Life’s a bitch, and finding happiness when you’re down isn’t easy. And through enduring these hardships, I sincerely hope that you, the individual reading this, will go on to lead a fulfilling life. May all that brings you sadness be alleviated, moments of grief be diminished, and may you continue to find reasons to smile and to laugh.So, I’m curious: which game brings you the greatest joy? Which system, setting, mechanic, or design/designer provides you with pure, unfiltered happiness? I’m not strictly asking for the “best” game. The rules could be a mess, design jumbled, or an outright failure. I’m asking which gives you the most joy.Keep in line with /tg/ ~ No video games are allowed
I like reading exalted lately, there's something about the fluff and crunch, and the way they are presented.
>>97856892>that introThanks anon. >Which game brings you the greatest joy?Hard to say. I think I just enjoyed being around the players more than the games so I can't really pass proper judgement on any game I've played because the bros I've played games with are just great to be around.Anyways the Warhammer 40k setting brings me some joy because I like the homebrewing aspect of it.The Cyberpunk 2020 setting is great because tech is magic so nearly anything goes.The Star Wars TTRPG was fun because of bad rolls along the misadventure and the DM being a genuinely funny guy.
>>97857162Do you have a preference in editions? When did you get introduced to Exalted?
>>97857192And truthfully that's the spirit of tabletop; a gathering of individuals looking to have a good time.Which Star Wars TTRPG system are you referring to?
>>97857358>Which Star Wars TTRPG system are you referring to?The Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars TTRGPs. Made me like Genesys.
>>97856892I really like roughing out an idea for a dungeon or section of the game world, filling it in with random tables, tying those ideas together and watching my friends mush through the puzzles and combat. They come up with solutons or ways around things I wouldn't think of and getting to be part of them exploring and being creative is a rich and unique experience to ttrpgs. Personally I also really enjoy making little references to historical events or themes as inspiration. Something about it makes me smile. I've found these sort of experiences tend to work better for my group with either osr homebrew stuff or various story games like Dogs in the Vineyard or pbta simple world variants. They give enough flexibility to cover a lot of ground and enough procedures to fall back on to keep things rolling. The wargaming side of the group isn't functionally gathering anymore, which is a bummer but being able to have wargames that are part of the ttrpg world is another added layer I really like.
>>97857878Do you have a favorite time period you often draw inspiration from?
>>97857338I have core books of all three, reading them before deciding which one to play. The group is interested anyway.>whenA few years ago, actually, but never looked much into it because I thought the system was too crunchy and the premise not interesting to my players. I've been proven wrong recently.
>>97856892I'm really enjoying deadlands right now. Haunted steampunk cowboys who fight magic zombies is just fuckin' fun. I also appreciate that most savage worlds shit is just immediately gamable. I thought I was going to have to run a one shot with little prep this week (ended up falling through) and the books are just peppered with solid, quick one shots and hooks. The setting guides they've put out in the last few years are great; no town is there just to be there, everything has a little cult or critter or shithead for the players to go ham on immediately. We played a small DL campaign last year I was just kind of running by the seat of my pants in order to get a game group going, and it ended up being a lot of fun, now I really want to revisit the setting and the system and put a little more time and effort in.
>>97858630>I'm really enjoying deadlands right now. Haunted steampunk cowboys who fight magic zombies is just fuckin' fun.Hell yes it is!Sidenote: Check out Frontier Scum and the acid western genre as a whole for some more inspo in your Deadlands games!
>>97858661Instructions unclear: watched El Topo with my mum and sat in awkward silence through the scene where the bandits rape the priests.
>>97857990Late renaissance, early modernism and wars of religion europe have been a great constant resource for fantasy gaming. Its recognizable enough players can quickly pick up on cultural concepts but still distinct enough to be weird and unusual. There's enough strange actual historical meat to use with minor changes. There are larger structural groupings like nation states but they're not sufficiently encompassing that it makes independent adventuring too difficult, lots of conflict and exploration, still large unknown areas of noteurope. I like throwing in classic greek stuff into my scifi, gives it a gravitas and ancient references that just works for me. You have any joyful gaming experiences to bring back to your hamster wizard?
