What genre is not well represented? What kind of activities in session just don't have a good rules set? What kind of game would excite you that you think isn't available?
In terms of western fantasy, historical, and history-inspired fantasy settings, there's relatively little early modern (KNIGHTS WITH GUNS, as the meme goes) material. It exists, but the vast majority of such fantasy/historicalish/historical RPGs and media in general break down into either:Early modern, but there's no firearms and it claims to be medieval (the majority of fantasy goes here)Mimics medieval Europe, which doesn't provide much player buy-in a lot of the time because unless you're a history geek a properly medieval setting feels weird and alien to modern people and not in a way that's necessarily exciting or interesting, though it can be.
>>96770976Are you talking about 16th century but with magic? Would you rather see a hard hold to European culture of the time or would you prefer to see a more loose interpretation? I always felt that simply adding guns to WHF would do it well.
>>96771040>I always felt that simply adding guns to WHF would do it well....It already has them, just with really awkward logistics so it fails to turn into full pike-and-shot.
>>96770920Are you seriously doing market research on fucking 4chan?
>>96771273I just thought it would be a topic to switch things up.
>>96770920Anything between 16th century and modernity.Mecha Xianxia
>>96771273It does seem like a good place to go whaling...
>>96771307>MechaThere's several mech games. What's not working for you?
Modern-era spy/thriller with an elegant rulesetSpycraft 2.0 exists but that system is extremely cumbersome
>>96771307>XianxiaLeveling is perfect for the Xianxia genre, which makes it diegetic.
>>96771307>XianxiaWouldn't that just need a source book for any variant of D&D/
>>96771383I think that the spy genre is probably the hardest to do right. Good spy stories are all about trying to not get caught while getting into places you don't belong. It's all about close calls rather than full on action. IDK how you would make a system that makes that fun rather than frustrating at the table.
>>96771467>I think that the spy genre is probably the hardest to do right. Good spy stories are all about trying to not get caught while getting into places you don't belong??? James Bond gets caught in every single movie
>>96770920Paradigm shifting iterative improvement would be the main case for me. While there's many other "progression fantasy" (sub)genres I have varying levels of interest in that would be relatively straightforwardly implemented by making unusual aspects of the rules diegetic, things like proliferating magic through cost-efficiency exploits, technology uplifts, and their antithesis in the relative stasis of a great many settings are frequently discussed, so structured rules for the matter would seem to be quite useful.>>96771423Not really, Xianxia has far more embedded tiering than even BECMI physically separating the books and far worse scope-creep than anything short of the nigh-infinite exploits in 3.X, with so much variation in details of advancement that wrangling it into a single XP track misses the point of all but the shallowest slop.
>>96771522James Bond is a shit spy in the movies.
>OP picture>OP questionYou know damn well.
>>96771557the worst. but James Bond is still the LotR of the spy genre, in that it sets up the player's expectations for how the game will go.
>>96771332There's no DEFINITIVE mecha game. The closest we have is Heavy gear and that one is like, fuckbillion years old and it shows.
>>96771523>Not really, Xianxia has far more embedded tiering than even BECMI physically separating the books and far worse scope-creep than anything short of the nigh-infinite exploits in 3.X, with so much variation in details of advancement that wrangling it into a single XP track misses the point of all but the shallowest slop.Honestly, that sounds exhausting and less fun than a public 5e game.
>>96771588LancerMechwarriorMecha vs KaijuMektonRobotechMech NiorMech HackMech StarAll of these have very recent editions.
>>96771577What, you didn't like the Dark Crystal?
>>96771582Still, half of the rules should be about being sneaky and if they are successful it'll be anticlimactic.
>>96771632I've run Spycraft and other infiltration-centric campaigns and it's really not a problem in the way you're describing. Stealth is fun when the party's plan goes off without a hitch, AND when your players end up in rolling gunfights with the Connecticut state policethe problem with Spycraft is that prep was absurdly involved, both for the GM and the players
>>96771712>the problem with Spycraft is that prep was absurdly involved, both for the GM and the playersI'd imagine that in actual play would be multiple sessions of planning and recon and one session of actual mission.
