Hey thereI've decided to start a West Marches-style campaign on my LGS. It sounds the perfect style to run for a public setting w/ rotating players, but I myself have never DMed oneAny experiences, tips and advices regarding DM-ing/playing West Marches style games?Or general tips for running games on LGS ? For those unfamiliar with West Marches style, here is what google have to say about it:>Player-Driven Exploration: Players decide where to go and what to explore, venturing into unknown territory from a safe starting town.>Rotating Cast: A large pool of players participates, but different combinations of adventurers form parties for each session, preventing the need for a single regular group.>Sandbox World: The world is a sandbox, with the map and plot emerging as players discover new locations and rumors, rather than being dictated by the GM.>No Fixed Schedule: Sessions occur when players organize themselves, often on a voluntary basis.>Low GM Prep: The Game Master (GM) focuses on creating a world and potential encounters, responding to player choices, rather than crafting complex plots.>Self-Contained Sessions: Adventures are often designed to be resolved in a single session, with storylines evolving over time.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97329984Nta, but what people tend to forget is that the original claim was that it was played by an actual, physical table. West Marches games are only feasible with online tables, because their very nature requires the ability to swap players at the drop of a hat. It's just not going to happen in a single lonely LGS in a small town that it was supposedly held in.The funny part is that what was clearly a bullshit story became an actual mode of play and people managed to work out a bunch of ways to make it happen ever since, except for actual tables ofc
>>97329961West Marches is just a specific type of hexcrawl that accomodates for a fuckhuge number of players and lack of real scheduleIt's like asking what's the difference between a Mazda and Mazda Miata
>>97335852>original claim was that it was played by an actual, physical table>West Marches games are only feasible with online tablesWhy?>requires the ability to swap players at the drop of a hatBy drop of hat you mean mid-session, or just between sessions?>not going to happen in a single lonely LGS in a small towSo, I haven't announced the game yet but I made a poll on the LGS's whatsapp group for interest players, got 14 (10 veterans, 4 newbies). There might be more people willing to play (plus, my city is 1.1 million people, and nearby cities would be included in the area - I myself am a player in a DnD group on another city 40min drive)That, together with the fact I know a lot of people (I could probably put a WM campaign together with just friends), makes me believe it would be fairly easy to get 10~20 players within the first semester of 2026. I feel like 10+ is already WM worthy, and even if I get a low player count, that's not my focus. What I like the most about it is the fact I can invite people without the commitment - I can just say "hey, drop by, if you like you can come to future sessions whenever you can". Note that on the friends aspect, I do plan to invite friends occasionally - I already got one hooked for first session, others might be recruited later (considering inviting GF to second session for instance)I'm also planning to make a splinter table at my regular group if they're up to it, so that's +6 playersComment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97335886>Why?Also other anon, but do you know a random group of spare 120 players in a town of 5k people? And I mean spare, without their own group or ongoing games.Because I don't know if I could wrap together that many people playing at all in a city of 200k>Rest of the postHello, HowieGood bye, HowieCome back to us when you finally start playing games, instead of asking how to.
>>97336568>120 players in a town of 5k people?>that many people playing at all in a city of 200kYeah, it depends on availability. I do happen to live somewhere with a wider population, multiple LGS around town (and not that many running TTRPG, since they usually focus on TCG). If the situation was different / player count was lower, maybe I wouldn't try something like thisBut then again, it *doesn't have* to be a huge rotating crew. My main goal w/ the WM style is not really to build up a huge group, but rather be able to invite people/have new people join without fear of commitment. People can join one session and see how they feel, can join every other session, and I assume I might have 2~3 hardcore people that will stick through all the first 5~6 sessions>Come back to us when you finally start playing games, instead of asking how toI will. The schedule is:>Next Wednesday (14) - officially posting the campaign & starting to have people sign up>Next Thursday (15) - testing the system/vibe w/ my core group>Following Tuesday (20) - first official sessionIt's not only on the realm of ideas anymore, I actually have dates (agreed w/ manager from LGS, agreed the playtest with my core group, etc)
What's a fun way to introduce NTR elements into my Eberron game?
>>97336143So basically, it's intended to be effectively a punishment, straight upWeird.
>>97336149It's a good practice. Nudging people in direction you want them to go while maintaining the impression it's all their own decision is useful tool for GMing. And perhaps life in general. Now, I normally don't do cuckoldry, or much of any romance plots, but that's what this thread is abou and I think the method could be used to facilitate it.
>>97321843They're saying that shit like NTR and cheating etc. are extremely ordinary parts of human behavior and history and unless you live under a rock you know it's the truth.
