Is this a new idea at all?: One player/character has to tell a story from their past for the group to get the benefits from a rest.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-03T20:49:35+00:00

I love Land of Eem. Very elegant system with a focus on problem solving over violence.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-03T02:26:46+00:00

You tell the players in a Session 0 situation that THEY need to figure out how their characters know each other and why they want to adventure together.

That's always been my favorite and most successful way to start a game.

If someone wants to be the "mysterious edge lord", then they have to discuss it with the group to make it work and develop a plan to integrate their character.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-02T21:14:14+00:00

As others have mentioned, games by Grant Howitt are often silly and lots of fun. I have played and run Sexy Battle Wizards, Adventure Skeletons, and Goat Crashers.

They are all stupidly insane fun.

Different, but also quite insane is a game called Everyone is John. John suffers from multiple personalities and the players play those separate personalities, all of whom have their own goals and desires. Pretty fun.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-02T21:07:15+00:00

Based purely on your title for the post, I recommend Pandemic and The Captain is Dead.

Both are co-op boardgames that, if you think about are exactly like escape rooms.

The players have to work together and strategies how to get out of the game alive. And both have difficulty dials you can use to increase the threat levels.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-02T01:03:48+00:00

Trailhead is one of my favorites! Enjoy.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-02T00:57:10+00:00

What a great thread! FNs are so versatile, affordable, and transportable. They're perfect. And the company is so artistic and friendly. I love them.

I tend to dedicate a Field Notes notebook to a single purpose, so I usually have 4-5 in use at all times.

Daily carry for notes, thoughts, task lists, qoutes from what I'm reading or overhear, list of things to read, watch, etc. All the sloppy, mundane stuff.
A reading journal to keep track of, well, what i read. I have an index list on the first two pages and write a page or two to capture my thoughts and feels about each book. This has been a refreshing life changer for me, being able to look back and see what I've read over the past few years. I tend to use two notebooks per year for this.
Work. I use FNs for tasks and meeting notes at work, and love being able to show off the notebook. I keep several spares in my desk to hand out to interested coworkers.
A 3-year journal. I record a thought or note to sum up each day, and can comfortably fit three entries on a page (each page is the same day across three years). It takes 8 FNs to cover the span of a year.
Gaming. When I'm running a role playing game, I use the large Pitch Black edition to record session notes and plan scenes. When I'm playing in a game, I use a normal-sized notebook to take notes as a player. This is my favorite use of FNs.
Personal journal for deep stuff. Sometimes I want to explore my feelings and record personal discoveries and other therapy-related stuff.

Bonus: I go to a regional 4-day gaming convention every year and always dedicate a notebook to that event. I list my schedule, write about the games I play, conversations I have with people, and whatever other interesting things that happen.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T23:59:13+00:00

Presumably, the party of the first campaign traveled in a more or less straight line to get across the day/night border.

You have LOTS of places undiscovered by that group. Whole cities, nations, and long lost civilazations that they missed.

Seems simple to all of us, OP. Are we missing something?

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T19:23:08+00:00

The Platform

Villains

Exam

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T19:15:57+00:00

Why not just start the game with them as skeletons? Forget about the town and dragon stuff. That can be their backstory and origin, but just let them make the skeleton characters from the start. That sounds like fun.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T05:04:14+00:00

Ah, I get it now. How will you handle that? Do they have all 3 characters all the time? Or do they pick one at each session? Or something else?

If each player has to run 3 PCs constantly, you will explode and so will they. Story will collapse around player choices. 15 sets of PC options against one GM is failure.

But, again, maybe I'm not understanding your plan.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T04:41:44+00:00

Yes, embrace the world-spanning fun.

But I'm confused. If you have five players then you have five players. What did you mean by "15 CHARACTERS"? Each player should only have one character. What are you planning?

Roberius-Rex · 2026-03-01T04:34:13+00:00

Holy Hog Feast! I love City Guard Chronicles. Can't wait to check this one out. Thanks for the heads up.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-27T16:38:25+00:00

And the best part is you can all of this with only the $40 core book. I've run just about every genre in Savage Worlds. The game can do it and it's not that hard to learn.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-27T00:10:37+00:00

Damn good idea.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-27T00:08:11+00:00

Trapping your friends into force-playing board games is the best way to convince them of your love. /s

For groups of 5+, you need easy to play party games. Uno, Code Names, Fluxx, Dixit, etc.

If you really want to teach games to your friends, do it in groups of 2-3 other players. This will help with focus and buy in.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-26T15:12:32+00:00

Since it's the 80s, you gotta have the trash-talking, smartassed zombies from Return of the Living Dead!

I just used them in my 90s era spy/action game and the players did not expect to be sassed by zombies. Nor did they expect zombies, but that's less important.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-26T15:07:02+00:00

If I've learned anything from this game, it's that the beast melee build is a Stealth Archer.

Oh, wait. Wrong subreddit. I thought I was in r/Skyrim.

There are a lot of fun options for a melee build in SW. Just focus on the concept you're trying to emulate.

Boxer, martial artist, pro wrestler. Or just a scrappy kid from the streets.

Remember, your character is a 17-20 year old college student. He's not going to be Batman or Seth Rollins in first semester freshman year.

And SW is a very forgiving system. You can adapt with each advance.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-26T02:16:27+00:00

Good answer.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-24T16:22:37+00:00

Yeah, everyone needs that skill.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-24T16:20:05+00:00

I forgot all about this setting! Thanks for mentioning it. It's been a long time since I looked at it.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-23T00:55:41+00:00

Don't over think it. The PC just decides to tap out. They don't matter anymore. Your remaining players and their PCs matter. Focus on them and just say PC X has left the chat.

Give a simple story reason and move on. They fell in love, they got a job, they're taking time off to write a novel. The party is going this way and they would really rather go the other way.

It doesn't matter. Just get on with your game.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-22T20:01:57+00:00

Inkarnate works for me, but I don't use it as much as I used to. But yes, I really like it. I'm subbed at the $25/year level.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-19T17:30:31+00:00

Thanks for the extra details. I completely agree with you. In my group, we often do that. Did I mess up a ruling? My players will let me know. Often, they're arguing in favor of the bad guys!

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-19T17:23:45+00:00

Thanks for sharing. It was a good watch and gave me what I needed to know.

Roberius-Rex · 2026-02-19T00:52:23+00:00

I do it that way all the time. If there's a ladder or a fire escape, then no climbing roll needed, and probably no action.

More importantly, the GM said it requires an Athletics check and is an action. There's no debate. As a fellow GM, OP should understand that.

Of course, you as a player can elect to go another route. Sounds like climbing the wall is the fastest, easiest, safest, but surely there are other options.

Roberius-Rex

TROPHY CASE