23 votes

Any tabletop RPG players?

Any other tabletop RPG fans here? What system do you play and what kind of character are you currently running?

I'm in two D&D 5e campaigns at the moment. In one I play a Gnome Mystic, and in the other I play a Tabaxi Monk.

D&D isn't my favorite system, but it's difficult finding groups for other systems. I'd prefer playing something where character ability progression is more freeform, like GURPS.

35 comments

  1. [5]
    Pilgrim
    Link
    I was back in the day and want to get a game going once I get a little more free time. My game of choice when I was younger was G.U.R.P.S. by Steve Jackson games. We went deep on that and played...

    I was back in the day and want to get a game going once I get a little more free time. My game of choice when I was younger was G.U.R.P.S. by Steve Jackson games. We went deep on that and played in a number of eras/settings. My favorite for some off-the-wall roleplaying was G.U.R.P.S. Goblins I also played some DnD 3.5, Shadow Run 2.0, Cyberpunk, Battle Tech, Hero Quest, and others. Great times!

    For those of you who may not have the time to play, but still want to scratch the itch, I can't recommend enough the Knights of the Dinner Table comic/magainze. Here's an example if anyone cares to check it out.

    6 votes
    1. [4]
      Hypersapien
      Link Parent
      Several years ago I used to be in a GURPS game that started off in a space station around the year 2030 or so, and we were put in cryogenic sleep for what was supposed to be a couple weeks. We...

      Several years ago I used to be in a GURPS game that started off in a space station around the year 2030 or so, and we were put in cryogenic sleep for what was supposed to be a couple weeks. We woke up with the station crashing into post-apocalyptic Africa 900 years in the future (we thought it was 900 years. That's what the computer said but we could't be entirely sure that the year value in the calendar hadn't gone completely around at least once). I played a parkourist/hacker who had been on the station helping them figure out new ways to move around in zero-G.

      5 votes
      1. [3]
        Pilgrim
        Link Parent
        Well don't leave us hanging! How did those zero-G parkour skills work out for you in post-apocalyptic Africa?

        Well don't leave us hanging! How did those zero-G parkour skills work out for you in post-apocalyptic Africa?

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          Hypersapien
          Link Parent
          First thing you need to know is that one of the major religions centered around three goddesses. At one point we were stopped by a garrison. When they asked us who we were, we thought quickly and...

          First thing you need to know is that one of the major religions centered around three goddesses. At one point we were stopped by a garrison. When they asked us who we were, we thought quickly and said we said we were disciples of a new, fourth, goddess. When asked the name of this new goddess, one of the players said the first thing that popped into her mind.. Lucy the Sky Diamond (lol). Incredulous, the guards demanded to see a miracle as proof of this new goddess. I announced "Watch as I run up the side of that building!" (Another point is that I had some nice high-tech gear with me from before being frozen, a pair of gloves and boots that let me stick to walls like a gecko). They were satisfactorily impressed/shocked.

          A few in-game months later, we were hearing rumors of Lucy from all over the place.

          We never actual finished the campaign because the group kind of broke up. But the DM later told me that the secret, hidden overseers (who we never got around to meeting) were freaking out about these rumors because their leader's name just happened to resemble "Lucy" and they controlled the world from a space station connected to the earth by a space elevator, the cable of which was made of carbon nanotubes.

          3 votes
          1. Pilgrim
            Link Parent
            So literally Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! Genius!

            So literally Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! Genius!

            2 votes
  2. [9]
    Gaywallet
    Link
    I almost exclusively played DnD for over a decade. While I heard secondhand about many other systems through my friends, I never bothered playing any of them. Lately our recent group decided to...

    I almost exclusively played DnD for over a decade. While I heard secondhand about many other systems through my friends, I never bothered playing any of them.

    Lately our recent group decided to start branching out and checking out other systems. We landed by chance on Numenera and I must say it's been quite fun. It's nice to be playing something that isn't so heavily focused on combat.

