Tabletop RPGs

[Octopus]

I'm a huge fan of tabletop RPGs, stuff like Dungeons and Dragons and Shadowrun and what have you, and I'm curious if anyone else has some things to share about them. Your favourite systems, books, art, whatever can fit in here.

I've been playing them for honestly probably since I was about 8 maybe- I found my dads old D&D books when I was a few years younger than that, but I would just read the books over and over again as I was still a little young I think to really grasp what it was. I've been gaming ever since, I'm even working on two game systems (ones a space exploration mech game, the other a kung fu themed fantasy) of my own with a friend we're hoping to put out there somehow.

As for what I've played:
-every edition of D&D, with 2nd and 5th being the most common.
-I've played 4th ed Shadowrun more times than I can count, along with a bit of 5th ed (don't talk to me about 6th).
-Anima: Beyond Fantasy (that game is an absurdly wild ride).
-FantasyCraft, wasn't a terribly big fan but it was a good Pathfinder substitute.
-Played an Adventurer, Conqueror, King campaign (ACKs for short) for a little over a year.
-Traveler, one of my actual favourite old school style ones- you can die at character creation, happened to me far too many times.
-I just finished GMing an Ascendant campaign, which is a super hero RPG system made by the guy who made ACKs.
-Burning Wheel, which was a fascinatingly deep and realistic fantasy medieval sim essentially.

I think that's all, maybe there's a few others in there I played once or twice that I can't recall. Right now, my group and I are taking a break from our Ascendant game and switching to the classic 1986 TSR Marvel Super Heroes system for something a little more light mechanics wise, I'm running that too so it's been a lot of random super villain generation for me lately.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to mention the Call of Cthulhu RPG- it's a great system that perfectly captures the source material, complete with every other character ending up insane eventually. Played it numerous times, highly recommend it. I played the 20th Anniversary edition, think it came out in maybe 2003 or so, but I hear the latest 7th edition is a really great edition.

 

[Ravl]

In the past 10 years I've mostly played Savage Worlds, D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e and Lancer. 5e was an absolute mess from the start and it's gotten even worse since Wotc released the Tasha book. I CANNOT believe how they made shit like the Twilight Cleric. Honestly, if I had to dm 5e again, I'd ban every book and errata after Xanathar and avoid playing past level 10.
Pathfinder 2e is way better honestly but it still has a lot of problems.

 

[Octopus]

In the past 10 years I've mostly played Savage Worlds, D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e and Lancer. 5e was an absolute mess from the start and it's gotten even worse since Wotc released the Tasha book. I CANNOT believe how they made shit like the Twilight Cleric. Honestly, if I had to dm 5e again, I'd ban every book and errata after Xanathar and avoid playing past level 10.
Pathfinder 2e is way better honestly but it still has a lot of problems.

Oh yeah, we would only play 5e from the initial corebook with some choice additions from the OG unearthed arcana posts before they put everything into Xanathar's. If you just ignore WoTC as much as you can, it's much better unironically. The whole 'One D&D' or whatever it's called is such a silly release idea, just make 6e and get it over with already.

I played a good amount of the first Pathfinder, it was good but it was definitely crunchy mechanic wise. I like the idea but I'm not a terribly big fan of mostly everything being hard coded to feats and of the focus on multiclassing and prestige classing. I checked 2nd Ed out when it released but never ended up playing it. How does it compare to 1st Ed?

 

[Ravl]

Oh yeah, we would only play 5e from the initial corebook with some choice additions from the OG unearthed arcana posts before they put everything into Xanathar's. If you just ignore WoTC as much as you can, it's much better unironically. The whole 'One D&D' or whatever it's called is such a silly release idea, just make 6e and get it over with already.

I played a good amount of the first Pathfinder, it was good but it was definitely crunchy mechanic wise. I like the idea but I'm not a terribly big fan of mostly everything being hard coded to feats and of the focus on multiclassing and prestige classing. I checked 2nd Ed out when it released but never ended up playing it. How does it compare to 1st Ed?

