For those of you who have been GMing for a while, what are some things you wish someone had told you when you were just starting out?

It can be about session prep, improvisation, dealing with players, managing expectations, building encounters, handling mistakes, or just learning not to overprepare everything.

What advice would you give to a new GM today, especially something you had to learn the hard way?

I may be a bit of a.... collector at this point. I own rulebooks for like a dozen different TTRPG's, including the bigger ones and multiple versions of those, random solo games, indie games, even a big book of 25+ one shot standalone games.

The problem is that I literally don't even have a gaming group to play with. I haven't even ACTUALLY played D&D in over 10 years.

Just bought Slugblaster and Ion Heart at Pax West today and I'm stoked about them (especially Ion Heart as I might actually get to play it. lol) but I already know I won't be playing any group campaigns any time soon.

NOTE: This doesn't mean "three things you hate and three things you love", I mean one-to-three RPG things you're burnt out on, and one-to-three things you want to see more of.

Tired of (in no particular order)

Anime/Zelda/Ghibli settings: Especially because most of the time they just slap the aesthetics of contemporary Japan's concept of pastoral Europe onto whatever RPG slop of the day mechanics are popular.

Anything Grimdark: Double-points if it's clearly Bloodborne inspired. Like the previous point, it's usually an aesthetic slapped onto OSR-but-different mechanics. These titles also usually are just grimdark, without any sense of irony, satire, or black humor, making them much like the poison swamps of whatever latest game FromSoft put out.

Meta-currencies: Particularly GM-facing ones. The sort of mechanics where you're "buying permission to be a decent GM" (or how it feels to me).

What I want to see more of

Traditional (non-European Medieval) Fantasy Settings: This has been a problem since I was a child, but the fantasy genre isn't limited to Tolkein-esque medieval Europe. 1001 Nights, Alice in Wonderland, Journey to the West, and Star Wars are all fantasy.

Great Book Layout: I'm soo happy that this is becoming more of a staple, and have started to buy books from publishers that care about layout and editing. Also any book that contains an entire subject of rules to one page or paragraph.

Adventures: It used to be that adventure paths were far more common, but even WotC seems to be shrinking away from them in exchange for a glut of settings. Even though I'm unlikely to run Kala Mandala, I will use Reach of the Roach God at some point, for example.

I am running a GURPS game set in Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk.

One of my players has been asking endless questions about the nature of the tech in the setting. "Does wireless hacking exist? What are the limitations of cyberware? What about smart clothes? Can I get a drone? What about smart grenades? Can monowire cut through walls? Why not? That doesn't make sense because realistic [thing]. That's kind of retro-futurist though and I don't like that. What about this thing? How about this?"

Sometimes I have an answer, sometimes I don't. I feel pressured to deliver an answer but sometimes I need to consider the gameplay ramifications of such an answer.

I like this player. How can I gently shut down discussion on things that I can't feasibly answer immediately but the player insists are important to know right now?

It feels to me that gaming has never been in a more popular place, as I currently have *a lot* of gaming groups on the go (details below). But! I was speaking to one of my friends who recently bemoaned that he can't find a group that lasts longer than a few sessions. I'd invite him to one of mine (he's not a bad player by any means) but my dance card is currently extremely full.

So I wondered what your gaming situation is right now? Here's what I'm currently running:

Right now, I'm running Jadestorm (currently crowdfunding!), SLA Industries, and Vampire: The Dark Ages for my local groups.

For my online (Patreon) groups I'm running two Call of Cthulhu campaigns, Pendragon, two Vampire: The Dark Ages games, one Wraith: The Oblivion, one Victorian Age Vampire, one Kult: Divinity Lost, one Werewolf: The Apocalypse, two Curseborne campaigns, one Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle, and one SLA Industries campaign.

I'm also running Call of Cthulhu for Red Moon Roleplaying (excellent AP podcast).

The local groups and Red Moon Roleplaying are once a week, the online ones are at least once a month.

Across these groups I have well over 40 players. Most of these games have been running for several months, and in a couple of cases several years (I think Pendragon is the longest running campaign at almost three years).

Accepting that my scale of running games is somewhat industrial, how often are you getting to the table?

