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

[The Ugly One]

4e daily powers essentially all had some benefit on a miss, like half damage or like your example of Villain's Menace still gets a buff against the target on a miss, or some dailies, mostly Martial ones though, had the reliable keyword which means they weren't expended on a miss. There were essentially 0 dailies that were "Oh I rolled poorly so I get exactly nothing".

Just looking at the Warlock's first 12 available dailies (1st-9th level). There are 12. Two of them aren't attacks. Of the 10 that are attacks, 6 of them do absolutely nothing if you miss, one of them has "slide enemy 1 square" as your consolation prize, and three do half damage.

Even if you take one of those three, half damage isn't much of a consolation prize in 4e, because you just don't do that much damage to begin with (and in the case of Warlock, you don't do Hex damage on a miss).

You are probably remembering far more dailies having effects on a miss because missing a daily is bad enough that nobody took those ones at the table.

 

[Battlefield2142EU]

https://archive.ph/wip/bD480

It's the year of the dragon in the Chinese New Year, and it's the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons. Hasbro should've merchandised the hell out of D&D right now. What 50th anniversary shit WOTC/Hasbro putting out? Makeup for black women and black drag queens and a gay dungeons and dragons theater show.

 

[Neurotic]

Related to that, what shows do you think would make an interesting RPG?

I once wrote up a plan for a mini DnD campaign loosely based on the movie "Winnie the Pooh's Most Grand Adventure". The movie is about Christopher Robin "going missing" while Pooh and his friends trek through the woods to find him. Sounds plain, because it is, but hear me out.

Each player picked a role within an isolated woodland community (Book keeper, farmer, craftsman, ect). Level 1 start, limited magic, but extra feats that reflected their roles. In addition to creating their own character, I had everyone pick a trait of their missing friend and come up with some sort of memory they shared together, so that everyone had a little part in that NPC. Tried getting everyone to pick a neighborbor or two (NPC or PC) who they had a strong connections to as well. Really wanted to build the idea of a bunch of tight knit simple folk working together.

Essentially I wanted to experiment getting a group to have a high level of emotional investment in a game that was incredibly basic.

Sadly this was one of those games that never made it past the planning stage, which was going swimmingly (but scheduling, blah). Would love to try this again sometime.

Edit: spelling

 

[Acrid Alchemist]

Just looking at the Warlock's first 12 available dailies (1st-9th level). There are 12. Two of them aren't attacks. Of the 10 that are attacks, 6 of them do absolutely nothing if you miss, one of them has "slide enemy 1 square" as your consolation prize, and three do half damage.

Even if you take one of those three, half damage isn't much of a consolation prize in 4e, because you just don't do that much damage to begin with (and in the case of Warlock, you don't do Hex damage on a miss).

You are probably remembering far more dailies having effects on a miss because missing a daily is bad enough that nobody took those ones at the table.

You are only looking at PHB 1. Looking at the Compendium Warlocks have 25 level 1 daily powers. Only 2 do absolutely nothing on a miss, one of which is a large area of affect where you shouldn't be missing every single target. Plenty have Effects which activate hit or miss. Even the 3 attacking ones from PHB 1 still have Effects that always activate, one gives ongoing fire damage, one leaves a debuff to Will and one gives you cheap forced movement on them once a turn.

Yes Warlock won't be getting big number on a miss but you are still getting something and Warlock leans Controller anyways.

 

[AnOminous]

That's not completely true. 4e daily powers essentially all had some benefit on a miss, like half damage or like your example of Villain's Menace still gets a buff against the target on a miss, or some dailies, mostly Martial ones though, had the reliable keyword which means they weren't expended on a miss. There were essentially 0 dailies that were "Oh I rolled poorly so I get exactly nothing".

Sometimes, if I didn't want to outright fudge one of those "GM rolls dice behind the screen" things, I'd adjust the difficulty of the scenario down somewhat. Or upwards if it was turning into a joke-tier cakewalk.

