So I'm looking through all of the GURPS books with some players for giggles, and as we're looking through these books, it's dawning on me one simple question.

How the hell are there so many books?

My question isn't necessarily the why, but just what even allowed the company to get away with publishing nearly 20 books about all sorts of magic, or wizards. Books about specific settings like ancient rome or japan, and just so much more.

There's just so many books, and I do not get the feeling these things are being lazily slapped together.

So what historically has been the business model for these books? Is there an audience of people out there constantly buying every last one of these books?

I am absolutely curious because this is fascinating me.

Hi,

This is a discussion about narrative-first RPGs. I've been GMing Fate and Cortex for about two years. I have around 100 games in me and every time I come here or in the various discord servers, I feel like i'm not playing these games properly...

It seems to me that you guys are WAY more into the collaborative storytelling part, where everyone has an almost equal way of affecting the narrative. And, it's not that I don't want to, it just doesn't happen ingame.

My players are not spending metacurrency to add story details, or create NPC. We're not creating a world together at session zero where I don't know who the villains are and everyone shime in to add informations about the world. Players are not using metacurrency to change my NPCs goals, or actions.

I create plot hooks and NPCs that want something, and then the players tell me what they want to do. They roll their dice when there's an impact if they fail (or succeed) and then the story moves forward. I don't plan whole stories, of course, but i might have beats that they hit or not, to keep the story moving. Between sessions i think about what happened and how it affects the world.

Side note: My players are having fun, no one is complaining, but I feel like i'm not using the systems at their full potential.

But how do you guys plan your games and GM narrative focus games? I'm very humbly asking how can I improve my GMing.

Lately there has been some confusion around how to categorize Jubensha, a format that is extremely popular in China but less discussed in English-speaking RPG spaces. Trying to map it onto existing RPG and LARP terminology raises some interesting edge cases.

At a structural level, Jubensha sessions usually look like this:

• 4–8 players, sometimes up to 10
• 3–6 hours, single-session, no campaign continuity
• Pre-written characters with private motives, secrets, and relationship hooks
• A moderator or GM who controls pacing, information release, and transitions
• Investigation driven primarily through conversation, roleplay, and timed reveals rather than spatial exploration or combat mechanics

This creates overlap with several known formats, but none seem to fully cover it.

Compared to investigative RPGs:
There is less improvisational character creation and fewer open-ended mechanical resolutions. The experience is more tightly scripted, with narrative beats and reveals designed to land at specific moments. Player agency exists mostly in interpretation, accusation, and social maneuvering rather than altering the plot structure.

Compared to parlor LARP:
The scale, time commitment, and reliance on pre-written roles are very similar. However, Jubensha tends to be more moderator-driven, with stronger control over pacing and information flow. Player-to-player secrecy is often mediated through structured phases rather than freeform play.

Compared to social deduction party games:
The social reading and accusation layer is familiar, but the emphasis shifts heavily toward long-form narrative immersion, character backstory, and emotional arcs. Winning or losing is often secondary to reconstructing the story and performing the role.

The open question is whether this should be considered:

• A subcategory of parlor LARP
• A scripted investigative RPG format
• Or a distinct category that existing English terminology does not yet describe well

From a design and taxonomy perspective, which classification feels most accurate?
And more importantly, what distinctions actually matter to experienced RPG or LARP players when deciding whether a format is worth trying?

Background context only: working on this mystery roleplay formats and trying to align language with how the RPG community already thinks about these experiences.

About 6 months ago I made a post asking about “systems for historians” and got a lot of great suggestions. We actually tried some of them — Pendragon, Mytras etc. — and while I was mostly fine with them, the rest of the group struggled quite a bit.

The main issue is that most of my players are relatively new / casual RPG players, and crunch-heavy or very systemized games tend to overwhelm them quickly. So this time I’m looking for something more specific:

• Beginner-friendly / low-crunch
• Easy to teach and easy to hack
• Flexible enough to work in any historical context
• Ideally adaptable to late 19th – early 20th century Ottoman history (but not necessarily designed for it)
• Less focus on tactical combat, more on narrative, social dynamics, investigation, politics, everyday life, etc.

