Vaesen - Call of Cthulhu but rooted in nordic mythology
Heart the City Beneath - an award-winning complete tabletop roleplaying game about delving into a nightmare undercity that will give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of – or kill you in the process.
This brings us back to zones, a good middle ground. Draw rough map, or great map, and on it mark intresting combat zones. Some are separated with emptiness, others by obstacles.
For example a tavern brawl. Zones could be the Bar, Kitchen, Common Room, Balconies, Private Rooms, Out Front and Out Back.
Fighting on the Balconies could be tight, only one in width and with the risk of being thrown off it into the Commonroom. In the Kitchen there would be fire hazards, improvized weapons, knifes and the Stew. Not to forget other ways to spice things up in there. Around the Bar there would be some cover fighting someone on the other side, bottles to be broken and combatants to glide alond the bar for maximum mental damage.
And so on. Make each zone memorable and with special features. Did I mention drawing it out really helps?
The more abstract the map is the more of a support for TotM it becomes. I selfom do a map, rather a flowchart. Quicker, easier and knocks out the last desire to measure things.
Depends on the system. Classical fantasy adventuring? Most if not all sessions. Adventure and Sword&Sorcery? Sometimes, half perhaps. Character drama? Very seldom.
I look at how the system spends its page budget and use that as a guideline. If there is a chapter for combat, one for harm and recovery and one for combat magic then the system wants me to focus on those parts. Also I look at how the players/characters are rewarded and try to have each session hit several of those criteria. So if the only (reliable, non gm-fiat) way to earn rewards if through combat then you bet your sweet ass there will combats each session.
Agter our latest DnD game our regular DM once again thought loudly on how to make dragons have more teeth. And it got me thinking about how Dragonbane handles capital M monsters differently....
Very sparse with such abilities and those that exist generally don't apply to Monsters. Some only apply up to human sized targets. No hypnotic patterns, hold monsters etc.
Dragonbane leans a bit into OSR aporoaches here in that you will have to work with the GM and the fiction to get things capable of trivialising encounters. But then the encounter vs the Monster wasn't fought in battle but in strategizing and preparation.
The way DnD is built does require the counter dance. Big abilities are part of its features. So there need to be ways to counter those abilities. That is the (modern?) DnD way.
Or why not simply have degrees of success on EVERYTHING? But as you say it would be a lot of work. Folks have done it, just look at yhe various dicepool system or even Pathfinder 2e.
On a sidenote I find saves boring. I enjoy actively rolling skills much more engaging. And all spells being "attack rolls".
It could be that Hadbro only licence the "video game" part or all dynamic electronic content (beyond, vtts etc). But I'm not sure how much of a cash influx that would give Hasbro.
Both my favorite systems makes my GMing job easier and they do it in the same way - they give the players responsibility though their character's goals to drive the game forward. And they have explicit rewards helping in this matter.
Ironsworn (a PbtA) is the more direct of these. The characters swears vows and once they are fulfilled they get XP. Starforged, the SciFi version, adds more ways to earn XP through Bonds and Exploration. But we'll stay with the base Ironsworn. The vows are essentially quests but what makes them different from just any random quest is the mechanics surrounding them. First a tracker to measure vow completion is created, then as progress is made it is filled depending on vow difficulty. Now this sounds fairly standard except the only way to mark progress is through triggering moves, primarily the move "Reach a Milestone". Since Ironsworn is a PbtA the moves are player facing, it is the player through their character's actions that triggers them. Second awesome part is those trackers, each being ten segments long. They aren't automatically completed when they are filled instead there is move "Fulfil your vow" that states
When you achieve what you believe to be the fulfillment of your vow, roll the challenge dice and compare to your progress.
That is when the player thinks their character is in a position to have completed their vow they make a roll and see what comes out of it. It lets the player decide if their little work is enough (not much progress marked, high change of complications) or if they should work harder on it. Awesome pacing tool. Ironsworn is also made for GM-less play which gives so may tools to the GM they can almost go on autopilot.
Burning Wheel has an awesome feedback loop called the Artha Cycle. The very short of it is
Player states their character's beliefs (goals)
Player have their character try to achieve their beliefs possibly spending Artha (a player-facing currency used to manipulate rolls) to increse chance for success
Character earns progress in tested skills slowly increasing their proficiency in them
At regular intervals (often end-of-session) the players earn more Artha for their character's progression on beliefs
Player states their character's beliefs (goals)
And so it goes on and on. Often all I have to do as a GM is to keep track of the world and put obstacles in the way of the characters, as in challenge their beliefs. With players working the system I often not only get stated what their character's goal is but also what the obstacle is. Then all I have to do is play the world.
