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

[Quintus]

Hey guys, the missus wants to run a deadlands game (she's super into old westerns its a long story), I was wondering if you all had some pointers for it? I know there's some fuckery with with some of the latest versions of the game but I haven't done a deep dive, is there another version you suggest? Any tips for playing or running it?

Hello. I have been running a campaign in Deadlands Classic for like 2 years at this point so I can speak to that one.

It's old, so if you're used to playing older editions of DND and other ttrpgs it probably won't be too hard to learn. But if you're coming at it from a newer system, it will take some time to get used to. As with a lot of old systems, it has a ton of very specific skills. Paradoxically, there are certain things missing that would seem like obvious inclusions. There is no "Grappling." rules like in DND as an example and it's merely a way to hit people. There are also things you would expect to effect certain rules but don't, like wearing winter clothes to protect from cold temperatures. Rules as written, it does nothing. So you're just as comfortable wearing a parka in the desert as you would be wearing a t shirt in a blizzard.

The books are also kind of confusing to read. They include a lot of flavor text with the various rules and it isn't always super obvious when it begins or ends. They also swap pronouns whenever referring to someone every other rule entry. So the rules for shooting might start it's first section by saying "when a cowpoke wants to do x, he has to do y." And then in the next rule set it will swap the pronouns. I have found this sort of disorienting to read, but I'm sure it will be different for different people. In general, my group has found things very difficult to find in the books and it is at times a collaborative effort to find rules.

In addition to your standard funny dice, you're going need several decks of cards and certain character types will need one of their own. Playing cards are integral to how combat is run and character creation.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Overly Serious]

Right, my bad. Let me try again now that I'm not too sleep deprived.
I don't know which of those I want to start with. Wouldn't mind making a rules system but there's a bunch out there that I'm worried I won't know how to make it unique without just resulting in a probably worse version of an existing system, so anything regarding "how to make unique settings without it being 'Lamentations of the Flame Princess" autistic would be nice to look at.
A setting is easy in theory but I don't want to heavily plagiarize something nor do I want to make the setting too generic. Fantasy is dime a dozen, but do you happen to know if there are any subgenres in fantasy that aren't done too well that I could attempt to bring up to a good standard Same thing with its counterpart in Sci-Fi, hell I'll take something "modern" that isn't done too often. I'm confident in my ability to be original but originality does not equal quality. Would probably be better to have someone else help with any rulesets while I can focus on the worldbuilding and whatnot. I'd imagine having a single person do crunch and fluff is more taxing to the mind than anything, but given how many...undesirables there are in nerd culture it's hard to trust anyone.
As for an adventure, that should considered to be done last, no? I rather do the former choices before I consider this one.

In that case, I'm afraid I really have nothing to offer you. You want settings to base your own on to be suggested to you. You want to be told how to make your setting unique. You express no preference between fantasy, Sci-Fi or "something modern". I see no actual questions with which to help you, honestly. Just an incredibly vague request to be handed something pre-made. And if you want pointed at interesting settings we've got lots. But I don't see how that's making your own game.

If you need to base your work on something, pick a novel or a movie you like. And if you want to turn it into a game ask us what rule systems are suitable for what play-style you want. But saying "I don't know what I want to start with but help me" just arouses my contempt if I'm honest. You're not actually asking how to do anything. You're just asking to be told what to do.

 

[Allied-Mastercomputer]

I don't know which of those I want to start with.

Why don’t you make something and then we can tell you if it’s shit or not. Otherwise you’re just asking others to do the heavy lifting for you.

 

[Ghostse]

I was going to reply with "do you own homework" but didn't want to be a jerk. Turns out that was the right reaction.

Remember: The answer is ALWAYS gatekeeping.

 

[Illumithotty]

Hey guys, the missus wants to run a deadlands game (she's super into old westerns its a long story), I was wondering if you all had some pointers for it? I know there's some fuckery with with some of the latest versions of the game but I haven't done a deep dive, is there another version you suggest? Any tips for playing or running it?

