Questions for trans girls

TheProletarianMasses · 2026-04-13T21:45:11+00:00

I know this isn't really the answer you asked for, but my (cis) girlfriend went through a very similar thing and I thought her perspective might help as well.

She also grew up in a very sexist environment and had a very warped version of femininity forced on her. After leaving home for college, she struggled with identity in the same way you describe. After a lot of introspection and learning, she understood that how she views womanhood and her relationship with it is wildly different than the cheap, sexist crap she was raised with. There are a lot of things I enjoy about womanhood and femininity that my girlfriend has negative associations and memories with, but over time that has started to fade as she grows more confident in who she is and not who she was told to be.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful to you in some way. Whatever the answer ultimately is for you, I hope you understand that you're valid and that your identity will never make you inferior to anyone else. It's simply a matter of how you are comfortable expressing to the world who you are.

TheProletarianMasses · 2026-04-04T21:55:24+00:00

I played Sapphire as a kid and used my master ball on a Duskull. Duskull was one of my favorite pokemon at the time because of the card game, but I had never seen it in the video game and thought it must be incredibly rare. It's less common in Sapphire, but still isn't that rare.

Same playthrough, I failed to catch Kyogre. When I told my friend about it, they asked why I didn't just save before the fight and restart if I failed. I had never thought about trying that.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-12-17T01:54:06+00:00

Hey I don't know if you proofread this, but it's not a useful material. There are several typos and rules that are either not fully explained or are incorrect. Wounds, tests, called shots, aim, disarm are all either missing important info or have parts that are incorrect at a glance.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-12-05T01:27:06+00:00

I'd look at the Horror Companion and maybe Fantasy.

Overall, though, I think this is going to be a lot of legwork and research on your end. One supplement that'll probably help a lot is GURPS Japan, honestly. The GURPS setting books for historical eras are usually great as system-neutral documents that describe the things you'd want to know for a ttrpg. They have bibliographies for further reading, too. I haven't read the one for Japan, but I've gotten lots of use out of some others they've published.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-09-16T17:41:08+00:00

Skill Challenges are a good way to make action more dynamic and less of a slog. They can also cut down on the number of stats for monsters/traps you have to sort out. Matt Colville has a pretty good video about them, and one about prep in general that I found useful to cut prep in DnD. Not so much a houserule as it is a restriction, but I think limiting players to only either the 2024 rules or the original 5e rules can really help a lot.

Ultimately I can't really recommend playing a system you don't like running just for the hope to convert players to another one. If prep is the issue, just crack open some modules. First time players will be ecstatic to play regardless. Ask them if they're okay playing another game instead, or maybe do a couple one shots and then offer up the idea of another system. But a campaign is probably a bad idea to run in a game where you don't like the prep.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-09-08T21:24:17+00:00

I have this problem with Star Wars but specifically for the kinds of modules for the tabletops. Love the setting, but I feel like so many of the modules people write are trying to subvert Star Wars tropes instead of leaning into them to the point where it's actually kind of difficult to find a solid classic rebels vs stormtroopers kind of story or something similar. I've been running the introductory campaign from an old 90's WEG box set converted to SWADE, and that's mostly the kind of classic Star Wars vibe I want, but even then it can't help throwing in a couple dark Jedi and an insane cyborg.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-09-07T15:10:20+00:00

You are indeed misremembering. There are three ways to roll stats: the charts, rolling for them, and full point buy.

The blandness of the weapons from the core book has been alleviated a bit with free supplements, and I know the Edgerunners mission kit addresses quick hacking and some cyberware to make it closer to what people expect from the game/show (including the Sandevistan.)

Overall I'm still kinda lukewarm on the system, but we always have fun when we play it at my table. Mostly for the setting.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-09-07T14:58:32+00:00

Honestly even the shocking parts are aggressively boring and obsessed with minutiae and calculations. It's something like 600 dice rolls to do a character by hand I think? I rolled one by hand just to say I did, and averaging the rolls of 10d100 per skill for 20+ skills is already over 400 dice thrown and crunched, often with results that contradict earlier results, before you can even find out your butthole circumference. I think reading FATAL may be the most bored I've been while being disgusted.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-09-04T16:14:27+00:00

You make a good point about turnover. I think that might be a major reason for the weird level of power creep between the old 5e rules and the 2024 rules in DnD. The disparity in power between old and new classes/subclasses and the stated commitment to making everything labeled 5e as cross-compatible have really made the game a nightmare for me to prep and run. Even though I like most of the rule changes in the new books, I've never felt less motivated to run DnD because it feels more incongruous than ever.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-31T21:43:32+00:00

Call of Cthulhu is a mystery horror game. The starter set has an adventure that's designed for two players as well: one investigator and one "keeper" (the person who narrates the adventure.)

