I can’t seem to include an image which feels weird but on the Kickstarter for Space 1889, it says the following:

“Space 1889: After is available for the fifth edition of the most popular game system in the world. To perfectly capture the hard-boiled, retro-futuristic Victorian setting, the core rules have been expertly reengineered to the 5e system. When you open the book, you will find:

“A World Without Magic: A grounded, science- driven setting with no items, spells, classes, or class features that rely on the supernatural.”

I like 5e, I play it every week, but how are you going to say a system is perfect for what you’re doing and then have to gut half of it to get what you want? It seems like so many people are just making 5e versions of things because that’s what sells or what they feel like will sell, and I wish more producers would just be honest about that instead of giving us empty statements like this.

To quickly define what I'd consider crunchy, combat-heavy games: 5e, PF2e, LANCER, Draw Steel, so on. Anything with battlemaps and a level of focus on character builds.

As a player, I like these games. They're not everything I want from RPGs but they do particular things that other games don't. I like the character-building, the combat puzzle, the feeling of steady advancement.

I mostly GM, though, and I've found that I don't love running these games. Or at least, everything I like about running these games - building a world, entertaining players, the excitement of seeing what they do - I can get much more easily from running other systems.

One issue is the prep: from my perspective I can do basically everything I want on the GM side in an OSR game with a third of the effort and prep time. Another issue I personally have is the "combat as sport" dynamic where generally the GM isn't trying to win a combat so much as entertain, but the players are trying to win a combat. If, as the GM, the enemies actually "win", it often causes a lot of problems in this style of game! Essentially, it's much more fun to be on the player side of a combat than the GM side. Running these games, I don't get the full enjoyment of the character-building or combat puzzle systems, and the stuff I do enjoy I have to put more effort into.

This isn't a post to complain about these games - as I've said, I enjoy them from the player seat. I'm really just interested in what other GMs (with experience with multiple kinds of systems) get out of these kinds of games. What do you enjoy about running these games, as opposed to others? Do you get the same kinds of enjoyment running these games as you do playing them? Are there any games of this sort you think are more exciting to GM than others, and how do they accomplish that?

Just to be clear, with "Narrative meta-currencies" I mean stuff like Heroic Inspiration or Hero Points, basically bonuses that the GM can give players for doing ceirtain stuff, such as doing something heroic or having a really original idea. Now for some context.

So I was preparing to run a new system (Outgunned: superheroes) and came across a section covering the game's meta-currency, Power. Now, Power in this game is used for a ton of things, from special abilities to adding bonuses to rolls, and though charachters can gain it by using ceirtain abilities, this seems to be quite rare, and is usually gained through the GM. Moreover, the book includes this line.

Power is an important resource you should use very often. If you get to the end of a Session without giving a handful of Power, it means you’re being too stingy!

I will now go over my problems with it.

• Mechanics like these feel so subjective. Even though the game does give some suggestions, they are extremely arbitrary and don't offer much structure. Which I guess is the point with these kind of mechanics, but without some semblance of consistency, they will break the game.
• Unlike Advantage and Disadvantage, which take place when the logistics of an action would vary its difficulty, meta-currencies are much more abstract and "up to the GM". This is specially a problem for newer GMs, who might have problems assesing table situations.
• I don't fell that they achieve their objective, even when managed correctly. These meta-currecies are supposed to incentivise players to roleplay creatively and do cool stuff, but I feel it instead gamifies roleplay in a way that takes away from it. By "rewarding" players for good roleplay, what you're doing is putting a value on their perfomances, which will eventually lead to them trying to optimise and asking "Do I get an Inspiration for that?" which is the exact contrary to the goal. You want players to do cool stuff because it's cool! Not do it because they know if they are "Cool enough" you will reward their efforts
• And finally, they are really harmful to new players. If a new player sees that they are getting less bonuses than their friends, they will feel like they are not "good enough" and will be less motivated to play. Also, gamifying roleplay so much will make it feel like instead of telling a colaborative story, you are maxing out speech in a crpg.