I'd recommend Deadlands: Reloaded. The latest edition was Deadlands: The Weird West. The original Deadlands game is still decent enough but I think Deadlands: Reloaded hits a decent balance in authenticity to the original design without getting bogged down by too much extra cruft, since Reloaded is basically just built off of the Savage World systems. All the ups and downs of that, if you're familiar with it. And if you're borrowing these books from the internet for review purposes anyway, there's no real reason not to at least skim the original books as well - they're pretty much all compatible with other editions (Except for Deadlands D20, which is a fucking plague) anyway.

As for how to run a game of it, just steal the plot off of your favorite/most obscure western movie or novel. I always liked picking less common areas than the midwest for Deadlands games - the Yukon, the swamps in Florida, the forests of the Pacific northwest - because you can always swerve it back into dusty trails and desolate canyons easily enough, so starting in a less travelled location felt like a good jumping off point.

Company behind it went full woke. They decided that the fantasy CSA was oppressing and killing black and brown bodies IRL.

Elaborating on this a little; one of the big linchpins to the whole Deadlands setting has been the extended Civil War scenario where ghosts and super science and magic all extend the length of the Civil War. Well, like Ghostse said, it was making people literally shake to have to deal with Confederates in their game set in the wild west, so they finally put an end to the US Civil War in the latest Weird West edition.

Which is kind of dumb, in my opinion, no matter why they did it. What nailed down the coffin is that they replaced it with nothing, or less than nothing - personally, I think trying to make Morded and Morgana running around the wild west is fucking retarded, and harkens back to the bad old days of publishing RPG books in order to advance their stupid metaplot. It wouldn't be nearly as stupid a decision if they'd replaced it with some other conflict. So the Confederates are going to scare away the heckin' valid niggers and kykes that've been waiting decades to rush out a buy up RPG book - just you wait they'll be buying those books by the truckload instead of just bitching on twitter any day now - it would make sense to replace it with some other conflict that can be a easy, quick, and immediately understandable background for characters. Except they just didn't so they could fall back on their old habit of treating RPG campaigns and settings and mechanics like an unfortunate necessity to their historical fantasy fiction.

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

There are other games as well. The One Ring 2e is a nice simple system with a lot of flavour, but the adventures and atmosphere is a lot more mature that most games. FFG's Star Wars line is a decent system and obviously it's another franchise people are familiar with and it's got quite a bit of depth to character progression. FFG will try to squeeze every last penny out of you for supplements but you don't actually need them. The core book (or books) have plenty in them. They had three parallel game lines but any of them would be fine. Age of Rebellion would probably be the easiest for a boy to get his head around.

Nah, I don't like that company simply because they messed up the relationship with gw. So now we get wrath and glory rather than the rest of the only war supplements. Also, athletics And agility and Dodge should be one skill. Same thing with insight and interrogation. Also, it makes literally no sense someone who can't navigate. on the surface can somehow survive in the wilderness. Those are the exact same thing.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

They decided that the fantasy CSA was oppressing and killing black and brown bodies IRL.

Sounds based to me so long as you don't make it a campaign to oppose them.

Why don’t you make something and then we can tell you if it’s shit or not. Otherwise you’re just asking others to do the heavy lifting for you.

It was already my intention to have others here or wherever else problem people (i.e. the type of people you'll see on RPG.net, 5efags, you know the ones) are the least review my work in the future. Also I don't see how ask around is having others do the heavy lifting but I'm probably missing something. I do thank everyone who replied though.

but I think Deadlands: Reloaded hits a decent balance in authenticity to the original design without getting bogged down by too much extra cruft

I heard of Deadlands a while ago, but it's always nice to hear something not going off the deep end when trying to be different from its original material.

Deadlands D20, which is a fucking plague

Have not heard of this one, though a quick search and I see why people dislike it. From what I can tell even people new to Deadlands thought it was shit lol. Seems to be that the setting is fine but people are mixed between whether it outright sucked it if it was just ok but generic.

 

[Overly Serious]

Also I don't see how ask around is having others do the heavy lifting but I'm probably missing something. I do thank everyone who replied though.

It was explained in some detail why it is. It's the point at which you are asking. Observe this scale:

    |--------------------------------------------------|
What should                                       How do I
  I do?                                            do it?

