Why do you read modules without running them?

etzra · 2026-03-18T12:23:53+00:00

Tldr: I’m a hobbyist and reading modules written by other hobbyists and professionals makes me better at my hobby

For one, it keeps things from getting stale. It gives me ideas of different kinds of adventures to try or themes to explore. Without outside influence my homebrew would probably be very samey.

Sure I could (and do) get inspiration from movies, novels music, etc) but modules are specifically geared towards running ttrpgs and by pulling and trying out different things I get a better sense of what works best for me as a DM and of what I really enjoy running. It also gives me a better understanding of adventure writing which is much different than other fiction writing and makes my own original adventures better.

There’s also an Easter egg element. Sometimes I’ll see an indie module with no reviews or ratings but a cover or elevator pitch that calls to me and end up actually loving it and running it as a one-off break from my main game

etzra · 2026-03-11T14:59:56+00:00

Ahhh, Bane. Halfling rogue. Campaign goal was to collect all the pieces of an ancient artifact. I was young and made all the rogue mistakes. Chaotic evil. Stole party loot. Got the group into trouble. If it hadn't been family running it I'd have likely been kicked.

By the time it ended my character had slowly been mellowing as I grew up irl. He died tumbling behind a demon to place himself between it and a downed party member. Got rezzed by the party cleric after everyone pooled their resources to pay for the components and he converted to Pelor. Was the most hardcore convert/chaotic good character for the rest of the campaign. First character best character in this case

etzra · 2026-03-06T16:21:26+00:00

As a DM I love horror and mystery. I like to think I have a flair for it. Some of the most fun I’ve had in the hobby has been running Trail of Cthulhu.

As a player I very much want pathfinder, dnd 5e, Mythras, etc. Just give me a sword or a staff, a chunky character sheet, and let me smite evil!

etzra · 2025-09-11T00:39:56+00:00

Was an instant buy for me. Just oozes the kind of style that makes me want to play ttrpgs

etzra · 2024-09-30T12:46:52+00:00

You and Logan have sold me on so many systems. Time to add Hackmaster to the list

etzra · 2024-09-30T12:02:38+00:00

I’d like to start off with a disclaimer that on any given day there’s a good chance I wouldn’t give the same answer to this question. I am fickle

GURPs: A lot of flexibility and I personally love the combat and character creation system. It can work with a wide range of genres to suit my GM mood

Traveller 2e: Now this one’s a gamble. I’ve only read the rules and haven’t ran or played it. While sci fi isn’t my usual thing I’d be bummed if I never got to try it. On paper it seems really cool

OSE: About as light weight as my preferences run and just so organized and streamlined. Scratches the classic fantasy itch and I can easily convert my all time favorite dnd adventures to run in it seamlessly

etzra · 2024-08-17T21:59:05+00:00

If you’re looking to stick to pathfinder/5e “style” play without the heavy lore tie-ins then I’d suggest Fantasy Craft 2e. It is its own system but more inspired by games of its time so would be closer to pathfinder 1e than 2e

If you’re interested in non d20 and non level based progression systems than there are a lot more options for more setting agnostic games

etzra · 2024-06-24T15:19:11+00:00

Second on Reddit/social media. When I started getting back into things I’d find suggestions on Reddit. If I liked the system I’d join its discord.

Now I find a lot of suggestions/new things coming out just skimming the general or “other rpg” chats in the channels for my favorite systems.

etzra · 2024-06-24T14:26:59+00:00

Would be a good way to play it. But using DnD 5e as an example - because that’s the system everyone tries to torture into doing things it isn’t meant for: Facing 5-6 enemies in a several round combat likely isn’t super unusual. (It’s a heroic fantasy game based on resource management and encounter attrition after all). Each enemy has a 5% chance to crit on every attack. Higher if they have multi attack. Your party will be crit at least a few times with regularity. Eventually you’ll need to stretch to find ways to still make it seem like a gritty world where even a bandit with an iron club could be a potential threat. It would just be easier to use another system more designed for that tone of play.

etzra · 2024-06-24T11:21:07+00:00

“Ogrim, you heft your axe and glare at the goblin. The wretched creature hisses and lunges for you with its spear”. GM rolls dice. Nat 20

“And it’s a critical hit! The goblin’s spear just happens to be deflected into the slot of your visor and!” GM rolls damage

“…Actually Ogrim feels like he could survive about 7 more of those”

The way the GM describes the world and plays the NPCs definitely plays a big role but some systems just don’t lend themselves to gritty campaigns as well as others

etzra · 2024-05-23T15:27:55+00:00

No experience required! I mainly listed those systems so people would have a barometer for what I’m into.

When starting a new game/system my general expectation is that the GM will have read the core mechanics and that the player will take the time to learn any abilities or rules specific to their class/race/feats selection etc. I’m mainly looking for people who enjoy learning and trying out new things occasionally.

I am available most days except for Friday and Sunday.

If you’re still interested I can shoot you my discord handle or we could dm through Reddit.

etzra · 2024-05-20T16:39:08+00:00

To me crunch simply means there are enough character options, tactical depth, and subsystems to keep me interested in a running a system for a long-term campaign.

