This is a pretty hot take.

Why would I care about the Goblin attacking a remote village, or the kids vanishing from a summer camp ? I have a job to do, don’t want to die. Why would I cooperate with person I didn’t know a before the game start ? Sure, it’s a game, and we all want to play, but when both the player and the GM have to make a lot of compromise to make the scenario playable, it just breaks immersion.

However, where OP is right, is that very often, the plot hook cannot be written by the scenario author, and when they do, it feels artificial (So you were arrested by the cops and are offered a deal to get out , or you dream about a mysterious jail which is now a mental hospital) a GM crafting plot hook based on the PC backstory and the discussion in session zero. Another big question to ask : Why do the PC want to work together ? There is tons of horror stories about our families have been hating each other for generations, I don’t trust you which can make campaign complicated, hence things like Camarilla archonts in Vampire or Emerald magistrates in L5R, or even Delta green for call of Chtulhu it gives both plot hook (it’s your job to investigate) and reason to cooperate it’s your fucking job

Not really “food porn”, I had deep dish when travelling to the US, not necessarily that bad, but definitely not a pizza.

Some games do have pregen characters, it’s great because you have a character fitting in the story (I tend to prefer games relying on character background and goals rather than on NPC to get the story running). But if not sometimes a classic cliché works better than an big OC

Regarding role-playing, sure there is moment where it gets more sloppy. But in general the whole ambience pushes you

Ach so you miss the point daß people mishe Austria and Australia, and that Hitler was Spraching with an Austrian Akzent. Daß works even Beßer

Out of curiosity, as I don’t play D&D, does it includes character and their helpsheets?

I fill like that the most complicated part of a lvl 20 OS would be the character creation and management. And I assume that GM who bring their PC that far over a campaign have so much ongoing plot that they can just sit down at the table and let the PC do all the prep work

I feel like you misunderstood my question,

I talk Forged in the dark mechanic (FITD) which have a mechanic called “clock”. It’s a bit similar to long term action on traditional games where you stack success points / failure points until a long term goal is reached except that FITD uses it really everywhere no matter whether we talk about “HP”, “opening a door” “being seen by the guard”. An So it’s not about general “time in RPG” which is also an interesting discussion (especially in a game like Vampire, the threat of the dawn coming can add a lot of pressure to the PC). And like other so called “rule light games” you end-up with large rule books and mechanics that you need to follow.

Regarding the asking question, I am not talking about meta-gaming, but question that would drag attention story wise. Without going asking question about the Kim family in North Korea, if you start asking about the local mafia, it’s likely that at some point the local mafia will hear about these persons asking questions. I took that as an example of a threat which isn’t immediate (You’re spacesuit is running out of air if you don’t make it soon to the ship you’ll die) but which is present. In a more traditional game, I could use what make sense in the story to plan the encounter with the mobsters.

You do the thing in the fiction; you follow the procedure in the rules. That is true in all roleplaying games, of course, but the nature of moves makes those procedures something you have permission to reference. Instead of being expected to remember some obscure rule on page 348, you are in constant engagement with these individual subsystems.

This is a nice description of PTBA, and how despite their light rules you end up having to follow them strictly why more traditional rpg would let more room for GM interpretation of the rules. because nobody want to stall game to check the exact rule which usually isn’t in the section where you expect it.

Thanks,

So, trying to have a Filled clock --> Something having immediate/clear consequences happens. And better having a bigger clock with more dramatic effect coming (Bad guys found you and launch a surprise attack) rather than blurry smaller clock (Bad guys heard rumours about you which would only present as a NPC saying do not aks too many questions) make sense said like that.

Found it back

https://itch.io/b/2321/palestinian-relief-bundle

Was it part of itch bundle for gaza? Because I remember seeing a solarpunk game worth to check, but haven’t gone further than “should check latter”

2024 ruleset? Is that a 6e? A 5.5?

That’s a fair point. In general when not prepared in long term campaign, I have enough running stuff to not need to prepare more.

But reading some other forum, it seems that some people are super anxious about prep and need hours of prep for every game night. Sure sometimes, I am on a creative mood and want to do these hours of prep, and come with a twisted plot, some maps and illustrations. But very often, I can just use all the ongoing stuff to improvise.

So I agree, not such a big deal

ive your players control of the plot so you don’t have to come up with it.

