I've always loved Shadowrun but I'm afraid of the rules. And I don't have players.
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
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Try Shadowrun Anarchy; it keeps the same flavor but is more rules-light and less complex.
As for players, try RPGCrossing. I used to play on myth-weavers but they've gone the route of abandoning their long-term users and forcing an unwanted site update so I recommend staying away from them now.
There are many different rulesets more and less official to run it. Find one you like and go ahead
I want to get into the Shadowrun setting, but I don't care a lick about the rules.
I'd run it FKR style. Where's a good place to get a crash course in the setting?
At this point I don't know. I read a bunch of the novels back in the 90s. I'm guessing there are some good primers out there.
The most succinct is on Wikipedia. Fandom hosts a more precise and an extremely precise timeline.
Two games I really really to run right now.
One is Lancer. As much as I love fantasy games, the sci-fi setting looks like a nice change and battlemechs are cool. The character creation and levelling mechanics are interesting and I like the way you can reconfigure your setup so easily.
The other is the fantasy TTRPG I'm writing myself. Its current working title is Saga, and it's loosely inspired by ideas from D&D, Lancer, Fate, and my own experiments in game design. The aim is something more structured than Fate but more story-focused than D&D where non-combat challenges are given more emphasis and mechanical support.
My group is doing Lancer next. I've done a few one shots, and I like it. Rules are softer and more Fate-like out of battle, and super crunchy in it.
Its current working title is Saga
Somewhere, an Activision-Blizzard-King lawyer just got a nosebleed
Lol JK but I am actually interested, I'd love to play-test someday!
Lancer is awesome to run I ran their intro group from my friends we loved it
Homebrew stonepunk setting with GURPS
Duskvol with HERO (don't care much for FitD, but the setting seemed cool)
AD&D 2nd Edition game in a post-cataclysmic Forgotten Realms, where magic is only done by specialty priests and thus cults are getting increasingly important. Basically a mixture between regular FR, those wu xia movies with lots of hidden sects and the cults of RuneQuest.
Speaking of RuneQuest, now that BRP/ORC is out, I want to use it for something. Torn between a Qin dynasty not-quite-Wu Xia game and MERP-style Middle Earth.
I frickin love GURPS Ice Age supplement. But never have run it for two reasons:
- After years of consideration I've come to the conclusion that I just don't particularly like GURPS as a system.
- I can never think of stone age scenarios that feel compelling in my mind. Not sure what quality would quite seem satisfying.
But still have some fascination with a dawn of humanity type setting.
Huh. Tried posting this response before, but Jerbo apparently ate my post. Turns out setting the language to English instead of Undetermined did thr trick.
@PTR_K Well, of course every group and individual has their own rules preferences. I kinda like GURPS, it fits my mental model quite well.
But my conception of "stonepunk" wouldn't mean ice age/neolithic in a pure/historical form, as I'm not that fond of Quest for Fire/Clan of the Cave Bear storylines. Mixing in a bit of spirit-based religion or even Sword & Sorcery would be possible, but my conception of "stonepunk" would go quite beyond that. Meso-america mixed with early dynastic egypt and mesopotamia, with some anachronistic tech based on "weird rocks".
Hot Spring Island its just so interesting.
Worlds without Number, I love the way rules and spells are described using natural language.
Someday I want to try running Pathfinder (2e) but I've never really run anything before so it's a bit intimidating. Right now my group is playing 5e but I'm hoping they'll humor me and let me do a one shot sometime.
I don't think you need to worry. Consensus is that pf2e is actually easier to run than 5e. There might be more rules, but they work and you don't need to make shit up to make it work.
Right? It's just nice to have rules in place for all common scenarios. And most of them really good too. You can always not use them if you don't like them.
It's way easier to ignore a rule that is there in case someone needs it, than it is to make up a rule that is missing imo.
My DM recently ran the Beginner Box for our group.
Was a lot of fun, and is specifically geared at learning the rules.
We messed it up and botched a few things here and there trying to push the rules, but went in with the zero consequences mindset and had a blast.
Hope you get to run it soon!
Edit: I also highly recommend this character builder if you’re going to use R20 to run Pathfinder — R20s charactermancer was a bit limiting, at least when we played ~3-4 months ago.
The games I want to run right now are:
- Forbidden Lands
- Swords of the Serpentine
- Ultraviolet Grasslands
- Delta Green
- Trophy Dark
- Electric Bastionland
I was also considering a thieves guild game played with Swords of the Serpentine.
I'm currently trying to build a community on lemmy for Forbidden Lands. It's a bit too ealry for discussions, but you might find some helpful resources there: https://lemm.ee/c/forbiddenlands
I want to run Ultraviolet Grasslands, especially now that 2e is out. I can't justify dropping $80 for the box set though.
I don't do pdfs for games more than a few dozen pages.
I'm afraid I'd be unable to handle the setting. It's very cool, but even unhinged needs some sensible hinges to work, I think
I really want to run Alien RPG. Specifically the cinematic scenarios. I really like the concept of everyone having they're own agenda and sometimes having to work against each other. Unfortunately I don't have many interested friends so it's hard getting to the table.
I'm looking forward to running my own fantasy setting I've been dreaming up, and Knave 2e looks like it should cover my system needs. Until I get the physical book from the kickstarter, I'll be working on world building. I don't have anything to show off here yet.
