No.894
Thread for TTRPG discussion and organization.
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What is a TTRPG?TTRPG, sometimes TRPG, stands for TableTop Role-Playing Game. It includes big names, like D&D, and much less heard of ones, like Song of Swords. The rule systems run from extremely thorough, with rules for things like how many Thai chilli peppers you can eat before getting ill, to so broad as to be nearly nonexistent, with only basic guidelines on how to play. In almost all systems, the key component that sets it apart from video game RPGs is the presence of the Dungeon Master, Game Master, Referee, etc. They help to adjudicate edge cases not covered by rules and create exceptions to the rules in favour of fun, meaning a TRPG has much more freedom of action than a normal RPG.
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Where do I play?Generally, TTRPGs, especially niche ones without large player bases, are played in-person, but there are also sites and apps that allow you to play over the internet and find groups. The biggest one right now is probably roll20; signing up is free, and as a player, you never need to pay for anything. Other applications include FoundryVTT (paid for by a GM), Maptools (free), AstralVTT (free), and Fantasy Grounds (expensive, but very nice). Some groups even play on Tabletop Simulator, which has the added bonus of letting you play poker or Life before a session starts or if someone flakes.
There's also the potential to show up at a gaming store; if you live in the US, Canada, or Europe, there's plenty of those around too. Gaming stores are in-person, obviously, but they also often boast long-time, highly experienced and confident game masters who are knowledgable at how to best cater to newbies trying to enter the hobby. There are many websites online to help you find game stores near you.
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Where do you get the rulebooks?You can buy them from places like drivethrurpg, or you can pirate them from
https://thetrove.net/. As a new player, you often don't need very many books; both Shadowrun and Pathfinder have relatively complete wikis online with all the setting-agnostic information you need, and Pathfinder even has a setting wiki so there's no reason to buy the books for their content.
No.895
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I don't like medieval fantasy settings…Neither do a lot of other players! Many rule systems are relatively setting agnostic; Pathfinder, for example, has pre-published adventures that take place in WWI Russia, one that lets you play as pirates, and another featuring laser guns. Alternate settings such as Ravenloft and Eberron are compatible with the rules and feature entirely different settings. There are also dedicated systems, such as the fairly popular Shadowrun and Call of Cthulhu, that take place in a Cyberpunk setting.
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I can't into roleplay!Everyone can roleplay! You don't need to be an amazing actor or even a passable one to roleplay, especially if you join a more experienced group. As time goes on and you become more comfortable with the system and setting, roleplaying comes naturally. Experienced players can also help to coax some roleplaying out of shy or uncertain players. Don't be scared to try!
Many groups don't even use voice or video chat, and many of those that do only use it for out of character or combat chatter.
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If I wanted to play, where should I begin?D&D 5e has the largest ttrpg community right now, but is often considered too rules-light and rather boring to actually play. This same lightness is what makes it popular, though, and it is very friendly to new players trying to learn how to roleplay; the rules are extremely simple to understand and you can focus on the character more than the rules, although it is restrictive and some concepts are not viable in 5e.
Pathfinder is also very popular, and is based on an older, beloved version of D&D, 3.5e. It is rules heavy and sometimes considered difficult for new players because of the high levels of system mastery demanded for optimal play; however, many groups do not play at a high level. Pathfinder is notable for having somewhere between five times to twenty times the content of D&D 5e, depending on how you count, and extreme amounts of homebrew and third party add-ons. Because there is so much content and so much homebrew, almost any concept is viable in Pathfinder, with the right system knowledge to bring it to life. Pathfinder is not technically free, but nearly the entire game system is licensed under the Open Gaming License, which means it is essentially open source and free-to-use. The entire game rules, sans the organization of the books and setting details like gods, is available here:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/Shadowrun (5e) is a good choice for anyone looking for something besides bog-standard dragons and liches. It is a game that takes place in a cyberpunk dystopia in 2070 by default, and includes cyberware, car chases, and machine guns. It does not use a level system, which can give it a grittier feel than both D&D and Pathfinder.
Fate is an extremely lightweight system that has the advantage of being legitimately free for those averse to pirating, as it is pay-what-you-want. It is not friendly to new game masters, but its simplicity means that it is easy to learn and teach for players. If you can find a group playing Fate that welcomes new players, it isn't a bad place to start.
Call of Cthulhu is exactly what it sounds like, and is probably the system here that has the least ability to be lifted from its setting. It is the originator of SAN points and has an aesthetic that is very rare outside of CoC. This also means that groups can be harder to find outside of dedicated fansites for the game and setting.