Something that is also helpful in this situation is to ask what their Intent is with their action. The why they want to do it. Often striking up that conversation looses some blocks.
Another thing that makes Oracle / Seer / Diviner characters difficult to GM for is that you need to know things in advance, where the adventure leads to etc. As one whose GMing style leans heavily into Play To Find Out that sort of characters is kind of counter to it.
That said it is highly dependent of what the player want out of such an archetype. If it is a flavour for how the character solves problems I'm all for that. Touching an item to get a vision/impression for something (adventure) related to it go ahead. That is not too different to other ways of investigating. But the player who wants those powers to get "quest markers" or to completely negate obstacles ("hurr durr I have foresight so I've seen the ambush") gets hard noes from me.
Also agreeing with @dumples, D&D 5e Divination wizards are very well made and the divination spells work well in those kind of worlds.
D&D is hard. Sure the core of it is straight forward but then things start to add up. It is a game that wants you to care about minutia. How far travelled, distance between two points, the height of dungeons ceilings, how long passed since that spell was cast, how much you ate yesterday. And it wants you to arbitrate spell interactions, players weird schemes and prepare a lot of stuff. Also it wants you to actually run the narrative. Some love this difficulty, find the intricacies challenging and desire to master it all.
The good news is that the behemoth of D&D isn’t alone out there. Really lots of good stuff can be found. First problem is knowing what one want to find. Second is finding others that have similar taste to you. But it is doable and a good thing to do is ask for help. Because if it is something we like here it is to talk about ttrpgs. Getting us to shut up… better ask santa for a dragon.
Wrapped up a Torchbearer campaign about this time last year and now a long term player have taken up the mantle and is GMing some Burning Wheel.
Did very little GM-ing. Just some sporadic Blades and a few sessions of Swords of the Serpentine. Like the core of Serpentine but they have added on too many auxiliary systems for me to enjoy it. It doesn’t really know what it want to be - light or complex.
Gotten into OSR adventures. Have no liking to the systems but truly love the adventure designs. It is the openness of them that calls to me, an invitation “here is the situation go wild”. And they seem so plug-and-playable, and descriptions seldom last longer than a paragraph, and there are tables instead of words, and hooks are listed without fuzz. Am I smitten? Yes!
As the year draws to a close I’m starting up my first campaign in my native Swedish - Drakar och Demoner. Will sound so incredibly geeky to do roleplaying in Swedish. Corny deluxe.
The setting of blades is while well crafted utterly dark and dreary. Personally I cannot stand it. So anything that is forged in the dark (what the generic mechanics are called) but with a bit more sun is in my opinion pretty much an upgrade. So if you are interested in the forged family of systems and you find CO’s setting/premise go for it.
Can also recommend you to have a look at the larger FitD ecosystem as there are plenty of goodies.
Anything compared to Duskvol is sunny. That city and its atmosphere is so oppresivley dark and dreary. The sun literally doesn’t shine and no stars illuminate the night sky.
I don’t find Cthulhu horror that dark. Damp and misty sure. With the cosmic/existential horror being rooted in ones insignificance and the ungraspness of the infinite existence there is little explicit need for darkness. It can be dark yes, just doesn’t need to be.
Am I missing something here? Can this even generate 5 or 7?
D20/5 gives [1…4] and D20/10 [1…2], of course assuming whole numbers. Where to get the factors for 5? 5 can be factored only as 5x1 or 1x5 and the 5 cannot be found either in d20/5 or d20/10. Same is true for 7.
And I don’t see it happening either if we allow rational numbers. To get 5 we would get the following expressions
5= d120/5 x d220/10 = d120 x d220/50
or 250= d120 x d220
And two d20 multiplied together cannot give us 250.
But then do really need the d8? If we toss that in the bin we can go to the universal d60. This one dice will allow us to get
d2 (even/odd)
d3 (d60/20)
d4 (d60/15)
d5 (d60/12)
d6 (d60/10)
d10 (d60/6)
and d12, d15, d20, d30
0 - Don’t expect to get an awesome group on the first try, may take a while as you gather up people you want to play with.
1 - Look for communities, especially if they run shorter or west marches style games. Not necessarily join with the intent to run games, but play. Get to know folks and then extend invites to them for game.
2 - Run a few shorter games of limited length. 3-5 session long I find to be awesome to get something done. Some may be awful but you only have to stand them for a few games.
3 - Questionnaire where you discreetly bring up your red flags and feel the waters around them. For example I always mention that safety tools will be used and if they want a specific tool used I’ll happily do that for them. If I get replies they don’t need safety tools or disparage them in some way that would for me be a red flag.