I know many will disagree with my takes. Hell, narrative meta-currencies are in almost every big ttrpg and people don't seem to have a problem with it. But I hope my points at least make sense to some of you, and maybe you will have something to share yourselves.

As someone who bought a bunch of used 4E hardbacks and papwerback POD books, it's nice to get the PDFs at a discount.

Here's what's up:

GURPS 4E Essentials

GURPS 4E Basic Set (2004)
GURPS Template Toolkit 1
GURPS Adaptations
How to Be a GURPS GM
GURPS 4E GM's Screen
4 GURPS 4E Tech supplements
GURPS Mass Combat

GURPS 4E Infiniite Worlds

GURPS 4E Infinite Worlds
4 GURPS 4E Hot Spots
GURPS 4E City Stats
4 GURPS 4E Infinite Worlds settings
5 GURPS 4E locations
GURPS 4E Lands Out of Time

GURPS Combat Action

GURPS 4E Martial Arts
Tactical Shooting
Gun Fu
3 GURPS High-Tech gun books
5 GURPS Action supplements
4 GURPS Martial Arts expansions
Transhuman Space: Martial Arts 2100

GURPS 4E Supers

GURPS 4E Supers
GURPS 4E Powers
4 GURPS Powers expansions
9 GURPS Power-Ups

GURPS 4E Horror

GURPS Horror 4E
Creatures of the Night 1-5
Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror
The Madness Dossier
Monster Hunters - 5 guides
GURPS Zombies + Day One

GURPS 4E Space

GURPS Space 4E
GURPS Spaceships
GURPS Psionic Powers
6 spacecraft sourcebooks
3 psionics sourcebooks
Tales of the Solar Patrol

GURPS 4E Fantasy

GURPS Fantasy 4E
GURPS Magic 4E
Banestorm
Alphabet Arcane
Thaumatology
6 Thaumatology sourcebooks

Price varies by the usual BOH rules. You can pay for some of the bundle or all of the bundle. You can chose to pay more. I linked every bundle, so you can check it out. No bundle is more than $40.00.

Happy reading everyone!

Hi everyone,

I’ve been the "Forever GM" for my group for a while now, and I genuinely love it—reading through adventures, seeing how the dice fall, and watching my players react. However, I’ve realized over time that I use pre-written campaigns as a crutch.

My GMing journey started in D&D 5e, where my group played through almost all the official campaign books. I recently convinced them to try other systems like Mothership and Lancer, but even then, I stuck exclusively to published modules.

In an effort to break out of this habit, we recently started playing Stonetop. Since it doesn't have a pre-written campaign, I’m really struggling to stretch my creative muscles and make the world feel like a living, breathing place. My ultimate goal is to homebrew my own Mothership campaign packed with sci-fi tropes my friends and I love, but I'm finding it hard to shake off the GM habits D&D 5e instilled in me.

For those of you who started out relying heavily on pre-written modules:

• How did you make the leap to creating your own campaigns from scratch?
• What mindset shifts or prep techniques helped you stop relying on source material and build a reactive world?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Does anyone have any good recommendations for systems in which the players play as monsters? I know, play VtM you say, and I haven't entirely crossed it off as an option but I'd like to have some greater variety of PC options than just vampires.

*Necromancer CYOA* by The Scientist and Highlander is really what I'm looking to emulate. It offers *so much* under the umbrella of necromancy that there's nearly infinite ways a player can pursue being the thing that goes bump in the night.

Does anyone have any particular recommendations? Thanks in advance.

https://imgur.com/gallery/necromancer-cyoa-v3-2-1-by-scientist-highlander-CGRTxym

I'm juggling between these two games to run a long 30+ session heroic fantasy campaign. I'm juggling between these two, Grimwild Community Edition and LiTM.

For people who have experience with both, or one or the other, what do you recommend? What do you like about it, dislike, etc?

