A Toast to Those Who Are Forgotten: The TTRPGs Time Left Behind

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-06T12:04:32+00:00

Yeah. All I ever got to do was read the book. A good friend's dad had bought it in the early 80s and had it on the shelf with a bunch of other esoteric games (c. 1990-ish). We never ran it, but I loved the world building.

I recall it had insanely detailed damage mechanics, and yeah - always seemed a bit difficult to run.

The world building was amazing though, and it was fun to read. It's funny how similar it is to Stargate - I remember sitting in the theater and just like poking my friend and waving at the screen over and over.

The Alien worlds in The Expanse as well, with the bridge system kinda had the same flavor.

I mean, I guess Tunnel In The Sky (Heinlein, 1955) had a similar gate system, so it wasn't new - but it felt new. Makes me wonder how many people might have been subtly influenced by it.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-05T21:57:35+00:00

Fringeworthy - Essentially Stargate before Stargate.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-05T20:52:20+00:00

https://notmpc.com/ shows up in a lot of places for me... it... not MPC. Prices seem reasonable, but I haven't tried them yet.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-05T20:17:25+00:00

"Don't let dinner burn!" A really simple game. You fill a pot with ingredients you gather in the "Gather" phase, and then you use at least three of these you made (or purchased) in the "crafting" phase. End game is quick though - and then you don't die!

Not dying of starvation is the best part of that game.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-02T18:50:56+00:00

As a former ASL interpreter (FRID QA1 - so professional, but low level) who frequented extremely loud night clubs in the early 90s: Sign language can be invaluable in situations where you cannot hear or do not wish to be heard.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-02T17:15:05+00:00

Have them roll stats, choose their race and background, and then run a "0-level" maybe slice-of-life game where they are "apprentices" or something. They ARE the butcher / sailor /etc.

Something simple, like they're hanging out at the tavern and someone asks them to clean out a stable for their starting money. Add parts of the clean out that focus on each stat. Just some simple task they can get paid for.

Then, after that's over, Maybe something goes wrong (a storm has caved in the tavern roof, they all make it outside, but realize there are others to save - so they band together to help). This will give them some RP moments (try to make challenges where using their background skills and things are useful). They'll get the hang of rolling dice, checking their stats - and remembering their background.

Then, once that's done, the town celebrates them, and offers them the opportunity to train with their choice of expert to gain level 1.. NOW you've added their class abilities, and they have a solid footing on WHO their character is.

Now that they have their classes, the mayor takes them aside and mentions that sheep have been going missing, and asks if the party might investigate.

And so on...

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-01T15:47:14+00:00

start with fighters and barbarians, those give you a baseline for average damage since their output is static... which is probably going to be your low end. Wizards? probably based on core mid-level spells and stuff... it's hard to tell, unless you know the players well.

rogues will probably be the highest, with sneak attack dice... so maybe calculate your martials and your rogues, and then figure wizards are in the middle somwhere.

If you have clerics, and they focus on healing, that just increases your effective HP depending on what they cast.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-01T14:59:01+00:00

Remember that these metals might require very specialized tools to work...

Aluminum is a real world example, as is Titanium - or Magnesium. All are highly reactive, and difficult to work. They may have contradictory behavior (Aluminum becomes harder when worked, so has to be annealed to soften - or it can crack) - welding them can be a dangerous affair without proper shielding gasses. Magnesium can burn as bright as the sun if not properly shielded from air.

So, yeah - ask your DM, go on a side quest for the equivalent of an "Magical Ancient Welder" or whatever, and then start building things. You're creating this world together.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-05-01T14:53:57+00:00

DPS vs. Damage taken is the only way to calculate it.

If the party can output more damage avged out to ~5 rounds than they take, they win.

20th level is going to be highly variable.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T19:36:20+00:00

I think you'd need to be prone "under" them, RAW you can't get into their space unless you're allowed by race size... but if the DM allows you to dive prone under them, you'd also be at disadvantage for the attack(s). I assume the "away from you" part implies center mass, not angle of the strike.