2e has a focus on game balance, an obsession even. The game's is absolutely terrified of giving players game breaking options, though this only applies to casters, which are really underpowered when compared to something like the Fighter, the god of 2e:
A spellcaster like a Wizard has limited spellslots (using the Vancian System) and most strong spells have the "Incapacitation" trait, meaning that a creature of level higher than the spell's x2 gets a degree of success better when rolling against it (it can only fail its saving throw if it critically fails, and Critically succeeds if it gets a success->the spell does nothing. Normally you only critically fail if you roll equal or lower than the DC -10, the contrary applies for critical success).
Meanwhile a Fighter has no resources to manage, easely outdamaging a Wizard by just hitting with his sword, which he can do for free each round. They have absolutely crazy abilities like: if you hit the enemy with an opportunty attack triggered by it trying cast a spell, the casting is disrupted, wasting the enemy's turn and spell slot. At level 11 they can attack a creature and make it fall prone by just hitting it.
Both of these abilities have no cool down and require no saving throw, you just need to hit the creature, meanwhile the poor Wizard has to waste his spell slot and hope the enemy fails.
Btw did I tell you that Fighters have a bonus to attack rolls compared to other classes?

 

[Octopus]

2e has a focus on game balanced, an obsession even. The game's is absolutely terrified of giving players game breaking options, though this only applies to casters, which are really underpowered when compared to something like the Fighter, the god of 2e:
A spellcaster like a Wizard has limited spellslots (using the Vancian System) and most strong spells have the "Incapacitation" trait, meaning that creature of level higher than the spell's x2 gets a degree of success better when rolling against it (it can only fail its saving throw if it critically fails, and Critically succeeds if it gets a success->the spell does nothing. Normally you only critically fail if you roll equal or lower that the DC -10, the contrary applies for critical success).
Meanwhile a Fighter has no resources to manage, easely outdamaging a Wizard by just hitting with his sword, which he can do for free each round. They have absolutely crazy abilities like: if you hit the enemy with an opportunty attack triggered by an enemy trying to cast a spell, the casting is disrupted, wasting the enemy's turn and spell slot. At level 11 they can attack a creature and make it fall prone by just hitting it.
Both of these abilities have no cool down and require no saving throw, you just need to hit the creature, meanwhile the poor Wizard has to waste his spell slot and hope the enemy fails.
Btw did I tell you that Fighters have a bonus to attack rolls compared to other classes?
View attachment 1108

That's a bizarre reversal of power tier, the martial class overtaking the magic caster. Pathfinder 1 did already have the start of that due to their being some ridiculous feats they could take- I played a fighter at one point who dual wielded great swords with the monkey grip feat making about 3 or 4 attacks a round at a still positive attack bonus even while using power attack, but at least he wasn't knocking casters prone just because he interrupted a spell.

I think they clearly overtuned martial classes, considering in every other edition the magic casters greatly out power anything else eventually as the general trope.

I remember looking at the Monk (my personal favourite class idea in most things) specifically in 2nd Ed Pathfinder and seeing some good stuff in there with the different stance feats. It gave some cool flavour which is usually lacking with the Monk type class.

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

I couldn't find a better place for this, so if there is somewhere I overlooked forgive me.

Do we have any tabletop fans here? TTRPG's, board games, card games, etc. It's honestly always been my favorite way of gaming.

For me personally... been playing board games my whole life, MTG for well over a decade, and I practically live for D&D.​

 

[prnzoDraGoonZweiOrta]

I was at DM at 9 yrs old runnin 2nd Edition (which was new at the time - I don't mind it as I grew up with it but admittedly 1st n 2nd Edition startin out are harsh... as I understand it, 3rd Edition n on balanced n streamlined things. love the Monk n Assassin classes in 1st Edition n still have some rare 1st Edition books) for ppl 2-3x my age lol - have been part of some wild stuff like Ravenloft or the Oriental alternatives (forget the official name of the latter)... n then in the 90's the FASA cyberpunk world Shadowrun... n then Battletech as both RPG & tactics/strategy. Marvel Super Heroes was a great one too, as I was still heavily into comic books at the time (have so many char books n other stuff of the Marvel tabletop that it took like 16 trapper-keeper-ish things to house them) still have a few sets of pretty spiffy lookin dice

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

I really, really, REALLY want to get into D&D but I don't know anyone around me who plays, and I'm hesitant to join a group of strangers as I've heard horror stories.

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

I really, really, REALLY want to get into D&D but I don't know anyone around me who plays, and I'm hesitant to join a group of strangers as I've heard horror stories.

I fear this is probably one of the biggest hurdles for people getting into the hobby. That said, while there are a lot of bad experiences to be found this way, most people I've met online who play D&D regularly ONLY have online groups to play with, and they found them specifically through D&D... so they were all strangers at one point.