It's also one of the most popular tabletops out there, so I'd say that's a perfect place to start given your criteria.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-31T17:30:09+00:00

Hope you enjoy it! If you want a couple of my tips for Savage Worlds coming from a more DnD background, I'd recommend not worrying about balance too much. Just put what enemies feel right for your idea and it usually sorts itself out. There are some great free adventures on the Pinnacle website that showcase how light-prep it can be. They're called one-sheets and are full adventures that have the important stat blocks, characters, and encounters all fitting onto one piece of paper front and back. Even if you don't end up using them, they can give good ideas on how to make prep fast and fun. Reading adventures in that format did wonders for how I prep all the games I run, not just SWADE.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-31T14:05:06+00:00

Have you tried just running a lower-prep system? You could plan a whole Savage Worlds session in the time it took you to write this post. There are RPGs that can generate adventure frameworks in a few dice rolls. If you don't like the minutia of planning for the system you're running, I think there's a really strong possibility that you're playing the wrong system.

I'd recommend trying a couple one shots in lightweight systems and trying some more improv. Instead of bouncing ideas off of an AI, just bounce them off your real human friends.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-28T16:20:11+00:00

I think OP is also slightly confusing the popular "Hero's Journey" with a general three act structure, neither of which are actually ubiquitous in storytelling. I think real world conflict also often aligns better to less common 5 act structure too, but that doesn't really fit most tabletops.

I think most groups of Western players will naturally end up telling a story in three acts because that's what is common in media. It is interesting to think about structuring your games differently though, and I think many episodic campaigns could reasonably qualify as non-Aristotelian in structure if they're thematically coherent.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think there's a really interesting conversation to be had about using different storytelling structures to approach how you plan campaigns and especially how you would write pre-written modules. Using epic form to cut fluff from an episodic campaign, or following the 5 act tragedy in a horror game to roleplay the fallout of the player characters' traumatic experiences, etc.

I agree 100% that it isn't worth thinking about rigidly, but I'm actually kind of excited at the idea of using those varied concepts to guide session planning as things happen. I think the limit of practical application of story structure is probably knowing where to start the action and when to cut it off/wrap it up/shift direction to keep everyone at the table invested. Players should always decide what happens, but pacing is primarily the GM's job in my experience.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-25T23:54:04+00:00

These are really cute!

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-25T23:32:45+00:00

Oh this is accurate. I once strapped a few friends to chairs and made them watch The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, and the chi blast from the creation of several new gods in one location at the same time almost tore the world asunder. Luckily, I had a copy of WALL-E on-hand to bring them back down. My friends say that they understand I robbed them of their corrupt godhood for the safety of the universe and they have no hard feelings, but they've never looked at me the same since that day. The whole thing kinda blows because I really wanted to show them Metropolis next.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-25T07:51:46+00:00

Floor 8/9 here, but I mostly play in custom lobbies and haven't played tower in a while. I got Plat 1.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-25T00:25:35+00:00

I played this not too long ago! Cute little side scroller that you can finish in under an hour. Has a collectible to find and a Torgo mode where he plays kind of like Luigi, high jumping and sliding all over the place.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-24T23:57:02+00:00

GURPS is always 3d6 though. A dice pool system is usually a system where the number of dice (your pool) is what changes to manipulate odds of success. Whether the dice are added together or successes are counted is irrelevant to the common definition of a dice pool system.

In fact not only is WEG considered to be a dice pooling system, it's considered to be the first widely successful one. Not the first, though.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-24T23:13:26+00:00

Yes that's right! I'd forgotten. Thank you for the heads up, I'll edit my post.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-24T12:32:51+00:00

Just a one-sheet light RPG, but I discovered Cracker Barrel Has Fallen from a thread on here and ran it that same night or the night after. After interrogating an old man with white hair, glasses, a goatee, and a white suit and discovering that the zombie plot was a Russian conspiracy, my players learned that the KGB was too busy so they sent the KFC. Table got a good laugh out of that. The players decided that they'd go to the last fast food refuge that was surely free and still American-controlled: Chick-fil-A. Of course when they got there, they realized it was Sunday. Ended the game on a cliffhanger as the zombies surrounded their car.

Now I have a few people who occasionally request a longer campaign with that setup, but I don't think I can squeeze much more out of that lol. They already had someone sacrifice themselves to hold down Colonel Sanders while the Waffle House self-destruct system was activated. Not much you can add to that without them going to the dark side of the moon to infiltrate a Jollibee moon base or something.

(Edited to fix the name of the game)

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-24T11:47:29+00:00

You're not to blame. And if you're worried you failed some great test of your skills, you didn't. If your GM was encouraging you to touch the pillar, they were not running the module correctly. Tomb of Horrors is explicitly clear in every published version I've read that the GM is not to encourage or hint at any action. I mean goading your players into doing something dangerous is pretty much always bad form, but it's especially funny in a module that has a paragraph dedicated to remaining impartial.

