index or properly framed points of note. You might get a paragraph of information with a handful of important details inside.

Mechanically, it was a mess. Each power, magic, art, etc had its own mechanics to learn and master. And some powers or systems left more room for interpretation than others. Which, in turn, meant more book lookup to remember the idiosyncrasies of one power's mechanics vs another's.

DM support was lacking. How to properly plan and run fights, create creatures, or anything concerning balance was lacking. It also was a lot of effort to do. It was very taxing simply putting together a group of creatures for an encounter. It was even more so when the party that was all low level still was anywhere from weak peasant to overpowering samurai god that could jump off beams of light and hit with a plus 600 to attacks on everything.

TLDR

All that to say: is there a system or systems that matches the aesthetics of anima but has a much better layout for the book and more dm friendly system to run while maintaining character creation flexibility? Priority given to aesthetics since I know there are many excellent systems out there but most do not match up with the aesthetics of what I'm looking for in a system book.

Hello, I’m looking for a free miniatures/terrain repository or an editor, titancraft is cool and all but the costs really add up once you get into making them in numbers, does anyone know where I could find something like this?

Basically what it says on the tin. I’m wondering if there’s any systems that do this kind of thing well. Inspirations would be things like: Street Fighter (without the chi), Tekken (without the devil transformations), Kengan Ashura, Tenkaichi… Basically, superhumans fighting it out 1-on-1.

Currently I’m considering GURPS 4e with the Martial Arts supplement.

What I’m looking for is a system that allows a back and forth flow and plenty of options in combat, since it’ll be a major focus.

I fear GURPS might lean /too/ far into complexity and will just be overwhelming. However, most systems I’ve seen seem to focus on political/social PvP, or resolve physical in one to two turns.

Any suggestions are welcome!

I've played d&d for years but wanted to try something a little simpler mechanics wise with my nieces/nephew. Are there any fantasy rpgs like d&d that use a dice pool system similar to WOD's Vampire? That's a system that I really like though I have never played it just read some of the rules. If not can d&d easily be customized as a sort of 'homebrew' to use this kind of mechanic?

Suggestions? Comments?

I've been GMing and playing since last century and I've come to the realization that I don't like combat scenes. Or maybe, I don't like combat rules. Whenever I GM or play something that deserves a fight scene, the dynamics of the situation are usually so complex that they don't fall neatly into any ruleset that I've read, played or GMed. I feel trapped by rulesets – they're usually quite complex and they try to force me to GM or play with a specific rhythm that doesn't work at all into the stories I'm trying to tell or experience.

However, most RPGs that I've read dedicate entire chapters (if not entire rulebooks) to combat, including both rules, lists of equipment and spells that you can bring to make sure to win (or hurt your players), lists of monster statistics, etc. And after all these years, I still cannot figure why. What makes combat so interesting to some players and GMs that it's clearly a selling point for many games?

Can anybody help me understand?

More metal!Recommendations for such games still in print from a companies that haven’t pulled a WoTC/Hasbro? Flipping through my old Robotech® RPG by Palladium Books. On a budget, Maybe not game that depends on pushing minis & models like some WarGames do. Sci-Fi rpgs or build your own type rules, settings, etc welcome.

It's me! I'm the monster! I've been a GM all my life, and a player two to three times as the occasion has allowed. I genuinely just don't get the chance to play very often; however, when I do, I'm finding myself kinda bored during fights. I know that looking at the phone in between turns is a general faux pas (to my understanding) but I find myself, when I'm the player, CONSTANTLY committing that same faux pas.

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I've been in multi-hour fights (as a player) and I find my brain/eyes glazing over after 30 minutes or so. As a GM, though, I rarely ever have that problem! I'm always super engaged because I'm constantly controlling multiple angles in the battle and responding to player's moves.

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So players from around the world... how do you avoid looking at your phone in between turns? What can I do to mitigate my bad habit?

Edit: A lot of people are making reference to in-person games, and I love that feedback and will use it when I play in person, again. I did fail to mention though, the games I play, these days, ARE online only.

Sometimes you just wanna roll lots of dice lots of times.
I am here to support, not to judge.
https://todfoley.com/die_test.php

In my table the GM has this rule that if there is an ocasion where players are facing each other, we should decide the outcome, here's an example:

the party needed to run to search for something quick, but the barbarian was asleep, so the halfling tried to wake him up by casting taumathurgy and making a loud noise. Instead of making the barbarian roll anything to see if he wakes up, the GM just asked him "do you wake up?", which the barb replied "No I dont".

What do you think is the best option when players are "facing" each other? should they roll against each other everytime or it depends?

Hi, just got a new RPG book, the Root RPG to be specific. It smells really pungent and musty in a way I haven't experienced with a new book before. I'm wondering if it might have been exposed to humidity somewhere along the way or if it's simply a mix of chemicals I haven't experienced before. The book is completely new and was packed in plastic on arrival. There is no visible signs of mold on it. Just wanted to know if this is normal or if it's mold I'll definitely send it back.

So, Ive used to play ttrpgs alot (wife doesnt know this....Im kinda closeted about it). I bought the fall of magic rpg, which is a light rpg focused on storytelling around a map game boared where everyone takes turns being both a narrotor and a character. I thought it would be fun with the kids and her. We tried but she was visible not into it. She said she felt kinda silly and awkward and wasnt sure how to do it.

How can I encourage her to kinda break out of her shell and give it a real go without her feeling pushed or like she is doing it wrong? (there are story prompts pn each part of the game boared, each time she kinda said a two sentence line and passed her turn to someone else)

as the title says ;)

So I am a relatively new GM, and I'm currently working on a campaign set in modern times, with immigration being a large theme. In regards to this I am white for all intents and purposes. I have several characters in mind, that I feel it would only make sense or them to have a regional accent that could possibly border on offensive. I don't intend to make jokes of this or anything, obviously, I just worry that doing the accents is inherently problematic, or if I can do them without it being an issue?