Sometimes those packaged "level 7-10" or whatever dungeons turned out not to be, or you screwed up on balancing it yourself, or just outrageously bad luck was causing a lack of fun.

It's the year of the dragon in the Chinese New Year, and it's the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons. Hasbro should've merchandised the hell out of D&D right now. What 50th anniversary shit WOTC/Hasbro putting out? Makeup for black women and black drag queens and a gay dungeons and dragons theater show.

If you had told me a few decades ago that some day, D&D would be so popular it would have shit like theater shows about it and even normies would claim to like it, I would have thought wow, that would be really cool.

It's amazing how much it actually sucks.

I once wrote up a plan for a mini DnD campaign loosely based on the movie "Winnie the Pooh's Most Grand Adventure". The movie is about Christopher Robin "going missing" while Pooh and his friends trek through the woods to find him. Sounds plain, because it is, but hear me out.

This sounds like something for Toon, an old Steve Jackson game where you basically played toons. It was bare bones simple and almost all actions involved just rolling a handful of six siders and then presumably something funny happened.

Tried getting everyone to pick a neighborbor two (NPC or PC) who they had a strong connections to as well. Really wanted to build the idea of a bunch of tight knit simple folk working together.

I was really anal about creating NPCs and for most of my games, I had folders full of index cards with random characters with basic stats, personalities, motives, that could be expanded to a full character sheet if needed. I used to spend hours just creating these, most of which I never used.

 

[Neurotic]

This sounds like something for Toon, an old Steve Jackson game where you basically played toons. It was bare bones simple and almost all actions involved just rolling a handful of six siders and then presumably something funny happened.

I've never heard of Toon, before. Thank you for the introduction. Not quite what I was going for in the campaign I described but I see potential in that system.

 

[AnOminous]

I've never heard of Toon, before. Thank you for the introduction. Not quite what I was going for in the campaign I described but I see potential in that system.

It possibly isn't good for an actual campaign but it was pretty fun for one-shots.

 

[Judge Dredd]

It possibly isn't good for an actual campaign but it was pretty fun for one-shots.

I think this is why I'm liking rules lite systems as of late. PathFinder 2, DnD 5e, and Savage Worlds are great campaign games but suck for one shots*. Whereas "shallow" games like Tiny d6 and Knave are great because they play fast and character creation is fast.

*They are fun, but a lot of the appeal is character building and leveling, something that doesn't really work for a one shot.


Related to that, what do you guys think of Japanese TTRPGs? I've heard multiple times that the Japanese TTRPG scene is full of amazing games that are good for a single campaign and nothing else because mechanically the games are fun but fucked. Yet I've never heard what these games are. The only one I know of is Anima, and that's French Spanish.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Related to that, what do you guys think of Japanese TTRPGs? I've heard multiple times that the Japanese TTRPG scene is full of amazing games that are good for a single campaign and nothing else because mechanically the games are fun but fucked. Yet I've never heard what these games are. The only one I know of is Anima, and that's French Spanish.

Sword World is the big one (unofficial English translation wiki here), and is basically the Japanese Dungeons and Dragons. Other than that is Maid RPG, one of the few to get an official English translation. Both Goblin Slayer and Konosuba have official RPGs that have official English translations (I have the books but I'm not sure about posting directly here; both can be gotten via the Trove). There is also a Grancrest RPG (unofficial translation I believe), Kantai Collection RPG (unofficial translation), and Log Horizon RPG (translated, and if its unofficial, its a very good one). There are original RPGs too, such as Tenra Bansha Zero (which I believe is by the same guy that did Maid RPG), Golden Sky Stories, Dracurouge, Stellar Knights, Nechronica, Golden Sky Stories, Meikyuu Kingdom, Witch Quest, Floria, and Danmaku Yuugi, which are all translated, though I believe most if not all are unofficial translations. Then there is Zettai Reido, a porn/hentai RPG by the author of Maid RPG, which is only partially translated.

