Hi folks

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the site so I thought I'd pop in and introduce myself. I've been playing and running RPGs since the late 90s, and I used to PbP a long time ago. I've found that recently I began to miss the PbP playstyle. I always have a couple of games going, as either a player or GM, but haven't had luck in convincing any of my regular folks to try PbP, so I thought I'd check in and see how the online gaming community is going.

I'm a big fan of both fantasy and scifi, but I've been feeling a little burnt out on fantasy lately. Well, D&D 5e specifically. It's a fine system and there's no denying it has brought about the greatest popularity of our hobby in decades. I've just run and played so many 5e games and the cracks are showing for me. Luckily I am currently playing in a Star Trek Adventures game, which is very enjoyable.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and maybe we can go on some adventures together!

I have played and run a number of games in a number of systems over the last 25ish years:
-D&D (mostly 2e and 5e I didn't like 3/3.5 and could never get anyone to play 4e with me for no discernable reason. It was popular to hate for reasons. Dark days.)
-Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
-Cyberpunk (I didn't get to play as much of 2020 as I would have liked, but I've run a little bit of CP Red and want to get some more)
-PbtA & Dungeon World
-Legend of the 5 Rings (I love the mechanics and the art of the FFG edition, but still have issues with the setting)
-an old Wheel of Time game that I barely remember (I think the last time I played that one was 2001)
-Star Wars FFG
-Star Trek Adventures
-The Strange & Gods of the Fall
-a load of friend's homebrewed games and systems over the decades
-the Serenity RPG (I bought the friend who ran that campaign the 2nd edition also, but he hasn't run it yet. It's only been 7 years and I'm not bitter about that at all.)

Welcome.
What do you mean by 'scifi'? It is a rather broad term.
A rather common pattern, resembles my story as well, though I was one of the ones with no interest in 4e while my friends tried to persuade me to run it for them.
Feel free to drop by my PbtA games for the new, if you want. https://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/22187/

Welcome aboard!

I'm sure you'll find something to play soon enough. Have you played much Star Trek Adventures?

Hi there!

Your timeline sounds much like mine. Tons of different games over the years. I remember when a friend first introduced me to 4e and I thought "Cool, this is like an rpg made into a war game."

Speaking of Serenity and PbtA, I've been slowly growing a desire to play the upcoming Ironsworn: Star Forged. Maybe we could round up some folks and get something going.

Co-op or guided?

Either would be fine. I wouldn't want to be the GM - I've never been consistent or creative enough to run a game for very long. (I think about how I let people down every time I log in on GP... Maybe some day I will redeem myself and finish running the game!) So I've resigned to be a player. Totally happy to co-op tho, since I can alternate between minor participation and heavy play more or less as RL projects come and go. Or at least that is what I imagine it is like in PbP, never actually been in a co-op game except for one in RL.

Not sure this is the place to discuss this, we can take it elsewhere if there is much more needed. :)

A common problem with co-op games is that everyone is, essentially, the GM. So any one of the players can be the one to let the game slide and break things.

I don't think a co-op game would handled a player 'coming and going' as well as a GMed game where they GM knows to expect that from them. Unless it was a two play co-op, which is how I have done most of my Ironworn, but I am keen to try a bigger group, and am willing to GM it if needed (or to take on a facilitator role with the right group).
Ironsworn has a lot of Moves, when playing with a GM it can seem like too many.

That's a super interesting discussion but let's stay on topic here to welcome our new member! Feel free to make a new thread for this, though, and I'll be happy to chime in.

Welcome, Natural_Causes!

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Happy gaming!

Welcome

Welcome to the community, Natural_Causes!

Hello and welcome!

Yeah, I can totally relate about starting to see the flaws in 5e. It's one of those situations where once you notice them, you cannot un-see them and it's really annoying...

Hello! Welcome to GP!

Welcome! I completely understand what you mean about 5e burnout, I've only recently managed to get back into it. It is a very flawed system, and once you see them you often can't un-see them (as kalajel pointed out) but I think it's a case of either homebrew-modding it or just accepting them and acknowledging them.

That said, you have a mighty fine selection of systems there, I hope you find some excellent games with the excellent people of this wonderful community ^^.

It's definitely an amazing community for trying all kinds of different systems. I've played more systems on here than I ever even heard about before joining 😄 Some of which have become my absolute favorite games

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome, Natural_Causes! Look forward to playing with you!

Welcome aboard

I left it broad because my interests are broad, although maybe that wasn't helpful. I like and have played and run Space Opera, Science Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Raypunk, Afrofuturism, Alien Invasion, Apocalyptic and Post Apocalyptic, Space Western, Military Scifi, Hardscifi (That one is actually pretty hard to play. Everyone has to be SUPER invested), and more I'm forgetting.

Is scifi more broad than fantasy actually? I find it interesting that scifi was called out here but fantasy wasn't...

I finished my turn as GM for one of my two RPG groups and the person who picked up the GM mantle for this round just started running Star Trek Adventures about 2 months ago, so I only have about 6 sessions under my belt as a player. I'm really enjoying it though! The system very much lends itself to the feeling of being in a Star Trek TV show, which is very cool.

My biggest criticism is that the core rule book is just an editing mess. I find it very difficult to find information quickly, due to their choice of using LCARS layout for everything and none of it is very concise. The book is chocked full of flavor text, but it isn't differentiated enough from useful sidebars that it takes a while to sort it all out. Sometimes the flavor text even breaks up the useful information which is just maddening to me. It's a common criticism I have of most modern RPG rule books to be honest. Luckily there are a lot of really well made fan reference sheets around so that helps immensely.

But the system and game itself has been great so far!

I've heard of Ironsworn, but I'm not personally familiar with it. I'll have to look it up to see if it's something that tickles my fancy.

I joined a Star Trek Adventures game a while ago but it didn't really get past character creation. The CC was fun, though. And I repurposed the character for a game in a different system since. I think STA really helps with making a good, fleshed out character, which is always a plus. I can't speak for the system in game play, though

Shame you didn't get to play. I really like systems that use Lifepath character creation. It helps a lot of people have a better idea of who their character is.

Welcome to the community, Natural_Causes!

Agreed. I wish it were otherwise.
A solid ruleset that lays out the physics and such would go a long way, then the player investment would only need to be at the 'reading the book' level. Unfortunately I have not found anything the does both solid physics rules, and tolerable game rules, so have had to try defining the physics myself, which is a constant fight.

Welcome Natural_Causes.

Sci Fi is so great, I love that you included Afrofuturism, which has become a keening siren in my interest pile recently. As for hard sci fi, there is a small consistent demand for The Expanse RPG here, which certainly follows hard SF themes.

As to D&D 5e burnout, I agree. I don't really care about the flaws or cracks, and couldn't name any, but after playing and running a bunch of 5e games, I'm looking for new stuff.

Oh I could be down for playing around in The Expanse system sometime. I've also just picked up the Altered Carbon book, haven't had a chance to crack it open yet though. Love me some cyberpunk.