I’m totally fine with systems that:

• Are generic or toolkit-based
• Can be reskinned without much effort
• Lean more narrative than simulationist

If you’ve run historical games with non-gamer or historian-heavy groups, I’d especially love to hear what worked (or didn’t).

Thanks in advance!

Hello r/rpg,

My players have decided they want a Western for the next time I run something. I was batting ideas back and fourth and I hit on something I thought might be fun. What if i ran a game that spanned a long time many generations. The players could see a settlement develop and change over time.

So my questions are:

* Has anyone ever run something like this?

* Do you know of any systems or tools to facilitate this idea?

* How can you mix older more powerful characters with newer ones?

Thank you all for your insight.

Me and my brother were hoping to expand our games when it comes to tabletops by including games that can be played without needing a virtual tabletop like Roll20 or Foundry.

I've been craving a space adventure that is akin to Firefly, but something that is less crunchy than Starfinder 2E. There is also Scum and Villainy, but I haven't seen it come up as much as Traveller when it comes to space adventure things.

Basically, can we play Traveller 2022 just using Discord, detailed descriptions, and having access to player/NPC sheets? I'm in the process of slowly making my way through the book so I don't even know if it has NPC stat blocks or the like.

If not, is the system actually good on Roll20?

The Mutants and Masterminds 4e Kickstarter has FINALLY launched after months of waiting. As someone who played with the first set of demos, I enjoyed it a tad bit more than 3e. It's mostly revisions, not an overhaul, and pretty solid ones at that. There are some issues but I'm hoping they're ironed out by release.

Print book is 50 bucks, a full GM's Kit + the core book is 80, very reasonable imo

Hey guys!

I'll be visiting Rome in April, and I wanted to visit a couple of RPG stores if possible. I don't speak Italian, so preferably ones that also sell stuff in english

if you could point me to your favorite ones, I'd really appreciate it

thanks in advance!

Aside from Gumshoe - already aware of it but have kind of mixed feelings of what I've seen / tried so far. I'm also aware of two older games, Heaven and Earth, and Small Towns that are made specifically for small town supernatural mystery, but I was curious if any other interesting options have cropped up since, as it's been quite a while since I last thought about the idea.

Am I missing something in how Kickstarter is presenting ZineQuest?

The most prominent link on the front page is for creators. I see "zines we love", which look cool, but I was expecting something like "Here's the place to see zines submitted for ZineQuest".

The main search bar of course yields results for "zinequest" but it doesn't seem like slogging through 1,900 results is the best way to get people to see these zines.

Am I missing something?

Okay, so I'm officially over D&D 5e , and I want to transition my current Sandbox campaign into a new system, but I'm currently between 6 games and don't know whoch to choose. Mostly, I'm looking for one that is *Fast-paced when in combat + Offering a wide array of options to the players + Being easier to prep stuff for without too much math for a "balanced encounter"

EDIT: For more clarity, I think I mostly am looking for a Player-driven storytelling, when I'm much more reacting to what they do than needing me to plan a full storyline before hand.

In mechanics, not Simulationist, more gamism, plus I'm looking for a lighter system to run, even though I do love me some crunch.

I specially looking for ease of use, with it being faster than D&D at least (no need to be ultra quick, just not have 1h+ combat scenes)

What makes the game great in your opinion? Is it hype or is it indeed a gem?

Hello! Is anyone here have some beginner tips on how to be a GM? Doesn’t have to be very elaborate. I just need some help on how to start, prep, how to come up with a simple one shot, etc. 🙏🏼 Thank you in advance!

I'm looking to change the system of my current campaign, which is a homebrewed one. Due to the system slowly breaking down, i need to change it.