    5 votes
    1. [4]
      aphoenix
      Link Parent
      There's currently a Humble Bundle for Numenera if you (or anyone else who reads) is interested.

      There's currently a Humble Bundle for Numenera if you (or anyone else who reads) is interested.

      4 votes
      1. [3]
        Gaywallet
        Link Parent
        Yeah I mentioned it in another comment, but good looking out!

        Yeah I mentioned it in another comment, but good looking out!

        4 votes
        1. [2]
          aphoenix
          Link Parent
          I was on the fence about getting it but picked it up based on your recommendation. Seems pretty cool so far, so thanks to you as well!

          I was on the fence about getting it but picked it up based on your recommendation. Seems pretty cool so far, so thanks to you as well!

          3 votes
          1. Gaywallet
            Link Parent
            We have a pretty combat heavy focused tabletop group and we've been greatly enjoying Numenera, so it works surprisingly well for really any tabletop players despite not being so heavy combat...

            We have a pretty combat heavy focused tabletop group and we've been greatly enjoying Numenera, so it works surprisingly well for really any tabletop players despite not being so heavy combat focused as say, DnD.

            3 votes
    2. [4]
      papasquat
      Link Parent
      Nice. I'm actually in a very similar boat. GMing my and my friends' first Numenera (set in Malevich and hopefully involving quite a bit of politics and intrigue) campaign in a few weeks. The...

      Nice. I'm actually in a very similar boat. GMing my and my friends' first Numenera (set in Malevich and hopefully involving quite a bit of politics and intrigue) campaign in a few weeks. The system seems nice and streamlined, but I suspect there will be quite a bit of book flipping for the first few months before I can get the rules to stick.

      Any pointers?

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        Gaywallet
        Link Parent
        Combat isn't as important as in DnD and quite frankly you'll be able to crush most things thrown at you pretty quickly if you keep it scaled to your level. If combat is important for your group...

        Combat isn't as important as in DnD and quite frankly you'll be able to crush most things thrown at you pretty quickly if you keep it scaled to your level. If combat is important for your group you're going to have to scale it up.

        The best part about Numenera, in my mind, is that it's such an open concept. The book literally tells you that there's tech that exists that no one can explain. The oddities available are great examples of "it doesn't matter how this does this, it just does". Really lean into and embrace this. You can build a very fantastical sci-fi universe without having to worry about explaining things in reasonably technically feasible ways, because this is billions of years in the future and who knows what physics breaking weird technology has been created between now and then?

        There's a humble bundle deal on numenera PDFs right now that you might want to pick up too. It's got a lot of great resources.

        4 votes
        1. [2]
          papasquat
          Link Parent
          Dude, great tip on the humble bundle. I already own both corebooks but that's such a fantastic deal I had to buy it. Thank you so much. That's actually something that I've really struggled with in...

          Dude, great tip on the humble bundle. I already own both corebooks but that's such a fantastic deal I had to buy it. Thank you so much.

          it doesn't matter how this does this, it just does

          That's actually something that I've really struggled with in designing my first few adventures for the game. I've always been a big hard sci fi fan and love hearing about how stuff works, and thinking of novel technology that's grounded in reality, so I always feel the need to justify why things are the way they are. I have an installation planned with a whole backstory as an anti nanite defense platform, but I probably won't actually reveal that to my players unless they really dig. I'm trying to force myself to just design weird stuff that's unexplainable and doesn't actually serve a discernable purpose, but it's been a tough habit to break.

          3 votes
          1. Gaywallet
            Link Parent
            I completely get this and it's a tough habit to break, but I challenge you to come up with fantastical ideas that don't necessarily make sense with how we understand science today - you can throw...