>>97856892Cuttle. It's like Magic: The Gathering but with a normal deck of 52 playing cards. It was the most fun game I've played this decade by far. The game is free. The rules are free. Nobody plays it because nobody knows about it. The games are over quick
>>97856892I love coming up with my own mechanics and playtesting those mechanics.I'm hoping that one day I'll have a coherent game as a result of these playtests.I spent too long listening to stories and scripts I had no interest in, and faking enjoyment for games that didn't engage me, so I decided I'd make what I want to play instead.Why would I want to waste time with a group not playing a game, when I can play the game I want by myself?
>>97856892>>97857162Exalted for me, too. Despite all its flaws, which are many, there's just something about it. Reading and thinking about 1E and 2E was my happy place for years despite me never getting to play those editions. I finally got a game going on when 3E came out, or rather when it was leaked by a playtester. Ran my first game with that manuscript, and have run a few games of 3E and one of Essence since then.
>>97859879That looks neat.
>>97856892OMG hampter :3
>>97859862Fantastic answer and I agree with the addition of gravitas for scifi settings by using ancient cultures and references.My favorite systems are between BRP/Call of Cthulhu and Storyteller. Thanks for asking (:
>>97859879That looks pretty cool, specifically because of its accessibility.
>>97859888Very fair. Do you have a favorite mechanic or core mechanic that is a 'must' in your WIP? What genre is it? Unless it's agnostic.
>>97859909What's your favorite aspect of Exalted though? Did you and your players have a good time and looking to return to the system?
Rolled 1 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>97856892Rolling to save VS happiness
>>97861478>critical failureFuck>which game brings you the greatest joy?I've only ever played D&D 5e, PF2e, and Exalted Essence. Of the 3, I like PF2e and Exalted the most. I'm not confident in My ability to run an Exalted game, but I recently started a PF2e group with a couple of My IRL friends and people I found on discord.It's got it's flaws, but I much prefer it to D&D 5e as a "fantasy adventurer" style game. Exalted is cool for doing over-the-top super saiyan anime shit. I remember in that game My character had a thousand-man army at the system's equivalent of level 1, and it didn't need any rules cheesing or trying to pull a fast one on the Storyteller. In Exalted you can just fucking start with a thousand man army if you want using only the base rules. It's a feature, not a bug.I might run Exalted someday, and I've got the PDF for Essence, but I'd need to refresh Myself on the rules as that game died in early 2024 and I haven't played since. Picrel is art the Storyteller commissioned of My character (everybody got one). He was from a place in the setting's equivalent of Jamaica that was one of few places left that still followed the Sun God, Sol Invictus. He was raised as a warrior-priest and his wife was the city's only Exalt. One day, the Dragon-Blooded came and nearly laid waste to the city, with Mike's wife dying in his arms and her exaltation passing to him as her soul left her body. With the new power, he gathered the city's remaining forces and successfully pushed the Dragon-Blooded back, and left the island with his army to pursue a crusade against them.This picture would be from some time after the end of the campaign, back in the city where they have built a statue to his wife (who was also named Mike; pronounced "mee-kuh") in the epilogue. Also seeing a lot of people saying Exalted in here. Very nice. I hope it gets more popular someday.
>>97861541Not My, my.
>>97861573I would drag MY Balls across (Your) Face if this was any other Thread. Instead I will give you this Cookie.
>>97861422>BRP/Call of Cthulhu and Storyteller.Very different than my favourites but I'm glad you have things that bring you joy anon. Thanks for the hamster gif.