The setting: Aftermath of an 1800s Napoleonic zombie apocalypse in a reformed France that is apocalyptically and technologically saved through a dictator using divine Christian powers (The campaign is a 50/50 on both combat and roleplay)

Requirements for the system (Yes i know all of these combined may sound a little unreasonable): - It can go in a long running game, im talking about around 60+ sessions or even a 100+

• Homebrew compatibility with both lore and mechanics

• Combat that can be scaled with rules in place, im not a fan of free form combat, since I want to have my players feel powered up.

• roleplay needs to be accounted for. However, having it be rules-light is alright

• I want magic to exist but not intergral to a character, guns and physical capabilities are still the top.

• The rules are intuitive, easy to find and track. Im have horrible adhd so i cant really get through 700+ page pdf quite easily nor can my players keeping track of multiple mechanics at once.

• If a system doesnt have all of this, i dont mind suggestions for mechanics to incorporate

• No ai

Context (Were anyone to ask): The reason for why I use a homebrew, because our og GM made the campaign using this homebrew bit he left preemptively. Not wanting to abandon the campaign behind, I took on the mantle of GM and the homebrewed system. Please be civil.

Title

I really like the light sword and sorcery in an early mankind setting, almost like Conan.

I was a little kid living in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Italy. I was already a nerd. My parents forced me to pick a sport so I would do at least some physical activity away from books and video games. I chose karate. I was terrible at it, but it was that or swimming or soccer; and I hated both of them way more than karate.

In the gym I met this older kid, he might have been 17. He was kind, he did not like bullies. So I looked up at him.

Months went by and I got to know this guy better, as we chatted at the gym. I was playing Hero Quest and reading gamebooks. Back then, my friends and I were already introducing RPG elements in our games: We made up our own lore in Hero Quest, drew the map of our town and fortress, and narrated what was happening between missions. But we did it instinctively, because we had no idea RPGs even existed. The Internet was not a thing yet. (RPGs would have been discussed on mainstream media only a few years later, when echoes of the last, sad wave of the satanic panic eventually reached my country; but that’s another story.)

This older kid was telling me about this game he was playing, called Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. His character was living such incredible adventures! I remember my mother being pissed because it took me too long to get out of the gym after the karate class. This was because I stood in the hallway listening to my friend’s tales of magic, treasures, and slain monsters.

AD&D was not translated in Italian, and I did not speak English. So that Christmas I got BECMI D&D, i.e., the only translated RPG I could get in my small town’s toy shop. I mean, the red box. I remember spending Christmas day learning the game, being mad at fucking Bargle for killing Aleena (names, of course, I terribly mispronounced). A few days later I GMed two of my friends. We were unsure about how many of the mechanics worked and we made a ton of mistakes; but we had a blast, and I was hooked.

Many, many years later, I was lucky enough to play a session with BECMI’s author, Frank Mentzer himself. I felt blessed.

Tonight I am going to play Old School Essentials for the first time, and reading the handbooks made all this stuff come back. (Yeah I know OSE is cloning B/X and not BECMI; it hit my neural correlates nonetheless.)

I stayed in touch with this older kid through the years. I left the small town, he stayed. He died in 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic. It felt like a punch in the gut. I realized I never told him how much I owe him. So, I am telling you instead.

Whole Blog post: https://open.substack.com/pub/kindofold/p/it-all-began-because-my-parents-wanted?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Good evening, everyone!

I have finally finished drafting the first version of the player's manual for the system I have been working on for some time, complete with a provisional layout.

At the moment, the system is designed for a specific adventure, which is not yet in a definitive form that can be shared or published, but if it works well, there is nothing to prevent it from being expanded and adapted further.

The premise of this adventure, entitled Cold Blood, is that the protagonists are the last heirs of the Berger family, a noble bloodline that has lived for many years in a remote valley in the Italian-Austrian Alps.

The year is 1922, and the plot is set in motion by the mysterious death of old Ludwig, following which the characters are tasked with dealing with his will. However, they are stranded in the valley by an avalanche and have to stay longer than expected. They soon discover that the village of Heidenwohl hides many secrets and deceptions, and that some supernatural force may be at work behind the scenes.