            I've always been a big hard sci fi fan and love hearing about how stuff works, and thinking of novel technology that's grounded in reality, so I always feel the need to justify why things are the way they are

            I completely get this and it's a tough habit to break, but I challenge you to come up with fantastical ideas that don't necessarily make sense with how we understand science today - you can throw in "magic" without having to call it that. For example, maybe the anti nanite defense platform is powered by harnessing the thoughts of those who fear nanites. Or maybe it comes from another dimension. Or maybe there's a being living inside it that resembles a fish. Crazy off the wall stuff is what will make the players remember the story moreso than whether it "makes sense." Use your imagination - the people playing the game will appreciate it.

            3 votes
  3. mrbig
    (edited )
    Link
    As a kid, I decided I was being bullied enough already and stayed away from RPG. It didn't help that my schools' players were a bunch of dorks, doing weird goblin voices in the hallways. Had I...

    As a kid, I decided I was being bullied enough already and stayed away from RPG. It didn't help that my schools' players were a bunch of dorks, doing weird goblin voices in the hallways. Had I entered their group, I might still be a virgin.

    I started playing as an adult, out of a frustration with my incomplete knowledge of nerd culture. A friend narrated some World of Darkness one-shots, and I loved it. Played Dragon Age but didn't care much for it. Then I decided to narrate a Call of Cthulu campaign that went really well. The players loved it. It was a story rich in mystery and dread. Combat was mostly mental, social and intellectual. This is in tone with the Mythos source material since its creatures are usually so powerful and alien that trying to fight them is useless, and the mere contact with them can turn someone irreparably insane.

    But I had to stop the campaign because of daily episodes of night terror, accompanied by dangerous somnambulism. Call of Cthulu is not for the faint of heart.

    I also started as a player in a Mage 20th campaign. My character was an anachronistic, extremely conservative man that manipulated the sphere of time so that every object in his 19th century home never aged, including him. But the narrator had to stop to finish his thesis.

    Now I'm reading the first in the "Witcher" series of books, and thinking about a new campaign in this universe.

    Storytelling is my favorite system. It's simple, math light (I'm terrible at mental arithmetics) and has a strong focus on narrative.

    4 votes
  4. Ellimist
    Link
    I'm currently building a character for my first 5e campaign. My DM was more familiar with 3.5 so we played that but he wanted a break so another player with 5e experience offered to DM a 5e...

    I'm currently building a character for my first 5e campaign. My DM was more familiar with 3.5 so we played that but he wanted a break so another player with 5e experience offered to DM a 5e campaign.

    My buddy offered to help me build my 5e character as he had an idea he thought I'd like. Human Eldritch Knight. I'm still educating myself on it but I love the fact that it's basically a more melee focused War Mage which is what I've been playing in our main campaign. My buddy said he'd help me turn it basically into Obi Wan Kenobi....not sure exactly how we're going to do that but he's far more knowledgeable than I am so I trust he'll show me da wae

    4 votes
  5. [4]
    SunSpotter
    Link
    I've played 5e as both a DM and a player, and I'm curious what you would like to in terms of freeform progression. I'm afraid I'm not really familiar with GURPS so maybe someone could fill me on....

    I've played 5e as both a DM and a player, and I'm curious what you would like to in terms of freeform progression. I'm afraid I'm not really familiar with GURPS so maybe someone could fill me on.

    I've always thought that the nice thing about D&D is that you can pick and choose how you want to play the game. Aside from rolling dice perhaps, there is no one corner stone mechanic that everything depends on. In particular, my group has experimented a fair amount with XP and leveling up. We've experimented with group XP pots that get split evenly, and leveling via narrative milestones, though I suspect you are talking about more than just leveling up.

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      Pilgrim
      Link Parent
      G.U.R.P.S stands for Generic Universal Role Playing System and is a D6-based game that, as the name suggests, can be tailored to any time or setting. There are companion books for most anything...

      G.U.R.P.S stands for Generic Universal Role Playing System and is a D6-based game that, as the name suggests, can be tailored to any time or setting. There are companion books for most anything you'd want from high fantasy to modern day to supernatural to super heroes. And of course you're provided the tools to craft whatever world you'd like.