You are waaaaaaay over to the left. Nobody is going to provide your ideas for you. If you're that creatively bankrupt that you can't or wont answer the basic question of "what genre" or come up with things yourself that make your setting distinctive, not only will people not help you, they can't. You're asking them to make something for you.

But that's the last time I'll explain this to you. Either move to the right or expect nothing.

 

[Apparatus Aruspices]

Unrelated to the current conversation; I got invited to a PBP game of Sorcerer by an acquaintance of mine. Lots of fluid roleplay using the framework of Sorcerer as a base.
I'm reading the PDF he gave me and this book is incomprehensible dogshit. It's formatted confusingly at best and outright hostile at worst. It's written unprofessionally and seems to explain its rules with the same tone as a stern instructor who's never actually given a shit about what he's teaching. There's repeat pages, pages flowing into each other strangely, full empty pages, etc.
In a way, I really enjoy it. Fighting through the book is a unique feeling and even if it's a pain in the ass, it seems like a decent foundation for a game. Even if the resolution mechanic is a little convoluted and obtuse, the premise seems engaging. The tl;dr is that you play as a Sorcerer-- a communer of Demons and occultist, who is struck by some kind of event, mystery or tragedy, and you must use your unique abilities as an occultist as well as the assistance of your bound Demons to resolve conflicts and strive through the narrative. I imagine my GM is looking to run this game specifically because of how fucked up it is design-wise, for the sake of flavor, but we haven't actually spoken much on the whys and hows yet.
Anyways; does anybody here have any stories or experiences with this game? Has anybody else played it? I think it's really quite interesting but it seems quite obscure at best.

 

[Adamska]

Unrelated to the current conversation; I got invited to a PBP game of Sorcerer by an acquaintance of mine. Lots of fluid roleplay using the framework of Sorcerer as a base.

Read the book, found it weird and mildly interesting (though tbh I'd just play Ars Magica or Mage over this in a heartbeat) in between the fart huffing by the academic who clearly didn't play as much as he should've before he began queefing, but also for the love of god be cautious about this one.

Sorcerer has a fucking sex book companion that he may or may not have hid from you to avoid spooking you depending on his personality, and the people who tend to like this book are essentially one of the major aspects of the cancer behind why the TTRPG sphere is so fucking shit right now. See the guy behind it ran this place called the Forge, and the people who gathered there also conveniently are responsible for most of the worst shit and ideas in the TTRPG sphere since people took his academic ass seriously, and by proxy wanted to be taken seriously.

The Powered by the Apocalypse engine, the effort to shove their retarded sex fantasies and desire to be disruptive pigs at the table, bondage garbage disguised as a replacement of session zero, the tardification of the World of Darkness, since several fucking writers were Forge Members, and simplification of systems due to thinking women and black people are too retarded to learn math are all due to him influencing these cunts. These cunts all essentially wanted to pretend that their job wasn't to put the dice and games in the bag, and that they were true artistes, ignoring how people like the PbtA guy was as gross as Darrick Dishaw, but lacked the balls to just be a pervert freely.

I had a higher opinion on the book until I knew how much fucking damage it did due to these morons taking Edwards overly serious, which was bad because he did so too. It's like how the bechdel test turned into a real test rather than a shitpost, but worse.

ADDENDUM: Oh hell, this is PBP? Ask extensively if that companion book is going to be a factor because if so, you're going to experience sex pervert shit that wouldn't be outside of a Werewolf or Vampire group. IE you're going to want to get the flamethrower.

 

[Apparatus Aruspices]

for the love of god be cautious about this one.

As far as I'm aware the guy running this is pretty normal. I respect him a lot in the design sphere, since we both are TTRPG designers ourselves and talk shop with consistently good results. While I am woefully uneducated on the drama surrounding the author of this book (I don't care much for faggot drama or spending my time on it) but he did infact mention The Forge and spoke shortly about how unhinged and harmful the author was to the scene in general. Basically, part of his pitch was "this is fucked up, let's play it."

