#Tabletop Talk

[anim-ttrpgs]

Another A.N.I.M. Interview!

Another A.N.I.M. interview! This one was actually recorded back in March, and it’s my first-ever audio interview, so I apologize for my public speaking skills lol

The major takeaway I think from this interview is that when you spend money on a rulebook and/or adventure module, the burden should not fall on you to make the experience good. You should be able to rely on the rulebook to do a huge chunk of, if not most, of the work in a session. The rulebook should be providing a sturdy platform for the GM and players to stand on while they build their story, and ideally provide hammers, nails, screws, glue, paint, wood, scaffolding, cement, etc. for them to work with, and an adventure module should provide a structure at least half-built for them to work from, instead of making them put effort into just treading water while they also have to do all the other work.

If “listening for local rumors” is something a PC could feasibly do in an RPG, the rulebook should come with at least a DC to determine how difficult that is, so that the GM doesn’t have to make up a DC on the fly, then also determine what success or failure means on the fly.

Less than 3 days left to back our kickstarter for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy! Crowdfunding ends at 2:00 PM CST on Friday May 10th!

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[wispy-candyshop]

Scenario for most to least likely: run a tabletop RPG. Bonus points for which game they'd run

I have actually run 2 of my current characters in a few DnD sessions.

Patchi, 100% why she doesnt like clowns and will give a horrified look if someone asks her to go to a circus. She became a vigilantly sidekick.

Raija, 85% why she doesnt like vampires and 100% why she loses her beloved longsword later. She got fucked up by Strahd well an equivalent to him.

Technically Loku too but more NPC to help with the story.

unfortunately I'm not familiar with the games besides Strahd.

sooo more to least: Raija, Patchi, Loku, Khal

update update: I forgot I did do a one off with Khal, very short lived cuz life.

[liltaireissocute]

[PERC'ILDAN]

What are they doing? Option A: they are getting ready to play TTRPG; option B: they are actively assembling an Ikea table.

I picked secret third option

[mothhuuny]

im working on a cult of the lamb ttrpg!

this is my first time building a ttrpg from the ground up, but so far its been a very smooth process! so far, i have all of the base game buildings, weapons and curses down, as well as all of the follower traits!

currently im working on the relics, character creation, and other small things. im leaving combat for later, since it kind of scares me at the moment, lol. ill post more updates in the future, and yes, once it's finished, i'll be posting the doc publicly for anyone to use!

[alicesoinions]

concept: Vampire hack where the playable clans are Vampire, Dracula, and Those Feratu

[theresattrpgforthat]

How do you know so many games to recommend? I feel like I’m always scrambling to find games on a certain topic, and itchio’s search function is tricky at best.

Hello friend! I have a few methods, and I think they all tie back to my pretty big obsession with games. Let's take a trip through my indie RPG journey, because this is kind of the result of approximately 5 years of interest.

DriveThru RPG

When I first got into TTRPGs, I didn't have a lot of money (let's be real, even right now I don't really have that much spending money) but I did have a little more time, so I combed the net for free tabletop games. I got acquainted with DriveThruRPG first, and I took everything I could that was free and put it into little folders on my computer. Since then I've realized that I can access my folders through the DriveThru App, so there's much less on my computer and more just waiting to be downloaded and perused.

I also get notifications from DriveThru about deals of the day, and occasionally I just browse the storefront to see if anything catches my eye. DriveThru's navigation system is not great either, but one of my friends does some of his own sifting and has directed me to some real gems. I learned about Pandora London, Swords of the Serpentine, and Savage Worlds this way.

Podcasts

I love TTRPG podcasts but I didn't want to listen to D&D podcasts. I found Fandible first, when I was looking for a play through of Changeling: The Lost. I walk to work and I also like to listen to podcasts when I clean my house, so I usually get through one episode a day. I usually look for podcasts that play in multiple systems, although you'll see a number of podcasts here that focus on just one non-D&D system. Here's a few that I recommend:

Fandible: Just a group of friends who love playing games together. All of them are GMs, and they all GM different games. Jesus is the most adventurous, and is constantly bringing new games to the table. I found Slugblaster, Numenera, and Unhallowed Metropolis through them!

Character Creation Cast: I started listening to CCC last year, thanks to a recommendation from a friend, but I fell in love quick. The hosts focus only on the character creation aspect of games, and they also spend time talking to other gamers about the parts of play that each guest feels is important. I found out about Descent into Midnight, Nova, and Blue Planet this way.

The Gauntlet Podcast: This Podcast no longer releases episodes but I learned so much about safe game play through this podcast. Once a month the hosts would sit down with guests and highlight a game of the month for each of them. Often they would talk about games that they adored even before those games made it to publication. I found out about Brinkwood, Apocalypse Keys, and Poutine through this podcast. I miss it so very much.

