What actually piques your curiosity when it comes to testing or approaching a new game/hobby? I'm mostly interested in hearing about the gameplay side of things. I've heard enough about lore on this board.You may also post deedlit pics
>>94276263>I'm mostly interested in hearing about the gameplay side of thingsLike what? What piqued your interest? Any specific system to recommend?
The setting, not necessarily the narrative metaplot or the worldbuilding, but the themes inside it. Fantasy games are varied enough between themselves, you can have some that focus on exploration and adventure, combat crunch, diplomacy/intrigue, and whatever. But if I feel like playing a mecha game, cyberpunk, or super heros in a modern scenario I need a different set of rules. Even with universal systems, you'd need to get other splats to handle the different mechanics.
>>94276263More than anything, it needs to be something I can get immersed in. If I'm not able to enjoy the game on a level deeper than the statistics of rolling dice or the reddit-approved meta strategy, it's utterly not worth playing.If the game is about trading goods in space, I want to be able to imagine that I'm some kind of space smuggler and that the shipment of drugs I just delivered to whatever location were part of a long-term drug running operation and either I was just the most recent mule or this is part of a long-term contract I have with that group. Maybe they don't trust me, but I do have the good shit they like.
>>94276316Isn't that more up to the mood at the table rather than the rules?
>>94276333Who said anything about rules?
>>94276339If you're approaching a new game, the rules change. That's the basic assumption.But I don't get how that influences your immersion.
>>94276263It's mostly about lore intersecting with game mechanics in a way that I hadn't thought of yet. My short list is Feng Shui (or Feng Shui 2), Paranoia, Weapons of the Gods and Mouseguard. The truth is that I never make much headway on my shortlist because I'm always working on a D&D game or a D&D-adjacent game, because D&D does 90% of what I want, and my interest in other game is mostly academic.
>>94276357The setting needs to be immersive. What more needs to be explained?
>>94276367But you could have a non immersive game in middle earth because your table fucks about, that's what I'm saying.
>>94276379Okay, so I wouldn't enjoy that.
>>94276415Fair.
>>94276339>Who said anything about rules?The idea that this is a board for games and the understanding of what a game is.Maybe >>>/qst/ is more your speed, since narrative-driven roleplay was determined a non-game activity years ago.
>>94276263At this point either a specific explicit mechanical approach to something I like (which might happen but hasn't in a few years at this point for ttrpgs) or for wargames, which still has some gaps in what I want but I think is getting more dialed in. There's still a constant stream of basically osr material I vaguely keep up with to see if there's an interesting module or houserule. Still happens. Indi games have largely drifted so far into ideasguy untested art grift it's hard to bother with the itch.io stuff. Wargames have swung back a bit from the ultralight spectrum recently which has been good. Overall the things that catch me are honest attempts at creative gameplay to contrast throwing together a bunch of art and putting in some rules. I'll pirate and read most anything that seems earnest, then buy it if it does anything with it that I want to use. I skim and delete a lot of stuff though. Boardgame mechanics are easier to look for although harder to dial into who I play with. That's stuff with several simple moving parts that interact simultaneously in a variety of ways with a functional mix of planning and randomization tied to a theme. Not full on machine builders but games with a few machines to engage with. Cardgames have been fucked for long enough at this point I don't look at all. Net runner was cool, we're not likely going to see anything as engaging and tied together like that again.
>>94276301only faggots answer a question with another question.
Trying out inhabiting a new character and their motivations.
>>94276263>What actually piques your curiosity when it comes to testing or approaching a new game/hobby?themes, mood, settingmostly what this anon said >>94276309>I'm mostly interested in hearing about the gameplay side of thingsI like when there are 5+ ability scores that influence how good you might be at actions. But I don't like when the stats are just "str/dex/con/wis/int/cha" because that just means it's a mindless d&d wannabe. At the very least rename or split Wis for fuck's sakeI also like when the system does anything other than "pick one of these standard fantasy races". So, either all humans, or unique races, or a simple way to custom races. But none of this bootleg LotR shit.>You may also post deedlit picshell no, she's useless (inb4 media other than the ova, i don't care) and not even the hottest elf in Lodoss
>>94276263Honestly at this point, I'm really only looking for a small amount of sincerity. I can make a lot work. And I don't mean to sound like I'm being Mr No Fun. I'm all for levity and jokes in a lighter campaign. But I'm just sick of self aware irony. I want the full shcmultz.
