I’ll instantly admit I haven’t played any in quite a while, the last one being Warhammer’s Only War that I had a lot of fun with over a weekend. Where I ran Miriam the Paratrooper Car Mechanic (Elysian Tech-Priest)
Before that I was in a group that started an introductory campaign for LANCER, which is a mech game, where you pilot a mech for combat and are just a normal person for not combat. Where I had a hard time understanding how things worked at first but very quickly got into it, though I question anyone who isn’t into piloting mechs.
I’ve also played Stars Without Numbers 2e quite a lot, along with some Pathfinder 2e and a (surprisingly) short stint in D&D 5e.
Most of my interest is in the story aspects of the game, and character writing is one of the most fun things to do to me. I’d like to DM some stuff at some point but that’s a future me’s problem when life settled down a little.
So to still end it on a question kind of note, what’s your TTRPG experience, interest and stories?
I’ve been running a Lancer campaign for about 2 years now and my players adore it. It can be tricky to GM for me because of how crunchy combat is (and I still suck at balancing encounters) but I love the modular character and mech building system. So much room for expression and cool ideas - every character is so unique.
I’ve played with various friends from time to time over the past few decades. I often lack the commitment to stick with any for long periods of time or to fully learn the rules…
We are currently in the middle of a small campaign in Daggerheart that our friend is running for a podcast mini series. It’s only three episodes long and I think the fact that it’s self contained like that is increasing my enjoyment greatly.
I would LOVE to play Lancer. Not sure I have the faith to GM a game as crunchy as that though, I’ll have to find someone nerdier than me on those things to host.
Lately I’ve been into GM-less TTRPGS. There’s a lot of them on itch, and I find it SO interesting + fun to play + less hassle to organize.
I may do a more in detail post on my favorite ones btw, but checkout:
My GM also struggled with maintaining it, which is part of why it went on hiatus. Though with the right group it’d be an interesting place to get started with as GM
I’ve never tried the GM less systems, but I have a problematic amount of them gathering digital dust on a drive of mine. The solo ones are also very interesting looking when I bump into them.
Oh gosh I’ve had ttrpgs around me more than I haven’t - was raised by folks who had to get multiple bookshelves for their collections of 3,5 books. First system I got really into was Pathfinder, I guess PF1E now in revision. We had the paperback beta book, and I think just about every last official module and booklet fit to print for it. I could break that system over my knee without breaking a sweat.
Made it more fun for me that way: I could be the most obscure nonsense character who by all known laws of aviation should not be able to fly. That gave me a ton of creative liberties with the system. My last character I got to play was a VMC witch/cleric* with the devotion patron. Giving me the option to heal at will, call down the wrath of the divine, and make pocket dimensions was certainly a choice and being arcane just made it even sillier and let me stack things even higher and wilder.
But right now? I’m running something for a group in 5th ed. Lil furry dnd setting called Delver’s guide to Beastworld that infatuated me so much I just had to get a copy. Didn’t drop enough in the backing phase to be namedropped but I did get the ultra fancy deluxe looking book. Hard to easily explain the setting, but it’s cozy, and almost amusement park-y with how they present some things. So naturally I’m focusing on the evil parts of it and making it a mystery and horror adventure for my poor misadventurers that exist just to punch things :3
When I wrap this adventure up I need to learn a new system, picked up a d6 based noire book called Urban Jungle that feels really unique, certainly nothing I ever saw before. Always love when a setting tries to make good use of the variety you can get from what you’re pulling from, this one had probably like 40-50 species options and each had something unique. I just wish I was better with the setting, modern always messes with me and makes for a harder thing to plan for some reason. Maybe I just psyke myself out? Love the art in it though, feels like it stepped out of the early Internet almost.
Lancer is neat :o someone I know has been in a PbP of one game and was telling me about it a little, but mechs are sometimes just a hard sell for me. Sometimes it’s just more fun to listen than to play I think ;;
Like 15 years ago I came across all of the PDFs that exist for Mage the Awakening, the NEW World of Darkness wizard roleplaying game that people apparently like much less. I have read all of them and so I have had insane opinions about the setting for this entire time without ever getting to play it. I have Notions about it now of course.
I want to play either
Powerful sorcerer (Obrimos) woman that has an insanely high opinion of herself awakens to magic by being lifted bodily into Heaven (this happens to all of this type of wizard) and having all of her preconceptions confirmed, and then of course learning that in the setting that is the last time she will ever get to feel the universe works that way. She would join the disgraced wizard kings faction (Silver Ladder) of course. I think she should sacrifice herself in some way to bring her contribution to the campaign to a meaningful end.
