#Roleplaying Game

[probablybadrpgideas]

Tragic News! Someone's made Power Word Kill into a copypasta! Half of youtube is dead!

#rpg #roleplaying game #D&D #fantasy #adventure idea

[vintagerpg]

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (1979) is a fun little book that looks at aliens from a variety of science fiction stories through the (slightly) in-universe framing of a field guide, complete with notes on ecology and biological functions.

Artist Wayne Barlowe’s selections are an interesting cross-section of the genre (I don’t recognize a lot of them, honestly) and his interpretations (of the ones I do recognize) always walk the fine line between capturing something essential that I pictured in my mind’s eye while also being surprising or unexpected in many ways. Among the beasties I did not photograph are the Overlords from Childhood’s End, the Puppeteers from Ringworld, the Izchel from Wrinkle in Time, the Masters from the Tripod books and Ursula Le Guin’s Athshean.

In a way, the Guide feels like an extension of the larger interest in fantastic art in the ‘70s, embodied most in the Gnomes, Fairies and Giants books. It, and its Fantasy companion (see tomorrow) certainly wouldn’t come out today, but for me, they’re just amazing. They gave Barlowe a whole book to draw monsters and aliens; monster and alien enthusiasts like me got a pile of rad illustrations to look at; and a stack of sci fi writers got low-key advertising for their works. Wins down the line.

Worth mentioning that this is likely a direct inspiration for Call of Cthulhu’s pair of Petersen’s Field Guides (Cthulhu Monsters and Dreamlands), right down to little nuances of layout formatting. I would bet that they were also on someone’s mind when the Ecology articles began to appear in Dragon Magazine (those started in ’83 with the Piercer).

#roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #dungeons & dragons #rpg #d&d #ttrpg #Wayne Barlowe #Barlowes Guide To Extraterrestrials

[nudityandnerdery]

It's a great day to consider the vast array of other RPGs out there other than D&D. If you want that style of game, Pathfinder is great. And if you feel like trying something new, there's so much to explore...

Amazing timing for this article to come out the day Critical Role opens the beta for their own RPG system...

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #tabletop rpg #tabletop roleplaying #roleplaying game #rpg

[gibz-n-things]

my experience playing stray gods. i wish i were not so obvious but persephone was made for me specifically.

#stray gods #persephone stray gods #comic #fanart #stray gods fanart #stray gods persephone #stray gods spoilers #stray gods game #art #artist #artwork #fancomic #roleplaying game #stray gods the roleplaying musical #illustration #artists on tumblr #fan art

[raul-volp2]

That Ghibli inspired 5e book that I saw some people commenting sparked a lot of thoughts in my mind, but most of it is how we are filled with books with a lot of surface level inspirations that dont make a full critical analysis of what they are referencing and end up being not even a good homage but fail to unuderstand their inspiration, like saying that they are a cozy game but fill the rules with stat blocks and loot. It also always coming back to this nature of ttrpg in general to use pre estabilished systems that most of the time dont work with the fiction they have in mind, because that system itself is created with another fiction in mind. But the first thing that comes to my mind is that those products dont strive to be engaging and fun, is just to generate profit quick using a system that is very marketable, a visual style that is generally adored and you can post how you reach your ks money in 10 seconds.

It is a pattern not uncommon not only in ttrpg but game in general, something is popular or becomes popular and there is a lot of copycat, but with the tabletop rpg scene tradition of using srds, specially the OGL because it's tied to Dnd and it's big popularity, we see more of it, or at least a version that I don't want to call lazy, but focuesd on only generating buzz and sales on Kickstarter.

#ttrpg #tabletop rpg #roleplaying game #rpg

[callumogden]

I made a set of Tolkien inspired fantasy maps of real-world locations including Scotland, the UK and Ireland, Europe, New England and North America for fun but turns out people like using them in their games so, here's how you can find them!

You can download copies of all these maps for free with or without labels for printing or use in your TTRPGs over on my Tumblr page here:

Fantasy Maps in a Tolkien Style

You can also buy prints of these maps on my Redbubble page :

If you would like to use these in a commercial project, drop me a DM and I'd love to chat!