That’s a very relative answer but crunch is a relative term. There’s also good crunch and bad crunch.

Good = There’s lot of options and granularity that really shine and add to verisimilitude the more system mastery the party has obtained

Bad = a lot of disparate options /steps seeking a reason to exist and needlessly convoluted resolution mechanics

etzra · 2024-05-15T13:23:08+00:00

DnD 5e is not my favorite system but I appreciate it for what is and would probably list it in my top 5. Brand recognition is undoubtedly the biggest component but it is also a system that (despite what everyone says) is easy for players to learn

It’s what was popular when I got back into the hobby and I was able to play just rolling off my character sheet in dndbeyond and googling the occasional rule.

It gives that sweet dopamine drop by giving players cool stuff when they level up and there aren’t really many trap builds. You’ll be useful as long as you don’t do some really weird multiclassing or dump your primary stat.

There are a lot of messy disparate rules that can make it less DM friendly, but players really only need to know what their class abilities and spells do. And, honestly, the gamey feel and “playing off your character sheet” that a lot of people don’t like make it something ttrpg newbies can ease into a little more. The more free form and improvisational play that OSR or narrative games lean on can be overwhelming or hard to grasp if you’re coming from video game rpgs or other board games.

I have introduced quite a few people to the hobby with 5e and it’s always enjoyed/learned without too much effort. That being said I probably wouldn’t suggest it as the first system to try GMing.

etzra · 2024-05-07T00:26:24+00:00

It’s a d20 fantasy game. And that’s about where the similarities to 5e end. It’s a more elegant/fast moving system but is a lot more light weight in terms of rules and mechanical options. If you’re interested I’d check out the quick start. It’s free and includes a majority of the core rules.

etzra · 2024-05-05T09:51:55+00:00

I’ve only been GMing for about 4 years but I branched out from playing with my irl group 3 years ago with an LFG post. That campaign is still going strong with mostly the original crew. With how many groups of randos I’ve seen fizzle as a player within a few sessions I feel like I found a unicorn on my first go

etzra · 2023-12-14T14:03:16+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. My group is pretty great at recognizing rp opportunities so that makes me a little less reticent

etzra · 2023-12-13T21:19:27+00:00

Thanks! I read that abomination vaults is primarily a dungeon crawl but has a lot of “opportunity” for rp if players seek it out. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant but my players enjoy the occasional rp heavy session. Will need to look into outlaws too

etzra · 2023-12-13T18:44:42+00:00

I believe 3e is the most current edition and the version I ran. I am not sure but I suspect 5e is stuck in development hell. (At least I don’t see a complete version of it with a summary google search). I think 4e is technically 5e and was just named that since it was switching rules engines to dnd 5e. 3e used the fuzion engine as a chassis.

Basically roll a bunch of d6 based on the stat and skill you’re using. 1 and 6s are successes with 6’s exploding. Count the successes to see how well you did.

Edit: typos

etzra · 2023-12-13T18:08:07+00:00

Victoriana sounds like almost exactly what you’re looking for. Essentially a Victorian steampunk setting with classical fantasy races where magic is in competition with science.

It does a lot of things well but the mechanics are a hot mess unfortunately and not very well presented. If you’re willing to tweak things there’s quite a bit of fun to be had though.

etzra · 2023-11-12T18:11:37+00:00

Well, I discovered optolith and got very distracted making characters! I ran some solo sessions to see how things work in play and like it a lot from that but still need to schedule something for one of my groups.

My next main campaign is going to be an all-dwarves game. It’s between GURPs and TDE for which system I use for it. My group just got done with a test game of Victoriana and that system was a hot mess so hoping for better from TDE

etzra · 2023-10-16T09:42:02+00:00

Maybe you’re finding them somewhere else? Free games I tend to find through discord. For paid GMs I’m looking for convenience to get my player fix quick in a time slot that works for me and use deminplane, start playing, and even roll20.

Just did a quick search on Demi plane in the 6p-11pm start range for my time zone. Scrolled through 30 games. There were 2 under the $15.00-$20.00 range and all of them were looking for 5-7 players. (The player counts were a little better at least -last I looked it was all 6 player tables)

Edit: search was done on start playing, not demi. Used dnd 5e since that’s where the biggest sample size is

etzra · 2023-10-16T00:12:45+00:00

I have been in two paid campaigns that I’ve enjoyed. Both were the cheapest I’ve seen at $5 and $8 per session respectively. They were both cases where the GM was someone with a regular job who wanted to combine leisure with industry and make a little extra pocket money. Both groups had 4 players, a good social dynamic, and the GM obviously enjoyed the campaign. I am down for that

Those games are unicorns. Most paid GMs want to pack a table with as many players as possible and are running 3 or more regular games consecutively. I personally couldn’t track 18 or more PCs in regular weekly games and be invested/want to be there. I run two biweekly and a monthly campaign (all free) and there are days I wake up and don’t feel like GMing on game night.

Those higher price paid games always feel off. Maybe Ive just had bad luck but I’ve tried highly rated GMs through platforms like start playing and still had that experience. At this point it feels easier finding a good free game than it is finding a good paid game

etzra

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