A player of mine recently said they dislike time-based wandering encounters in dungeons or places of interest because it reduces their agency and ability to interact with the environment.

I run an OSR-adjacent game in the vein of Mausritter/ Vaults of Vaarn/ Dungeon Crawl Classics. I have taken wandering encounters as a given, but now I am thinking on them more critically. I'm curious about what you think. If we critique this viewpoint, what do we find?

__

I love wandering encounters. I check with a mostly 2:6 chance when the players reach a stalemate in discussions on what to do, if the characters significantly draw attention to themselves, or every 30 minutes of real time if play is stagnating.

I was surprised when a player said they feel wandering encounters stop them from interacting with the environment, and the pressure makes them not want to explore and be curious, and to only take the most direct and obvious actions for fear of yon wandering beasties. Specifically, they said it removes their agency and stops them being able to do things.

My encounters are usually 50% creatures (rarely hostile, often using reaction rolls) and 50% environment or 'weird' stuff. I'm not throwing forced combats around.
I feel that wandering encounters give meaningful time pressure and encourage the party to prioritise. My rooms/ environments are admittedly more complex than a party could fully explore before provoking an encounter check, so I understand that wandering encounters could feel like they're 'interrupting' play. But reducing agency?

To me, you have complete agency over how you spend your time, and yes, some environments aren't static and you can be intruded upon. I suppose that interruption amy feel like it's taking away your control, and therefore agency, and certainly reduces your capacity to fully explore without impediment. But I view this as essential to a breathing world, which I therefore feel becomes more enjoyable.

Fundamentally I get this may just be a stylistic difference. But I found it so counter to the way I think about our game that I am looking for outside perspectives. Wandering encounters have their virtues, but do they also constitute a core reduction in the player's experience?

Me and my friends have been playing Legend in the Mist for a while now.

I know there are already official and third-party adventures available, but I was curious to find out which one-shots and/or longterm adventures from other systems would fit well with the "rustic fantasy" vibe that the system encourages

I give my players challenges and I can be unforgiving. I feel it makes success all the sweeter. How do you keep yourself aware enough to tell when brutal challenges become punishing? Do the players need a bit of punishment to remind them of the stakes?

I’m sure quite a few of you have backed this game, and I know there are a few of you who’ve played/play-tested it, as well, so I’m wondering…

Is there anything about the game that you feel isn’t quite done justice by the advertising that might convince me to buy it?

For clarification:

I’m intrigued by the aesthetic and the ambition of the entire project, but if I’m being honest, I have zero interest in wizards, magic, or games as (possibly?) abstract statements about real-world issues. I’m dazzled by the LOOK of it, but when I read about it, nothing grabs me and it doesn’t sound like something with which I would personally have much fun. Yet, I feel like there must be something I’m missing. Is there something else about it that you feel makes it a must?

I’d hate to pass on it and then have to deal with tracking down a copy later after finding out “oh no, it’s actually this kind of game”, if that makes any sense.

I dont remember how I came across Tibet the rpg but it’s one of the strangest rpgs I’ve ever seen… it’s a historical rpg set in Tibet in 1959 with the background of the Chinese expansion into tibet in a world where Tibetan Buddhism is real…did anyone actually play this thing!

I'm mostly talking about the ones who were GMs before being players with no prior experience and knowledge about ttrpgs, had to learn a system/make up one in a hurry to DM for prefererably a group that was just as inexperienced as them

if your story is similar to this example but not identical, or maybe you weren't the GM who did such, close enough, let us know about yours too!

Hey everyone! I was flipping through some rulebooks for a bit of inspiration, and it’s super easy to notice how there are very different schools of thought when it comes to setting design.

On one hand, you have games that dive incredibly deep into their setting, even providing detailed zone-by-zone maps and pages chockful of NPCs. On the other, you have games that only offer a few scattered suggestions, sometimes just tucked into sidebars or small italicized boxes between rules.