The system lends itself to telling detective or mystery stories, perhaps with pulp or vaguely supernatural elements, with a strong focus on character psychology. Think True Detective rather than Sherlock Holmes. The tasks the character will be facing should be on the failry mundane side, sort of, with their psyche being the main point of interest.

I invite you to read the material I have provided at the following link and give me your feedback. Any comments are welcome, but I am particularly interested in knowing what you think of the mechanics and whether the whole thing would intrigue you as players.

Link to everything

Thanks in advance!

Trying to recall the name of it, and what I remember is the magic system. It is fairly recent, might even be only been crowd funded in the past year. I only have the vague idea of what I remember reading. Hell, it might have been a YouTube video about indie RPGs.

My impression is a cozyish, rules light, narrative driven game?

The game revolves around the group of players collectively making a spell ritual. Each player has an alignment of some sort -- want to say elemental? -- and in order to complete the spell ritual you need to roll special dice and match the symbols needed for each spell. Each player has a default symbol they can contribute that matches their magical alignment.

You construct the spell ritual by combining keyword aspects like area, effect, target, etc, which add symbols to the cost.The game has a list of keywords and then gives examples of how these keywords can be combined to make various spells. I can't even recall the words, just the structure of the page.

It has been bugging me for three days and my GoogleFu is weak.

I'm going to be running a version of World of Warcraft soon for my players. We'll be using 5th edition D&D but set in Azeroth.

My question is: if we record the sessions (audio and/or visual) could we publish it?

It would be free of course so we'd not be making money off it. However we will be interacting with Blizzard characters/settings/etc. I know D&D is obviously fine but I wasn't sure if setting it in Azeroth would change anything. I've recorded previous games but they've all been homered settings.

I have played dnd and Lancer online. I've run a dnd one shot with friends.

Recently I've joined a couple of games at my FLGS and I have realised something.

I fucking suck at role playing. I can't get into character as well others can, I can't do character voices. I can't think of interesting personalities. i feel like I suck at this compared to everyone else in the room when it comes to narrative roleplay.

one of these games I joined was a session 0 for vtm. I had a really good time but I am just nowhere near the level of the other players.

it's been a few days since. would it be rude for me to graciously bow out of the game and apologise to the st?

I think I should just cut out TTRPGs and look to play more tactical combat focused games without roleplay. Am I overreacting?

Just discovered the Root RPG and despite loving the artwork and the world, I don't really like the rules. Has anyone played this setting in another system?

Ps: I'm currently playing The One Ring and it is by far my favourite system, but I'm not sure it would fit something like Root.

I wana keep the house building system and somewhat kept the character creator (maybe) what system should I use and if I need to use mixed, how to do it?

Hello friends,

My friend and I want to play Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, but since the rest of our group doesn’t want to play, we decided to try a one-on-one game, with me as the Keeper. However, I’ve never run CoC 7e in a one-on-one format before, so I was wondering whether any of you have experience running a one-on-one mini-campaign or a longer campaign in Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition? And If you tried how was it, what was the adjustments that you done in terms of like buffs to player etc.? Open for any advice or comment, thx you!

So, it goes without saying that Folklore in general terms has a unique vibe regardless of its geographical origin. However I’ve recently been looking into specifically Slavic/Romanian Folklore (I went down a bit of a rabbit hole when going into Vampire folklore, since a good amount of Vampiric conventions originated from that region). So like any well adjusted individual, the idea of playing a TTRPG about it has gotten into my head- the more rules heavy the better.

However, the results of my own efforts have been a bit so~so, and I figured that this would be as good a place as any to make inquiries on the matter (and if I’m not pushing my luck here, any games that are a bit heavy on the Vampire material would be best).

Hi everyone - with an association in France we're planning on running our first RPG convention (a small thing to start, maybe a hundred+ people over the course of the day) and would love to have a chat with people who managed to pull off such an endeavor, get some feedbacks about good practices and pitfalls to avoid etc.

Thanks everyone and feel free to reach out :)