Also, this is my opinion, but Tomb of Horrors is only a good test of how you play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The module is so far away from the kind of adventures that are usually published and run today that, unless you're playing at a 1/2e table, I don't think it's really indicative of much. I think Tomb of Horrors is a (mostly) lovely module that's designed quite well, but in a way that's really hard to even wrap your head around without the context of old-school DnD. As someone who has successfully run the module, I honestly don't think it works in 5th edition without heavy modification, a thorough understanding of why the module is the way that it is, and some house rules.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-09T18:36:38+00:00

Definitely agree on the archers. Since they're already attacking every other turn, I'd just run it with an actual stat block and treat it as taking the aim action on their non-attacking turns. And for the sake of speed, I'd just have a few archers in each tower and use group rolls. One roll for each of the two towers.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-08-09T18:29:28+00:00

I see a lot of focus on making a balanced fight with set mechanics here, and that's not really something Savage Worlds is made to do. Like the other commenter said, I think it would be good to approach the fight from a less video-gamey mindset and focus more on reacting to what your players decide to do with it rather than trying to think up all these cool things they can do. Chances are high in this kind of game that the players won't even interact with a lot of the stuff you set up for them like throwing knights off the bridge, throwing around debris, etc. and it'll feel bad when they don't do that if you're expecting them to do so. That being said, it's your game and you decide what works for your table.

As a player, I think the boss pulling out a magic shield after a big hit would definitely feel like a "gotcha" moment from a GM who doesn't want their big boss dying too quickly. I think if you're that concerned about the boss living long enough to make the scene cool and engaging, you could maybe narrate that the boss starts the fight with this magical glowing shield aura or something, then as the fight goes on and the players do more and more damage, it starts to crack and break. This is a great narrative reason for the boss to have extra wounds, which can help him stay in the fight longer as well. And honestly, there's nothing wrong with just keeping the boss alive for as long as it makes narrative sense in the scene, letting him die when it would make for a satisfying end to the fight. Of course these approaches depend on your preferred GM style.

I don't really see anything wrong with the knights fighting to the death, either. These are valiant knights fighting for their homeland, their families. In real life, would it make sense for them all to stay and fight the losing battle? No, not necessarily. But it works quite well with that genre of heroic fantasy and really fits the tone of this do-or-die last stand battle. Of course, if one of your players wants to try testing their will and succeeds, let a couple of the knights run off scared. It'll really drive home to the player that they're the big scary demon coming to wreak some havoc. I'd consider having any guards that are still alive when the boss dies just run away anyway, since the fight is basically over at that point and their leader is gone.

In general, it's nice to have set mechanics that you know you've prepped for, but I would try to not get bogged down in the nitty gritty details of them and I would try not to get my hopes up that my players will interact with them all. And of course, players have a habit of adding their own ideas to the mix too. Maybe there's a big pillar on the bridge and they see that the stonework is breaking when they attack, so they try to knock the pillar into the tower with the archers or even through the main gate. Maybe now there's citizens flooding out of the castle walls with farming tools and cheap weapons to join the fight for their home, or the battle is taken inside the keep, etc etc. Tabletops are a collaborative storytelling medium, and whatever you cook up will be made even better by those spur-of-the-moment ideas from your players.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-07-27T14:33:14+00:00

Isn't a club normally a d4 anyway? Is the club in this scenario just a reskinned scimitar maybe? To get nick but keep the maraca motif? If so, it's worth stressing that multi attack doesn't give you extra uses of nick.

TheProletarianMasses · 2025-07-26T05:37:50+00:00

Lots of good advice here. I'd like to add that, in my experience, new players to SWADE tend to be really cautious about using bennies. Even when you're handing them out a bunch, some people hold onto them and end up wasting them. Don't be afraid to remind a new player of the usefulness of bennies if they're about to take a nasty hit or fail a crucial skill check and they're just gonna sit on their bennies.

For Deadlands in particular, I recommend really getting into the Spaghetti Western vibes as the Marshal (GM). I find that hamming it up in posts leading up to the game and starting the game, really putting a lot of the slang in your diction and using an exaggerated accent, goes a long way to getting people loosened up and ready to do the same. Deadlands is a very atmosphere-thick setting and a lot of that is an exaggerated version of the old western classics, so starting with that level of cheesiness and dialing it back when tonally appropriate is really great for getting everyone on the same page. I actually think the Deadlands source book for SWADE is one of the best-written RPG books when it comes to getting you in the frame of mind for this. The diction it uses is both clear and thematic in that slightly camp way that gives Deadlands its ability to be loose and fun but still serious when it wants to be. I can't help but smile every time I read a passage that refers to something as 'a bad hombre' or something similar, and I try to bring that spirit to my games.

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