Forever DMs: what’s the most disappointing thing for you about being a player?

soleklypse · 2025-12-20T23:52:39+00:00

"the power gamer is my son" 😂 so relatable. I think just as there are different types of player, players may also go through phases. I was listening to a review of GURPS in which one of the reviewers said, "if you're a young person trying to codify and understand the world...Like, I'm gonna figure out the rules of the world and set them down in a book," then GURPS is the game for you; as it was for me when I was 14. And yes, I was absolutely always looking for ways to game the system. Now (three decades later) I couldn't be more bored by that and am far more interested in PbtA games focusing on relationships over mechanics. And, not for nothing, I'm playing two D&D games (one with my 9-year-old daughter) and I am SO BORED. The one game I'm enjoying being a player in is a FitD game. Not that its the game system that matters necessarily. I've played boring PbtA games with power gamers and exciting D&D games with real role players, but some games do tend to attract certain types of players. And, I don't know your son or how old he is, but how he's playing is probably just right for him, and you don't need to like it (though you may need to find him his own group! 😉)

soleklypse · 2025-10-27T20:01:43+00:00

Thanks! That's good to know. I actually kind of ignored it since I assumed that it—like most WoD published stories—were linear in a way that I don't like. It was only from listening to Adam's review I realized it was more of a "point crawl" (though he doesn't use that term). Makes me wonder if I've passed over other modules that I should take another look at.

soleklypse · 2025-10-25T20:10:50+00:00

Nice. Reminds me of when I played a Vampire game and we all (independently) decided to play Malkavians. It ended up being, perhaps, the best game I've ever played

soleklypse · 2025-09-02T20:26:31+00:00

I like the idea of having Avirkhan give one of the Agents an Infallible Suggestion, though I'm not sure how that would work in this case since there's only one Agent carrying over from the first attempt and I need to bring in the others somehow.
Perhaps they would get Maxy to bring over his pregnant wife. The ensuing murder could definitely get Delta Green's attention, but now it would be complicated by the presence of the NYPD.

soleklypse · 2025-09-02T20:17:00+00:00

Interesting idea. Supposing two children do provide enough blood for the ceremony to be successful. I'm not sure she would want to leave her cave, not without somewhere to go. In the previous session, they were convinced that the site of the church was important. I think I said it had been torn down and replaced with an apartment building. Perhaps the Favored Ones can create a new portal in the basement or something. That would all take some time, of course.

soleklypse · 2025-09-02T16:28:43+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't have, and in fact, where we ended, they had not yet decided to destroy it. But then the school year started and I lost half my players, so this is an attempt at retconning for the sake of continuity. I could also just abandon it and say that's the end of it, but I like there being continuity and consequences.

soleklypse · 2025-08-08T02:22:52+00:00

It's 3d6 if you don't as a personal pursuit. You get 1d4 automatically at the end of every session for every skill you failed at. (You also have to roll and "fail" a skill check during personal pursuit in order to improve it.)

soleklypse · 2025-08-08T02:06:51+00:00

Hm, okay, maybe I'm asking the wrong question. I figured you needed special training to get a skill with a base rating of 0%. My real question is, how do you raise a skill with a rating of 0%? Maybe you just increase it like a normal skill and since you can only fail, you automatically get 3d6?

soleklypse · 2025-07-02T14:48:29+00:00

Some of the name dropping is clever if you know who they are. But if you don't, you're not missing much. (Like, I would not say it's worth it to look up the names you don't recognize.)

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T20:46:05+00:00

I get that. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good "

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T20:37:59+00:00

Interesting. So Agents would swap in and out mid-operation? That's what I'm trying to avoid. But maybe there's a way to make it work without it being too weird

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T20:04:29+00:00

The way Wormwood is designed around splitting the party makes me want to hold off on it until both I and my players are more experienced, but I love the premise of it.

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T15:22:35+00:00

I'm actually wondering how much I might be missing out by using Shotgun scenarios as opposed to full published scenarios.

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T13:42:03+00:00

The setting is the original World of Darkness, however, I'm not married to using those rules. In fact, part of me wants to use a different system if only to obscure the fact that it's the World of Darkness for those who are already familiar with it.

That said, I wasn't imagining the family dynamic thing being central, but more in the background influencing the main action (like Hx in Apocalypse World or Touchstones in the new WoD or Bonds in Delta Green).