If you search you'll eventually find a group you like. There are a LOT of people in the community that are very inviting and surprisingly accommodating, more than happy to help someone start out. I got lucky and have a group I play with in person, but it took me entirely too long to be able to find anyone to play with. So I get the struggle for sure.

 

[TheSortingHelmet]

I happen to get into DnD few years back when Skype was still pretty popular in my circles, before Discord was even a thing. One person mentioned that they used to DM D&D 3.5 edition, couple folk expressed their interest and I got involved as well. It really wasn't the greatest campaign, but it was one of the first and made some lasting friends since then, this was like... I want to say almost 12 years ago now. I been in and out of campaigns over the years, couple ran a good bit others just spiral after a few weeks or a month.

I don't play as much as I used to, been wanting to find a new group. Haven't really gotten involved too much since Covid ironically enough. Was far too busy with other things. I never really got into board games though, I was always a fan of the idea of them but no one really to play them with or had enough interest to dive into them lol. I recall Tabletop Simulator might be a cool way to experience them.

Anyway, that's a little about my little dive in TTRPG and Board games.

 

[HatterTobias]

I couldn't find a better place for this, so if there is somewhere I overlooked forgive me.

Do we have any tabletop fans here? TTRPG's, board games, card games, etc. It's honestly always been my favorite way of gaming.

For me personally... been playing board games my whole life, MTG for well over a decade, and I practically live for D&D.​

I really love combinatorial board games, (mostly) 2 player board games that involve pure strategy and tactics, with no luck nor randomization (apart from setup). I like the old stuff like Chess and Draughts (Checkers for you Americans) but also modern ones like Abalone, Havannah, Circle of Life, HexDame, Blooms and more. It's like a kind of food that starts out bitter, but as you're deeper into it, it becomes more and more delicious to the point you're left wanting more.

I also love some non-combinatorials. Think Catan and Carcassonne, but also Clans of Caledonia, Yspahan and Yokohama, really fun once you get the rules for each game.

For card games, I usually just stick to traditional ones like French Tarot or Skat (German), but I played Trick of the Rails the other day and found it quite fun. Coloretto and Saint Petersburg are also fun (though the latter can be a bit heavy for a card game).

For stuff like roleplay though, I'm not really into that, I just prefer jumping straight into action, also I found Trading Card Games to be not that good for my tastes.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Mmmm... while i've done board and card games, and chess. D&D certainly hits certain spots, if i can ever have a game to play in.

2nd Edition i played a halfling rogue to 10th level over 3 years under my younger brother's campaign.

Then when i was 19 i played a year or two in 2nd edition playing Samuel Acorn, a werewolf druid. Game ended in a real bad mess involving Umberhulks among other things.

Played a lot of werewolves now that i think about it... Probably cause it was one of the only guaranteed healing methods without costing a tonne.... And casters just felt like they sucked.

In the Army i found a DM and we did Herosystem 5E, fantasy setting, another werewolf... On a MUD did a Superhero in 6E, but a number of us were feeling underappreciated and not invited into games so i ended up skipping out after like 8 months.

Couple years ago think we were part of Tombs of something... Played a Yuan-ti sorcerer... A lot more utility...

Then a few games here and there, 3.0, 3.5, Pathfinder, 5e. Lots of false starts on games with very little happening. Hard to find a good DM. That and D&D going off levels and 'packages' instead of going something like Herosystem where you build your character, not look over allowed possible builds and minmax.

At present i've made a Summoner with an Edolin who is a catgirl maid. GF drew her out under the specifications her face was a bit creepy. :P

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

MEEEEEEEEEE

 

[Deleted member 1816]

I'm a fan of classics like Domino, Cards, Chess, Backgammon, etc.

 

[Mr. Daddy]

Tabletop gaming in general has always been a lot of fun to me. D&D was introduced to me very early on with 3.5, and I grew up playing a lot of board games that spanned from the excessively simple like Candyland, to games that were much more complex like Heroscape.

Post automatically merged: Feb 21, 2025

I really, really, REALLY want to get into D&D but I don't know anyone around me who plays, and I'm hesitant to join a group of strangers as I've heard horror stories.

I can definitely understand that, but I will say that for the most part the TTRPG community these days is pretty welcoming and nice. You're a lot more likely to find a group that'll be good to play with than not, and even if there is a single problem player, more often than not groups are pretty good about getting that handled. A lot of the time you'll be able to see the red flags before joining the group in the first place.