No.896
Just going to point out to the admin that the markup codes theoretically possible according to the FAQ don't work and now my posts look dumb instead of cool and formatted
No.897
>>896Three single quotes, not two double. I edited it for you.
No.898
>>897Oh crap what the heck I guess I'm the dumb one here
thank
No.904
>>895>Pathfinder, for example, has pre-published adventures that take place in WWI RussiaAnything simulating the march of the czechoslovak volunteers?
No.905
>>904Not in particular, no. There's mechanics to simulate travel hazards, cold weather, etc. and I believe there's an alternate ruleset to represent stress. If you want really gritty down-to-earth stuff, though, Pathfinder is probably not the system because like all iterations of D&D it's very much based on the high fantasy genre.
No.906
I'm running D&D for another imageboard currently so I guess I can ask stuff here and hope they don't see it.
We were playing a one shot and without getting into unnecessary details they ended up using a random magic item I rolled for to travel to another plane to escape a bad situation, which I think is really cool even if I didn't plan for it. We ended the session there since it was about the time we normally stop anyway. They said they wanted to travel to the feywilds, which is something I had to look up since I don't really know much about D&D lore like that. Apparently it's some forgotten realms thing, but I'm not running forgotten realms so I don't really have to use that plane as is.
So basically I need to make up a plane that's more or less my world's equivalent to the feywilds (or the next closest thing), and somehow figure out if and how they can get back and how to make that interesting. So does anyone here have any fun ideas on how to have an adventure returning from another plane?
No.909
>>906For plane-travelling, you could always go the Planescape: Torment route. Any one place can be a portal to another plane: a doorway, someone's basement stairs, the space between two buildings, etc… Anything can be the "key" to open it. Humming a specific song, holding a specific item, feeling a specific emotion.
it's basically a scavenger hunt, but as a player I think it would be pretty fun No.910
>>906Wow people are actually discussing stuff! I was worried the thread would just kind of fall flat haha
>somehow figure out if and how they can get back and how to make it interestingA very important question here is actually what level the PCs are at and what the party looks like. If they're low level I would just straight up recommend using mundane hazards like unpredictable weather, areas of reversed gravity, and so on on the path to a fae gate. If they're high level you can make the fae realm very easy to leave, but difficult to control where you end up, so they need to go find someone who knows how to form a stable gate. Hell, Gensokyo is pretty much the Feywild, so just plop Cirno in as an enemy and make Junko the sage.
No.911
>>908The problem then is the players can just kill the witch. But there can be other ways to get back, and I think there definitely should be inhabitants here that know how to travel across planes so this is a good idea. The people here would probably be pretty eccentric and interesting and probably high level
>>909This seems cool but could also spiral out of control, if there's more portals to more planes that's more planes I have to figure out. It sounds super cool in theory but a lot of work maybe, although I guess it depends on how you do it. I'm tempted to make a mini hex-crawl style thing with a small area of hexes figured out so there can be hidden portals around in some hexes.
>>910They're level 5, except a multi-class who's 4/4 (this is 2e so it works differently). The thing they used to plane travel was a staff of the magi, which in theory can cast plane travel again but it's out of charges. I did say to them that for simplicity and balance reasons we'll just say that the staff can't be recharged even though it normally can, but they seem to want to try recharging it anyway so maybe they forgot I said that. I'm unsure if I should let them, if they do then it wouldn't be hard for them to return but I'd have to figure out where in the prime material plane they end up in, since I'm not sure if they can just pick a specific location like a teleport spell
Also thinking of the Feywild as like Gensokyo makes me want to use it much more, I'll have to read more about it
No.912
>>911Oh wow 2e, for some reason I imagined you were in 5e.
Well if they want to recharge it, I don't see why they can't be allowed. Just say that yes, you can recharge it, but it's not as easy as you think because here in this highly magically charged realm you have to go to this place with these materials and the help of these people to do this ritual which requires so-and-so skills.
No.944
>>943>I wanted to avoid this actuallyHow come? I was considering saying something about it if nobody else did.
No.946
>>944'cause this is a thread for TTRPGs in general and I didn't want to clutter it with announcements about one specific game.
No.960
>>946It's fine. A thread about only RPGs in general would be kind of boring. Posting more about something doesn't hurt anyone.
No.984
The last thing I posted in the server holds, unfortunately, so go ahead and start the pirate run, and we can decide next week which direction to go from here.
No.1039
How many pb for pirates?
No.1040
>>103920 PB, any race below 15 RP (all standard races)
Background Skills and Elephant in the Room is in effect, no other houserules; 2 traits, 1 campaign trait (see the player's guide).
