Okay, but if your cyperpunk RPG has “d20 plus modifier vs target number” action resolution, 4-8 ability scores, skill bonuses, feats, classes, races/ancestries/backgrounds… You’re going to need to explain how it’s NOT like D&D. And if you proceed to describe PbtA, I will laugh at you.
I won’t shame you for being like D&D. I will shame you for pretending you’re not.
PbtA
Pathfinder, but towards Argentina?
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No I think viking hippie was right
He’s close: Pathfinder, but towards Albania.
Peanut butter the Archmage?
The d20 System, used as the basis for D&D 3rd edition, was in fact explicitly made to accommodate different settings and additions.
D12 is objectively the best dice and I need to find a system that’ll let me use them more.
Daggerheart is a 2d12 system for players, but it remains a d20 system for GMs
SWADE rolls lots of d12s at higher advancement levels.
D4 is objectively the best because you can use them as dice and weapons.
That’s why a proper cyberpunk RPG needs to be entirely D6. So many D6s that you need both hands to roll them all, and a baking sheet to keep them from rolling off the table.
GURPS would like a word.
honestly, this is fine. I think people within the rpg space forget that the general public largely has no idea that the space exists. they have never heard the term “tabletop role-playing game,” but they have a vague impression that “d&d” means nerds sitting around rolling dice and pretending to be in a fictional scenario, so if your game is anything like that, “kinda like d&d” is a fine descriptor for that audience
or as the famous tweet says: “guy who’s only ever seen Boss Baby watching a second movie: kinda getting Boss Baby vibes.” inaccurate or ridiculous as it may seem, if that’s the only exposure someone has to the concept of a “movie,” then using that as a jumping-off point to explain that other stories of different types can be told by pre-recorded moving images is still useful. you have to introduce the medium in general before worrying about genres within the medium, or works within the genre
the general public largely has no idea that the space exists
Idk, man. Like, 20 years ago? Maybe.
But not knowing about D&D in the modern day feels a bit like saying you don’t know about the NBA or you’ve that you’ve never heard of Disney World.
you have to introduce the medium in general before worrying about genres within the medium
I think the thing that makes “Like D&D” annoying is that it’s really the only easily accessible TTRPG franchise. It feels like you’re watching the Olympics while people keep shouting “Oh, so how is this different from Football?” at every event.
This is exactly how i feel anytime i hear the phrase souls-like
As someone who recently started a GURPS game set in Cyberpunk 2077… nope! Been some really rough spots introducing it to my table that’s been running Pathfinder for over a decade
s/Harry Potter/Bridge to Terabithia
Same message without the TERF taint.
Look I’m sorry that this is the way that it is but D&D is kind of the core template for the lens for by which I perceive tabletop role-playing games.