4 - Don’t be afraid to disband groups or kick out folks. It is not a failure.
I have recently encountered ICON and come to really like its dying mechanic. Each time a character is reduced to 0HP they become incapacitated, but stable, and gain a wound. Each wound reduces max hp by 25% and only goes away after an adventure (quest). A character can help an incapacitated character (rescuing) bringing them up and healing them to their new max HP, which after one wound would be 75% of max. Second time dropping to 0hp, a second would and new max hp of 50% of original.
It gives good longevity in individual encounters and forces caution in the longer run.
Following the everlasting complaint on the rpg reddit about player being entitled and GM struggling between player not doing anything and players leaving without notice. I am curious about how do you select your player, and what are your trick/tips to identify the problematic ones before problems occurs
Not completely a joke unfortunately. Often if someone is interested in the niche game I want to try running and is available when I can run it I’ll take them. There is of course some vetting: a light conversation about the system, their interest in it and then I’ll judge their reaction and openness to safety tools. After this I can be fairly certain they aren’t complete asses.
Also it is easier to endure that player if you don’t plan for the campaign to last beyond 5-10 sessions. A dip into the system to try it out and then onto the next one.
I love the “happy backstory” characters and love GMing for them. Having an auntie the next village over is just wonderfully quaint. A couple of siblings whose mess has to be cleaned up. Cousins that have to be bailed out of trouble. That is just the low stakes. Turn up the heat a little and put some conflicting interests in the mix and you have a recipe for character drama.
And then there are all the larger and societal issues that become personal. Those affected by the situation are those that matter for the pc. While out killing goblins the bank took the farm. Auntie with an anarcho-syndicalist streak is accused of witchcraft.
Or mr edgy edgelord number fifteen who cares about nothing and none. My taste is clear - homebaked apple pie and an afternoon in the hammock.
I will be DMing a DnD 5e adventure going from levels 1-12 starting this week. I am finishing up the personal quests for each character to help tie them in more into the adventure and give them something to look forward to for themselves. Most of the characters were pretty easy to work with, but I am somewhat stuck on the Armorer...
10th level I imagine a year from now. A lot can change in that time, including but not limited to character and player desires. What I would do is that if you have questions ask the player about their character and use those answers. Why are they an artificer? What do they need to protect themselves from? Also what does the player find cool. Use that to find the reward. Doesn’t need to be “real” until it is handed out.
Also look at what class options they take and supercharge those. Thunder gauntlets mk2 now allows the wearer 1/day to cast chain lightning without spending a spell slot. Homunculus Servant revision R upgrades it to the equivalent of a ranger’s pet.
Onto this statement
They have stated that their character’s dream is to create a legendary item
In my book a legendary item cannot be created as its history and past users is what gives it power. Like everyone having added their evilness to the Book of Vile Darkness. A legendary item without a pedigree is just a powerful doo-hickey. I would turn the statement back to the player - Why. Why does their character want to create a “legendary” item? Is there something they need to prove?
If it is OK to have the idol fall you can always have them be a Henry Ford X Saruman. A titan of industry and a learned scholar but peeling the facade they are just absolutely vile. Let the first act be about the artificer gaining their idol’s attention. Perhaps a showcase/competition for up and coming artificers with the grand prizes being internships. Unpaid and have to fund their personal projects of course. But they get mentorship. Act two then is unpeeling the facade as they get more insight into the idol’s work and actual person. Let there be a schism. Act three then is with the realization that the idol is either actively working with the BBEG or knowingly profit from them.
But this isn’t closer to figuring out their craft. However since we don’t need to know the leggy yet, only the fair item. Still excellent and awesome but can be of lesser power.
Read it and I have to say I vehemently disagree with the author’s conclusions. Only the third point I can a bit agree with, but not the others. Not saying it is bad advice but for the goal of “three methods to get the magic of BURNING WHEEL’s approach in your game, no matter what it may be”* the mark is missed. My methods instead would be
THE
ARTHA
CYCLE
It is in its Artha Cycle one finds the magic of Burning Wheel, everything else is just fuel for the fire. The Artha Cyle then…
The player states a Belief their character has. It is good, but not required, to include a goal in this Belief.
The player has their character try and achieve said Belief, if the test really matters Artha (player-facing meta currency) is spent on the roll to improve the chance for success. Perhaps they get a bit on their way, perhaps they succeed. Or they fail. Regardless…
The player is awarded for playing their character’s Belief with Artha (meta currencies) and the character is rewared by getting better at the skill.