Standard starting money; note that the gear you buy will be taken from you at the beginning of the game until you get it back, except for one small, easily hidden item such as a single lockpick, a spell component pouch, or a holy symbol.
I'm not banning SoP/SoM but I'm also not encouraging it, so it's up to you. I encourage *not* playing PoW, because from last campaign I've found that people don't always remember what everything does.
Post your sheets and your character art (not the token, the full art) in the thread and I'll work on importing the stats into Foundry.
No.1051
Whoa sudden activity itt
No.1053
>>1051Using it to organize a pirate game
Speaking of organizing things, here's the activities list.
No.1062
Fernanda's player, it looks like you've changed your art on your mythweavers sheet? Do you want to upload it here so I can make the token match, or do you want to keep your old token?
No.1064
So it appears that Foundry's broken right now, the system update fucked everything and the server is also going to be under maintenance tonight (today)
So we're going to have to delay to next week due to serverside issues.
No.1065
>>1062I want to keep my old token, the one in the sheet looks too evil
>>1064Shit
No.1086
Birdroll here. I might be an hour or so late today.
No.1094
>>1093Alright
No changes to the schedule so far so if anyone can't make it speak up
No.1098
Sorry, can't make it this week. Feel free to play without if you want. This is Minato's player.
No.1099
>>1098Would changing the time help?
No.1100
>>1099Nah, I'm not really sure when I will have time to log on for more than a couple minutes. I don't want everyone waiting only for me not to be able to show.
No.1113
>>1111Fernanda is not looking so hot right now, if i am more than 30 minutes late then i couldn't make it.
No.1114
>>1113Argh
I will try to run if that's ok to keep up the pace
There are ways to more or less seamlessly make you miss the planned events today
No.1115
Well since nobody's here yet and lump couldn't make it anyway I guess there's no game this week
For future reference: this post is when the game is meant to be. DST I assume fucked you guys up.
No.1117
>>1115DST got me too
You assumed correctly
No.1118
By the way, if any sushifriend would like to join you're welcome to. We're playing Skulls and Shackles in the Pathfinder system.
No.1120
I hate rats
No.1129
Sorry, my power was out yesterday.
No.1134
>>1129I forgive you for not showing up but you put sage in the wrong field so I'm afraid you're on the naughty list again :^)
No.1145
Play game this time okay pls maybe???
No.1147
>>1145I think i am going back to sleep
No.1150
No game?
No.1152
My internet ate shit sorry, literally couldn't even connect to my own email for while. Had to get the internet company on the phone this morning.
No.1153
Right so
This is Holiday season which means scheduling is a nightmare. I am very busy this weekend. Technically I have time on Christmas but I doubt anyone else does, and the week after that is New Years. So, if possible, can everyone report on their availability on Christmas and new years? I expect no game for 3 weeks, but maybe I'll be wrong.
No.1154
>>1153New Years should be fine, Christmas maybe..? -Minato player
No.1157
>>1153Shuko here
Christmas is a no go cuz I'm gonna be with family but New Years should be alright
No.1160
>>1154I'm good to go Christmas and New Years.
But more importantly I'll be traveling for several months after January so I won't be able to play anymore, or at least not for a while.
No.1161
Can't play neither on christmas nor new years.
No.1162
>>1160Right, I can plan around that. Do you know how long it'll be?
>>1161That's what I expected. You ok if we go ahead without you for one session?
No.1164
>>11623-4 months at least. I don't really know exactly when I'll be back but I'll still be around on sushi now and then.
Is
>>1147 still interested?
No.1165
>>1147Is just me, not a new player
No.1166
>>1165Oh I thought it was that one guy
No.1167
>>1164Alright, well you have my contact info and you know when the games are so just give me a heads up when you're coming back.
When are you going? End of January?
No.1168
>>1167Yeah, the last week.
No.1174
>>1168OK, no problem. I can work around that easily. Thanks for the heads up.
Considering we're decent to go on New Years, we'll have a game then, Enjoy your Christmas everyone.
No.1214
Is the game today? I'm stuck with family.
No.1215
>>1214Raaaaaaaagh
Fine then we can't do anything with two people missing I guess
I'll just run longer sessions until birdboi needs to go to make up for it I suppose
Good thing I actually checked the thread
No.1230
Birdboi, what exactly is your animal companion? I need to add it as a separate PC for you to create.
No.1234
>>1233Got it, should've checked there first probably.
>>1231Assuming nobody bails, yeah.
No.1235
Internet's being slow but I'll load in eventually just wait a bit if you're early
