#tabletop stuff

[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.

[spyglassrealms]

Fun Forgotton Realms fact: the city of Waterdeep lies on the west coast of Faerûn, right around the 47-48° lines of latitude. It's just south/southwest of a significant glacial mountain chain and has a warm current running up its coast complemented by prominent onshore winds.

Y'all know what city has the exact same position and conditions IRL?

Seattle.

Waterdeep is Fantasy Seattle.

[tashisha]

A castle town map I made for my homebrew game, feel free to use it for yours.

[spyglassrealms]

@sunevial

The Monster Manual but it's blatantly written by the monsters

[the-god-of-hellfire]

Ever since seeing this meme...

...I haven't been able to get the idea out of my head.

So with much ado, behold:

My magnum opus of wargaming terrain.

[dragonsanddarlings]

Eye of the Beholder dice bag

[glorbs-dominion]

[from-the-notebooks]

Do other ttrpg designers do historical research when making historical games?

I have to assume the GURPS splat books had some behind them but I'm just wondering if its weird that I plan to have a bibliography for my cute little Fate hack? I just want it to be accurate as much as possible.

[uesp]

Pictured, a diorama seen at the ESO tenth anniversary event created by Modiphius.

The central structure is a model of The Imperial City. Some of the scenes surrounding it includes Elden Root, Breton and Dunmer architecture, Dwemer and Ayleid ruins, and Coldharbour.

[psalacanthea]

it is probably important to note that Ranch Dressing (real name Sheryl Jean Hicks) was ofc another throwaway NPC/Enemy that they decided to adopt instead of letting die. They torpored most of the actual vampires of the group and gave them to an elder vampire to use as juiceboxes.

This time I had to take their new pet elder away from them before they collected another one. (Vár, the last remaining survivor of a bloodline from the Eurasian Steppe that turns into man-eating horses).

Also I'm not sorry for stealing Brandon, his cousin was LITERALLY your first nemesis in the game-- did you really think I wouldn't turn him against you some day? :x

Finished a story chapter in our VtR game, wrapping up our adventures in New York. Turns out grenades can resolve most of your vampire problems.

Jaz lost her ghoul. He was possessed by a Strix and ran off somewhere 😭 Now Jaz has to have Ranch Dressing handle all her day affairs.

I have a bunch of exp to spend, which should be interesting. Jazdia already has maxed out disciplines for Dominate, Auspex and Gilded Cage. Might be time to buy her some more physical stats so she’s less of a wet tissue in fights, but eh. She’s a handguns expert so she’s never in the thick of actual combat. Her first point of damage didn’t occur until 6 months of playing the game, when she was kicked by the goat she was sacrificing.

I also gained some forbidden knowledge last session, and have the choice to learn one ritual from either Crúac, Theban Sorcery, or all rituals from Ahranite Sorcery if I pledge my soul to VII

What to pick…

👁️ 👄 👁️

[psalacanthea]

Storyteller protip: When your coterie throws a fit over the entire west coast vampire society forming a mutual defense pact against them, remind them why with demonic possession!

[spyglassrealms]

"And then the sky darkens, and you hear........ the honking."

— Canadian Swarmkeeper Ranger revealing what, exactly, his swarm is

[arsene-inc]

Implied system

I had a thought (I know it happens, it's bad)

What about a game that is only character creation ? I don't mean a game where character creation is the goal, is the whole game. I mean a game with a setting and a system, but only the character creation is written.

Implied setting exist, get ready for implied system. The player(s) can can only infer the rules and the setting from the crumbs in the character creation and on the character sheet. How they act on these crumbs is up to them.

Does it already exist ? or should we experiment ?

[theresattrpgforthat]

How To Find Cool Games: On DriveThruRPG!

So disclaimer upfront: I don’t use the DriveThruRPG website nearly as much as Itch.io. Some of those reasons are practical (there’s no tagging system, the catalogue is rather D&D saturated,), while others are more… well, shallow (the website isn’t as pretty).

However, DriveThruRPG is a very good tool to have in your toolbox when it comes to finding cool ttrpgs, for a number of reasons, the primary one being that it’s for TTRPGS and only TTRPGs! Let’s get started.

The Search Bar / Categories.