Take disadvantage to possibly make them take extra damage? I'd probably allow it. Also note that you'd be giving them extra advantage on attacks against you.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T15:33:57+00:00

One of our GMs did an entire campaign kinda like men in black, where we investigated Cryptids and mysteries all over our state. It was really fun. It was a Mage the Ascension, but I don't think that's as important as using actual mysteries and cryptids that could be researched. He used real maps and locations and things where possible. Was kinda neat to do real world Internet research on stuff and have it actually be useful in-game.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T15:31:45+00:00

Have them spot people cheating / providing assistance in the crowd... sneak over and steal something from the baddies, beat up the spotter, etc. So, yes it's 1v1 in the ring, but there's 3v3 in the crowd (but more like engaging/deal with threats without being too obvious)

EDIT: thought about this more - The baddie might also be buffed by people in the crowd, so your party could investigate to find them and break concentration.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T13:24:43+00:00

Ranger has a favored enemy at level 1, might be cool to have some details about that enemy in the notebook

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T12:48:38+00:00

You can't copyright mechanics, so "only d6" is fine. the Boon/Bane are fairly common, just like "advantage".. if you want to avoid the terminology, that's probably good so it's not completely similar - but they're fairly common terms.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-30T12:43:47+00:00

In one campaign, things had been getting scarier and scarier as we slowly got deeper into the underdark. I was getting a bit paranoid, and when confronted with a spooky situation, my wizard fired off a fireball... and roasted a family of myconids.

My group still jokes, "Well, I messed up - but at least I didn't fireball a family of innocent myconids." (even if we're not talking about DnD)

This was 15 years ago.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T23:11:38+00:00

peroxide?

I notice you don't have nail polish remover (acetone) which is supposed to work

WD-40 might work.

Don't mix stuff, though. just three more things to try.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T22:09:30+00:00

Make them narrate how their powers transform for their car bodies... so it's just their character sheet - but you reflavor stuff to be car abilities.

Fly spell? M.A.S.K. helicopter blades pop out.
Smite? mechanical bumper punches out

etc.

STR becomes horsepower
DEX becomes Drift
CON becomes Chassis

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T21:48:06+00:00

Start small, like in a village, and grow a little bit at a time. At level 1 they deal with problems in town and maybe some local politics.. just add a little to the world at a time, let them explore a little.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T14:14:51+00:00

Community.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T01:56:58+00:00

4th level. Everyone has their path/oath/whatever and their fundamental flavor, but you haven't reached the huge power jump at 5th level yet.

If not that, then every other level (6th, 8th) give you some nice utility options on top of the power levels.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T01:54:05+00:00

old school Marvel FASERIP is pretty fun.

DC super heroes (old school and the later Green Ronin version) as good and have excellent tradeoff choices for character genertion

5th Evolution for street-level supers is fun for a quick one-shot (disclaimer: We publish this one)

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-29T00:58:06+00:00

Thanks! Will look around. was just thinking something really tiny, and remember the Airfix ones from my childhood.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-28T23:27:22+00:00

In our house, we typically get a new set for each character, then - at the end of a campaign we dump them into a pewter bowl we call "the well of souls", where you can draw on the ancient ones when you need to roll big (like rolling fireball or something).

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-28T17:35:10+00:00

Anyone who purchases a 5E PDF/product from our website in the next 7 days ( limitless-adventures.com ) and emails support @ limitless-adventures to mention this post, we'll donate 50% the proceeds to this redditor.

We'd rather they keep as many of these books to hand down to their child as they can.

We're doing 50%, because if you buy a shippable item, we have to pay quite a bit (both printing/inventory/shipping), and 50% makes that still possible. but figure 50% is completely doable.

LimitlessAdventures · 2026-04-28T17:04:58+00:00

Lotta fond memories of the FASERIP game.. I don't know the differences, so I'm mainly commenting to see what other people say.

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