>>97336177Nah, I prefer not getting into petty arguments with my players over romance bullshit.>>97336524t. cuckold
>>97321843you actually have to play it at a smaller, more distant table
>A New Warhammer World is coming to the USA!>...just outside D.C.https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/u6jqjmvz/a-warhammer-world-in-the-usa-get-the-details-here/
>>97333681The existing East and West Wings aren't even remotely symmetrical. They're both afterthoughts added on by subsequent administrations, and they only superficially mimic the architectural style of the executive mansion.
>>97333731Why is that a problem? Why should I respect those rules?
>>97334774Because you don't want a government that doesn't follow its own laws and regulations? What kind of paste-eating fucking question even is this.
>>97335451>Because you don't want a government that doesn't follow its own laws and regulations? Oh, you mean like every government ever? That's why we have a Supreme Court, you mouth-breathing poltroon.
>>97335451But what it was doing while following those rules and regulations wasn't ever good. In fact most of the rules and regulations seemed to be stopping it from doing anything good.
dead before bump limit edition▶What is Kingdom Death?Kingdom Death is a tabletop miniature brand stared by Adam Poots and operated by himself and his Team that later spun off into a miniature based bored game funded by two very successful Kickstarter campaigns.▶What is Kingdom Death: Monster?Monster is a Nightmare Horror cooperative boss battler/miniature hobby game for 1-4 players about hope in a strange world of bizarre monstrosities and perpetually darkness. Players take on the role of survivors that band together to form a settlement, fighting monsters, crafting weapons and gear, and developing their civilization to ensure survival from generation to generation.Prologue Narration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNLc8dHv0AcThe Game is broken up into 3 phases:1. During your Hunt Phase your band of survivors traverse the world of KD in pursuit of their quarry.2. After successfully tracking your quarry you will begin the Showdown Phase, where you must fell these horrific creatures in order to acquire precious resources.3. After the battle, your survivors wander home with loot in hand to begin the Settlement Phase. Arm yourself by developing new weapons and bizarre structures to prepare for next year's hunt.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97327226Doing alright, two deaths but starting on getting a super survivor with 2 strength, 2 evasion, and 1 luck so far. Killed 3 white lions and got a Rawhide set and part of a white lion set up (using CE). Facing the butcher next, I would have LIKED to have some monster grease but on year 3 I had a choice between antelope and white lion and I went with white lion in the hopes I could get a cat gut bow and circlet. I got neither. So I guess we're going this one raw.
>>97329648>>97328199And I thought my settlement was doing bad after three losses.
>>97329648>>97332885AIEEE IM GETTING KICK LOOPED SAVE ME SCRIBE MAN
>>97334758>somehow manage to get through that fight with no deaths, just one heavily injured soon to be breeding bitch >return to settlement >draw plague >3 of the returning survivors die anyway, everyone but the cripple Sometimes I really hate this game
>>97327226I'm at around LY20 and I think I need to fuck as much as possible this lantern year and the next one to hopefully get to 22 pop (4 hunters + 2 full supporting watcher whatchamacallits) and fight the watcher early at LY21 or 22
If you want to play a game that doesn't have magic in it at all, play a system that doesn't have magic in it at all.If you want to play a space adventure, play a system designed for space adventures.If you want to play a horror game, play a system designed for horror games.
>>97320798>It took you a whole day to have the guts in actually quote and reply, No, I just have actually games to run and play or systems to work on. In fact, I'm the one in charge of google sheets for an entire TTRPG so I have more important things to do than sit here and click refresh like (you). The fact you don't means you're just showing how pathetic you are.>Now would you like to explained to the rest of the class what you found so odious to trigger your first response?Faggots who whine about D&D are all nogames losers, because they're just contrarian subhuman faggots who hate it because it's popular.
>>97320798Right's superior.
>>97324236Ok, so you got enraged by some sort of fabricated scenario you enacted in your mind, good to know. I suggest medications as soon as possible, get well anon.
>>97320876You can do that too, yeah, you're just changing what you do during those hours. If you play as a caster of any kind you should read on how the magic works and learn the effects of your spells, or the game bogs down every other round.
>>97325467You're just retarded.