Update Belief and start the cycle anew
That there is Burning Wheel at its core. You can find more about it in the Hub and Spokes (free), or just ask if you want to know more about it.
Relationships, which the author so focuses on, are a tool for the player to write Beliefs about and use to achieve them. They are also excellent tools for the GM to challenge Beliefs as at the beginning of the game every relationship the characters has are someone the player spent points on to create when they burnt their character. So they matter because the Players have said so. But you can remove them and still have Burning Wheel.
Lets talk a bit about the Author’s third point
III: Build Massive, Compound Stakes on Dice Rolls
I agree that Burning Wheel really wants the tests to matter. Spamming tests are not the way. Let’s circle back to the Artha Cycle. Players and Characters are rewarded (mainly) for having their Beliefs in play, which on the other side says that if the scene isn’t about a Belief of theirs there is barely anything in it. Instincts, Traits, other PCs, relationships etc may be there using the character to get involved. But back to big tests. The less you test in Burning Wheel there more those tests matters and the more the player can make those tests matter through spending Artha on them. The player is also more inclined to spend Artha on tests if they don’t feel they have to spend it on several minor tests. What I’ve found this leads to at the table is a test or two to set up the big test. Also there is a focus around the test, a focus to better position their character for it. So once the test comes around it already matters, the table has invested in it and we are all eager to see it play out.
That is all I have to say about it for now. Read Burning Wheel, at least the Hub and Spokes. There are good things in it.
But since I cannot shut up - if you are running a more classical fantasy game implementing the Artha Cycle from Torchbearer may be a better idea as it is a bit scaled down.
I find a simple way is to relinquish control of the game and let the players drive it. Once you, together with the group, have set up the Situation and Big Picture hand over the reins to the players. Saying
Ok, you have your Beliefs. Anyone wants to begin trying to achieve something?
It may be slow in the beginning, lots of questions and hesitation. But be a bit careful using this technique as it can devolve into a bunch of solo games. Nothing wrong with that but it may not be what you want.
Second method is a bit more directed. Between sessions look at beliefs that weren’t touch upon and figure out a scene where you can drop the characters straight into. Or if your players are active and send you their new ones take one of them. Drop them straight in, no fuss, full in media res. If they want to poison the king drop them into the castle kitchens and ask them where they got the poison from. Use that information, with perhaps a test, to set up their immediate obstacle. I also call this the Blades method (as I’ve take it from Blades in the Dark).
Instincts and traits I seldom get a chance to actively engage when GMing, have so many other things going on then. Leave these things up the players.
Sometimes though it really helps to see how others do it. Jump into a few actual plays, I would skip around in their character burning sessions to see if their flavour warrants more in-depth dedication.
I feel Ironsworn is a good mix of PbtA and BW. At its core it is a PbtA, moves and all that jazz. But it hands over narrative drive to the players in a direct way. Ironsworn demands Vows to be sworn, essentially telling the Player that if this matter for your character a vow need to be made. Its progress then tacked and when fulfilled rewards given. I see parts of the Artha Cycle there (minus the meta-currencies) but one not as active as BW’s.
Most of you are probably already aware of prolific game designer Grant Howitt, I’ve only just realised just quite how prolific he is. There are 79 RPGs on his itch.io page, most of which are pay-what-you-want, and several of which contain multiple different games!...
I backed it for more than I shouldn’t have, but I want it on my shelf. Looking cool. Looking provocative. I mean how could I not want it on my shelf? Also the pitch does make it sound awesome!
I thought of picking up Dolmenwood but if I remember correctly that campaign launched shortly after Shadow of the Weird Wizard. And SotWW ate my whole fantasy budget
Lately I’ve been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I’ve (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I’ve gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with...
Scarlet heroes sounds interesting. I’ll put it on the “shortlist”. The tome on the other hand… I have plenty of tables. But then mire is better. By its drivethrough description it appears questing beast did some reviewing of it.
I had a hard time understanding this blog. One read I was confused. Second I wondered when the point was coming. Third read I understood why it didn’t click for me - OSR (trad?) blogs are sooo meandering. Spreading out their kernels all over the place. Once I started reading like that its concepts came to me.
And it was Play to Find Out in a different package. The Plot spoken about in the article are fronts. Yup, I’m not in the OSR scene.