I'm not actually finished with the book nor' have I even made a character yet or interacted with it much at all, but as far as I'm aware he's running this game off of the raw 280 page fuckass rulebook that he took from 4chan. Although it is good to remember that this could easily get quite weird, I doubt it will be brought in that direction. I trust this guy as a GM and have played with him before, and found it quite entertaining every time (although most of that was due to my comically incompetent pathological liar character). I'm not a fan of PBtA or any of those game engine formats either but I'm willing to give this game a shot. It seems at the very least, schizophrenic in the fun way.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Is anyone familiar with this? I needed a Hitman/John Wick style assassin underworld setting, and it seems like exactly what I was looking for
View attachment 7512770

I read it, made some characters, never got to play it. The adventures seem solid enough.

Savage Worlds and Spycraft might be worth a look.

As for settings, the Savage Worlds book Titan Effect is basically Mission Impossible with psy powers. I hear Ghost Ops and Fear Agent occasionally mentioned, but I didn't get much out of them.

Hey guys, the missus wants to run a deadlands game (she's super into old westerns its a long story), I was wondering if you all had some pointers for it? I know there's some fuckery with with some of the latest versions of the game but I haven't done a deep dive, is there another version you suggest? Any tips for playing or running it?

I can only give advice for Savage Worlds as a whole.

 

[Illumithotty]

Thinking it over a little, there's a lot to Deadlands that I recommend. It's a very fun setting and you can absolutely just play it out as a framework for cowboy action - bank robberies, train heists, hunting outlaws across the Badlands, etc. However, as the eternal GM, I've found that a lot of other tables that play Deadlands kind of make a mistake in holding the setting specific terrors at arm's length or keeping the supernatural and weird science elements as a reserve card that never gets played. Again, it's not a bad thing to just do cowboys and outlaws that relies only on the fantastic-but-grounded elements of the setting - the Rail Wars alone is a great campaign to run where you never have to really touch the supernatural elements until you're facing down the zombies of Bayou Vermillion or the witches of Black River, which is hardly necessary when you've got the North and South rail lines butting up against the chinese Iron Dragon or the independants like Smith and Robards.

But one of the things I feel really elevated Deadlands was how they mixed in supernatural elements consistently. One of the plot elements I frequently steal for other games is how the Reckoners - the evildoers behind all the supernatural elements - are allowed to fuck up at times. For those that aren't as familiar, the basic idea is that the forces of evil were lying dormant because technological advancement mostly neutered a lot of their old reliables, and they were supernaturally sealed away for a very long time. So once they were able to influence the world again they went with an old reliable - a zombie uprising - in some podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Except it was in Crawford, Texas, so that the armies of the dead were blasted to shit by well-armed citizens, and the whole debacle turned into a loss. Now it's a tourist attraction where every year they have a raising of the dead where everyone shoots down zombies for shits and giggles.

What's interesting about this, to me at least, is that while it shows that the forces of evil occasionally step in shit they are able to learn from it. The same tactic of throwing zombies at a problem worked wonderfully on the battlefields, which is one of the reasons that the Civil War is still an ongoing concern. Anytime one side seems to be getting momentum, the Reckoners throw in on the other side to prolong the conflict. An overwhelming evil force that's allowed to make mistakes is very interesting for setting up campaign villains and plots. For example, one I've used in the past is a bitter stage magician that's given demonic powers to make magic real - except instead of terrorizing people and going mad with power, he realized he could live life on easy street with simple scams. So the party had to actually step in to protect his satanic ass against the demons and spirits that the Reckoners sent after him as a 'hurry up and do some real evil' encouragement, while trying to figure out how to either unfuck this guy's soul or plant him in Boot Hill without getting arrested.

 

[Glory To Arztotska]

I backed Dungeon World back in the day (at the time little me had only played D&D 3e and found character generation very sloggy so it seemed like a nice alternative I'd like). Seeing everything that's come out of the ApocWorld diaspora now, especially in this thread, I feel like kind of a dumbass, even if I sold my Dungeon World book after one of the co-creators made a creepy fuck of himself on his own podcast. :S

Also, I can't sugarcoat it, I'm wondering if the hobby is going to go the way of the dodo sometime soon, like within 5-10 years. At the very least where I live the lion's share ofthe friendly local game stores have become unfriendly LGBTQI pity parties, maybe save for the biggest one but it's also the most bland and corporate.

