Dungeons & Dragons or other TTRPGs \ stacker news ~gaming

1712 sats \ 15 comments \ @smuglydawg 12 Dec 2023 gaming

Hello fellow gamers,

What’s your favorite RPG and what system?

In addition to playing video games does anyone play TTRPGs ( tabletop role playing games).

I play with a small group in my local area, but always fun to see what others are playing or how their adventures are doing.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @smuglydawg OP 7 Jan

What day of the week feels like a trap day?

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @gnilma 12 Dec 2023

My favorite retro RPG was Super Mario RPG, with Chrono Trigger being a very close second.

I think I played Super Mario RPG from beginning to end 4 or 5 times back then, and am currently playing the Switch remake haha.

Funny I only played Chrono Trigger after a friend highly recommended it in highschool in the early 2000s, and I played it on an emulator on my PC. Never got in touch with a Chrono Trigger cartridge.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @smuglydawg OP 15 Dec 2023

What are your thoughts on the Super Mario RPG? I am thinking about picking it up for the family but not sure if they would enjoy a turn based RPG.

Never tried Chrono Trigger.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @gnilma 15 Dec 2023

Super Mario RPG is an awesome game! The game is short (approx. 12 hours play time), which means you're always experiencing content and something new is always happening. The dialogue is fun and interesting. The combat is pretty fast paced. And if you're getting the remake for the Switch, the graphics is vibrant and colorful. Whenever I'm playing Super Mario RPG remake these days, my kids gather around to watch me play. At the same time, I'm very biased, because the original Super Mario RPG was one of my favorite games on the SNES.

Chrono Trigger is also very fun. It's also a JRPG made by Square Enix. The game has a more serious tone to it. You embark on a journey to save the world by teaming up with allies you find along the adventure. You also traveling through time, as time travel is one of the main theme of the game. Check it out on Squre Enix's website.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @tnuts420 12 Dec 2023

i know it's not exactly retro, but i just started baulders gate 3, which is basically a dnd campaign. really liking it so far, never played the previous ones.

i also just got the super mario rpg remake for the switch, which definitely takes me back.

i was never a playstation guy, so i never really played the early final fantasy titles. i really liked chrono trigger, and knights of the old republic, but all time favorite would probably be witcher 3

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @smuglydawg OP 12 Dec 2023

I played a Boulders Gate on the PS2. Didn’t know how the Forgotten Realms was related to D&D until years later. Really would like to get a modern console or PC to play BG3, it looks amazing.

Might ask for Mario RPG for my birthday, looks like a great remake of an introduction turn based rpg game.

I need to dust off a copy of a random FF that I have on the Nintendo gameboy.

0 sats \ 8 replies \ @Murch 12 Dec 2023

I’m about to start another DnD5e campaign next week. I’ll be DMing DnD for the first time!

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @smuglydawg OP 12 Dec 2023

That is fun, are you running a module or creating an open world?

Could easily pull inspiration from different retro games to add to the gameplay.

100 sats \ 3 replies \ @Murch 13 Dec 2023

I’m creating my own world for this group, drawing heavily on some real world places and multiple other scenarios I’ve played in the last ~28 years. :)

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @smuglydawg OP 15 Dec 2023

That is impressive, how many different groups or people have you been able to play with over all that time?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Murch 19 Dec 2023

Mh, I count at least a dozen groups with whom I have played for multiple sessions to years.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Murch 19 Dec 2023

I also played a bunch of different systems over the years. The dark eye, shadowrun, degenesis, opus anima, vampire the dark ages, vampire the masquerade, twodice, call of Cthulhu, dungeon world, DnD, and a bunch of one-shots at meetups or conventions. Probably forgetting some

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @smuglydawg OP 13 Jan

It appears I might be taking over the role of DM for my party soon. The former DM will have a newborn shortly. Any helpful tips to be on the other side of the divider?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Murch 13 Jan

Especially with DnD, it’s easy to fall into the trap of asking the players for a lot of rolls. Rolls are slow and disrupt the story telling. Only ask for a roll when the outcome of the roll changes the story, otherwise just narrate what happens.
Take a look at what sort of skills the players have chosen on their characters and what they bring up in their background story. They usually hint at what they want the story to contain.
Whenever I create an NPC, I usually write down a couple things that make them in some way memorable. An easy way of doing that is by thinking of at least two other people they relate to, or coming up with things that are going on in their own life. E.g. the blacksmith is friends with the hunter, the inn-keeper avoids the midwife since she gave him a bad remedy, the stonemason is the brother of the baker and very excited about his new nephew. I once DMed a Shadowrun game where the players crashed with a plane in the Caribbean and made it to a little island, an they ended up walking around talking to everyone in the town on the island for ~3h, because I had drawn a little graph of X knows Y, Y is the aunt of Z, etc. That did abruptly end, when a little old lady summoned some insect spirits, though… 😈

Generally, my preferred way of organizing the game is to drop the players into some sort of world where something is already going on, and there are at least two NPCs or factions pursuing an agenda that would eventually lead to some shift in the social landscape, but the players happen to stumble on some whiff of that and are either going to be affected by it, or in some other way invested, and in a good position to do something about it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Murch 13 Jan

Overall, you’ll have a lot of fun. :)

Oh, and don’t make too many assumptions at how exactly your players are going to solve some challenge. Often they’ll surprise you with an angle you didn’t consider. Don’t try to push them too hard to what you planned, it’s frustrating to the players, rather roll with their ideas when they make sense.

And if you have any puzzles in your game, leave enough hints, sometimes the players just staunchly walk past a hint that you felt was super obvious. In my experience, planning for three different ways of getting a piece of information or surmounting a challenge tends to ensure that they figure it out.