Welcome to the Old School Renaissance General, the thread dedicated to first-decade, Gygaxian D&D, its faithful modern clones, and content created for use with them. Later editions (2e and newer) should be discussed elsewhere. And as we enter this happiest and newest of years, remember: 2e was never an old-school game, bait is for reporting, and fish is for smoking! Happy new year, grogs!Broadly, OSR games encourage a tonal and mechanical fidelity to Dungeons & Dragons played as intended by its creators from 1974 to 1983 — less emphasis on linear adventures and overarching metaplots and a greater emphasis on player agency.If you are new to the OSR, welcome! Ask us whatever you're curious about: we'll be happy to help you get started. We also have two excellent beginner guides created by Anons with feedback from the thread that you can check for help:>n00b DM's Guidehttps://pastebin.com/EVvt6P0B>n00b Player's Handbookhttps://pastebin.com/XALkXkV0>Troves, Resources, Blogs, etc:http://pastebin.com/9fzM6128>Need a starter dungeon? Here's a curated collection:Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97334967>What do the stars represent?Statues!>cool shit at the bottom of that poolAn aboleth!>>97335121Thanks anon. I'm having fun.
>>97336417Thanks. I point a webcam at it and stream it to my players. We don't use it for anything other than combat, and it's generally just used to clarify positioning of enemies and terrain. Realistically, it's an excuse for me to show off my miniatures and terrain but my players enjoy it.
>>97334125Followup: how far away should I set this from the party's starting town? We'll be playing in Wilderlands, starting in Haghill. Maybe 30 miles?
I joined a group that does rotation DMing so I'm due to come up in a month or so, want to run a hexcrawl in B/X. I have played and run a bit of B/X before but would like to get a bit more experience, anyone here got experience with solo play?
>>97336545Thank god. I was scared these posts might be from actual people.
Tell me about your favorite hexcrawl system that you've played/found/created.>How does it make exploration fun>What are some interesting encounters/points of interest tables>Did you and your players enjoy it?
I absolutely LOVE wilderlands of high fantasy. It's a setting, not a system, but it's so goddamn good.
>>97336596We literally had 5 different hexcrawl threads when you've made this one.Is this just the flavour of the shitpost for January?
>>97336596System-wise? Forbidden Lands hits a pretty good stride of detail oriented+speed. However I don't love resource dice in concept (in practice it's fine, I'm just autistic). >How does it make exploration fun?It makes exploration meaningful by *actually* finding lost sites that nobody has on the map. You populate the map with these sites as you discover them>What are some interesting encountersThere's a big list of encounters in the Game Master's guide. Some of my favorites include a Demon who encounters the party randomly and tries to bargain with them on more than one occasion. A giant animated armor that is invulnerable to all damage until the party figures out a way to destroy it (there's a secret that they learn about) who doesn't tend to attack the party (unless certain circumstances are met). There's also one where a minotaur's mate has been killed by human guards and the players can choose between a human patrol or avenging the minotaur's loss.>Do you and your players enjoy it?Actual discovery and exploration? Fuck yes we do.
I've been playing games for almost two decades now and people who pump Charisma are consistently the most useless faggots in every party. And this remained true even during the very few times I have attempted it myself.I have no choice but to arrive at the conclusion that Charisma and every one of its iterations across every fucking game ever is just genuinely useless placebo dog shit. And when pressed to justify their investment charismafaggots always ramble about how good it is in real life as if that has any fucking bearing at all on TTRPGs.Besides, it's not that good in real life either. Actors and performers were considered on the same level as prostitutes in status for most of history.
>>97336575the NPCs feel however the GM wants them to feel, nobody gives a shit about disposition rules
>>97336577>yes i'm a fucking retard that keeps trying to hammer nails with my bare hand getting hurt in the process and failing to pin the fucking nail, then bitch when get pointed to the fucking hammer right there!
>>97336557I have. You've got a skill issue on your hand, bro.
>>97327623Explain your point or I accept your concession.
>>97327683>You keep crying but you can't prove me wrong.You've been given hard evidence that proves you wrong, and you just go "NUH UH" like the retard (you) are.You're a nogames faggot, please kill yourself.
>running a Witcher game for my friends>the party has a Witcher, a scoia’tel elf, a vran bard, and a Skelliger druid>if these chucklefucks don’t kill each other, they’re getting lynched by the first peasants they look at the wrong way
People are terrified of witchers. There's enough stories about them that Geralt generally travels without concern about anyone except the bandits that plague everyone.As long as the party has a witcher, most peasants may hate and despise the group, but they're just going to do their best to not get caught up in their business rather than trying their luck accosting them.
>>97330885I don't think people care that much about being from Skellige and the party being heavily armed and having a Witcher present will already make them only hassled by those with some serious ability to back it up. Also Druids are literally mages, by virtue of having one the party is already high status and even nobles won't fuck with them. They're not part of the Lodge or whatever but that's purely a cultural difference, even royalty will probably avoid blatant provocation because nothing good comes from making enemies with a mage
>>97334147Skelligers are generally perceived as bloodthirsty savages, and the cultural difference is an important one. To Nordling lords, their mages were specially trained at an academy to serve them. Druids weren’t, and might as well be basically witches.That’s not even getting to that, by the Third Northern War, even said Nordling mages are being hunted down by witch hunters, let alone pagan druids from the pirate islands.