Cyberware quirks and features for particular megacorp product lines
Variant gengineered human types for PCs who don’t fit the baseline mold
Optional rules for the psychological strain of Cyber Alienation
Optional rules for cheap street cyber, for those campaign settings where every goon with a knife has some wire beneath his skin
Spellcasting, spirit summoning, and magical items for GMs who want to add a dash of magic into their cyberpunk world
Haven’t dug into it so I cannot speak about how essential these extra options are to the game but based on experience from his previous games (Stars & Worlds) they are nice. But not mandatory unless your game leans into one of those headings. For example if your Stars Without Numbers setting features Mechs you will want the deluxe edition of Stars as the Mech rules are in the deluxe edition. And if you Cities setting features magic (like Shadowrun) you will want the deluxe edition because it is there you find those rules.
I generally say grab the free edition and get going. Then if you find yourself wishing for rules covered in the deluxe edition then get it. Or if you just find it an awesome product and have a few dollars to toss Kevin’s way.
What RPG have you been dying to run?
...and why haven't you run it yet? :D
How To Be A Dragon – Dealing with wyrm infestations (@fishtrouts) ( 64.media.tumblr.com )
Dealing with wyrm infestations 1...
Jesse bringing geometry to the table ( ttrpg.network )
How much combats in your game ?
Just a general conversation thread,...
Some thoughts on how DnD makes Monsters dangerous compared to Dragonbane
Agter our latest DnD game our regular DM once again thought loudly on how to make dragons have more teeth. And it got me thinking about how Dragonbane handles capital M monsters differently....
Their ideas are as interesting as they are frightening ( ttrpg.network )
I once had a player that wanted a Decanter of Endless Water just to waterboard people 😳
Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent ( pandaily.com )
Rumours, speculation and hearsay? "Interesting" at least.
How does your favourite game ease the GM job ?
I keep reading over various internets communities, how being a GM is hard, how player are ungrateful spoiled kids, and how much GM struggles....
Ca...can I just roll for it? ( lemmy.world )
Why, yes! You would be able to roll for it in one of my games!...
Which character concepts are less cool to play than they seems ?
What about the idea which at first looks pretty cool but end-up at worst not bringing anything to the game at worst being boring to play ?
What everyone really wants this Christmas. ( startrek.website )
How was your 2023 RPG season?
End of the year is coming, so let’s talk about our 2023 RPG year. Was their any great moment? Nice discovery? Projects finally achieved/started?
Critical Role’s Candela Obscura is but a pale shadow of its inspiration, Blades in the Dark ( www.polygon.com )
100% Accurate ( lemmy.world )
I have no skin in this game ( i.imgur.com )
Finding a group ( lemmy.world )
Good times...I think ( ttrpg.network )
Her home, bar, and underground speakeasy that she shared with a clan of otterfolk. It’s…it’s fine, everyone made it out… it’s fine…
Everyone loves to roll 1 die every 30 minutes (/s) ( ttrpg.network )
If you check my comment, I will show you my current Dying condition that I have been able to test on the field....
How do you select your player
Following the everlasting complaint on the rpg reddit about player being entitled and GM struggling between player not doing anything and players leaving without notice. I am curious about how do you select your player, and what are your trick/tips to identify the problematic ones before problems occurs
Subverting expectations ( startrek.website )
Personal Item Crafting Quest for Armorer Artificer
I will be DMing a DnD 5e adventure going from levels 1-12 starting this week. I am finishing up the personal quests for each character to help tie them in more into the adventure and give them something to look forward to for themselves. Most of the characters were pretty easy to work with, but I am somewhat stuck on the Armorer...
This is a triumph in dark sci-fi sandbox adventuring | RPG Review of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds by Dave Thaumavore ( www.youtube.com )
Dave’s review of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds by Alex T, a gritty horror sci-fi sandbox....
Not all games can or should be Burning Wheel, but every game can learn from it ( www.runehammer.online )
Hankerin Ferinale simplifies Burning Wheel down to three steps:...
I've just discovered the wealth of mad RPGs that Grant Howitt has written ( gshowitt.itch.io )
Most of you are probably already aware of prolific game designer Grant Howitt, I’ve only just realised just quite how prolific he is. There are 79 RPGs on his itch.io page, most of which are pay-what-you-want, and several of which contain multiple different games!...
You favorite Solo adventures/modules/systems to spice up prep with?
Lately I’ve been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I’ve (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I’ve gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with...
And they'll likely only read parts of it ( startrek.website )
Deathwish ( startrek.website )
What is high-trust trad adventure design? ( blog.indre-auge.studio )
For the first time in 40 years, Windows will ship without built-in word processor - Ars Technica ( arstechnica.com )
cross-posted from !technology
NERDS! ( diyrpg.org )
Cities Without Number is now released ( www.drivethrurpg.com )
Kevin Crawford’s latest offering Cities Without Number is here. Pretty much more of the same good stuff but this time with cyberpunk flavour....