Indeed, this is an under-stated GM tip, player can come up with the plot. It eases the GM life

In their defence, Blades in the Dark, set a trend of having a formal downtime phase which is about upgrading team, healing physical and mental wound, and advancing your side project, and I heard player telling me that they’ve spend 2 (short) sessions on it.

Even on more classic games, having the player looking what to buy in the books, then finding a shop having it, negotiation with the shopkeeper and so on, can take a lot of time.

s a DM, I’ve always found it boring as hell. 👍Maximum Derek👍 English4•

I don’t really like running them, but my players enjoy it from time to time and it always seems to take half a session.

Indeed, for C/W oD you can easily have some “standard stats” in mind to build NPC quickly ? Something like 3/5/7 dices depending whether it’s beginner/intermediate/master (I haven’t GM-it for a while so the formula may-be different) works very well at turning a one sentence description in NPC skill

The idea of the Dragon which is just 5 kobolds in a dragon coat is amazing :)

So, here is my approach, in the context of a campaign. On my campaign, I tend to have a short list of NPC/Faction/Place and enjoy keeping the campaign on a shorter space rather than a whole multiverse.

So my technique would involve.

• Ask the players to give me a summary of latest session, that I’ll crosscheck with my notes.

• Ask the player what they want to do, following these events. having reccuring NPC/Places/factions mean that I can improvise how these person react to the event (if they do). This will easily burn a hour.

• While all of that happen, I have time to think about how to relaunch the story, either there is an event which absolutely makes sense in the context The local mafia isn’t happy that you dismounted their drug production lab, when you come home you find a miniature coffin with a bullet inside in front of your door or, even though it’s a bad practice, I throw a “randomish encounter” A big etheral cloud forms over the magic equipement store, and you can see some ethereal creature leaving that cloud and ear screams of bypasser being attacked The latter adds a combat buying me an extra hour to find-out why this shop exploded.

• Then, I can let the player investigate these events, it may-not be the most complicated investigation I ran, and kinda linear, However, it’s enough to keep going to the end of the session, and have new elements to develop for next time

For a one shot ?

In general, I organize them when they’re ready, and I have a lot of one-shot scenario ready on my computer, alternative would be pulling a zero prep game.

Indeed, when PvP is well done, it can lead to pretty amazing memories, the stakes aren’t the same as the player aren’t trying to let you win. So even though many people would call it a “red flag” it can also be a huge “green flag” and looks like that table was ready for it.

But you’re right, having a short discussion about PvP and betrayal in session zero is worth it. Remember that even something as small as the cliché elves and dwarves teasing each other is a form of PvPcan end-up in a nightmare with the wrong player, while a full traitor within the PC but playing in a “play to lift” Mood can lead to some of the greatest experience.

Thanks for the comment, now I want to discuss the PvP option before my next campaign session zero.

So to give my answers from the other thread.

The space between us this has been published during covid as a “larp through webcam” and it was super intense emotionally speaking, I am not going to give any spoiler, but the fact that it started slowly with workshop, and not much happening really helped when the tension started to rise, and the ending was just Waw, don’t forget some tissues, because ninja will be cutting onion

In the same category, with a lot of bleed, the famous Alice is missing which is somehow a hybrid betqween boargaming and TTRPG. The theme isn’t easy (A kid has gone missing), but it’s the theme which trigger a lot of bleed, add the playlist which will put me back in the ambiance if I listen to it again. and again, expect some Ninja to cut onions in the background

I don’t think that an english translation is available but anyway, let me say a couple of word about Shadow island a parlour larp in a lovecratian ambiance, about a disfunctional family making a yearly silent dinner, to commemorate the death of “patriarch”. Expect long character sheet (mine was around 40 pages, only background as there is almost no rules), an afternoon of workshop before the game starts, and the whole “silent dinner” concept creates a feeling of weirdness long before the “supernatural” kicks in. Do not read it if you don’t intend to play it and if it’s run near you, just join.

I don’t want game night to be a second job or a mental investment. I just want to show up and play something

It’s interesting, because actually this part is one of the reason why I don’t play D&D. Everytime I try a D&D game, It’s quickly think about how to spend your XP wisely because you’re impacting a whole progression tree, and if you choose the right feats you’d get a combo or whatever and then the whole combat looks quite intimidating when you start thinking how the party should work to be the most efficient at overcoming an challenge.

While tons of other RPG are more like sit down at the table, have a laid back chat with NPC, and sometimes roll a couple of dice.

I don’t say that your point of view or way to play is wrong, but find interesting that your premise to play D&D is my premise to not to play D&D