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Game Master's Laboratory

Public • 113 • Free

11 contributions to Game Master's Laboratory
Tomorrow City
Hi Proactive friends! Looking for a couple of players for a mini campaign (3-5 sessions maybe) of the dieselpunk RPG Tomorrow City, to start within the next couple of weeks. The time would be UK evenings (ideally start at 6pm GMT or later), cadence to be determined but ideally either weekly or every two weeks on Sat or Sun (one player is in Pacific time).
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Poll: Mechanics and Style
We've had some great posts this last week about preferred mechanics of a game, and styles of GMing. It got me thinking---what sort of games are people in the lab running? Out of the following, what would you describe as the main focus in the game you run, a combination of your personal preferences and what the system you run is designed for? There isn't room to list every option, so some (like Blades' heists or Cthulhu's mysteries and horror) are lumped under other categories. If something really doesn't seem to fit, pick unlisted and comment yours below!
Poll
13 members have voted
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New comment 24d ago
0 likes • 24d
As a matter of fact, I have, @Briggs Schneider! Although I’m still caught up in a long-running Call of Cthulhu campaign, which I’m hoping I can wrap up soon. Though to answer your question, though, I’d be up for either, really, with a slight preference to play. When I considered running it (for some non-trad folks), I was waiting to pick up FoundryVTT in a sale and to get the module for it, so it takes some of the crunch and bookkeeping out of the equation. Anyway, I’d love to give it a try, depending on scheduling.
0 likes • 24d
@Briggs Schneider sounds good! :)
a Multiverse setting, and goals
Hi friends! I was hoping for some advice. In my head, I’ve collected a lot of “settings” some of which are mired in very complicated or just terrible game mechanics. Some were just so niche that I knew I would never gather enough interested people to play (and now are super obscure). So I’ve always wanted some way of bridging them together (also, I like the anachronistic juxtapositions, and potential fun “advantages” characters might have in gathering abilities and things from different realities, à la Time Bandits). I guess a more traditional reference for D&D fans is Planescape? I think the downside to this kind of meta-setting framework, though, is a kind of “analysis paralysis” that happens when someone is presented with what is ostensibly limitless options (I would like to give Players a choice of reality to base their character). The other side of this is goal setting, though. I keep wondering, now that I have lots of Indie TTRPGs that are easily hacked, do I just explore each universe separately, maybe stringing them together thinly, suggesting they’re all set in the same shared multiverse (which ironically seems a bit cliché now in a world that has an MCU, etc.).
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New comment 26d ago
1 like • 26d
@Dan Green I’d be curious to know what you think if you do get to check it out. I may buy it, but haven’t yet, but there’s a beautiful hardcover that collects the previous volumes and has some new stuff thrown in.
0 likes • 26d
So, as if in answer to my query, this has shown up in the most recent Indie RPG Newsletter: https://www.tribality.com/2024/10/08/what-is-confluence-rpg-backerkit-campaign/ The default milieu sounds a lot like Patchwork World (https://erinking.itch.io/patchwork-world-sixth-edition), but what struck me about Confluence is how seemingly Proactive it is by its nature: “This allows the GM to not need to prepare as much for the game, because the players themselves will be picking what they want to do when they find something interesting. That’s why you can have a sci-fi session about escaping prison, and the very next session can be a slice-of-life bar romcom episode in the Wild West.”
What rule from what RPG do you use at every game?
If you've been around you probably have seen me talk about the wild amount of games that I have played. I am wondering what rule or tool did you steal from an RPG that you use or want to use going forward? I played Bunkers and Badassses this year and I love the badass moves. For a more cinematic game, you can let players completely break action economy once per session, and you just give it a particularly high dc to do so. Other players can kick in their use to lower the DC if the fictional positioning supports it. For example you can do multiple actions in the same Action but need to balance not only the difficultly to generate the DC but also how many actions it would normally take.
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New comment 22d ago
2 likes • Oct 7
For me the most important is that "failing forward" and "yes, and" is the way these games should be played, in my opinion. In other words, almost never should "nothing happens" be the result after a die roll or whatever. It's boring and does little to enrich the game or the overall experience. And as a corollary to this, if you have a player trying to invent stuff that improves the cohesion, the storytelling, etc, people should almost always be ready to accept and integrate their ideas, rather than shutting them down and telling them, flat out, "no".
1 like • Oct 8
@Briggs Schneider That’s so good to hear, I’m glad it resonates with you, too. :)
Sell me on the darkness rules from Black Hack or Shadowdark
Both Shadowdark and Black Hack add darkness rules. No player races have dark vision or infravision but many monsters do. Light is an important, valuable, and precious commodity. Both systems encourage the GM to put the light at risk - with environmental effects and enemy actions. In the dark player characters are at disadvantage for virtually all rolls while the monsters are not. Maybe my age is showing but I don't see this as adding a lot to the game. Am I missing an opportunity to add something really cool? Or is it just another setting fad?
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New comment Oct 7
1 like • Oct 7
I agree, I'm not sure it makes a ton of sense from the fictional perspective, but I do think it probably sets out to do what's intended and connect you as the player more strongly with the narrative. As I mentioned in another Shadowdark thread, check out Ten Candles and Dread for ways of doing this that ostensibly don't "break" the narrative. Other than that, I'm glad there are voices that are moving the whole spate of TTRPGs forward and we're not just stuck with the same old rehashes of the old Fantasy RPG tropes.
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Jon Jones
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38points to level up
@jon-jones-5045
Former Londoner from California, love story games like PbtA, etc.

Active 5d ago
Joined Aug 10, 2024
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