Fate/time witch (Acanthus) romance novelist whose magical awakening involves a sort of maximum hubris writing her own destiny thing that only has a negative for the character.
Seer of the Throne (these are the setting bad guys but they have a sourcebook for playing) Ministry of Mammon Mage that is just Elizabeth Holmes, just her. She tries to climb the Iron Pyramid and has adventures. Maybe she is an NPC you sort of Thanquol-from-Warhammer-like run into as players every now and then but also I’d very much like to just play her because I like the Seers.
I’m part of a weekly semi-open TTRPG night in my city, we’ve got rotating games every week! Sometimes I get to play PirateBORG or Monster of the Week (two VERY different systems lol, PBORG is a d20-based system with really interesting mechanics for determining your character’s stats while MotW is a Powered By The Apocalypse type system), and sometimes I’m running little Pathfinder 2e one-shots!
I’ve also been in a weekly closed group for almost 10 years now, we’ve gone through a bunch of Adventure League content for D&D5e, and we’ve branched out to some new systems like PF2e and are currently on Traveler! It’s interesting, but it seems a bit too crunchy for my taste.
Nice. I am not familiar with LANCER but will check it out. Most of my experience with TTRPG has been with Vampire the Masquerade (third edition), Shadowrun, etc. It was a long time ago when I could play daily with friends.
Now I’m trying to get back into TTRPG. I joined a Broken Weave campaign. A sort of post-apocalyptic D&D. It’s been very cool so far!! I am very self-conscious about my role-playing especially when I don’t play with a group of close friends, but I’m trying not to think about it too much and to just have fun, even if I’m my awkward self at times.
My partner ran a game of Primal Quest for me, which I have really enjoyed and hope to get to play more.
Also I just purchased Brindlewood Bay, a game “about elderly women amateur detectives, inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H.P. Lovecraft.” . There was pre-orders for a new French edition this month and we should get the PDFs soon, I simply cannot wait to play it with some friends.
Brindlewood Bay uses mechanics from one of the best GM-less games imo, Lovecraftesque - if you aren’t familiar it’s so much fun - exciting and mysterious and creepy, and deals with Lovecraft’s racism in a very sensible way.
I’m currently playing in 3 different tables, and dming another one
One dnd 5e with friends from my city, where the scenario is our world, year 1000, but all gods are real and new, alien gods came in and are killing the old ones, and i’m a viking druid woman.
The others are all online with friends from other states, that we take turns playing one or the other on the weekends. One is a vampire the masquerade that takes place in 2012, where i play a goth toreador who’s into early cripto. Other is a daggerheart campaign where i’m a assassin praying mantis who is oh so oblivious about how the world and people functions. And the one i dm is a pathfinder 2e, about a newly made advetures guild in a city that has been conquered in war and is now a colony for an expanding empire
I’ve just had a game of a 5v5 asymmetrical tactics game: Motley Crews, and it’s neat stuff! The rules and STLs for the minis are up on Itchio and there’s also a Tabletop Simulator version too.
I’m at a point in my life where I can only see myself running really small, simple systems like Lasers and Feelings hacks. They’re fun, and require minimal prep, but they aren’t great for ongoing campaigns and don’t have any built-in systems for progression or character improvement.
I had been brainstorming an iteration on L&F where you had four characteristics (Perceive, Assess, Project, and Enact) that you could arrange how you want on two axes that worked like the Lasers and Feelings Axis. So if you had Perceive and Project on an axis with a value of 2, you’d be very observant but less likely to convince people of what you want, for example. I’m still not sure if the idea is worth pursuing.
Has anyone in here tried His Majesty the Worm? I impulse-bought this at my local store about a year ago and have yet to play it, but it has a lot of things I really like included (one giant megadungeon, using a tarot deck instead of dice, character relationship-based abilities). I’m playing one game and GMing another, so I don’t have time for this one, and I don’t see either one ending some time soon, but it’s near the top of my list to try next.
I’d like to read more! would there be therefore 2 different stats to roll above/below? I’d question why that would be necessary but can see that a certain setting might demand it.
@GrayKitsune and I actually used to play Lancer together! She’s actually pretty good as a GM but her encounters make you wish you get a long rest after.
and being arcane just made it even sillier and let me stack things even higher and wilder.