#Maps #Tolkien #cartography #middle earth #lotr #fantasy maps #D&D #dnd #pathfinder #ttrpg #map making #hobbits #shire #rpg #roleplaying game #gimp #mountains #Scotland #UK #America #New England #Ireland #Europe #scottish #jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #the hobbit #mapmaking #digital art

[educationaldm]

Do you ever worry about helmets vs no helmets in your game?

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #TTRPG #Roleplaying Game #Tabletop #RPG #Helmets #Armor #Armour

[tsuyoshikentsu]

if internet comments on cookbooks were like the ones on D&D books

https://www.wired.com/2008/06/alttext-0618/

Source: https://www.wired.com/2008/06/alttext-0618/, which I found out about from https://twitter.com/mxdshipwreck/status/1669480866891051008

#rpg #ttrpg #roleplaying #roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop role-playing game #d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #dnd memes #d&d memes #wired #infinite oregano

[mischiev]

A new random artefact just for the fun of drawing disgusting organic clumps.

#rpg #roleplaying game #rpg art #fantasy rpg #concept art #concept artist #items concept #item design #art #artist on tumblr #digital art #digital painting #illustration #my art #artist #original art

[ultimavela]

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #mythical creatures #creature #boardgames #role playing games #fantasy #roleplaying game #tabletop games #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop role playing game #whimsical

[starshinescribbles]

Free TTRPG!

Won't You Guide My Sleigh Tonight is a family-friendly TTRPG that uses your Christmas tree as a playmat!  Step into the shoes of Santa's backup reindeer team as they embark on a mission to save Christmas!

A PDF version is available on my Itch page!

#ttrpg #tabletop role playing game #tabletop rpg #christmas #reindeer #rudolph #roleplaying game #free game

[probablybadrpgideas]

Skills can only be used in werewolf-related contexts

#rpg #roleplaying game #D&D #fantasy #rule idea

[vintagerpg]

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials was well received and won a couple of awards (and a second edition, I think in ’87?). It took a little while for the sequel to emerge: Barlowe’s Guide to Fantasy hit shelves in 1996.

Even though I am not super widely read in either fantasy or science fiction, Barlowe’s fantasy book is the one I really vibe on. Maybe because it allows him to do stuff like Grendel from Beowulf and Gorice from The Worm Ouroboros. Wouldn’t have expected Gideon Winter, the antagonist from Peter Straub’s odd novel Floating Dragon to be included, but he was. Other surprises are the Psammead from Five Children and It and the Saw Horse from Oz.

One of the coolest things about these books is the fold-out size comparison charts. I love a good size-comparison (and again, this is a big feature of those Petersen’s Guides for Call of Cthulhu, and I am sure it came directly from here).

#roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #dungeons & dragons #rpg #d&d #ttrpg #Wayne Barlowe

[jeffcross5000]

"You know those guys?”

“I swear I’ve seen them somewhere before...”

#dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons #dungeons and dragons honor among thieves #saturday morning cartoons #sheila the thief #hank the ranger #bobby the barbarian #eric the cavalier #diana the acrobat #presto the magician #chris pine #edgin the bard #michelle rodriguez #holga the barbarian #80s nostalgia #roleplaying game #d&d #dnd

[airic-fenn]

If youre pissed that WOTC is revoking its old ogl, you might be wanting to boycott them go play other games for a bit.

Now Im not a die-hard expert on all the ttrpgs out there, but there are a few that I particularly like and recommend if you dont know where to start:

• Ryuutama

I love Ryuutama so much. Its a lot simpler than dnd and really gives older japanese rpg video game vibes. Its very cozy fantasy with a heavy focus on adventuring and story telling than on battling. The english translation was actually a kickstarter thing, and it’s also in dire need of more homebrew content because there was supposed to be a translation of the supplement but thats probably never gonna happen anytime soon, if ever.

• Call of Catthulhu

No, I did not spell it wrong. Put simply, Call of Catthulhu is Call of Cthulhu but with cats. You all play cats. Dont let that fool you though, it can get surprisingly tense and gruesome if you play it right. You’ll probably love it if you were a warrior cats kid.

