PbP vet, GP rookie, eager for discussion partners

Hello future friends!
I am a long-time pbp gamer (originally on the wotc 4e forums, then myth-weavers, snailspace, and most recently on RPOL). I just heard about Gamersplane though on a Dungeon Master Block podcast.

Games I've run in live groups: I run live game(s) using primarily D&D 5e, but also other systems when I can get a chance: Blades in the Dark, Cortex Plus systems (like MHR, Smallville), Powered by the Apocalypse games, Pendragon, some ORE stuff (Reign and hacks mostly), and playtests of all kinds of other hacks and designs with which I'm incessantly tinkering. I haven't posted much in the last year or so due to parenting, moving, etc. but I hope to get back into posting on my blog at exploring-infinity.com

Games I want to play/run: Some games I haven't played enough but want to (recent system crushes you could say): Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands, A Dirty World, Wrath of the Autarch, Uncharted Worlds, the Shadowrun setting with a non-Shadowrun systems (probably using Blades in the Dark), Mindjammer 2e(FATE Core), Dramasystem, PDQ#, Night's Black Agents or similar, Seventh Sea 2e. Other games I'm interested in, maybe more secondarily, are things like FFG's End of the World: Alien Invasion, Beyond the Wall, Burning Wheel proper (I've run Mouse Guard and Torchbearer mini-campaigns), Continuum (I love alternate dimensions and issues of time travel), anything cyberpunk (i.e. The Sprawl), Sagas of the Icelanders, and lots of other less traditional games that my live groups seldom have time to indulge in.

Ideas: Lately, I've been especially loving the rpg potential of systems that allow exploration of the following ideas: heavy relationship drama, the shonen-anime style/genres, kingdom/community-building (especially including troupe play and legacy play rather than a traditional set party of adventurers without much time passage), Dramasystem's idea of dramatic poles for every character, conspiracy campaigns, post-apocalyptic existentialism, noir tropes/genre, XCOM/hopeless alien invasion games, nautical/swashbuckling stories, literary/minimal game designs like in Swords Without Master, and literary/philosophical explorations about why we enjoy what we enjoy about rpgs (like disposition theory of media enjoyment, definitions of play, psychology of flow, how game design and literary elements shape and enhance collaborative creativity, etc.). I also always love developing my real-life empathy and awareness through pushing my boundaries by playing characters uncomfortably different from myself.

Whew, I know that's a lot now that I look at it. If you're interested in any of these topics, I would love to connect and discuss this stuff with you too! I'm about to have a newborn anytime in the next month or two, in addition to my 2-year old, so I'm not sure how much pbp gaming capacity I'll have. Who knows, I may in fact have more middle-of-the-night time to post than usual. :P

I look forward to meeting you all, hearing what you love to think about in the literary/gaming/psychology realm, and overall finding a new venue for compelling discussions (and hopefully games)!
--Crusoe

Hey Crusoe, it's great to be finally reunited with my long lost twin separated at birth! There some great stuff in their, and just to pick one thing to vamp about, I've been trying to guilt my IRL troupes into Dramasystem, or a similar story game.

I've also made an effort to convert the ideas of XCOM to a fantasy version in the one and only time I played D&D 5e in person.

Hi Crusoe! Usually I like to ask people about their interests and what they're looking for in their GP experience, and you've left me with nothing to ask! Amazing range of experience; I have to work on actually playing a Cortex and Apoc system game, so I can start getting those systems onto GP.

And I'm always down for a discussion; I can talk for days on the right topic :p

Welcome Crusoe. You've washed up on a friendly shore.

Welcome!

Hello! Its funny, but I've been extremely interested in Shonen styled gameplays and relationship dramas. Indeed, I've been meaning to get Ryuutama, which is a Japanese table top game that focuses on relationship building and world exploration. I am hoping to, at some point in the future, run a couple of anime-inspired games here. Once I clear out a couple of the ones I am playing in.

Welcome! I would like to play Mindjammer and Burning Wheel.