>Man, Elf, DwarfTo this day, it's the most kino fantasy party.
>>97335911>Elves350_7162[1].jpg
>>97334359>Duck, Man, Half-Demon
>>97335911>posh racist dwarf (raised by high elves)>grumpy racist elf (raised by dwarves)I will now join your game.
>>97334943Therix Mcnally, Courageous and Zemnach Bloodfeast look like. Just put away the pronouns.
>>97334359And you only posted it for the 3rd time this yearIt's 10th of January.
Emotional support elf editionDiscuss elves.Post elves.Love elves.All elf lore, game stories art and any else that's elfy is all appreciated.Thread question: To what extent do elves share their wisdom and experience with other races to help them emotionally and psychologically?previous thread: >>97278632
>>97335557Just use MAID.
>>97335612MAID is, sadly, rather lacking in terms of long-term playability.>>97335580I was actually thinking of doing something like that with either BRP or Genesys.>>97335583Glad you agree.
>>97335536I agree, we deserve a proper magic university RPG, Strixhaven but not GAY and tied into MtG metaplot garbage
RIFTS! The science fantasy world of post-apoc cyborgs, wizards, dragons, ninjas, giant mecha, super-nazis, robot ninjas, vampires, underwater kingdoms, remnant human supertech civilizations and everything you can imagine all rolled into one setting where interdimensional RIFTS have pierced Earth's fabric and turned it into a playground for aliens and monsters!Plus other Palladium Games about superheroes, zombies, classic fantasy, supernaturals investigation and more. Talk about:>RIFTS(tm)>Heroes Unlimited>Palladium Fantasy>Beyond the Supernatural>Dead Reign>Robotech (lol)>TMNT & Other Strangeness + After the Bomb>Splicers>Nightbane>Savage RiftsComment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97173634As a concept, how appealing is a Nightbane/Dead Reign crossover campaign where Dark Day was replaced with the Rise, you play Nightbane, and you get to basically have a splatterpunk superhero campaign running around butchering zombies and trying to rescue what's left of humanity?>>97182685The RCC is also up on 1d6chan. Actually, there's a fair few RCCs written up on 1d6chan nowadays.
>>97252807Both are reptilian humanoids, but, off the top of my head...Grackletooths are coded as big, bold, paladin-type wannabe heroes who prefer to live in peace, but are also happy to punch evil in the snoot when it gets in their face. Larmacs, on the other hand, are characterized more as lazy, slobby bums who just want to eat, drink, make merry, and do as little work as possible.https://1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Grackle_Toothhttps://1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Larmac
>>97264750Biggest advantage Rifts has is that there's lore aplenty. Heroes Unlimited, After the Bomb, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness are literally all crunch and no fluff, so if you've never built your own world before... good luck.
>>97247628Check out the PDF Share Thread; they got a pretty chunky Palladium RPG mega tucked away, though it's labeled simply as "Rifts".
>>97335340So TW(TM) stuff is lumpy, ornate, & has a bunch if gemstones glued to it so it looks like a weird maguffin weapon for a cheap scifi/fantasy movie made in the 80'sMilitary TW stuff looks functional & has some gold trim, tasteful gemstones in places youd expect like chest & helm, that give it a nice look, or else they're all attached on the inside where you cant see.There's a subset of "steam/diesel/oldschoolpunk" TWs who make restorations with alm the gemstones & stuff hidden behind panels like the military TW stuff.Then theres all the specialty case TW stuff that is either alien or whatever
Age of Sigmar the game Edition>Previously, in the Mortal Realms>>97324541>Official AoS website:https://www.ageofsigmar.com>Downloads, Rules Errata, and FAQs:https://www.warhammer-community.com/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-downloads/>Toolshttps://runebrush.pa-sy.com/warscroll/>Anvil of Apotheosis hero creator:Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97336532This piece of art gets posted like 50 times a month but it's so fun I don't even mind
>>97336431that's what happens when your society abandons iron for microplastics, now he needs blue to stay up
>>97336540It's definitely my favorite AoS piece
>>97336055Which one? Red, blue, rust?