You can start by doing a basic search for a game that you already know about, or by searching for a keyword, like “pirates” or “zombies”. You’ll get titles sorted by “relevance”, so things that have the keyword in the name will show up first. One of the biggest downsides of this strategy is that everything kind of gets lumped in here: supplements, maps, expansions, adventures, character sheets… the list goes on. However, you can narrow down what you’re looking for by using the toggles at the top of the website. I personally usually narrow down search results by selecting “Product Type” and then “Core Rulebooks”.

One nice thing DriveThru has compared to Itch.io is that you can combine categories, so if I wanted to brows say, Gothic Horror Core Rulebooks priced under $20, well I can do that! My favourite categories are for genre, but another set of categories that you may find very useful once you’ve familiarized yourself with some games is the Rule System category. There are categories for systems like the Year Zero Engine, Forged in the Dark, BRP (Basic Roleplaying), OSR, and so much more. There’s also “other systems” and “any system” categories if you want to find something that’s unique or that can be used across games.

DriveThru also has a lot of games published in different languages, and you can narrow your results to see what’s been offered in your language. I think there are more options on this website than there are on Itch, although you might benefit by finding one or two publishers in your language on DriveThru, and then check the publisher’s website from there.

The Homepage

Another reason to check out DriveThru regularly is the sales and promotions. The top banner of the homepage will typically advertise a few things: the Deal of the Day, current themed sales, and special offers that DriveThru RPG wants you to know about. Their homepage also has Bestselling Titles, Most Popular Games Under $5, Newest Games, Featured Titles, and, if you scroll down enough, Personalized suggestions. Unlike Itch.io, DriveThru does a lot of work to show you what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s a really good deal right now, which can all be really helpful things!

When you land on a game, you’ll be able to see whether or not DriveThru sells physical copies, some basic information like book size, rule system, publisher & author, and a blurb describing the setting and other general information about the game. DriveThru has a side panel with “Customers also Bought”, which is great for showing you things that you might like, either because they surround the same theme, they work for the same game, or they are in a similar genre. (Another thing that Itch isn’t quite as good at.)

You’ll also be able to see (and leave) reviews for game, including the ratings left by other people who have picked it up. Occasionally I’ll find really useful information in the reviews, as reviewers might talk about mechanics they love or loathe, or recommend styles of play that they feel the game matches.

Finally, like Itch, DriveThru will let you know if you’ve already bought the game, and provide you with a download shortcut.

Publishing House Pages

Larger publishing houses typically have their ttrpg content sorted very nicely for you on their publisher pages, to help you find the things that you want. Modiphius is a great example, sorting Star Trek, Dune, Fallout, and their 2d20 games all in special categories.

Many publishers also have a Community Content section, which is great if you’re looking for assets, new adventures, hacks of a game system and some very reasonably priced (or even cheap) game additions. Similar to Itch, DriveThru has a Pay-What-You-Want feature for many games, although, unlike Itch, most PWYW titles require that you pay a non-zero amount.

Newsletters

When you create an account on DriveThruRPG, you can sign up for various different kinds of newsletters. Some come directly from DriveThru itself: this includes the Follow Your Favourites and Deal of the Day options, as well as weekly/monthly newsletters carrying information about new releases, special promotions, and (often) a free ttrpg product of the month.

However, on top of that, when you purchase a game or follow publishing pages, you can also get emails about new releases specific to those creators, as well as updates if a new version of a game you bought has been added. Often if it’s a game you already bought, this means you own the new version too - something that DriveThru has in common with Itch!

The Follow Your Favourites announcements will line up with whatever you’ve chosen to follow on the website. I’ve asked for updates about new Core Rulebooks, and I also get updates from the Onyx Path and a few other places where I found games I really liked. I also check the Deal of the Day offers fairly regularly; sometimes there are really really good deals offered and if it’s a game you know or like, then you don’t want to miss out on a sale!

Wishlists

DriveThru allows you to add games to wishlists to look at later, and even gives you the ability to sort your wishlists, although the process feels harder to look through than Itch does; I think it might be a UI issue.

However, because it acts like a wishlist, you can move games from the wishlist into your cart and vice versa, as well as move the games to another list. One really nice thing about the wishlist section is that DriveThru will alway show you when something you want is on sale, and how much it is normally - Itch does this too, but in this case, DriveThru is much easier to read!