On the topic of why we play rpgs there is great academic study on what engages players in games. And also great overview and adaptation of this study for table top RPGs from AngryGM in 2 parts. Part 1. Part 2

This all looks awesome. I'd expect nothing less of a fellow Blockhead. Welcome to GP!

Hey wow! Thanks for all the warm welcomes.

I don't know where would be most fun to start replying. :) I may have to just move to actual discussion forum threads. Maybe I'll just go down the line. Hello to all the greeters I don't call out below. Shoot me a question about something and I'll be happy to dig in.

@Qralloq Hey twin! I look forward to hearing about your life since our separation. I've heard some mixed things about Dramasystem honestly from sources I respect, but only had an almost-started pbp experience of it personally so far, so I'll withhold judgment until I've played, since there are definitely plenty of literary elements the mechanics highlight that intrigue me. One of my longest-running projects is representing a meaningful "enemy unknown" type experience in a low-crunch tabletop rpg. I'll admit I haven't thought much about if any edition of D&D would be a worthwhile chassis. How'd the fantasy adaptation feel? I'm guessing you were gunning for the psychological "desperation & hopelessness might lead to victory" angle just in a fantasy cataclysm? If I wanted to run it right now, I'd use Blades in the Dark with minimal tweaking. Meanwhile, I'm considering an ORE angle, and the most promising idea so far is a reskin I'm working on of Wrath of the Autarch. I love random tables so any system I come up with I want to be able to handle any sort of 'unknown/bizarre' alien invasion rather than just the standard XCOM scheme something like lasers-to-plasma-to-psi. I want the players to be able to lose, want to start over, and every time, honestly feel terror and confusion about not understanding how on earth to make a dent against such an incomprehensible and impossibly superior force. There's poignant human drama there.

@Keleth Great to hear from you too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since I see you're user #1 I'll assume you're the creator I heard on DM Block this morning. If I end up running games here, I don't doubt you'll hear a bunch from me about various incarnations of Cortex Plus and PbtApocalypse.

@teaanddice I'm a One Piece-type anime fan, so I'm not yet too drawn to Ryuutama in itself other than for novelty maybe, or something non-fighting-based to play with my family when kids are older. In previous pbp experience, I have been able to experiment with Shonen Final Burst (played in a DBZ-type game), Anima Prime (sorta ran a Borderlands game), and Nicholas Arroyo is putting together a pretty cool PbtA shonen game that draws ideas from the Worldwide Wrestling rpg, and 3 part playbooks like in Uncharted Worlds, but combining mix-match options of how you fight, why you fight, and what grows you. One of my recurring 'projects' has been always wondering how various systems would or would not be able to produce the stories/arcs of One Piece/Fairy Tail and why that is.

@Mihey, I love that study, and AngryGM's elaboration/synopsis of them. It really helped me see what my very different player groups are primarily after. One of my groups tried to do Burning Wheel, but I think we jumped too quickly into the intense subsystems and so we didn't make it past 3 sessions. Since then, I've run MG and TB so now I can better appreciate the beliefs/goals focus, whereas before I was mainly eager about lifepaths and the skill advancement system (and honestly daunted by the sheer pages of traits and wises, especially my favorite: Latrine-wise).

@DJForeclosure - Sweet! I'm not much of a podcast-listener quite yet. I just moved and now have a 50 minute commute though, so I'm testing the waters and trying to find some core treats to use my free creative mind-time.

That would be me! Hope you enjoyed the epi. Not sure where you want to start yourself out, but there are some DnD 5e games currently looking for players, myself included (I need one more to replace a player who've been inactive; we're just getting started). you can see about who's looking for what in the Games Tavern forum.

Welcome Crusoe! You got me flustering pretty hard over the fact that you are into running anime styled games, and I can't wait to see what you will have in the works here!

hey, there's a 7th sea game looking for players RIGHT NOW! go to the games tab and select join a game and look for 7th sea

Hey, buddy, long time no see! Glad to see we're back in the same PbP circles!

Have fun here it think you will enjoy it allot.

Hello and welcome.

Welcome!