#ttrpg systems

[capriciouscartographer]

I’ve asked this question elsewhere, but lets get y’all involved too! Looking to run a desert themed exploration of a forgotten city and I’m not sure which TTRPG system to use. It’s going to be super combat light (possibly zero combat), and I’d like a system that allows people to jump in without a ton of homework to do (rule-learning, character building, etc). If y’all have suggestions, I’d love to hear them! I’m already looking into Wander Squares and Old-School Essentials!

[solo-rpg-rambling]

Cut-Ups and Solo TTRPG Play

Solo Roleplaying combines elements of traditional tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, creative journaling, and the use of divination oracles as a means for brainstroming and reflection. The games use oracles such as random dice tables, tarot, or playing cards to create an element of challenge and surpise usually provided by gamemasters or (in the case of computer-rpgs) game-design teams.

Lately I've been experimenting with cut-up techniques as a way to drive scenes and plot developments. a more direct TTRPG implementation is included in the Tilt: An oracle for solo roleplaying.

Primarily I've been using song lyrics because poetry offers a high level of imagery per word. The process I use involves the following steps:

Collection

Curation

Random Draws

Editing

Collection: Pulling text from sources that match the overall theme of the current game. In the example below, I started with music that felt personally and/or politically apocalyptic (even if the song isn't necessarily science fiction themed). After a few trials, I added in some additional texts to fill in some missing pieces (in this case, "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt," "Not," and "Many Moons"). These get copied into a markdown file with source citations at the top and lyrics below.

# music for scifi game ## Sources - St. Vincent, "Los Ageless" - Beast in Black, "Moonlight Rendezvous" - Reliqa, "E.O.D." - Reliqa, "Cold World" - Frozen Crown, "I am the Tyrant" - Rolling Stones, "Paint it Black" - DJ Shadow, "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" - Patti Smith (orig Springsteen), "Because the Night" - Leonard Cohen, "You Want it Darker" - Big Thief, "Not" - Janelle Monae, "Many Moons" ## Text In Los Ageless, the winter never comes the mothers milk their young But I can keep running ...

Curation: I edit down the original text to get rid of repeated lines. I also break up lines to get a single idea per line,

Random Draws: I use the simple unix command line tail -n +18 music_scifi.md | shuf | head -n 15. (Remove the first 18 lines (sources), shuffle all the lines, take the first 15 lines.)

Editing: Further edit the result to fit the situation and grammar. For example, a response to "What really motivates the antagonist?":

Is there a lullaby for suffering? ("You Want it Darker") Come on now, try to understand ("Because the Night") My doubts make me alone ("Because the Night") Not your stable words ("Not")

Through the process of sifting and editing, a previously flat antagonist now has depth, a motivation, and a possible weakness.

[idios-maximus]

Psst...

Wanna learn about a really cool TTRPG System?

Here you go!

This system is not mine.

[critcatbar]

For a while now I've been on the hunt for a different ttrpg system that will maybe click better with my brain for me to GM a game eventually. I love 5e, and playing our current campaign with friends. But there's just... SO much and it's such a huge staple of ttrpgs that trying to jump in and run a game feels so intimidating. Even a one shot. Balancing battles and monster crs and whatnot...

So...

Yeah, I've been looking...

And I think I found it. Fading Suns. Visited my local game store, was going to get a bunch of kobold press books I've been wanting... and then it caught my eye.

...

OK, like, 95% of the reason I ultimately bought one of the source books was because there's a playable race called the vorox and it's a giant bipedal 6-limbed furry cat monster. (At least that's this 4th edition interpretation. Older version art has it as more lupine/monster/bugbear-y... but I digress...)

...

But also the mix of Sci fi fantasy elements has always appealed to me, and the more I dig into the lore and extended universe... ... yeah, this has everything I've been looking for.

The rules are... ... a lot. Very different. But I'm making my way through learning it. I like that it's a lot more story and rp driven. There's combat, of course, but... it seems like it would be more streamlined. Will help once I can afford the other core source books, lol (I couldn't even afford this one but here we are...) but for now I'm just hyperfixating on what I've got.