>>96771592It's not like "cape"/Superhero games haven't come up with answers for sliding scales that work across like ten orders of magnitude, the tiering means you're introduced to things slowly and are likely to depreciate them, while the variance means you can treat almost anything as optional. But you positively cannot chuck miscellaneous bullshit into one progression track that bluntly hands you level-ups without question.At a minimum, you need to keep the basic kinds of Qi tracked separately with some quality metric, allocated to separate buckets in each of the internal alchemy things you're progressing, then make some kind of check taking up actual in-setting time for the level up.
>>96771613Which one of those lets me replicate UC Gundam with the numbers filed off, which one is the Super Robot Monster of the Week slugfest, and which one is BattleTech but as a TTRPG. All of which have semi-optional gear autism, engaging outside of the cockpit mechanics, and doesn't just make a singular broad piloting skill which centralized all of the game around itself.If you can list a game for any of the generalizations above with the requirements below and its not shit, they you have something worthwhile.
>>96772950>UC GundamMekton is probably the right candidate for this. It's a relatively crunchy game and can do Gundam style well.>Super Robot Monster of the WeekMecha vs. Kaiju>BattleTech but as a TTRPGMechwarrior. It's the official Battletech RPG by FASA and now Catalyst.That said, the top two systems I would recommend for a mecha game would be Traveller and Black Star. In both cases, they are more general scifi games but have support for mechs. It's something I have said for a while now that while mechs are cool, when the whole game revolves around them it limits them to the point of making every campaign having a shelf life.Traveller, whether you choose the current Mongoose version, Classic Traveller, or a Cepheus variant, has multiple supplements to support mechs. I have also converted and used Battletech assets. In case you somehow are 1 of three TT gamers that's never heard of it, Traveller is a pretty well rounded space opera game that is easily tailored to a variety of campaign styles. It has a lot of depth and can sustain a decades long campaign. It has an official setting, the Third Imperium, but there's a good number of third party settings available. It's also easy to homebrew for as the stat block math is very easy. (I literately home brew equipment on the fly in the game I run.) Black Star is a light weight d6 generic Star Wars game and it works great. There's a third party book for it called Mech Star that melds with it seamlessly. A little is lost in lack of granularity but if you're looking to run a fast and light game for about 200 hours, it's a great option.
I know there are some, but the glorified ghetto/GTA/modern crime area seem waaaaaaay underepresented in RPGs.I do realize that there is at least of modicum of superimposition with CP2020 and shit like that, but I would prefer something less tactical and more street-style. And while we're at it, not grim like Blades in the Dark.
>>96770920>What kind of activities in session just don't have a good rules set?I want a TTRPG where the PCs aren't allowed to adventure 24/7 but are forced to take leisure time or risk getting mental illness.
>>96776631I was actually in a conversation a week ago with some friends about this. There's a couple of Savage Worlds modules that would most definitely fit this bill, Streets of Bedlam and Wiseguys. Given you're talking about the over-the-top style of crime, I think it's a perfect system too. We got talking about it because we got on The Goon and they got mentioned as possible material for expanding it.
>>96776998Isn't this more of a GM thing? Many systems already have rules for down time, it'd be more on the GM to properly implement it.
>>96770920>not real represented Ahh, feels like Angelpunk is the punk that the other punks forgot. It also could be an arguement for a Noblebright setting (or at least Noblebright Heroes) where the villains vary from Demonic to just indifferent Materialist and Socialists. Having an RPG where they ask 'yeah the world is actually kind of fucked, how do you make your utopia.' and look at that unflinchingly would be neat. I feel there hasn't been a good investigation game in years. Gumshoe is probably the last one but you could argueably say since Delta green which is one or two decades. Really argueably since CoC which means there's lots of time to make it, but its just not as popular. I rather like the idea of an actual gonzo type game but those are only middling popular especially into the 21st century.