I am personally keep thinking about The Halls of Arden Vul, seems like an awesome thing to run. But I have to admit it's a bit intimidating due to size and complexity and I can't, for the life of me, decide what system to run it with. But it's been there brewing at the back of my head for almost two years now..
and I can’t, for the life of me, decide what system to run it with.
There's a youtube channel called 3d6 Down The Line having a blast playing through it right now, and they're using the Old School Essentials rules.
I know it, I've been watching them. But OSE is not quite right for me. So far I think the closer to what I want would be either AD&D2e or Hyperborea.
I would think either of those would work well. I know B/X stuff is generally fairly compatible with AD&D, and afaik AD&D 2e isn't that different. And Hyperborea seems very cool.
fantasy age and ninja crusade
Games: I recently purchased a set of Genesys dice. I'd like to use them someday.
Modules: On my shelf, I have a copy of "Odyssey of the Dragonlords" just waiting to be used. However, my bestie is a big fan of greek myth, so I need to make sure she'd be able to play it with me or it'd just feel mean.
Modules (Part 2): I've recently gotten into writing my own adventures, and have a pair of murder mysteries almost ready to go. I'm not sure if they're well-made or not, but there's really only one way to find out.
I have their L5R starter set and dice. One day..
We played a few improvised sessions (using web roller). I liked how the dice work but you need to have players willing to chip in from time to time. When you just wanted to test if anyone in the room noticed the sneaking PC and they come up with (after the result math) a despair and three advances, you might sometimes need their help with what the last two advances mean.
Fantasy age
Homebrew World, a hack of Dungeon World. It is also the core system of the upcoming and highly anticipated Stonetop.
Lacking the time and the players at the moment though.
I was involved for a short playtest of Stonetop, but wasn't impress with the mechanics of the game. It claims it is a game about your community but, once again, there is no real mechanics for it. Playing as the Judge (?!?) playbook the best social mechanic I had for a problem in the community was to declare it Anathema and hit it with the hammer for +1d6 damage..
I wish there was some more focus on the actual personal nteractions and community side. But it was my impression that is again a bait and switch game. It claims is about building a community but doesn't really offer much in regards to interacting with said community. My feeling for the intended gameplay was that it wants you to go into the forest, fight things, get loot and then spend it to buy something for the town. But that short last bit is not exactly a big part of the gameplay, so calling it the focus is a bit bait-and-switchy imo.
I suspect the same thus Homebrew World feels good enough. It improves some aspects of Dungeon World.
Beyond the Wall is similar. I consider it more like a different character generation for D&D but not really a new game. The village is actually optional and there are no mechanics.
I recently backed a FATE-based game called Monster Rangers. It's an occult-pulp old timey scouting adventure and looks like an absolute blast to play!
I'd like to run my personal Rebellion Against the Gods setting with Cairn system, probably importing the style of races tables with rerolls from Glog. This still needs customizing backgrounds. Maybe I use something like secrets instead.
Ugh, too many things.
Mostly I want to finally try running something with my homebrew Dragon Teeth, which is basically a very pared-down and generalized version of D&D 5E with significantly different magic rules.
But what setting and adventure to run? There are too many that interest me, and gamer-attention-deficit makes it tough to focus on getting one ready for play. They include:
Tomb World / Sepulcral Realm - Basically a world where undead have monopolized all resources and the living are rare and have an increasingly difficult existence. To the point that they can't gain enough food to sustain themselves.
- This is the closest I have to running something. An adventure maybe 1/3 written about a community caught between bad luck and an inflexible contract.
Dark Sun - Nothing written, but an idea that has been stuck in my brain for years about convict-laborers sent on an archeological mission by a Sorcerer Queen trying to unearth something to weaken the position of a fellow monarch.
Space horror - Various Mothership and similar published scenarios that'd be interesting to try.
Astral voyage - Have some ideas about fantasy and/or sci-fi adventures traveling through Astral space on various mundane or transcendent errands. But nothing concrete unfortunately. Kind of intended to finally make use of my Astral Navigator's Handbook.
Also a few other slightly more traditional pre-published fantasy adventures/worlds.
Test I frickin love GURPS Ice Age supplement. But never have run it for two reasons:
- After years of consideration I've come to the conclusion that I just don't particularly like GURPS as a system.
- I can never think of stone age scenarios that feel compelling in my mind. Not sure what quality would quite seem satisfying.
But still have some fascination with a dawn of humanity type setting.
Test
Traveller and Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok at the moment,
There are a few that stand out. I'd like to try Never Going Home and Imperium Maledictum at some point, and I'm really excited to play Cities Without Number when that's done.
Man I really want to run a Blades in the Dark Game! Mine would take place a little further in the future when a never ending winter occurs and the plays have to navigate Dosvol as it slow gets enveloped by ice and snow and maybe find a way to stop it ;). It would be heavily inspired by Frostpunk with a massive heat generator in Brightstone and smaller steam cores placed throughout most of the districts.
The list is kinda long :
- Into the Odd
- Troika
- DCC
- Heart
- Torchbearer 2nd Edition
- Root (PbtA based on the board game's universe)
SLA Industries 2nd Ed
Mage: the Ascension (with heavy modification to rules and setting)
We're playing CBR+PNK tomorrow! I thought we'll never have an opportunity
I'd really love to run Mutant Year Zero. I've done a few one-shots, but I want a longer campaign.
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