      I personally found it much more approachable than DnD 3.5 but it has a reputation for being a numbers-heavy system that is for the detail-oriented. That said, I think it's all about how you want to play and you can take or leave what you like.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        SunSpotter
        Link Parent
        From my limited experience with 3.5 and Pathfinder, I can understand why you feel that way. However, I think myself and a fair number of other people would agree that 5e has been trimmed down a...

        From my limited experience with 3.5 and Pathfinder, I can understand why you feel that way. However, I think myself and a fair number of other people would agree that 5e has been trimmed down a lot from the previous editions, and not in a bad way. So if you've only ever played 3.5 I'd encourage you to give 5e a try.

        2 votes
        1. Pilgrim
          Link Parent
          Oh I have all of the 5E core books. I just read them for fun right now. I 100% agree with that they've done a tremendous job revamping things.

          Oh I have all of the 5E core books. I just read them for fun right now. I 100% agree with that they've done a tremendous job revamping things.

          1 vote
  6. eladnarra
    Link
    I just recently started playing again after a break of five or six years. We're only 2 sessions into Sunless Citadel (5e), but I'm really enjoying it. I'd forgotten how much fun it is! I'm playing...

    I just recently started playing again after a break of five or six years. We're only 2 sessions into Sunless Citadel (5e), but I'm really enjoying it. I'd forgotten how much fun it is!

    I'm playing a very chipper halfling cleric (trickery domain). This is the first game I've played while speaking (prior games were via chat), and I accidentally on purpose made a talkative character. I was nervous, but it's super fun! I've even ended up doing a bit of a voice without meaning to, and I think it's helping me feel her personality more strongly than my past characters.

    4 votes
  7. Autoxidation
    Link
    I play Through the Breach, a tabletop RPG set in the Malifaux universe (early 1900s steampunk with magic caused by a dimensional portal). I enjoy the card based system over the D20 from D&D, but...

    I play Through the Breach, a tabletop RPG set in the Malifaux universe (early 1900s steampunk with magic caused by a dimensional portal). I enjoy the card based system over the D20 from D&D, but the rules aren't quite as tight as I'd like them to be.

    4 votes
  8. [4]
    KapteinB
    Link
    I'm trying to get a D&D 5e game going with some guys from work. So far I have two players signed up, but that's a bit on the low side, so I'm hoping to recruit a couple more. I've bought the...

    I'm trying to get a D&D 5e game going with some guys from work. So far I have two players signed up, but that's a bit on the low side, so I'm hoping to recruit a couple more. I've bought the adventure Waterdeep Dragon Heist, which I've read all the way through and it seems like a very fun (and flexible) adventure. I also bought the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and a GM screen, and a bunch of dice so the players can borrow dice from me.

    The last couple of years I've mostly played online, using Fantasy Grounds and Discord. I'm involved in a Call of Cthulu campaign where I play a journalist for a communist newspaper who doesn't believe in the supernatural (well, at least not until we met that shape-changing lizard lady; now he's questioning his beliefs), and a D&D campaign where I play a 3-foot halfling paladin nicknamed "the Wall".

    That's my current campaigns, but I've occasionally dabbled in Pathfinder (Which is basically D&D 3.6. I played a charismatic half-orc alchemist whose noble mother had kept him hidden in her mansion for all his life, until he poisoned his entire family after she named his younger brother as her heir. He was a fun character.), World of Darkness (I played a large bearded Scotsman werewolf with a mask that let him transform into a raven and a flute that would stop enemies from attacking him. Also a fun character.), and Deadlands (I played a priest, which have surprisingly powerful magic in that game).

    Of all the tabletop RPGs I've played, I think I like the rules from Call of Cthulu the best, though I'm not a huge fan of the Cthulu mythos.

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      eladnarra
      Link Parent
      That's interesting! What is it about the rules that you like?

      Of all the tabletop RPGs I've played, I think I like the rules from Call of Cthulu the best, though I'm not a huge fan of the Cthulu mythos.