>>96777170I mean something like:>In a single 168-hour week, you must sleep for at least 96 hours and can work for up to 72 hours (e. g., six 12-hour days). If you get too little sleep or do too much work, at the end of the week you must roll against your Will score. If you fail the roll, you incur mental stress and must record −0.1 point on your character sheet. At any time, the GM may spend accumulated negative points of mental stress on a mental disadvantage.That's just an off-the-cuff example.
>>96777300>you must sleep for at least 96 hours*56 hours
>>96777300This is a key mechanic in the Bladerunner game by Freeleague.That said, I still kind of think it's about how organized the GM is and implements proper scheduling for things like this. The idea is that this would be something is done off screen and the GM simply updates things like this.I do this when running games. PCs need to rest or suffer exhaustion and you need to be careful where you sleep. I am a bit fastidious about it and players need to actually focus on setting up camp or finding a bed.
>>96770920I figure a lot of people might say something like >A game about [highly specific time period/war/area/etc]But I think what people are actually asking for is a detailed, comprehensive setting guide that scratches their autistic itch for knowledge about the macro and micro details of a given setting. Like, do you really need an explicitly made Cowboy Bebop game, or do you just want to know enough about the Cowboy Bebop setting that you could run a game in it with your system of choice? Do you need a One Piece game that explicitly quantifies and ranks power levels and abilities and tells you exactly how far Luffy's dick can stretch, or do you just want a book full of maps and devil fruit ideas and a general sense for how the technology, powers, and world should work?
>>96777635For me its both, specialized rules allow one to better embody a concept and additional worldbuilding provides more scaffolding.Its the difference between what I think your getting at in, wanting something basic to shape into what you want Vs Something that's already fleshed out to alter as needed and left to function if working.Building up from a base requires a lot more effort on the GM's part and so is less preferable to most people.So 9 times out of 10 a functional One Piece System built from the ground up to emulate the concepts of the setting will be more preferable to those who want to play a One Piece game than handing someone a copy a Gurps and a lore bible, although the lore bible will be appreciated either way.
>>96777747As an addendum the people who just want adaptations of existing rules system to an entire different type of game are mainly the crowd that only play 5e because they are to lazy to read the one rulebook let along a second one, and should not be respected on those grounds.
>>96777228>I feel there hasn't been a good investigation game in years.There are systems that lend themselves to investigation better than others but I think this is more of a adventure design function rather than a mechanic.The three best published investigation modules I have seen are Murder on Arcturus Station (Classic Traveller), Thicker Than Blood (Cyberpunk 2020), and Nobles Oblige (Warhammer Fantasy 2e). To do an investigation game, it take a lot of detail prep so that you have the clues and red herrings in the right spot and that you present them in a was that teases out.It might be worthwhile to have a guide for building mysteries.
>>96777635>>96777747>>96777787I get it. settings guides are crucial for working from an existing IP. A good example of a game that did this well was the WEG Star Wars. There was almost nothing a GM needed that he couldn't get a good source book on. Cyberpunk 2020 had Night City which is in my mind the gold standard for setting guides.I've been reading a lot of the newer published RPGs and a lot of them have just enough to tease you and then rely on the GM to do all the heavy lifting for the setting and the things in the setting. I buy a lot of random table books, NPCs, and the like to flesh out my games. I also agree that there is no universal game engine and that trying to make a 5e based game work for a horror investigation is stupid. That said, with a little patience, I think that some systems are fairly adaptable if you actually understand the underlying mechanics.
>>96777156>SWThanks but no thanks.
>>96770920Fishing minigames.
>>96778102Yeah, I think an issue is that Publishers, both independent and major want those who buy their product to "use the whole buffalo" even if that means creating something that is to thin as to not expend additional resources.Because most people like setting guides... for 25-50% of the contents in them and then ignoring the rest. However the 25-50% they pick is variable depending on person and group depending of what resonates with that person in particular.
>>96771383I've had good experience using Outgunned and Savage Worlds for spy shit.
>>96778253Yeah, the golden age of dense source books was the 90s and it's all but over now.They seem to be replaced by random table books.