I would also recommend My First Dungeon, Party of One Podcast, The Eternity Archives, One Shot, and +1 Forward for exposure to many indie games.

Itch.io

I didn't interact much with Itch.io at first - I thought it was mostly for indie video games and generators - but when the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality came out I went feral. I sorted through each and every page of games in that bundle and put all of the TTRPGs into folders - which I am still refining to this day. As you can see, I get very excited whenever a big bundle comes out, as it gives me a lot of exposure to games that people have made.

I also sort through the most recent additions on Itch every one or two days. I usually categorize my folders via genre and rules system, but I'm currently in the process of curating folders for duet and epistolary games. If I think a tag will help me, I usually use https://itch.io/physical-games/tag-[tag] and then insert what I'm looking for in the [tag]. It doesn't get everything but it gets me started.

Often if a game was entered in a Game Jam, there's a tab that you can click to see other entries in that same Jam. So occasionally I'll browse Game Jams for other games that I might find interesting. And for games that I know that I'm personally passionate about, I have a Games that Intrigue Me folder to flip through for when I'm choosing which game to play, or if I want to spotlight a game that I've been itching to put on a rec post.

Other Avenues

I am actually subscribed to you on Youtube, along with a number of other great reviewers!

The Gaming Table is a wonderful Aussie creator who reviews copies of indie ttrpgs. She started a year ago and already has a truly delightful backlog. I recently listened to her review of Bluebeard's Bride and it was wonderful!

I found 11dragonkid when I was looking for Lancer content and was pleasantly surprised to find other ttrpg reviews for games such as ARC and Gubat Banwa.

I watch A.A. Voigt's and Talen Lee's (@talenlee) mini-essays about games and the pieces of those games that speak to them not just to learn about new games but also to learn about what makes those games matter. I found the videos on Capitalites and Girl By Moonlight very informative!

I also watch Dave Thaumvore for reviews for big-print games (Vaesen, Symbaroum), and Questing Beast for updates on what's happening in the OSR scene (Vaults of Vaarn, Mothership).

I'm also subscribed to a number of newsletters and RSS feeds! Bundle of Holding has a blog announcing new bundles, the Indie RPG Newsletter has some great indie rpg coverage in their monthly updates and associated links, and I have an RSS feed on Feedly for game musings on whatever blogs I can find.

In Conclusion...

Much of my TTRPG knowledge comes from constant osmosis. I talk to friends about games, spend a lot of time on Itch.io, and I'm also finding new games here on Tumblr. I have an RPG server where me and a bunch of my friends play pretty regularly, and I'm constantly introducing them to new games. We finished up our Monster Squad Arc a month or two ago, and we're currently getting geared up for a Galaxy Games arc - this time with games that other players are bringing to the table!

I started sorting games for my own enjoyment - I love having all of my little boxes that I can go back to when I am hankering for my own game. I started this blog because I found there were too many games that I was excited about and I was never going to get through all of them just gaming with my friends.

[tumblmon]

Cassette Beasts unofficial card game master folder is here!

Very excited to share this game with you all and I hope you have fun!

[extrajigs]

I love the designs of the Styraphants so much, can I have permission to use them in my d&d campaign? :D

Dude HECK YES!!! As long as I get an update on the shenanigans!

[psalacanthea]

I would like to tell you all about Lachlan.

Father Lachlan Patrick Typasius Doyle, is a if not THE major antagonist of our longstanding Vampire the Requiem campaign, and the vessel wherein I pour all my hatred for Catholicism.  He is my nightmare made flesh.  He’s a tattooed ginger megalomaniac with a maniacal need for holy purpose and a charmingly devious streak a mile wild.  He’s a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, narcissistic liar who gets his giggles fucking over everyone in his path.  He’s the devil.

He’s my coterie’s chew toy.

The first time the players met him, he was an ally.  They’d been kidnapped by a local Lancea and forced to suffer through a gauntlet of their sins, fighting their way free until they faced down the vampire cultists themselves in the local Methodist church.  Lachlan and his cadre of Catholic Lancea showed up to handle the fight, bringing guns to a church fight and ending things quickly.

He quickly endeared himself to them, by being his charmingly blustering, lying self, pretending to be nothing more than a suffering weapon forced to fight the Church's battles.  So, when he inevitably betrayed them, it was great.  And ever since he did, they’ve made it their life’s goal to defang this poor, poor man.

When he finally managed to execute his really annoying daughter, they reversed time.

