Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Judge Dredd]

Had a strange game today. Something that was mentioned by others but had never encountered myself. A guy who, after the session is done, wanted to go back to previous areas like he had a bunch of saves in a computer game, to see how scenarios would've played out if they did some other thing, what was in a room they didn't explore, what would've happened if they failed roll x or succeeded at roll y.

Hey I bought the transformer ttrpg. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it. It’s the first ttrpg me and my friends are trying

Something I want to know. Is it true they don't use the word "transform" in it to avoid copyright problems?

 

[Ghostse]

Had a strange game today. Something that was mentioned by others but had never encountered myself. A guy who, after the session is done, wanted to go back to previous areas like he had a bunch of saves in a computer game, to see how scenarios would've played out if they did some other thing, what was in a room they didn't explore, what would've happened if they failed roll x or succeeded at roll y.

I've never had anyone want to replay a dungeon in that particular matter, but when I've completed modules I've had players ask about what where the alternate outcomes for certain events.

 

[The Ugly One]

I've never had anyone want to replay a dungeon in that particular matter, but when I've completed modules I've had players ask about what where the alternate outcomes for certain events.

Especially early on, I'd let my players know after the fact if they missed cool shit by murderhoboing.

 

[Atypical Dog]

Had a strange game today. Something that was mentioned by others but had never encountered myself. A guy who, after the session is done, wanted to go back to previous areas like he had a bunch of saves in a computer game, to see how scenarios would've played out if they did some other thing, what was in a room they didn't explore, what would've happened if they failed roll x or succeeded at roll y.


Something I want to know. Is it true they don't use the word "transform" in it to avoid copyright problems?

I love going behind the scenes like this and asking what went unused behind the screen. I love it so much I give my players the debrief after they get past it.

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

You know I really should go back to irl games I swear half of my players dropped after the first session one guy didn't show up but he actually told me and I forgot he was going to a Viking festival I read it as Viking funeral and I thought he was a crazy person

we totally destroyed this dragon then again epic level characters Dragons are kind of just like me whatever

 

[RandomTwitterGuy]

I tend to only inform them that I planned for other outcomes, not what they are.
The only time I remove the veil and give them more information is if something could feel bullshit or if it is funny.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Anyone know anything about the Humblewood setting for DND 5e? Haven't heard too much about it; worth giving a try with my group, or no?

 

[Ghostse]

Anyone know anything about the Humblewood setting for DND 5e? Haven't heard too much about it; worth giving a try with my group, or no?

I don't know anything about it but its 5e and has furries in it so I can make a guess.
yes yes it looks more like Mouseguard or Bunnies and Burrows than that space furry coomer game. just principal man.

 

[Rapier Ape]

Especially early on, I'd let my players know after the fact if they missed cool shit by murderhoboing.

I did this one after a few weeks after the fact here semi recently.
One of the players is one hell of a record keeper. I have a massive Chessex grid/hex mat for dungeon/hex crawls.
That particular player usually copies the maps on paper as well with notes.

Anyways they had a spot in a dungeon that they had overlooked. It was petty late Irl so session ended with them going back to town because they had completed the main objectives. In downtime it was just forgotten.
The side area they missed though had a pretty hefty treasure load in itself. I just ruled it that one of the retainers present ended up returning and got an easy pay day.

 

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

Generally, I always avoid telling players "what would have/could have happened" had they acted differently. I feel it removes the mystique, the verisimilitude. Not answering those questions keeps your players thinking about the game afterwards, and thinking about it like a real place.

What if we hadn't turned him in? Was the captain bluffing? What if I had put on the amulet instead of selling it?

You WANT your players asking those questions, thinking about those possibilities, and never knowing. It adds weight to all of their decisions and makes them consider consequences in the fictional space.

The only time I ever give a peek behind the screen is, as someone mentioned, if something could seem like bullshit (and in those cases, I do my best to identify and inform before they complain, so they know I'm not making it up. Do this early with new players, and they'll eventually learn to just trust you. They'll eventually conclude that the BBEG found their secret hideout not through GM fiat, but because they genuinely left behind some clue or said the wrong thing to the wrong person)

 

[Judge Dredd]

Does anyone have any opinions on the Warhammer 40,000 RPGs? Iirc there's Rogue Trader and Space Marine? Is there an Age of Sigmar RPG?