>>96770920The only things that are "missing from TTRPGs" are the things you don't make them with, because you can make whatever you want for TTRPGs, especially fantasy games.
>>96776998Ryuutama.
>>96770920Every few months I see an "Ace Combat RPG" thread pop up, with people asking what is available. On one hand, there are air combat wargames that people have added RPG layers to (and then never share their houserules where people can find them). On the other, there are RPGs that focus on WW1, or dieselpunk 1930's/40's, or Cold War aircraft and pilots.What people seem to be craving is a game that strikes the middle ground, and does for air combat what Battle Century and Lancer did for mecha.>>96772950>>96774029>BattleTech but as a TTRPGThe problem with Mechwarrior is that only 3rd edition (a.k.a. Classic BattleTech RPG) had RPG rules for the mech fights, as opposed to "play the wargame." Oh, and I guess MW: Destiny can do that, but in my opinion that game is far too rules-lite for the purpose.>UC GundamBest would be Jovian Chronicles, which is, yes, quite old at this point. More modern takes are Armour Astir (example setting is fantasy, but works fine for sci-fi) and Beam Saber. Both of those lean into the personal drama between pilots, and eschew the wargame roots of Jovian Chronicles.
>>96771622Interdimensional Travel. Different dimensions, altered physics, strange biologies, alien cultures, and the like. a real emphasis built in to setting and system. Even a slightly closed cosmology focussed on alternate timelines would be a big step. D&D-style inner/outer/transitory is bizarrely restrictive despite intentions, and 5th somehow got more lazy with the same restrictions. MtG seems to no longer give a fuck about worldbuilding (despite starting to branch out with Planeswalkers...and then stopping) and Planescape is incredibly shallow despite it's general premise.both are a huge letdown. Most non-WotC systems I've read either copy D&D's architecture or they're like L5R where realms exist but they're off limits 95% of the time and/or made for a very specific scenario. I'm also aware of the 9001 sci-fi games that let you build a planet on the fly, but I believe that there are fundamental differences in how planes or planets interact with story, setting, and players. The closest I've seen to an interest and in a pseudo-roleplaying format is a handful of CYOAs where the author either named a few off the top of his head with a brief overview or a couple where you randomize (or choose) a handful of tropes and figure out how they come together as a tangible reality. Honorable mention to DCC, who's gonzo open source approach has fostered a slew of classes, races, adventures, items, etc mentioning Isekai portal bullshit (or phlostigon disturbances) but nobody has actually tied it all together in an actual setting or story that I know of.>inb4 soulless faggots start posting police call boxes
>>96779453> MtG seems to no longer give a fuck about worldbuilding (despite starting to branch out with PlaneswalkersThat one hurts personallt...Its a shame because one of the best parts of MTG's worldbuilding is seeing the resonances and divergences between the various planes and how the underlying mechanics of Mana underpinning everything creates a shared context.
>>96771613Mekton zeta (3rd ed) is 30 years old.Robotech isn’t recent either.Right now the most played mech rpgs are mecha hack (which is a bit too rules light imo), beam saber (which is a forged in the dark system or "storygame") and lancer (which is gay AF and doesn't represent modern mecha anime)It would be cool to have a real 4th edition of mekton, but R.tal is busy with CPunk
>>96771613They also suck.
>>96770920Steampunk.Also there are no caveman rpgs.
>>96779737Right? You'd think if WotC wanted to tie everything in with everything else, a Planeswalker-themed D&D campaign with classes built around creature types and a shuffling of existing spells to fit the mana spectrum would be a no-brainer. You could have planar exploration feature front and center, maybe bring in some guys who worked on Planeshift or whatever that set was with the big location cards, and have them expand on the worlds they've already started. A few rules for converting statblocks and you're done.A better idea would be to use all these things in an altogether new game, but I don't have that level of faith in coastal fagtards to put in the work.
>>96780223Apparently there was tentative planes to make a MTG TTRPG but then Wizards bought D&D and the rest si history.
>>96771588Second Edition of HG rpg is still one of the better systems out there. It's not even that heavy on crunch.