One of them charmed him, and now they have a violent, twisted love affair that is very distracting when he’s trying to take over America (and Canada to a lesser degree).

They stopped him from destroying Los Angeles at least once, and Portland, and New York.

The one time they torpored him they didn’t even let him stay dead long enough for it to ‘count’ and he got very angry about it.

He’d been wounded by a Dhampir and thus was an empty pit of hunger for lost adoration, a restless seeker of glory, but they fixed him with the power of love (gross) and now he gets a lot less done.

They made him lose his faith at least three separate times and that’s his coping mechanism.

They never appreciate his longwinded fire and brimstone speeches any more.

Bound him in a geas to his mother.

Made a version of him that is gay.

Stole his favorite henchman and gave him to WEREWOLVES (why?!).

Used him as an attack dog at least once.

Killed his ex best friend and longstanding arch-nemesis instead of letting him do it (unforgivable).

They’ve finally left him free to build a soulless vampire megachurch in the South, but even from afar they’re still screwing him over by uncovering his local spies and then sending him mixtapes to prove they know.

I cannot tell you how sad I will be on the day he inevitably has to die.

This is healing my inner child.

[nuclearanomaly]

The gm has used emotionally impactful taunt. It's super effective.

[kiiwipops]

who are you, but a mockery of your own legacy?

.

a three-headed dragon-bat god design i made a while back as the villain for a collaborative roleplay! lore summary below, for anyone curious

LACHESIS. God of Grief, Nightmares, and Paralysis.

Formerly known as Lachesis LXV, Soothsaying Head of the fallen Phantom God, Atrophy.

Lachesis pronouns: he/it

Atrophy pronouns: They/It (as a collective entity)

Collectively known as Atrophy, this beast and Its three heads was the phantom god of law, dreams, and wisdom. Each of Atrophy’s heads represented the past, present, and future, and together, They fueled the reincarnation cycle that stopped true death from touching the phantom plane.

That is, until a dimensional tear happened, killing the past and present heads. Now the head that was once the phantoms’ future, Lachesis, lives all on his lonesome, haunting the ruins of a land that was once Its.

This fallen god antagonizes the protagonists of Homebound by dragging them through omen-like nightmares and permanently twisting the forms of those he deems useful… or a threat.

[newvegascowboy]

Ive decided im not going to be gentle about what i think of trump voters and a girl asked me if i would judge someone for having a different opinion than me and i said yes and she was like "that's shitty of you" like hmm difference of opinion =/= stripping away minority rights

[agbpaints]

Classic Battletech today! IlClan era Scorpion Empire vs Rasalhague Dominion. I learned a valuable lesson today- the Mastodon is a fucking cracked mech. Streak LRMs are a nutty gun and reinforced structure is a nutty bit of tech. I parked the mech in the back line at the start of the game and it pumped out 35-70 damage each turn, only punishing me with any heat whatsoever when it was ripping fucking four and a half *tons* of armor off an enemy mech on a given turn. It cost me damn near 4000 bv and I think it was worth every penny because it pretty much won the game on its lonesome.

I also brought a Kontio (funny but difficult to evaluate because it lost its supercharger early and once my opponent realized what it would do unchecked they bunched most of their forces up to avoid getting picked off) and a Mad Dog mk IV A (kinda clunky weapons loadout but solid mid-long range game that was consistently relevant and my opponent whuppsied a couple of cluster shots into it that got eaten by the ferro-lam armor) as other ilClan era goodies I had not previously tried. Overall victory for Rasalgaue Dominion but part of that was my opponent brought a ton of close range brawlers that I was just picking off with my skimmers and big chungus fire support

[padawan-historian]

as black folk, womenfolk, and queer folk put on their Sunday best and ankh up their respectability politics for kamala harris I look around this lovecraft country of ours where blackness is policed, queerness is criminalized, reconstruction is collapsing (for a third time) and people think replacing a colonizer with a cop is an improvement.

the sun is setting on this empire, but doesn't mean white supremacy and fascism are going anywhere.

[alicesoinions]

so a thing about the "5e can do anything" mantra is. any tabletop RPG can do anything; but every RPG is also designed for a specific experience.

you can pick any rpg book and hack its rules away into whatever sort of adventure you want; but the result probably won't be as good as if you used a game properly designed for that

and there's this weirdly common sort of thinking that views D&D as completely moldable, and you can change or remove rules as you see fit, but the rules of other RPGs are set in stone, and one little thing you don't like is grounds for ignoring the entire system

for whatever you want to do, there's probably a good system for it - but also, any RPG can be altered if it's not quite what you're looking for

[xie-lians-cooking]

You roll low!? You roll a nat one!? Dice jail! Dice jail for 1,000 years!