      That's interesting! What is it about the rules that you like?

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        KapteinB
        Link Parent
        My favourite thing is how character progression works. There are no experience points or levels in the game. Everything is based on skills, and the only way to improve a skill is to use it! If you...

        My favourite thing is how character progression works. There are no experience points or levels in the game. Everything is based on skills, and the only way to improve a skill is to use it! If you for example succeed in finding an important clue using your investigation skill, the GM will give you a chance to improve that skill at the end of the play session. To improve it you have to roll a failed skill check, and if you you then roll a d10 and raise the skill with that many points. It sounds a bit confusing, but works very well in practice.

        4 votes
        1. eladnarra
          Link Parent
          That's really cool! Most of my experience is with DnD, so the idea of improving skills that you use is new to me (but makes total sense).

          That's really cool! Most of my experience is with DnD, so the idea of improving skills that you use is new to me (but makes total sense).

          1 vote
  9. Defluo
    Link
    I play DnD 5e. I'm currently playing a human Necromancer school Wizard in a party of mostly neutral and good PCs including a paladin that watches me very closely. I have to come up with really...

    I play DnD 5e. I'm currently playing a human Necromancer school Wizard in a party of mostly neutral and good PCs including a paladin that watches me very closely. I have to come up with really good reasons to raise dead so my party doesn't get mad at me. I have 2 main skeletons I keep raised at all times, they're my parents and my party allows me to keep them because they think I'm sad about losing them as a kid. I make human masks for them, but they're still not very human passing so I don't take them out of my bag of holding when we go into towns.

    I've tried a few other systems but I always come back to 5e just because I like the magic system a lot more. The group I play with meets consistently every week, we've been meeting for about 4 years now. We've completed 1 full campaign (lvl 1 - 20) and half of another. This is our 3rd campaign, we're all lvl 10. We do rotating DMs where we switch DMs every week or 2 depending on how long each arc is. This gives plenty of time for DMs to prepare interesting and deep scenarios. The downside is that no DM knows where the other DM will take the story, so most of us don't like to change things up too much as to not mess up the other DMs arc.

    3 votes
  10. Thrabalen
    Link
    I'm currently involved in a VtM 5E campaign. My Ministry of Set cult leader and her coterie is tasked with figuring out why random humans are dying.

    I'm currently involved in a VtM 5E campaign. My Ministry of Set cult leader and her coterie is tasked with figuring out why random humans are dying.

    3 votes
  11. Petril
    Link
    My husband is currently playing the new Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG. It's been really fun to watch!

    My husband is currently playing the new Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG. It's been really fun to watch!

    3 votes
  12. aphoenix
    Link
    I play in a DnD 5e game. My character is a deplorably evil warlock who is an archaeology professor and occasional murderer. He's fiercely loyal to his friends, who are mostly decent people....

    I play in a DnD 5e game. My character is a deplorably evil warlock who is an archaeology professor and occasional murderer. He's fiercely loyal to his friends, who are mostly decent people. There's a cleric who is lawful good, and they often end up playing shoulder demon / shoulder angel to the rest of the party, which is a fun dynamic. I spend a lot of my time trying to get my group to do despicable things in the name of "the greater good", because my character doesn't really have long-term evil motivations (or really any long-term motivations), so if he can do something despicable now he doesn't really mind if there's a good payoff later because he's a very live-in-the-moment sort of guy. He's also the face for the group, which is a good time, because he can be a real loose canon. My brother is the DM, and it's a great group.

    We've been at it semi-weekly for about a year, and we're at level 6. I'm enjoying 5e; the last time I played
    DnD before this was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. I've played a few other formats over the years, and I think I've kind of gotten to the point that I don't actually care about the system as much as the people and the story that the DM is telling. We have a "combat session" about every third or fourth get-together, so for us it's more about thinking our way through the intrigue of things. There are times when I think that the nature of rolling for success at things is a bit silly, but otherwise it seems okay to me.