Asking because a player of mine is big into Warhammer, especially Age of Sigmar, and I've been catching up on my 40k. I don't know how well the game works, or how I'd run it as a setting in another game.


I'm considering making heavy cuts to my PathFinder 2 RPG. The party is already seriously over levelled, and the monsters are basically just filler at this point. They seem to enjoy it but as a DM it's dragging on and on. I'm thinking of keeping major threats only, and leaving the final floor as a boss rush.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

I don't know anything about it but its 5e and has furries in it so I can make a guess.
yes yes it looks more like Mouseguard or Bunnies and Burrows than that space furry coomer game. just principal man.

Can't say I disagree, man; furries tend to ruin a lot of stuff.

 

[Second Missing Primarch]

Does anyone have any opinions on the Warhammer 40,000 RPGs? Iirc there's Rogue Trader and Space Marine? Is there an Age of Sigmar RPG?

Asking because a player of mine is big into Warhammer, especially Age of Sigmar, and I've been catching up on my 40k. I don't know how well the game works, or how I'd run it as a setting in another game.


I'm considering making heavy cuts to my PathFinder 2 RPG. The party is already seriously over levelled, and the monsters are basically just filler at this point. They seem to enjoy it but as a DM it's dragging on and on. I'm thinking of keeping major threats only, and leaving the final floor as a boss rush.

40K and Age of Sigmar both have TTRPGs, Wrath and Glory for 40K and Soulbound for AoS. A lot of people still prefer to run the old 40K games like Dark Heresy, Black Crusade, Deathwatch, and Rogue Trader. I like Dark Heresy well enough, but I've never messed around with the newer games.

 

[Ghostse]

Generally, I always avoid telling players "what would have/could have happened" had they acted differently. I feel it removes the mystique, the verisimilitude. Not answering those questions keeps your players thinking about the game afterwards, and thinking about it like a real place.

What if we hadn't turned him in? Was the captain bluffing? What if I had put on the amulet instead of selling it?

You WANT your players asking those questions, thinking about those possibilities, and never knowing. It adds weight to all of their decisions and makes them consider consequences in the fictional space.

The only time I ever give a peek behind the screen is, as someone mentioned, if something could seem like bullshit (and in those cases, I do my best to identify and inform before they complain, so they know I'm not making it up. Do this early with new players, and they'll eventually learn to just trust you. They'll eventually conclude that the BBEG found their secret hideout not through GM fiat, but because they genuinely left behind some clue or said the wrong thing to the wrong person)

I'll do it, basically, when it doesn't matter anymore. Once a module or campaign is done. And as you mentioned I do it a lot more for new players.

For an experienced party if the "what if" doesn't matter anymore I'll generally answer any questions that the answer won't give them undue information about the rest of the game. When a campaign is done I'll usually flip on all the lights if the players are interested; its often good for getting mutual feedback because sometimes the players just didn't pick up on what I was laying down and they'll give me ideas on how to make things more apparent (or less apparent) in the future.

For new players, I'll sometimes double back to a key moment and say "here's why this went down" or "here's a secret room you missed".

The side area they missed though had a pretty hefty treasure load in itself. I just ruled it that one of the retainers present ended up returning and got an easy pay day.

I'll do this sometimes too; sometimes I'll answer questions or point out missed options via NPC actions.

 

[Deus Exica]

Modern Tieflings are the safe edgy race for wankers that lack a personality beyond brooding.

They don't even brood, they're popular for homosexual millennials who want to play a rainbow technicolor special snowflake. Every single tiefling you will play with will almost assuredly be a bubbly little gaylord.

 

[EleventySeven]

Don’t those questions fit the tone of Delta Green? Your characters commit a multitude of crimes to protect the US and the world. You will have to abuse your authority, misallocate funds, even murder American citizens in order to stop the Things from Beyond to enter into our reality.

Terrible, horrible things. Like entrapping and then sacrificing a pedophile to Nyarlathotep. Sure did get the ghosts out of the house better than a séance though. Or that time we took a guy to New Jersey. And tortured him before dumping his body, but that's not as bad as the Pine Barrens.