>>94276263>You may also post deedlit picsDon't mind if I do
>>94276263If it lets me play a character type I enjoy, in a manner that the game mechanics reward, which having a setting or strange rules that I find aggravating.
>>94276263Gameplay is most important. The most recent examples for me are Grand Archive, Sand Land, and Warlord. I liked the resource system and flow of the game play for Grand Archive. Sand Land was unique but also played well. And Warlord just clicked with me from the get go. To be honest, had I learned about Warlord before the other two I would have pumped my money all into Warlord.As for board games, I always watch a play through video to see if it looks fun and resonates with me. Larger games that take a longer time to play (2+ hours) usually get ignored by me, just because I'd rather play a bunch of shorter games than spend my game night playing a single game.Art, IPs, lore, and theme might pull me in but if I get 5 minutes into your how to play video and I've lost interest then I move on to the next one.
>>94276263Might sound oddly specific, but the first thing I check on any non-fantasy system are the fully automatic shotgun mechanics.On a superficial level, it's just my gun of choice. But it's also a nice first impression of how comprehensive the rules are and how they fit together.
>>94276263Controlled risk.Throwing dice around to see the results is fun, but having some control over the risks add a layer of interest to these games. Typically, with this I mean spending some resources to improve the likely result of a roll before the dice hit the board. It gives me an additional level of risk evaluation before essentially any task that a character I'm playing might undertake.
>>94276263Playing games is fun. You should try it /tg/!
>>94276263>TQIf the designers actually play their own game i'll be intersted. Otherwise it just comes off as a product.>deedlitsdo any anons know what game pic related is from? Been search for almost a year now
>>94289869>do any anons know what game pic related is from? Been search for almost a year nowAnon, I believe that is just Basic D&D, the specific print out there being from a home game.
>>94276263>You may also post deedlit pics
>>94276263>overall feel: mechanics and fluff combining into a feel for what’s going onNecromunda is probably king here, OSR games, Related to that>mechanics that support the settings fluffCoC does this well >for wargames: campaign systemsFor RPGs>simulationismOr alternatively >good tactical combat rulesAs a player>let’s me play a character concept I like
>>94282731Counterpoint:There’s nothing better than silliness played straight. I know people like to shit on warhammer for beeing a joke setting people now treat seriously but there’s more examples on the fantasy genre, lotr beeing a prime example.Having silly stuff like talking animals and magic running on fairytale logic but playing it 100% straight and sticking to high fantasy drama in my opinion elevates a story beyond mudcore GRRM slop
>>94289869maybe someone trying to remake the original sheetsweird thought but I wonder if Lodoss' popularity and the cleric's CON 5 had any influence on Japan's clerics being squishy rather than D&D style (Lodoss serialization happened before the first Final Fantasy)
>>94276263>What actually piques your curiosity when it comes to testing or approaching a new gameIts mechanics and how they mesh with both the lore of the game, the advertised genre and if they do anything novel, interesting or refining some pre-existing concepts>Muh loreIf you are getting games, and paying actual money, for the lore of them, you are retarded. Nobody is obligated to use that stuff by their table. It's like going to a car dealership and getting yourself a light blue car, because it looks cool, rather than the one that suits your actual needs.
>>94291679The only reason to get a game is for the lore, the mechanics are an afterthought often entirely dedicated to fighting, the least interesting part of tabletop.Even systems that lean away from this still have a full half of the item list and ruleset be how to do combat. Which is a failure state in almost all the games I run.
>>94291820noooo on 4chan you're supposed to pretend that none of the flavor or roleplaying matter, your games HAVE to be just bootlet LotR plus number crunching
>>94291940I would care about mechanics if the devs treated combat with as much love as every other solution to problems.I'm sick of stealth being one roll in 500 different systems, but combat having a wealth of options and taking dozens of rolls to complete.