I mostly sort my wishlists into Core Rulebooks and Supplements, because I don’t have nearly as many games bookmarked on DriveThru. If it exists on Itch, I store it on Itch - but there are plenty of other, “someday’ games, that I want to be able to find again in the future.

Your Library

DriveThruRPG has an app that you can download onto your computer or your phone, and it basically acts as a library that you can look through. In both the webpage and the app, you can sort your purchases alphabetically, from new to old, by publisher, by whether or not they were updated, and using similar categories as the search bar on the store front.

Free things can definitely be found here, even if they’re harder to look for. On DriveThru, most free products are things like character sheets, playtest games, or Quickstarts. However, some publishers do put up their stuff for free. Whenever I can get a Quickstart of something interesting, or if I find something being offered for free, I add it to my library. Free games are how I got started in ttrpgs, and QuickStarts are wonderful introductions to a system that usually give you a good idea of what the game is going to feel like.

Conclusion

Overall, DriveThruRPG is great for folks who like certain big publishing houses, and folks who like a good deal. I personally usually end up on the site because something in my emails caught my eye, which is the opposite of how I navigate Itch. DriveThru was my home base before I discovered Itch.io, so I still have a little fondness for the website, even if looking through it is a little bit of a slog.

One thing that might be a bit of an annoyance is that if you own something from a certain company, they might be able to send you a lot of emails for every sale and new product. If this becomes too much, you can choose to opt out from those publishers.

If you don’t want to have to actively engage with the website as much as say, Itch, DriveThru’s email system is also a big help. You can customize your subscriptions to match what you’re interested in, and then just check your emails once in a while to see what’s on offer. After a while you’ll also learn about yearly events, like the Summer Sale, which often provides big discounts on a lot of different games.

DriveThru is also a great place to start if you’re looking for print versions of games: I don’t know what shipping is like to places outside Canada, but I definitely appreciate that it’s an option, and sometimes all you need to do is find a game or publisher - once you know that it exists, you can google that publisher, check out their website, and figure out the best place to order from there.

[ghostmaggie]

Fantasy-inspired dice towers available now from Hidden Raven Games!

Cask Themed Dice Tower

Waterfall Dice Tower

Roll your next nat 20 in style 😎

[crysdrawsthings]

Oh, this is really interesting!

Myself picked "Entirely depends", but love to share reasoning. For context: I both play and DM online.

This obviously not including situations like regular breaks during gametime, cases when someone due to whatever reasons needs to leave the table and the like.

I am not very concerned with metagaming or non-intrusive backseating, as long as it is not detrimental to everyone having fun.

I also don't think leaving shows disinterest, as some people might need to recharge social or physical battery more often then others, have something not necessarily urgent, but needed to be done, or million other reasons. And sometimes you just don't personally enjoy shopping part of session or puzzles or something else to the effect, completely valid as well.

So my main concern would be:

- knowing approximately for how long someone is gone and/or being able to ping them;

- it being noted in chat that person is leaving/came back. Nothing really fancy just "brb - I am back";

- that specific scene is not something hugely important to world, story, group, etc. In this case I would opt to pause until everyone is back.

To specifically illustrate:

Bard and Warlock went shopping; solving actual puzzles that Druid and Monk like, but you are indifferent to; minor slice of life scenes of different party members doing prep or unwinding after adventure - perfectly fine by me for people to tune out or go stretch their legs.

Party does investigation and split to cover more area; Fighter got separated from the group and is about to run into BBEG; during the downtime between adventure Wizard is about to uncover a conspiracy threatening the city - I would prefer for people to be present so they can get information first-hand as it happens, even if their characters are not present, so we will wait.

So I figure a number of you nerds among my followers probably play ttrpgs right?

I had a "this opinion is not universal" experience in a session recently, and now I curious how this works at y'all's tables. RPG-Etiquette poll! Aside from little things like going to the bathroom and getting a new drink, how do you look at a player leaving the the table (or, in a digital game, removing their headphones/leaving the computer) for the duration of a scene they're not in? Say the party has split, half the party is IC-present for the scene, but the scene isn't actively secret.

*A player who is tired, stressed, overstimulated or otherwise really need a break may sit out the scene, but it isn't optimal.

No option for seeing results, check in again next week!

I'm curious, since the options I heard showed really different viewpoints.