Vampire: The Masquerade was also my first non-D&D game. I remember borrowing the green book with the rose on it from my friend. My vampire was a Tremere, and it has been so long since I played (2000-2001) that I no longer remember what that means 🤣 I have thought about picking up the new rule book, or just tracking down a used copy. There’s little chance of me finding a group to play with, so it would likely be for purely nostalgic reasons. As far as running, Call of Cthulhu was my first, and I love that game/system. I have become a bit of a hoarder of other systems that I haven’t had a chance to run: Fate(along with the special dice and tokens), Dread, Mothership, Blades... I have more desire to play these games than I have actual means/connections. It’s a lot of fun learning about them, though.

We are living in a golden age of indie RPGs, so thankfully it is easier to support companies we vibe with than it ever has been. It's a shame there aren't more options for stumbling across these systems in the wild. I hope I live to see the day when it would be just as easy to stumble across "Shadowdark" or "The Between" in Barnes and Noble or Target as it is for any of the D&D expansions and novelty merch. Until then, I'm very lucky to live in a city with an admirable collective of indie game shops.

@Shane K Agreed. DriveThruRPG and itch.io have done a lot to help with accessibility issues, but having access to a PDF isn't the same as a physical copy.

I like your thoughts on delegating responsibilities for specific things. I don't know your group, but my best guess is maybe they still don't feel comfortable in taking charge of the game - or at least sharing an active role in the process. Something that may be helpful is getting everyone used to the idea by having a few sessions where you have a "revolving" GM. One person leads for a short time(say, 15-20 minutes), then passes all the responsibility to another. Another idea: Have some kind of oracle like Mythic. Unfortunately with this, you may have the same issue you are currently having, where one person takes the lead on calling for checks and rolls. In my opinion, you are a bit ahead of the game with having some mashup of PBtA in your house rules. From what I've seen on actual plays, these games do a lot to encourage a collaborative experience. Chances are, you are probably going to have to make peace with someone being in a moderator role - at least for a little while. Maybe after a few sessions of a "musical chairs" style of DMing, your group could switch to one person leading each session. After awhile, maybe it will become easier for your group to share responsibility.

I love mystery, horror, and generally weird/surreal settings for my game. I love some gothic horror, maybe a bit of a sweet spot between horror and fantasy.

Thanks for the replies! I'll have to check out Scarlet Heroes @Jonah Fishel . I'm not familiar with that one. The Choose Your Own Adventure modules definitely have their place - Chaosium's solo adventures are pretty fun and helped me understand the mechanics of Call of Cthulhu when I was first learning the system. They're not particularly stimulating as far as finding inspiration for your own games, though. I do agree that collaborative brainstorming has a lot of value. I'll have to check out the writing prompts!