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

So one thing I wanted to share was my "Skeletons" campaign, and I'd be very interested to hear interesting campaigns people here have had involvement with.

It started with us joking around about things like "What if skeletons had toilets?" That, paired with my ADHD tic to quote "Boom, Skeleton City!" from Family Guy... it just sort of became "What if there was an entire city of JUST skeletons? Living ordinary (for them) lives? They have toilets even, and just never mention why they have them."

This became a full campaign with multiple regular players that had some great moments, like @Mr. Daddy running a skeleton child who was completely unhinged and at one point gave another skeleton a heartattack. The general premise of the campaign was skeletons wanted to 'liberate' their brethren from the 'fleshies.' Mr. Daddy's character (Breakis) liberated himself... from a sick child... while he was still alive.

 

[Mr. Daddy]

This became a full campaign with multiple regular players that had some great moments, like @Mr. Daddy running a skeleton child who was completely unhinged and at one point gave another skeleton a heartattack. The general premise of the campaign was skeletons wanted to 'liberate' their brethren from the 'fleshies.' Mr. Daddy's character (Breakis) liberated himself... from a sick child... while he was still alive.

Hey that other skeleton was gonna have the heart attack anyway! Breakis just... Made it happen sooner >.>

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

Hey that other skeleton was gonna have the heart attack anyway! Breakis just... Made it happen sooner >.>

Murder. It was murder.

 

[SolemnlyDoc]

I grew up playing board games (chess, checkers, Sorry, Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, etc.) and still enjoy them today but rarely get to play them.

I got into D&D in 2020 and played every week until May 2024, bouncing between 2 groups. I tried to run my own game once, just a one-shot adventure, but it went so poorly that I've been loathe to try again. So for now I'll stick to being just a player

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

I grew up playing board games (chess, checkers, Sorry, Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, etc.) and still enjoy them today but rarely get to play them.

I got into D&D in 2020 and played every week until May 2024, bouncing between 2 groups. I tried to run my own game once, just a one-shot adventure, but it went so poorly that I've been loathe to try again. So for now I'll stick to being just a player

Hopefully you give it another shot sometime, when you feel ready.

 

[Ravl]

Yes, I regularly play Pathfinder 2e also DM it sometimes. I also played a lot of dnd and I can safely tell you that 5e is a horrible system:
not only is the base game flawed as hell but anything released after the Xanathar book is so broken I cannot believe they actually playtested it. The classes from the Unearthed Arcanas play tests where some of the strongest shit I've ever seen in a game, insane they actually put those in books like Tasha's
I'd say the strongest class is the Druid while the best and most broken party would be:
Paladin (ancients)
Twilight Cleric
Sheperd Druid
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian

I actually played those last two for two whole campaigns and let me tell you, they pulled some absolutely insane shit

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

Yes, I regularly play Pathfinder 2e also DM it sometimes. I also played a lot of dnd and I can safely tell you that 5e is a horrible system:
not only is the base game flawed as hell but anything released after the Xanathar book is so broken I cannot believe they actually playtested it. The classes from the Unearthed Arcanas play tests where some of the strongest shit I've ever seen in a game, insane they actually put those in books like Tasha's
I'd say the strongest class is the Druid while the best and most broken party would be:
Paladin (ancients)
Twilight Cleric
Sheperd Druid
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian

I actually played those last two for two whole campaigns and let me tell you, they pulled some absolutely insane shit

I love how 5e got to the point later on where they cared so little all the new playable races didn't even give designated ability score modifiers.

I've been curious about PF2e but I've never gotten a chance to try it out. I've heard it's like super different from 1e.

 

[PrismRed]

I really, really, REALLY want to get into D&D but I don't know anyone around me who plays, and I'm hesitant to join a group of strangers as I've heard horror stories.

Exact same situation here, our group of friends only play cards and dice at most.

 

[Ravl]

I love how 5e got to the point later on where they cared so little all the new playable races didn't even give designated ability score modifiers.

That's because racial bonuses and penalties are considered "outdated", they've been also fased out of Pathfinder 2e

I've been curious about PF2e but I've never gotten a chance to try it out. I've heard it's like super different from 1e.

It's not like that at all, It's quite easy if you ask me. Also, the game's is actually well balanced compared to 5e and the classes are mostly equal in strength.

 

[RirisuPK]

I really love TTGs, but I've got literally NOBODY to play with IRL. People around me aren't really into that...