Another Himedere checking in. I love setting up situations where the players and/or the characters squirm in anguish about what to do.

My favorite so far was an estranged princess living as a man and hostel owner. He had turned his back on the throne and wanted little to do with it. As a bonus he was the only child of the king’s only remaining child. Fast forward a bit and he needed a (legal) favor from the king. Went to court and met with his grandfather. The king would do it, no strings attached if a) he returned to court and resumed his duties as prince and b) sired an heir.

There were a good thirty minutes of the players anguishing if he should accept while going deep into character motivations and the setting. During that game I don’t think I did as much concrete worldbuildning as during those thirty minutes. I loved it, the players loved it. Great time.

Love the addition of “again”.

I mean if you don’t want your yacht sunk then don’t sail it where orcas sink yachts. Sorry but actually not sorry for the casual victimblaming.

Cat is grumpy because someone stole its humans

No grid only effect templates. Freeform battlemapping y’all!

And rulers.

Solo, GM-less (co-op) or guided (with GM) all work well. The tools provided for GM-less/solo play also facilitates GMing. Almost autopilot.

I would point you to Ironsworn. Possibly also Ironsworn:Starforged, its SciFi adapatation and rules version 1.5e. Nothing wrong with base Ironsworn, Starforged just is better.

While rooted in dark perilous fantasy that can be changed through description and presentation. At its core it’s a Powered by the Apocalypse system, just as Dungeon World is, and can open up that whole ecosystem with highly rated games such as Monster of the Week and Masks: A New Generation. Ironsworn is also free which removes a barrier to checking it out

What makes Ironsworn so great is that while its narrative/light roots from PbtA is still there it structures gameplay much more than others. Part of this is because it it made from the ground up to accommodate GM-less and solo play. So many of those small considerations the GM does are spelled out. Second is Ironsworn’s excellent new take on tracks. Instead of filling it up and once filled it is done it puts the fulfillment in the players hands. Once the fiction is such that it could have been completed the player can roll against its progress and see what falls out. Or they can push on, fill the tracker up more for a more sure result.

So all-in-all Ironsworn is a system born in the narrative PbtA tradition that further structures gameplay. A great system for questing campaigns.

Im not just a bog, I’m a poor bog.

It would silence as many screams as hands you are loosing pulling items from it. Which is zero.

I would have the top level tag “Rulebook” and put “Core Rulebook” as a sub-tag. Under Rulebook also have “Player Handbook”, “GM handbook” and “Splatbook”. Keep the rules together.

Also tags for your dominant systems (ex DnD, PbtA) including “System Agnostic”. Perhaps add subtags “Pre-made” and “Generators” under “Setting”. Publisher tags? Language? Decade/year of release? Have played?

Something that is also helpful in this situation is to ask what their Intent is with their action. The why they want to do it. Often striking up that conversation looses some blocks.

D&D is hard. Sure the core of it is straight forward but then things start to add up. It is a game that wants you to care about minutia. How far travelled, distance between two points, the height of dungeons ceilings, how long passed since that spell was cast, how much you ate yesterday. And it wants you to arbitrate spell interactions, players weird schemes and prepare a lot of stuff. Also it wants you to actually run the narrative. Some love this difficulty, find the intricacies challenging and desire to master it all.

The good news is that the behemoth of D&D isn’t alone out there. Really lots of good stuff can be found. First problem is knowing what one want to find. Second is finding others that have similar taste to you. But it is doable and a good thing to do is ask for help. Because if it is something we like here it is to talk about ttrpgs. Getting us to shut up… better ask santa for a dragon.

Don’t forget about their “Designing the Game” playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTsnSjGlraRNXpks2YP-_aOqIoSMT0m8T

If the DM asks you you really want to do something look at their expression and do it anyway.

If you want to do something really stupid, crazy or narrativly disruptive look towards your fellow players to get their consent. Then do it.

The time to argue technicalities is outside of sessions to not waste precious gametime. Do it during sessions only if you are into that weird shit.

The best way to get to use new character options is through DM bribes. In this case a sourcebook is recommended.

If you help clean up afterwards you may get inspiration.

Apocalypse World. It is my go to recommendation to GMs but would be pretty much as useful to players as well. Take the GM principle (rule) of Ask questions and Use the answers. Equally important to players. It has its special tone that can be off putting but do give it a shot.

This is why I recruit to five and play with three. Sometimes the stars align and three persons are away, but it is seldom. So the show does go on.

Apocalypse World has this awesome GM move that covers this situation

Announce Future Badness

Combine it with

Think Offscreen Too

Then you know how to handle the sacking of a stronghold. By the gods how I love GMing after AW’s principles.

Fil (fermented/soured milk) and musli in my opinion cannot be beaten. Get bowl, open fridge to get fil, pour fil into bowl, get muesli, add that and you are done. Pretty unprocessed, plenty of fiber and (depending on variety) lots of good bacteria. Cleaning up is also quick, water and a few swirls with the brush. Making coffee takes longer than chomping down on a bowl of fil and muesli.

I have recently encountered ICON and come to really like its dying mechanic. Each time a character is reduced to 0HP they become incapacitated, but stable, and gain a wound. Each wound reduces max hp by 25% and only goes away after an adventure (quest). A character can help an incapacitated character (rescuing) bringing them up and healing them to their new max HP, which after one wound would be 75% of max. Second time dropping to 0hp, a second would and new max hp of 50% of original.

It gives good longevity in individual encounters and forces caution in the longer run.

I love the “happy backstory” characters and love GMing for them. Having an auntie the next village over is just wonderfully quaint. A couple of siblings whose mess has to be cleaned up. Cousins that have to be bailed out of trouble. That is just the low stakes. Turn up the heat a little and put some conflicting interests in the mix and you have a recipe for character drama.

And then there are all the larger and societal issues that become personal. Those affected by the situation are those that matter for the pc. While out killing goblins the bank took the farm. Auntie with an anarcho-syndicalist streak is accused of witchcraft.

Or mr edgy edgelord number fifteen who cares about nothing and none. My taste is clear - homebaked apple pie and an afternoon in the hammock.

If it is OK to have the idol fall you can always have them be a Henry Ford X Saruman. A titan of industry and a learned scholar but peeling the facade they are just absolutely vile. Let the first act be about the artificer gaining their idol’s attention. Perhaps a showcase/competition for up and coming artificers with the grand prizes being internships. Unpaid and have to fund their personal projects of course. But they get mentorship. Act two then is unpeeling the facade as they get more insight into the idol’s work and actual person. Let there be a schism. Act three then is with the realization that the idol is either actively working with the BBEG or knowingly profit from them.

But this isn’t closer to figuring out their craft. However since we don’t need to know the leggy yet, only the fair item. Still excellent and awesome but can be of lesser power.