 

[Gingervitis]

Related to that, what do you guys think of Japanese TTRPGs? I've heard multiple times that the Japanese TTRPG scene is full of amazing games that are good for a single campaign and nothing else because mechanically the games are fun but fucked. Yet I've never heard what these games are. The only one I know of is Anima, and that's French Spanish.

Unless I’m wrong and gay, I believe Dungeon Meshi (I refuse to call it by its cringy English name) is getting a ttrpg translated into English. I believe Notepad Anon is translating the Medabots RPG into English soon, but don’t quote me on that.

 

[Henri Barbusse]

Sword World is the big one (unofficial English translation wiki here), and is basically the Japanese Dungeons and Dragons. Other than that is Maid RPG, one of the few to get an official English translation. Both Goblin Slayer and Konosuba have official RPGs that have official English translations (I have the books but I'm not sure about posting directly here; both can be gotten via the Trove). There is also a Grancrest RPG (unofficial translation I believe), Kantai Collection RPG (unofficial translation), and Log Horizon RPG (translated, and if its unofficial, its a very good one). There are original RPGs too, such as Tenra Bansha Zero (which I believe is by the same guy that did Maid RPG), Golden Sky Stories, Dracurouge, Stellar Knights, Nechronica, Golden Sky Stories, Meikyuu Kingdom, Witch Quest, Floria, and Danmaku Yuugi, which are all translated, though I believe most if not all are unofficial translations. Then there is Zettai Reido, a porn/hentai RPG by the author of Maid RPG, which is only partially translated.

Maid RPG, Zettai Reido, Nechronica, and Dracurouge are all mostly by one author, Kamiya Ryo. The group he's part of made Golden Sky Stories, but I'm not sure about his involvement there. I could pull out my book at look at the credits, but I'm lazy so I'll just say it feels a lot less fetishy than his other work. Dracurouge has extremely cool setting and it's worth reading for that alone, but the later supplements that have a lot of the great bits are only partially translated. Lately, Kamiya Ryo has been doing various hentai RPGs, including an unofficial hentai supplement to Call of Cthulhu. There's a spell in it that's given in English as Rerape.

Tenra Bansho Zero is excellent for one-shots, since it has quick character progression. It pretty much needs an online dice roller or something, since rolling 20+ dice is not unusual and rolls of 100+ dice are possible if often unwise. It also has reaction rolls when first meeting a PC or an NPC which can lead to a lot of funny results. I once derailed a game by rolling that the villain was my long lost mother and immediately joining her.

Stellar Knights is shit for a simple reason. The rules require you to spend half the time out of combat and there is zero rules that aren't combat. Also, the non-combat parts should always involve only two players, so if there are more players, it result in them waiting while the no actual stakes freeform roleplay ends.

 

[Janusz z Gliwic]

Does anyone here know good combat-light systems? My friend recently started Blades in the Dark, and I'm absolutely loving it, I'd love to explore more systems the focus on roleplaying over rollplaying

 

[East_Clintwood]

Does anyone here know good combat-light systems? My friend recently started Blades in the Dark, and I'm absolutely loving it, I'd love to explore more systems the focus on roleplaying over rollplaying

If you like Blade you should check out some of the other stuff by the same designer John Harper. He has a few games. lasers & Feelings has become my go-to for GMing games with randos if/when my lanned games fall through at the last minute.

 

[Mexican_Wizard_711]

Sword World is the big one (unofficial English translation wiki here), and is basically the Japanese Dungeons and Dragons. Other than that is Maid RPG, one of the few to get an official English translation. Both Goblin Slayer and Konosuba have official RPGs that have official English translations (I have the books but I'm not sure about posting directly here; both can be gotten via the Trove). There is also a Grancrest RPG (unofficial translation I believe), Kantai Collection RPG (unofficial translation), and Log Horizon RPG (translated, and if its unofficial, its a very good one). There are original RPGs too, such as Tenra Bansha Zero (which I believe is by the same guy that did Maid RPG), Golden Sky Stories, Dracurouge, Stellar Knights, Nechronica, Golden Sky Stories, Meikyuu Kingdom, Witch Quest, Floria, and Danmaku Yuugi, which are all translated, though I believe most if not all are unofficial translations. Then there is Zettai Reido, a porn/hentai RPG by the author of Maid RPG, which is only partially translated.