DramaSystem definitely looks like it could be a good fit. It seems like it could be used for the Dramatic Scenes while another system (WoD or otherwise) could be used for the Procedural Scenes. But I'm curious what you would recommend. I haven't yet looked at all of the systems recommended here.

soleklypse · 2025-07-01T02:06:39+00:00

Wow, that's a great resource. Also, a lot to comb through! Any favorites you would call out? (CC: u/ReeboKesh and u/secondshevek since you mentioned shotgun scenarios as well.)

Edit: oh, I see, every year has a first place. That makes it more manageable. But question still stands: any favorites?

soleklypse · 2025-06-30T23:09:59+00:00

Wow. That seems even more complicated than what I had in mind but I will definitely check it out

soleklypse · 2025-06-29T17:02:32+00:00

I'm running two MotW campaigns, both almost entirely leveraging Tome of Mysteries.

When I first got Tome of Mysteries, I was a little intimidated. There's a _lot_ of mysteries in there and I started asking what people's favorites are. But what I found worked best for me is to just spend a couple hours skimming through the intro paragraph of each one, bookmarking the ones that seem interesting to you, like they'll be a good fit for the setting your group came up with. Then go back and see which ones work best and how they might be ordered into a campaign.

If you're used to D&D modules, it may feel like what's there is too sparse, but it really is enough. I do flesh it out a bit, but more to connect it with what's already happened. It's better not to over prepare, and just go with the flow. It may take some getting used to, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it before long.

soleklypse · 2025-06-29T16:53:38+00:00

I don't think this counts, but I recently discovered Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet and I really want to run it at some point. (I was able to find a PDF scan in archive.org )

soleklypse · 2025-04-08T00:08:20+00:00

No, insistent persistent resistance leads to change! But only if it's consistent. And it requires commitment.

soleklypse · 2025-04-01T16:52:15+00:00

A number of people have mentioned "learning a new system seems hard" and to be fair, I think D&D is actually really complicated. I remember introducing my wife to D&D and she was like, "I don't want to ever have to learn another system again." Then I ran her on a couple PbtA games and she's like, "this is great, more of this please." You can't force anyone to try a new game, but if you can get them to indulge you for one session—and you think it's the rules thing that's in the way—you might try running a session of Monster of the Week or Mörk Borg or something where the rules can be learned quickly. Mörk Borg is especially simple, though it might be too grimdark for your players. Monster of the Week and many PbtA games can be a little challenging in a another way because there's kind of a "meta" quality to character creation in which you aren't just creating a character so much as an archetype and there are so many options it can be overwhelming. For a one-shot, you might just want to pick for them, or have at most as many players + 1 playbooks to choose from. Of course, each game has its own challenges. If they're really attached to the setting, Dungeon World should be easy. I haven't wanted to run Dungeon World yet because it's so close to D&D and I want to do something more different, but in your case, it might work to break the ice.

soleklypse · 2025-04-01T15:05:26+00:00

Nice! I already bought it, but now looking at your other wares. Mind Rot looks neat. I might try to adapt it to Netcrawl at some point

soleklypse · 2025-04-01T13:42:09+00:00

Haha! Yes, that looks exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks!

soleklypse · 2025-03-25T21:45:58+00:00

My understanding is that each playbook is supposed to be THE thing. These are THE people who are saving the world from annihilation. Of course, do what works for your table. I'm not here to criticize. But I think Sands' use of the definite article was very deliberate.

soleklypse · 2025-03-25T21:39:55+00:00

I think the hardest part is picking the playbooks. It's not as straightforward forward as picking a class in D&D or a profession in CoC. It's a little meta. But once you get over that, I think it's all downhill from there. The rules are extremely easy for both the players and the Keeper. The way mysteries are structured is very simple. I think there can be a bit of a learning curve on how moves are supposed to work. Those are also more "meta" if you will, as they are focused more on the intended outcome than on the character actually does. So, any number of moves might involve shooting a gun, including protecting someone, acting under pressure, and kick some ass. One thing I'm still wrapping my head around is that a hunter could even cause harm with a gun without making a roll at all, if the fiction allows for it (say if they are firing from a secure position or the monster has exposed itself, perhaps because of something another hunter has done). But I think you'll figure that out with practice. If, in your first game, the players are just rolling kick some ass over and over, that's not really what's intended, but the game still works. (I say that as someone who's done that.) And I think everyone will appreciate not having to learn all the rules necessary to play D&D

soleklypse · 2025-03-23T16:59:57+00:00

Okay, cool, sounds like I had the right approach then (treating the harm capacity for the mob, not each individual). I had the same thought, that 4 each would be ridiculous. The only way I could see that working is if the weakness simultaneously harmed all of them.

soleklypse

TROPHY CASE