I feel like it can be a tough line to walk especially when so many people have forever games that they don't tend to want to deviate from. (Cough DnD cough)

I tend to really like a system so when I see games for that system come out I usually know I'll enjoy the system and if the setting grips me I'll grab it. But I know not everyone has the same preferences when it comes to systems, plus not everyone is excited about "another steampunk/cyberpunk/fantasy/etc... setting" when their are options that have big name recognition like DnD, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, etc...

Hello, community! I got some really good suggestions when I asked for pulpy sword-and-planet adventures last time I was here, so I figured I'd dip my toes in again with another hyper-specific request.

There is no shortage of games with trippy, imaginative settings. However, a lot of these games don't really do much to weave that dream-like sense of whimsical, slightly unsettling unreality into the mechanics themselves. For example, Numenera's bizarre distant future winds up handling like D&D but with goofy consumables, and the somber, beautiful Cloud Empress struggles to enforce its themes around the viciously antagonistic Mothership engine.

So, I'm looking for games that achieve the feeling of floating between scenes that evoke a sense of both wonder and mild confusion, where things are just illogical enough to keep players slightly off-kilter, but make enough emotional sense to stay engaged. Something in the tradition of Alice in Wonderland, an 80s fantasy puppet movie, A Wrinkle in Time, or Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Again, not looking for cool settings (those are a dime a dozen), but for mechanical methods to make players feel like they are experiencing an intense trip or especially strange dream.

Please read the other comments before making a recommendation so that you don't all wind up repeating each other. Thank you!

Things I want: Portrayal of rebellious/countercultural youth Corrupt world/institutions Not fantastical. The world is believable and grounded. Crazy psionic/magic stuff is rare or can be ignored in this TTRPG system Any amount of crunch is fine

Would cyberpunk red be a good fit?

Hello all!

A couple of days ago, I posted on r/RPGdesign about Combat as War, Sport, and Spectacle. This conversation was linked to a discussion between Dadi and Questing Beast.

Long story short, I have a lot of thoughts on how combat works across different systems and how that all ties in to lethality in combat. My thesis is that there are three kinds of combat philosophies across the TTRPGs I've played: combat as war, combat as sport, and combat as spectacle.

• Combat as war promises lethality, but also ways to stack combat in your favor or circumvent it entirely - the idea is that combat is usually a last resort, and if you're going to engage, you need to win.
• Combat as sport doesn't promise lethality, but does expect the players to engage with combat regularly. When the characters have all kinds of combat tools, that encourages the players to exercise them. This promise falls flat when lethality is present - the players aren't given the tools to avoid potentially lethal circumstances.
• Combat as spectacle promises lethality much like combat as war, but also encourages the players to interface with combat much like they would in combat as sport. This creates some dissonance - the players are expected to willingly engage with an activity that has lethal consequences. Therefore, the GM is encouraged to pull their punches on lethality so that the players continue to interface with combat. If lethality is delivered as promised, it teaches the players that they shouldn't engage... but the system may lack the tools to meaningfully circumvent combat.

Each of these philosophies has their own attitudes about what is appropriate to present as a challenge to the PCs, as well as what the appropriate stakes for these encounters should be.

I want to hear from you guys:

• Do you prefer combat as war? Or combat as sport? What are your favorite examples of systems that do what you like well?
• Have you played in or ran games with combat as spectacle? Do you feel like it's tied to specific games or genres?
• What are the best and worst combat encounters you've experience across any system?

I also made a Youtube video about this subject, and I'm eager to hear your thoughts!

What’s everyone’s favorite ship combat, naval or space?

Ive found a video about SUZi ttrpg and id like to read it myself, but it got taken down from itch. Is there another way to get it?

Is there a video explaining the concept of RPG games in Chinese Mandarin? I have a friend who wants to play and has no clue what they are!

I don’t want to show her “the rules”, I simply want her to see a video on her native language that would hype her up for a session. You know, kinda like this video really hypes you up for Troika, but it’s in English:

https://youtu.be/FNDNBlBP3Mw?is=v9NhYDB2Z85tKR1C

Hi yall! My bf and I are currently looking for a game that fits the vibe of a classic YA hero/fantasy series, kinda like Percy Jackson or Ben 10 or something similar, I'm already aware of scion, and while it looks pretty cool we're not sure if it's what we're into.