I just found this Japanese page for a Game Store in Japan. The page ranks various ttrpgs by the number of sessions played, I'm surprised that people played D&D 4e lasted until 2017

Japanese TTRPG Ranking

https://www.trpgtime.com/first/rank.html

 

[MISTER-CREEPMAN00]

I just found this Japanese page for a Game Store in Japan. The page ranks various ttrpgs by the number of sessions played, I'm surprised that people played D&D 4e lasted until 2017

Japanese TTRPG Ranking

https://www.trpgtime.com/first/rank.html

I can't read moon runes, so I'm reading this through google translate. Jesus Christ, I did not know that Cthulhu was such a massive juggernaut over there.

 

[AnOminous]

I can't read moon runes, so I'm reading this through google translate. Jesus Christ, I did not know that Cthulhu was such a massive juggernaut over there.

Ever heard of Junji Ito?

 

[ZMOT]

I've also played board games that "auto hit". I think it's Descent where you roll damage vs the enemies armour dice. Hell, I'm fairly sure I've mentioned the idea of auto hitting as a house rule here before and you guys gave solid suggestions, so I don't think it's automatically a bad idea.

descent has misses, but only for range iirc (blue die). melee always hits but but it might get blocked, which is a defense roll basically. can't remember the distribution but in the end it's not you rolling against a number, it's a roll-off which still gives people a different feel.

but yeah, misses aren't the point. the moment I saw he wanted to go more in that direction he immediately starts to competing with board games, which have figured that out ages ago. I like that it uses 2d6 (fuck linear distribution, which ironically is part of the problem), but anything else I saw I feel I can get better in a complete package elsewhere already, without the issues he's trying to "solve".
these days they even get a step further by making the combat gm-less (no need for someone to run it, no fudging, semblance of "balance"), and offload the story and choices. of course it won't be as open and interactive as a real TTRPG, but for many it scratches that itch already, otherwise people wouldn't drop triple digits on kickstarters...

besides, if I wanted to play something like that, this already exists: https://makapatag.itch.io/gubat-banwa

I can't read moon runes, so I'm reading this through google translate. Jesus Christ, I did not know that Cthulhu was such a massive juggernaut over there.

they like oneshots over campaigns which arguably works better with CoC, and it provides the possible weird (cerebral) shit you can enjoy over an evening or on the weekend.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I can't read moon runes, so I'm reading this through google translate. Jesus Christ, I did not know that Cthulhu was such a massive juggernaut over there.

From what I understand, it comes from the Japanese equivalent to Critical Role being a CoC game. Japan supposedly started the actual play thing with books called Replays that are basically transcripts of various games.

Supposedly a large percentage of RPG gamers there are women. Which might also explain CoCs popularity, since they tend to be mystery games instead of combat games.

Or that could all be bullshit, I don't know. I only hear about this stuff third hand at best.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

From what I understand, it comes from the Japanese equivalent to Critical Role being a CoC game. Japan supposedly started the actual play thing with books called Replays that are basically transcripts of various games.

Reminder that the original Sword World started out using the setting and world of Record of Lodoss War and was essentially an TTRPG adaptation of it, and Record of Lodoss War itself started out as a Replay of some guy's D&D game, which went on to popularize the very concept of tabletop RPGs to Japan. Just for reference, Sword World 2.0, the current edition, uses its own setting, separate from the one established in Lodoss. There are also separate Lodoss War RPG books, since Sword World is set in the same world, but in a different location.

 

[robobobo]

Yeah, lots of Japanese light literature and comics and shit are basically dramatizations of their RPG sessions, and CoC struck it big there. Japanese folks seem to like good horror as much or more than US people, I've seen tons of fucked up shit come from there, so no shock that Lovecraft's works would find an audience.