    3 votes
  13. Adam_Black_Arts
    Link
    Finally running a NightLife game again after 20-ish years. This time for my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend. Kinda wanna give D&D 5e a spin at some point, though, so I might wrap up the NL...

    Finally running a NightLife game again after 20-ish years. This time for my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend.

    Kinda wanna give D&D 5e a spin at some point, though, so I might wrap up the NL game sometime this year.

    Last time I ran NL, I threw a ton of house rules at it. I re-read it a couple years ago and wondered how it would work straight out of the box. It's a good system, but it's got some weird spots where it's obvious they didn't do the math when they made the rule. With those fixed, it's a solid system.

    2 votes
  14. spctrvl
    Link
    As a DM, I've run a long campaign in both Dungeon World and GURPS. The Dungeon World campaign was your standard fantasy comedic setting that I used to get used to DMing and to find out who the...

    As a DM, I've run a long campaign in both Dungeon World and GURPS. The Dungeon World campaign was your standard fantasy comedic setting that I used to get used to DMing and to find out who the good players were for later campaigns. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

    To make a long story short, I focused the main story arc on a character who's player was far and away the most active RPer, a dwarven cleric of a mostly forgotten religion from the glory days of their civilization. The party journeyed into the depths of the planet to find that the cleric's god was a large computer system, housing the uploaded minds of its deceased believers, formerly powered by the psychic energy of its living believers. But with the collapse of dwarven civilization, the system's caretakers replaced belief... with coal! Turns out the massive mining operations to power the system were behind most of the sinkholes that had been releasing subterranean monsters on to the surface.

    Dungeon world has a mechanic where once you hit level 11, you either retire the character, or start them over in a new class. In a feat I'm still proud of, I managed to pace things just so that the cleric hit 11 and 'retired' by merging with the gesalt consciousness of his entire religion and becoming the living embodiment of his god, completing his character arc and the main quest in a pretty impressive way.

    The GURPS campaign is an infinite worlds one that's ongoing. Don't have anything quite that impressive yet but there've been 2 near-TPKs from car crashes so far, so that's petty funny.

    Unfortunately the overwhelming majority of games I've participated in as a player have been 5e campaigns that last 4 sessions before dissolving due to flakiness. There was one time I played a rather obscure diceless RPG called Lords of Gossamer and Shadow, which lasted a whole summer and was a blast, but while I liked the setting well enough, loved my character, and my party was downright legendary, I was not at all a fan of the system.

    2 votes
  15. [2]
    AstartesTemplar
    Link
    I first started about a year ago with D&D 5e, but migrated to Storytelling via Classic World of Darkness (cWOD) and the Vampire: The Masquerade setting, v20 to be specific. While D&D was okay, I'm...

    I first started about a year ago with D&D 5e, but migrated to Storytelling via Classic World of Darkness (cWOD) and the Vampire: The Masquerade setting, v20 to be specific. While D&D was okay, I'm absolutely loving everything about this, as both a player when I first dabbled, and now as a storyteller running his own campaigns. Character progression in cWOD tends to be limited only by what your storyteller will allow, as you can more or less learn anything given enough time.

    2 votes
    1. Hypersapien
      Link Parent
      I've never actually played WOD but I've created a few characters in that system. The actual playing just never came together (game group's fault, not the system's). I like that one too. I like any...

      I've never actually played WOD but I've created a few characters in that system. The actual playing just never came together (game group's fault, not the system's).

      I like that one too. I like any system where the abilities your character gets as they advance isn't on rails and you get to make decisions as to what to obtain or upgrade as you go.

      2 votes
  16. PineappleMan
    Link
    I've actually just gotten into them! I'm in my first campaign of D&D and loving it.... looking forward to DM-ing soon, but I' honestly scared! Soon!

    I've actually just gotten into them!

    I'm in my first campaign of D&D and loving it.... looking forward to DM-ing soon, but I' honestly scared!

    Soon!