#ttrpg playing

[sarasa-cat]

Re me and BG3 — I feel like I am cramming for an exam. Stayed up late last night watching videos on how D&D5e rules are different from what what I vaguely remember (2nd & 3rd; mostly I played other ttrpgs and our GMs had cooked up tons of house rules too; one was designing his own system). Huh.

Cramming on sorcerer builds and different kinds of half-elves. Refining my ideas for my Yennefer-inspired character. Realizing more and more that I want true escapism in this RP experience so leaning even harder into my Yennefer-inspired character design.

Got my hands on the current D&D rule set.

Feeling extremely nostalgic.

Remembering how I and a couple other players in the various overlapping ttrpg groups I once played with (lol- almost my extra major in Uni; ahahaha) used to draw all of the characters for our gaming groups. Me and my gaming bag: books, incredible amounts of dice, hand painted figurines, pencil box, colored pencils, watercolor tin, brushes, hand-drawn maps and scenes and characters.

Nostalgia of being in a way too early in the morning digital logic/computer architecture 1 class and forcing myself awake by taking copious notes (despite knowing all the material anyhow) while one of my gaming buddies sat next to me and inked gorgeous beholders. The prof fully aware and saying nothing bc we showed up for every class and did well on HWs and exams.

All of us wannabe lit & art students stuck in the most competitive STEM programs bc parents refused to let us study anything else. So what did we do? We only thought about gaming. ;)

[austinramsaygames]

Inspired by recent discussions of an Actual Play.

EDIT March 22: I can't believe I have to do this. *sigh*

I have played LOTS of games other than D&D. I GMed a podcast for 6 years that was literally about playing obscure games.

TTRPGs that don't use dice (or any randomizer) are still TTRPGs and great fun.

The "win condition" of a TTRPG is having fun with your friends (this can include stories that end with everyone crying).

I believe that there are three parties that have input on the story: the players, the GM, and the dice. Obviously this changes if you're playing a game that gets rid of 1 or 2 of those elements. This includes games that aren't D&D.

If a certain dice result would be uninteresting enough that you'd want to discard it entirely, you must ask why you would roll in the first place. This is the same for whether that would be success OR failure.

Finally, check out my Itch store.

EDIT April 3: I'm muting this now. Too many notifications explaining the stuff I put in the first edit to me like I'm an idiot. God, Tumblr really can't handle a joke.

[vforvalensa]

90s indie ttrpgs whip ass

[worldsbeyondpod]

Everyone please tell Brennan how brave and strong he is.

ICYMI, we dropped a SURPRISE Patreon-exclusive Q&A video a few days ago!

Join us by the fireside for $5 a month to get access to this 50+ minute long video!

[maximumzombiecreator]

My primary objection to the whole "5e as a containment game for bad players" thing is that, in my experience, the vast majority of these bad players are perfectly able to be good players, they just don't know that they're not. They think they're behaving in a socially normative fashion, and are often shocked and embarrassed to learn that you think they've been rude.

Like, when it comes to players not learning the rules, I don't think I've ever gotten pushback* when I tell people, "We're all spending our limited free time to be here, so to be respectful to everyone's time, please learn how your stuff works so that we're not bogged down." Sometimes people still struggle, but then I usually take from that that they need to be playing something simpler. Some players are just a bad fit for crunchy systems, but they are trying.

*(from people I'm playing with, not internet weirdos)

The thing is that, for most of these players, they think I'm hosting a dinner party when I'm actually hosting a potluck. They've absorbed a culture that leads them to believe that I, as GM, am putting on a big production for them, they're my guests, and all they're expected to do is show up and have a good time. Them investing time to learn the rules and systems would be like showing up to my dinner party with a side dish. Like, that's honestly kind of insulting? If your host has prepared a 5 course dinner and you show up with your own food, that's an awkward situation.

But once you tell them that, no, this is a potluck, and they were really supposed to bring, like, a green bean casserole or something, they're mortified. And some of them won't be comfortable doing that, and will choose not to participate instead, but honestly I've almost never seen anyone decide that the expectation is unreasonable.

[namarikonda]

🌑✨ Theeana A'daravar — a drow twilight cleric & Tearcatcher of the Evergleaming Moon.

[errant-light]

As she has finally made her glorious first appearance in our D&D campaign, I can finally share. Meet Charlotte, former enchanted lamp, now an unholy combination of opossum and seagull, and soon-to-be warlock familiar. Many, many thanks to @spindlewit, who yet again took a bizarre prompt from me and turned it into something absolutely amazing.

[katjohnadams]

My favorite four tools for running a game:

Yes, And: most people are familiar with this. You accept what the player is doing and add to it. "I go to open the door." "You open the door and a large friendly dog jumps out, pinning you to the ground."

No, But: a lot of people know this one, too. You aren't letting the player Do The Thing, BUT something else happens! "I try to stab the shop keep." "The shop keep dodges your attack, but trips and falls to the floor, dropping the key he was palming."

Yes, But: much less used but fun! The player's choice works, technically, but there's Unexpected Consequences! "I go to smash the box." "Your mace falls squarely on the chest but it deforms, absorbing the blow and revealing a massive row of teeth!"

No, And: use with caution, for moments when the Fuck Around has occurred, and not it's Find Out's initiative. "I'm going to try and seduce the guard." "Unbeknownst to you, the guards are all eunuchs under a vow of celebacy and he takes significant affront at your presumption."

I don't use these for everything, but they're great tools for when an action needs a bit of back-and-forth.

Have fun, don't die!

[thechekhov]

TTRPGs really looked into the universal playground issue of “I hit you with my super special arrow-shotgun and kill you!” “No you didn’t, I dodged it!” and solved it by giving us some math rocks to roll about it, huh. 

[lostcompanyofficial]

🎉First stretch goal unlocked! Please welcome the 'ROTEMNTEE Alien Barbarian' to our mini's collection!

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[clairebearsparkles]

Anyway I am absolutely loving this so far

[vixensdungeon]

Pro-tip for actual play players: it’s okay to do the stuff your character is good at, and it’s okay to play a character who is good at the stuff you like to do. If what you like to do is talking to NPCs all the time, make your character good at that instead of having your rizzless bruiser sabotage every social interaction for “comedy.”

[qrowscant]

ouro's lich mech, 2HOT2HANDLE

[worldsbeyondpod]

WELCOME TO WITCH WEEK! We've got five witches in the Coven of Elders, which means artwork of each witch per day for the rest of this week!

We're kicking it all off with Indri, Witch of the Wind and Stars.

And I'm going to need a wisdom saving throw. Lest you fall in love.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's witch!

The Coven of Elders was lovingly brought to life by artist Jack Jones. You can find him here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackjonesart/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/Jack_jones1996

[roguecentaur]

Hey long time no see!

I've just released a printable game I've been designing on-and-off for over a year.

It's called "Celebrity Rat Trap", a single player journaling game where you play as a washed up D-list star on a reality show where you and 11 other celebrities live under 1 roof and compete for a grand prize and 30 seconds of rekindled fame. It's equal parts comedy and tragedy.

I've had a lot of fun play-testing it with folks, and am relieved to finally push it out to the public.

It's pay-what-you-want, so you're totally able to try it out for free!