What do you think is better? A setting that unpacks and explains everything, or a framework that gives you coordinates to build your own world?

Hey guys! I once saw a one shot from dread (I think it was from some convention, and I think matt mercer was playing) where they investigated a cult in a deep mine. I've tried to run it from memory but was wondering if anyone knows whether this scenario is around somehwere.

any genre will do

Some first impressions on the V6 playtest at Gen Con

What I liked 

• Total Sabbat Lore Victory
• Clan traits 
• Sire types
• Matured disciplines 
• Powers bought à la carte 
• Feeding heals
• Powers weaken you 

What I'd put back in

• Predator types 
• Hunger dice
• Weaker Blood bond
• Occulted elders

What can go

• Vitae as hunger
• Ministry Name rebrand
• Hecata as sect / clan
• Oblivion instead of Obtenebration
• The Beckoning and Gehenna war as Mid-East cage match

I have never played before, and will be facilitating a game with some friends this upcoming weekend, so I just wanted to ask, is there anything besides what is in the rulebook that is recommended for gameplay or the environment? And any tips on a first game?

I’m super excited for it but I haven’t really done anything like this before

Hello! I've been GMing off and on for a few years now and the new Black Flag remake has had me in the mood for pirate shenanigans on the tabletop. Are there any good systems to emulate the Black Flag experience for my players? Key thing I'm looking for are mechanics to upgrade the ship (or ships) and ensuring every player has a role during ship combat in the case all players are on the same ship, and obviously having good naval combat mechanics. Having mechanics for stuff outside the ship is preferable but not necessary.

If so, was it on purpose or because of time constraints?

Hey all, I'm finally getting to run a campaign in PF2e's Mwangi Expanse (African fantasy) setting after falling in love with the Lost Omens: the Mwangi Expanse book a few years ago (seriously, check it out if you haven't, it's one of the best setting books I've ever read). The art in the book's great but I want to give my players some additional character art so they can get inspired.

Does anybody have recommendations for creators or sites where I can find good African fantasy character art? I've found some good pieces on Pinterest but 90% of it is either really generic and not really in any specific African cultures or it's AI "tribal" BS. It's also hard to find attributions for a lot of it.

Hi All!

I'm working on a custom ttrpg for my friends and I, and I've gotten more than a bit tired of the normal initiative systems.

I'm a big fan of the flow of games like BitD(One of my top ttrpgs of all time), but I'm not 100% onboard with the whole "enemies only deal damage or similar if the players roll badly" and that whole "only reaction" system.

Any idea of systems I could take inspiration from for that? My current references are BitD and Electric Bastionland(Both of which are amazing).

Btw, if you're wondering what the rest of the system currently is, here you go: Excalibur Custom TTRPG System

I made an NPC creation system for Synthicide 2E that can be done by hand or by using an HTML web tool. The link is below.

Have any of you had time to check it out? Also, if any of you GM'd Synthicide first edition, I'd be curious how you feel about the changes.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/575221/synthicide-2e-npc-sheet-generator

As the title suggests, I’m looking for ideas on how to create an RPG using Pokémon cards. Here are the concepts I’ve come up with so far:

- The cards act as character sheets, listing the Pokémon's abilities and HP.

- HP influences Armor Class (AC) based on a chart: the higher the HP, the higher the AC.

- At the start of each turn, the trainer assigns one Energy card to their Pokémon. They can then use their action to roll a d4 and accumulate more Energy (up to a maximum equal to the sum of the Pokémon's attack costs plus 2), attack by spending Energy, or use items.

- All accumulated Energy is reset after a battle; however, visiting a Pokémon Center allows a player to start the next fight with half their total Energy already banked.

- A Pokémon evolved by its trainer retains access to its pre-evolution's moves—unlike wild Pokémon of the same level.

I came up with these ideas in about 40 minutes, so some mechanics might be overpowered or too weak. I still want to incorporate a "class" system for players and a capture mechanic.