On the other hand indie TTRPG devs these days tend to be leftoid psychoes, so maybe they're not missing much. And unlike every other store in town this store doesn't have its own Discord server which I take as a sign of sanity.

I have not yet met a local TTRPG group through Discord that wasn't a whiny retarded leftist hugbox. Guys will fucking kick you out because they don't like your tone even if your comments aren't directed at anyone in the room. Absolute fucking losers.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

I got invited to a PBP game of Sorcerer by an acquaintance of mine. Lots of fluid roleplay using the framework of Sorcerer as a base.

Huh,that sounds interes-

Sorcerer has a fucking sex book companion that he may or may not have hid from you to avoid spooking you depending on his personality

Run. Unless you want to practice trying to RP your character out of a rape because that's what was these lead to.

The Powered by the Apocalypse engine

Why am I not surprised.

 

[Mister Mint]

I'm DMing a homebrew adventure and have been watching a bunch of youtube videos on DM tips despite the fact that almost all of the D&D community are annoying faggots.

One thing I've noticed is that every time level design comes up it's like the video changes tone and shifts into one of solemn reverence and boundless gratitude when they mention "jaquasying the dungeon". Outside of Gygax i don't really know the names of D&D's writers and developers because I don't care, but with this one I couldn't help but get suspicious.

All this hushed awe every time this person's name is spoken, it seems so weird, they don't do it for anybody else's contributions and although the concept of "make the dungeon loop" is good, it isn't earth shattering but yet they stop in their tracks and salute like it's Veteran's Day at the VFW every single time on every single channel that mentions this person... then i realized. It's a troon isn't it?

I'm sure you all knew but, yes, he's a troon. Crazy that it could be surmised based entirely on how hard these faggots fall over themselves to overpraise him and kiss the gock.

 

[Apparatus Aruspices]

the concept of "make the dungeon loop" is good, it isn't earth shattering

To them it is, because the concept of actual, legitimate level design with flow, rising tension, environmental storytelling, loops, verticality, coherence, etc. is apparently just that uncommon in the space, despite the fact that dungeons have had shit like that since their conception. [In fact, in the retro FPS mapmaking scene, making loops is considered a low level basic ass design convention that takes zero thought or effort because it's just such a given.] Nobody imagines dungeons as an experience, composed of emotions and flow and energy. No, just a "place". They don't conceptualize it beyond the physical. Makes sense, considering their... phillistinial nature

 

[The Ugly One]

Also, I can't sugarcoat it, I'm wondering if the hobby is going to go the way of the dodo sometime soon, like within 5-10 years. At the very least where I live the lion's share ofthe friendly local game stores have become unfriendly LGBTQI pity parties, maybe save for the biggest one but it's also the most bland and corporate.

It's never going away because pretending to be an elf and stealing orc loot will continue being fun. They can't take that away from you. They might take away Dungeons & Dragons specifically, but they can't take away dice and being huge dork.

I have not yet met a local TTRPG group through Discord that wasn't a whiny retarded leftist hugbox. Guys will fucking kick you out because they don't like your tone even if your comments aren't directed at anyone in the room. Absolute fucking losers.

I recruited for my game with an online ad. It's pretty easy to winnow out the ultra-leftoid faggots, just make sure it's the sort of game unappealing to them. A couple guys in my group are libs, but they aren't massive faggots.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm sure you all knew but, yes, he's a troon. Crazy that it could be surmised based entirely on how hard these faggots fall over themselves to overpraise him and kiss the gock.

There's no reason for troons in any RPG. Just use some cybershit to troon out, put on a girdle of masculinity/femininity like in AD&D, then you're just who you want to be anyway.

Anyone insisting on troon shit after that should be publicly killed.

 

[Hikaru86]

As for settings, the Savage Worlds book Titan Effect is basically Mission Impossible with psy powers. I hear Ghost Ops and Fear Agent occasionally mentioned, but I didn't get much out of them.

And Werewolves and Moreaus. If you thing psy powers are kinda "meh". Need Giant Robots rules to get the whole Not-Hasbro universe RPG.

I got invited to a PBP game of Sorcerer

RUNAWAAAYYYYY!!!! Don't look back, don't let anyone touch you, shoot your way out if you need.