>>97861443Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it a mechanic, but I enjoy using modifiers at various points; either to determine armor, or how effective an attack is, or other such things. But I like the power modifier the best, because it occupies the line between abstracting and portrayal; a skill will always have a base power based off what's involved with its use; a thrown attack will use head and arms strength, a kick attack will use body and legs strength, or a weapon attack will use a combination of body and arms plus the weapon's quality. The modifier of a "standard" attack will usually begin at ×0.80, to reflect an imperfect and quick attack, but effects on the user can increase it, conditions for associated passives (such as being in cover or in the air or sprinting) can also increase it, and most importantly, the type of attack compared to the type of feature being struck (whether armored, defending, etc) will change it. Things like cleric attacks being more effective against undead, a draconic flame having higher strength against saurians, things like that. The final modifier is applied to the skill's power formula, and causes damage in .25 increments (like quarter-hearts, as a better frame of reference).Genre is fantasy, because fantasy allows for the most freedom.
>>97861541Dope artwork.I never realized how crazy Exalted could get. Between your description and others mentioning it here, I ought to look into the system.
>>97861595God damn, I could use a cookie right about now. That would bring me joy.Time to make a cookie-themed campaign setting.
>>97861667It's primarily that I like the struggle/restraints put onto roleplaying using those systems. I know other systems also have similar features, for sure. But something about the way all characters created, by default, are flawed somehow make them feel more tangible. More real. And it gives me joy when I see them succeed AND fail.
>>97856892Star Wars run with the Mongoose Traveller system.I've always had a major issue with every Star Wars game being so Jedi orientated, but running with a system where Psionics are just one of many options lets the Force users still be mystical but without being the overwhelming focus.It's such a nice balance and I'm so glad I found it.
>>97862020I wish I had the mental processing capabilities to run full equations of conditions, modifiers, and modified conditions. I see the appeal.
>>97862556It's awesome dude. Having a thousand-man army that follows you around is great not just for combat (although usually Mike would be taking things with the rest of the Exalts), but roleplaying too. It came in real handy when we had to siege a city.Unfortunately I went through some traumatic stuff during the game and it really screwed up My memory, but there are some stand-out moments. One time Mike had been separated from the rest of the group and a fae lord's army was after him. In the middle of an abandoned city that had already been torn up and pillaged, the army caught up with him and began their approach. Mike looked at them, picked up a nearby axe, and slammed it into his own chest. The axe broke without so much as breaking Mike's skin. He called out to the army and said their weapons would break well before he did, and the army chose to retreat.One cool mechanic is "stunts", which is basically where you get extra bonus points for trying to describe something in a fun and cinematic way rather than just "I want to roll x to do y". The above counted as a stunt, so I got a little boost for it.It's fucking awesome.>>97862566Keep us updated.
>>97856892Playing X-Wing at the height of it's popularity in ~2016-2019 was some of the best times I remember in tabletop gaming, the local community was great. Unfortunately that community was more or less killed off by covid lockdowns ironically. I played a couple of rounds with one of my friends just recently and it's still great. We play mostly Bolt Action, 40k, and assorted board games, but we always come back to X-Wing.
>>97861447Don't know how to concisely express my favorite aspect, but I guess it's some combination of the power level, the setting being something other than standard Western fantasy and, I dunno, just the setting in general for me. I'm definitely looking forwards to running Exalted again, hooe my players will also be eager to play when the time comes.
>>97862573I've only glanced at the Virtue and Vice thing in the Storyteller system, how's it work and play out?
>>97863110The Storyteller system primarily uses point-based character creation, where you allocate points to traits, often choosing merits and optional flaws. Flaws grant extra points for other characteristics, incentivizing their selection. Ultimately, the roleplaying appeal is my main draw to this mechanic.
>>97863131>Storyteller system is apparently different than Storytelling system My bad I thought you meant the newer one.
>>97863146The Storytelling/Storyteller System is used by White Wolf, with "Storytelling" for the New World of Darkness (Chronicles of Darkness) and "Storyteller" for the original World of Darkness. Discontinued in 2003 after the metaplot buildup from Vampire: The Masquerade, it was replaced by the streamlined Storytelling System. Characters are built with character points, each representing a Dot on their sheet, with each Dot corresponding to a d10. Exalted uses a variation of the Storytelling System, but since I haven't read their books, I don't know what changes were made or how it differs from nWoD and oWoD.