 

[AnOminous]

Especially early on, I'd let my players know after the fact if they missed cool shit by murderhoboing.

I'd generally treat shit like that as the society they did it in would consider appropriate. So maybe if you went into a frontier town and started bar fights, killed random people, robbed the sheriff, etc. you might get away with this if you were a bunch of genuine badasses. But if you went into a city capital of an actual civilization and started shit with the town guard, pretty much all the powerful NPCs in charge of protecting that city would come at your ass immediately and if you weren't demigod-tier you'd be adorning a gibbet.

Similarly early on I'd generally let parties know that what they were planning on doing was going to have dire consequences and they should seriously reconsider. If they didn't pick up on it, though, enjoy your TPK.

I did have a couple campaigns that actually were murderhobo heaven. They can be fun.

For new players, I'll sometimes double back to a key moment and say "here's why this went down" or "here's a secret room you missed".

A couple times I did a rewind to some earlier part in part of a longer multi-scenario campaign because it went TPK due to a combo of extremely bad decisions and extremely bad luck because there was no easy way to finish the rest of the campaign and it had a lot of fun stuff in it I wanted to actually use.

I generally didn't allow rabbit-hunting (poker term for when a player asks the dealer to show what cards would have been dealt next in a hand that is already resolved).

 

[Ghostse]

A couple times I did a rewind to some earlier part in part of a longer multi-scenario campaign because it went TPK due to a combo of extremely bad decisions and extremely bad luck because there was no easy way to finish the rest of the campaign and it had a lot of fun stuff in it I wanted to actually use.

I have walked back on a TPK/near TPK a few times and everytime regretted it because I'll have an idea that will come to me later that would actually have made the story better, usually involving the party either being knocked unconscious, have a jaunt through the Shadowfell, or get rezzed by a totally trust worthy figure with zero alterior motives. So now I'm 100% let the dice fall where they did.

Granted I'm running mostly OSE aka OSR games now so party death no longer hamstrings the plot.

I'm less about rabbit-hunting (like we're not re-running an encounter) but if they ask "what would have happened if we chose to ally with another faction/taken the deal?" I'll generally tell them if we're done with that part.

 

[AnOminous]

I have walked back on a TPK/near TPK a few times and everytime regretted it because I'll have an idea that will come to me later that would actually have made the story better, usually involving the party either being knocked unconscious, have a jaunt through the Shadowfell, or get rezzed by a totally trust worthy figure with zero alterior motives. So now I'm 100% let the dice fall where they did.

This was a rare thing, usually due not just to party dumbness but my own dumbness as well, and dumb dice on top of that.

In campaigns where TPK was a totally common thing, like CoC, my method was usually the party had solid NPC backups as support, and if everyone died (as they often did), the players would take over the NPCs and continue pursuing. I don't know if you know the ridiculously deadly Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign from CoC, but I had two TPKs and two near TPKs during that.

No rewinds for that, though. I just had plans in place for when they inevitably happened.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Here's where I alienate myself from the thread. After a year of Pathfinder 2 I want something that isn't a tedious excersize in maths and optimal builds. I also want to broaden my player pool as much as possible since it's been slim pickings for a while. I'm putting serious thought into running 5e, or maybe PbtA.

A quick internet search tells me Dungeon World is old and outdated, and has been surpassed by other PbtA systems that refine the system and add more character building. Supposedly Fantasy World is one example, but I don't know the rest. For a system that's supposedly free most stuff is paywalled. There's always piracy of course, but it's strange to see. There was supposedly going to be an official Dungeon World 2e, but the designer was cancelled? Are there any pbta games worth looking at?

I also gave Nimble 5e a read. I expected it to be a bunch of house rules to speed up 5e. That's what it was sold as. But from what I can tell it's a completely different game, since it changes core rules and thus everything else has to be changed to fit. It looks solid and there's a lot to like. The spells seem to be a massive improvement on 5es. The classes have been revamped. I don't understand some of the name and terminology changes though. I know Race vs Ancestory was a drama for a while, but who was upset about "monk", "rogue", or "barbarian"? I'm not sure on this one. I might try it since I can sell it to people as a 5e varient so I avoid the whole "I don't want to learn another system" thing, but if you guys have any takes on it, I'd like to hear it.