We're looking for something more rules lite, and a bit more of a narrative focus, any suggestions would be great!

Heya.

I'm looking for game recomendations. I usually play rules lite, OSR stuff like MORK BORG and Shadowdark, and more medium crunch games Vampire the Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse. What I am currently looking for is:

More rules lite or medium crunch games, and I want a tactical game that isnt too complex, or at least its well written and clear enough.

The themes I am looking for is:

Steampunk

Mecha

Stone age

Bronze age

Super heroes

Zombies

And otherwise bizarre, out there settings.

So, I'd been preparing to run a game of Public Access, but one of the members of our group who had dropped out a while ago is coming back in, and instead of excluding him I want to find something with the same vibe that I can run with him in it. I have Slugblasters, and I'm leaning towards that, but I could use some suggestions.

Things that I'm specifically looking for:

• Gameplay that highlights the weird, strange, and absurd, and encourages the players to indulge in it.
• Something with an emergent story where the players are actively shaping it, and have at least some kind of structure for the GM to cling onto while they're doing this because I fucking suck at coming up with whole storylines of my own, but pretty good at flying by the seat of my pants.
• Not fantasy.
• Is good with 5 players.

I've still got a while before it's my turn to run things, so I'd like to explore some games and have a few options to pitch to my players to see what they'd want to play.

Hey folks!

I was wondering..how many of us around here actually *prefer* running one-shots rather than running campaigns? (Obviously, I do)

I've been rewatching Andor and wanted to run a SW RPG, I want it to be lower power scale but not as low as something like WOD. Ideally, I'd want a group of 6 trained soldiers to be a large threat. None of the players are going to be Jedi so I don't need force powers or any magic system. Spaceship stuff preferred but not necessary.

Edit: So everyone's been giving star wars games so if you read nothing else read this: I don't need a star wars TTRPG. I just need a game that I can flavor. What I really need is the mechanics to enable spy stuff to happen.

I just found this ttrpg called "space bounty blues" (https://nerdypapergames.itch.io/sbb), which is a Gm-less ttrpg, or rather a ttrpg with switching GMs. The idea is that in the central part of the game, one character is in the spotlight, one other player acts as GM and the other players help fleshing out the world by asking questions. Each character has a scene of being in the spotlight, so there is always another Player acting as GM (I hope I explained it correctly). I really like this idea for a Quick game, that can be improvised without big preparations and without needing a fixed GM, so i wanted to ask, if anybody knows similar games to check out. One, that came to my mind was "Quantum Popcorn", even though this game works a bit different.

Thanks for your help !

Hi folks,

My group has spent the last 30-odd years playing Traveller and variants of BRP.

I had bought most of the Vaesen books over the last few years and was really looking forward to giving it a go. I finally got to run five published adventures including the one in the starter set but by the end, all of us thought it was OK but no-one wanted to play it any more - least of all me.
I found it to be really hard work to GM and my players were not terribly excited by the vague setting.

Slightly weirdly, I had previously run a couple of Alien one-shots with great success, so I was quite happy with the Year Zero ruleset.

What RPG have you looked forward to and was underwhelmed when you got round to playing or GM'ing it...and why?

My family gets together for most major holidays, and they have some interest in DnD, but I don't have the free time to do DM prep or interest in DMing vs getting to be a PC.

I was watching a video recently that mentioned that way back in the day, most table top wargames and rpgs were games-in-a-box that was standalone and didn't require anything else (think necromunda in the 80s or hero quest).

However, a lot of games like that are super complicated and don't appeal to those who are just more casual board game fans, like my family. They all really like Betrayal at the House on the Hill, so I've been trying to think of other board games in a box that would be similar, but also have a leveling up system, that maybe slowly introduces a new mechanic or skill with each level up. But still on the same order of complexity as betrayal.

As well as ideally a shorter runtime for a game or session. 2 hours absolute max, and preference for 60 min or ideally 30 (or less).

Any help appreciated!