• Delta Green (and CoC in general)

“Modern” (1980’s) setting for (actual) Call of Cthulhu. The CoC games are fun if you like mysteries, conspiracies and yknow. cosmic horror stuff.

• Traveller

A scifi rp where you play a dude in space (an explorer, traveller, soldier or trader). This one is fun because character creation is VERY extensive and is part of the gameplay, but before the story starts. You make roles to determine all of the things that happened to you prior to the adventure like, did you go to university, have you suffered any life-altering injuries to your mind or body bc of some terrible accident, did you accidentally get aged 50 years older by getting zapped through a wormhole? Fun stuff like that. My friend calls it the existential crises rpg.

• Pathfinder

I mention it obligatorily because people tell me its the most like dnd without technically being dnd but I havent played it.

Anyway there are definitely so many more games but those are the ones I’ve played (other than pathfinder) and enjoyed. Feel free to reblog with your own additions to the list.

#alternatives to dnd #ttrpg #ryuutama #pathfinder #dnd #dnd5e #traveller #delta green #call of cthulhu #call of catthulhu #roleplaying game #wotc #hasbro #wizards of the coast #open gaming license

[raul-volp2]

Tabletop rpgs are a interesting case when it comes to game, not only it's a very social and open form of game but because it's also the most difficult game (tabletop or digital) for people to actually play it.

By nature a tabletop rpg require effort, time and a sizable group of friends. Digital games most of time requires only a single player to boot the game, if it's multiplayer you usually can play with random people online. Tabletop games requires a little more effort reading the rules, setting up the game and having people to play it (there is also solo games), but when compared to ttrpgs the reading is a lot smaller and even the players needed depending of the game is very small than a optimal group size for a ttrpg.

But the biggest effort that ttrpg requires is time, you and your players have to commit to a campaign that even if it's short can spam multiple weeks to finish, and being adults in this capitalist hellscape having time to join with friends to play for 2-4 hours is kinda rare.

But Im not saying this as something bad, while it requires effort ttrpg is a beautiful and unique experience, where players join together to immerse themselves in a world and have fun with the game. But looking this as a game designer I started to see a big risk of developing a ttrpg, and the risk is that there is great possibility that our game even if it's bought by people might never be used in a single session.

People are afraid to change, to try something new, and this include games, that's one of the reasons Dungeons and Dragons dominate the scene, they use this attachment people have with things and products very well, and people see the idea of play another game as a risk, they dont want to risk using their rare ttrpg time to play something new and be unsatisfatisfied, and that's makes sense. Even group of players that plays multiple ttrpgs have difficult to play all the their library because while they are able to play multiple campaigns, it's very difficult to play all the games that are releasing.

So rambling all this my conclusion is that a ttrpg game designer need to have in mind that they are making a game, and try to make a good one please, but also have in mind that a lot people will read their book as a book, they will have fun reading the lore, studying the rules, imagining the sessions they might play but actually never play it, and I am starting to realize that this is ok. But even being ok having a game no one will play even if they get the book and enjoy the reading, another skills that is part of a ttrpg writer and designer that I see most people not paying attention to it, is that the book have not only the job of explain the rules and present the world, but to convince the reader that the game they are reading is something they want to play.

Saying this sounds obvious, because in part we all must know that, but it's usually a skill that a lot of designers don't pay too much attention, and not only designers, look at Mork Borg, it is a OSR rpg like many others, but the book with it's unique layout, art style and writting does a amazing job to convince you to play. Same with Blades in the Dark, John Harper does an amazing job showing great examples of play when explaining the rules, showing the possibility of many cool things you can do in the game. This is not something easy to do, and ttrpg designers have to deal with so many things already, and specially indie ones, but it is something necessary.

All games have voices, and we need to find the voice of our games and make them speak and convince the readers and players that our games is something they want to play it... but also knowing that it's ok if in the end our games end up being just a good reading with cool art on it.

This might feel very confuse and wrong, I work mostly with game art and my game design methods are very confusing and my game (City Noire) will probably fly very unnoticed, so don't pay attention if you feel im talking nonsense.

Thank you.

Raul.

#rpg #roleplaying game #ttrpg #tabletop rpg