>>97336355That ain't me btw or you would have gotten a straight answer, I love talking about painting
This thread is dedicated to all kinds of solo games, systems, tools, and campaigns.Fail Forward Edition.>Last Thread: >>97062042Resources:https://rentry.org/srpgghttps://infinityweavers.link/re-up/solo-rp-toolkitMore threads:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/orhttps://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/%2Fsrpgg%2F/type/op/Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>97334069I don't know, pretending to have friends is kind of sad.
>>97330897I love stirges. The monsters are the best thing about d&d
>>97331603You don't have to. Why bother doing anything, we're all just going to rot away.I'm lucky, in that I've learned that once I start I really enjoy playing, so with that in mind I can trick myself into getting over the initial "what's the point" hurdle.
>>97334171Why not, I met my wife through solo gaming
>>97331603Sounds like a case of laziness masquerading as existential angst to me.All you need is to do this:1. Starts in the middle of the action.Like the opening of a James Bond movie. The whole getting the 'quest' bit is backstory and can be explored during play as a flashback.2. End each session on a cliffhangerBeginning of an action scene, discovery of a clue you will generate next session, introduction of a new NPC, a weird sound around the corner, etc. Make sure you leave the session on a mystery/unknown fate. So if you introduce a new NPC, you don't roll for action/alignment until the next session. You give the bare minimum of a description. Makes you want to pick the game up later and find out what will happen. You can quit before a fight or in the middle of it. Or when you're in a bad position.That's it. That's the 'secret' of solo motivation. It's that simple. Ending on a cliffhanger count as a random event too, so it can remove the need to generate them randomly in play.
Thoughts on Twilight 2000? I've been wanting to run a gritty setting akin to S.T.A.L.K.E.R (the anomalies and artifacts I can add on my own). I've been considering Delta Green as a system, but T-2000 caught my eye and seems interesting.
>>97325801>>97330028While I enjoy 2.2, I'm not sure if it is the superior fit—it's a bit too simulationist imo (even if your concept of Stalker is influenced more by tacticool mods like Anomaly/GAMMA than the OG trilogy). Despite how gritty stalker is as a setting, it's really classic adventure stuff when you think about it; just post apocalypse dnd. You have bandits, magic loot (artifacts), cults (monolith), roving monsters (mutants), taverns complete with odd jobs and quests (100 rads), dungeons (labs) made by evil magicians (the group/ccon), and even a fucking adventurer's guild that exists to profit off of it all (free stalkers).I'm not saying to run it in any d&d or d20 system, of course. Just thinking outloud. Stalker is presented to be a complete gritty shit-eating simulator, but the whole premise is very action-adventure-like. Newer t2k editions may represent this better.Looking beyond t2k, I'm curious about what other systems would best represent these competing themes. I've actually been working on my own (barely playable) stalker system from scratch since playing the trilogy, but handling this push and pull between survivalist wank and adventure is an issue for me as well.
>>97328928>we found a 81mm mortar which was then used in an attempt to rescue kidnapped woman and children from a local cult. Unfortunately due to some bad intelligence/recon/spotting on my part then woman and children tasted white phosphorus. It's ok though because we ended up looting a smoothbore 100mm field gun that could also fire APFDS. All in 10/10 would war crime againI think I may look into this game.
>>97325801BRP/Mythras might be better. It in and of itself is DG but better.
>>97325801I am 99% sure there are a tonne of fan systems for running stalker. I've seen content for them on the TTS workshop for years.They've always been in russian but I am sure translations exist. AFAIK they have shared DNA with the CYOA stalker threads that used to exist on /v/ and /vg/. There was a common drawn item set that they all used.Anyway, there's STALKAN.
>>97330851>Despite how gritty stalker is as a setting, it's really classic adventure stuff when you think about it; just post apocalypse dnd. You have bandits, magic loot (artifacts), cults (monolith), roving monsters (mutants), taverns complete with odd jobs and quests (100 rads), dungeons (labs) made by evil magicians (the group/ccon), and even a fucking adventurer's guild that exists to profit off of it all (free stalkers).yeah it's pretty much a fantasy world, but I don't think that would prevent you from using any of the GDW versions of TW2000. The crunch in those rules serve a good purpose for a post-apocalyptic world were the main challenge and meat of the game is survival and foraging for supplies. All the rules for advanced weapons and vehicles are kinda misleading, the party are never going to drive around in an abrams unless they're in a huge military unit, which kind of defeats the purpose of the game. Fits stalker though since that's more of a dungeon crawl kind of game.Actual role playing is also extremely important since interacting with NPCs can be incredibly powerful, but it's barely covered in the rules since they assume the players already know how to role play. Granted if you're not interested in exploring and planning for food, medicine, spare parts, fuel, ammo etc you should probably pick another game