That's basically the question in the title: what has this hobby given you?

I recently came across the same question in a Hungarian Reddit thread, and my answer was that, for me, roleplaying has been many things at once: a form of self-discovery, a psychologist, a confidence-building activity, a history, English and art teacher, and even a mentor in public speaking. But most importantly, it has been a source of new friendships and connections for someone who was once a socially isolated teenager with very little self-confidence.

Then I started thinking that this question might be even more interesting in an international community. We share the same hobby, but we come from very different political, social, and cultural backgrounds, so I'm curious whether tabletop RPGs have played different roles in people's lives depending on where they grew up and lived.

I'm especially interested in hearing from players outside Europe, or from cultural backgrounds very different from my own. Has this hobby given you similar things, or has it had a completely different meaning or role in your life?

Hello! I'm Marco Calesella from Winged Lion Games. Unlike our previous projects, which we revealed only when they were nearly complete, we have decided to make the development diary for the second edition of the Space Western role-playing game *Deep Sky Ballad* publicly available. Every week, we will share ideas, impressions, presentations, and prototypes covering all aspects of the game’s development, from gameplay mechanics to setting and art direction, including PDF files of the alpha version of the rules in both English and Italian. The diary (in English) is hosted on Patreon, but all the material is freely accessible to all visitors without requiring a subscription. We are doing this because we want you to be part of our journey, and we would love to hear your feedback on any aspect of the project. We plan to work steadily on everything for at least the next two years before considering a release. So please visit the page, read and study the material, and if you like it, follow us and leave your comments! Thank you!

https://www.patreon.com/cw/DeepSkyBallad

Howdy all.

So I'm making a game with a stat system directly connected to how many dice you roll, and I want to ask if anyone else has knowledge of similar systems?

Basically, you have a Stat, and then a Skill. Say, Deduction[Brains], or Skill[Stat].

You have a Deduction of 3, and a Brains of 5, Ergo, you roll 5 Dice, with +3 to score.

Is there any other games like this that come to mind?

Ok, So i know the final answer is over all "Talk to them" I've quoted it a few times here my self. However i need a approach vector i guess. So i will lay out the Situation below and hopefully i can find a good way to approach this.

I have More recently dabbled into online play. As a GM i have the process down I meet with a potential player speak with them for 30 min or so to get a feeling if they will jive with my style and persona. We have a short Q & A to which i always ask the question how much experience do you have in said system and how much have you use foundry. The 2 questions have no bearing on my selection process it just give me a baseline for how much ill need to pay attention to them. I personally LOVE new players and dont mind teaching folks how to use foundry. Besides lets face it Playing on VTTs doesn't really teach you the game it just teaches you what you need to click. You'll never learn the math and function behind it without reading a book.

That all said i started a group a few months ago to work through a 3 part adventure path on Foundry. One of the players who i interviewed is a suuuper nice person. I genuinely think they are a delight. However this player Lied to me during the interview Process. They stated they know the system they had been playing it a while. It feels like every week i need to explain the same 3 mechanics of his character to them. Without fail i need to walk them through it. This has been going on for a few levels now.

During the interview they said they had plenty of system mastery. They lacked A lot of foundry KNowledge as they hadn't really been exposed to it. So i went out and found some custom macros to make it all work easily for them. Stream lined a lot of thing for them so they just need to know what and where to click. If feels like every session im telling them again and again what and where to click. I've had other players at the table express that they slow the game down significantly. Said player hasn't learned how the core mechanic of their character works and i've had it on repeat with a macro for weeks now. they also i've noticed parroted everything the player before them does which tells me as a long time GM they don't really know the system that well because they are just doing what the last person did to keep up appearances.

So i guess the meat and potato's of this post is how should i approach this. I have spoken with them in the past and that when i spent my real time to research how to make things easier for them. I now have players that don't really want him there and i feel like i'm repeating my self weekly on core mechanics he should understand at this point even if he was a new player. I feel like i was lied to during the interview process, which i know can happen because there are so many players vying for so few GM's. I genuinely like them i think they are good people just not a good player or at least not a good fit for my group.

How should i approach removing them from the group while minimizing feeling like a asshole.