The thing that changed in 2001, is that conspiracy went from optimistic and fun (US and Soviet gov, are talking with aliens and getting some secret technology from-it), Elvis is still alive in a secret island. To a bit too real and dark, Like US actually blew-up the WTC tower, then Vaccine are actually a poison and more
IMO it makes the whole theme less fun
Then I would recommend again the LARP route, either as a “light indoor larp for 10 people” or at a 10 people faction at a larger game. When I was active part of an online RPG community, we would join a LARP per year so we could play a large faction and see each others IRL. Often it was more the “Barbecue LARP format” so the not that great one but you end-up doing a barbecue and getting beer in a ridiculous costume
My 2 classic options would be
Split the game in 2 or even 3 4-5 persons tables, works way better. On a tabletop game, if everyone takes a one minute turn to act, 10 players means you need 10 minutes per turn, it’s slow not just RPG, but in boardgames too. So split into smaller party.
12 players, rule-light, look for a parlour larp. There is some “easy to set-up” parlour larp, with very simple mechanics, and that you can play in a 2 room appartment (or even a barn) so they’re not as big/complicated as actual larp with big rule-books, 100’s of players, and a whole castle. Just like a real LARP, it requires a bit more “buy-in/prep” from the player, but it can be a great experience. As a rule of thumb, plan 1 extra hour before game-start for briefing/set-up, and 1-2 extra hour for debrief/cool-down (turn out that after such an intense experience most player don’t want to go home immediately but talk about-it, especially if PvP tension was rising until the final scene which is a classic larp format)
It’s the thing where local forum win
-can be read by non member
-are local focused
-Easy to run/manage
A pitty that they have been replaced by meet up/Facebook ( and their fcdi alternative)
Beam saber is pretty cool, and a solid choice when looking for a meca RPG if you have any doubt, go for it
A tricky thing, is that I don’t GM the same way a zero prep horror game where death is certain, and a blockbuster RPG campaign. And that many questions depend on the specific context. Having players who need to come home by the last train means I have a hard deadline to end a session. But if that player sin’t there we can find the right moment
Anyway, thanks for your pool, and curious about the results
While game bars are a thing, a few thing to remember
There isn’t that much money in the rpg scene. Sure the broke kids from the 80/90/00’s are now adult with disposable income, but some have space in their living room or are used to play in the municipal culture centre that the local club rent. When you start asking to pay a large amount of money you loose many prospective players.
Regarding alcohol, it’s how non profit club pay their expense. Bring you own alcohol feel like tho worst of both world, you’re a place dealing with alcohol consumption (law and potential drunk people) and you don’t get to sell a high margin product. As you use US$ you may have some other legal issues, but that’s a point where you need legal advise.
I am not sure of the interest of a fixed immersive game space. If I want more immersion, I go larping. Also there is 90%chance that the decor doesn’t match the game/campaign I play. Even generic heroic fantasy can come with multiple ambiance
Note also that it feels like the kind of place which don’t last long. They open, struggle for 2 years then the owner call it a loss and move out. Rent are expensive, bar have (and even alcohol free one) have to deal with a lot of regulation (fire safety, noise are obviously coming here. Even at my local rpg club, noise complaints are a big problem), and an immersive room for 4-5 person that will use it for the whole night takes more space than regular bar table, where patron order every 30-60minutes
Actually remember that GM-ing is a whole part of the activity and that in principle everyone should GM, may-be not at the same time, most-likely not at the same game, and often not with the same players, but you shouldn’t be the only one GM-ing.
Elves being magical creature, I am always puzzled that some setting try to give them human like gender and sexuality. I actually find-it more interesting that they do these things totally differently than us mundane human
I think the Gm-section of Kult divinity lost is pretty great, as it explains you how to build a mind-map for your metaplot and how to use PBTA mechanics to make the plot move in the background.
Now what I practically do is outiline the main theme and the reccuring NPC, then rely a lot on what the PC want to do and how they act to see how it develops. There is no point in writing long texts nor planning too much in advance when the PC will break everything by killing the wrong person
I wouldn’t worry too much about the actual edition people could play with it 40 years ago, and there is enough nostalgia to do a 2025 reprint, so they must be somehow playable.
With my limited shadowrun experience,
Beware of Decker going to the Matrix and mage doing Astral projection, it “splits the party” lead to a player having their own overcrunchy game-phase spending a hour to open a door or locate someone. I believe some latter edition got better but the early one where like their own game in the game
I see shadowrun like the diesel engine of "crunchy system"it’s heavy, slow to start, but there is a point where it runs smoothly
Just like every other crunchy system, and especially older one, feel free to ignore half of the rule (You know the meme about aircraft carrier, but more seriously never saw a GM caring about the Grenade dispersion roll)
Nobody talked about Castle Falkenstein which used playing cards instead of dices.
An interesting stuff is that you know your hand, and choose which card to play. So let’s say you have an Easy success, A success if you have a good-skill and a guaranteed failure for the scene. How do you manage-it ? It has interesting game-play consequence both tactically and narratively but it stayed pretty uncommon
The Deriny cycle by Kurtz is actually pretty great. You have some super human having access to some magic. And throagh the books they go for m super elite to persecuted minority before being accepted again.
Magic being either genetic on ea random birth gift would indeed have a major sociological impact. But in a setting where we have high magic, elves and dragon the whole sociology is anyway impacted
And we’ll also have a lovely game of chicken as players try to gauge whether they need to move on or face being caught in the inferno.
This is actually the part I was looking for, why do you want complex mechanics to deal with something which is part of the storyteller job ? and indeed, it can bring some games
In my upcoming megadungeon Inkvein, each of the 4 factions has a 10-step event track. Which faction advances and at what time is randomised via dice rolls. This creates an unpredictable and evolving situation that even the GM gets to discover as it unfolds.
One more example why I feel like OSR gamers and narravtive gamers are closer than what they claim, because it sounds like a narrative clock (Which actually is way older than the narrative trend, I’ve been using them as homebrew variant of long term actions for decades)
Honestly nowadays, even with fancy pdf, my 200€ Xiami does it. It’not 2015, even simple tabs have a lot of ram
I once had a GM whose house rules included every battle receiving enemy reinforcements each d4 rounds.
he end there were four factions in the ruckus and it was taking about 60 minutes per round for him to run it.
Actually if combat are long enough that re-inforcement have the time to come you’re doing something wrong. NPC aren’t stormtroopers who always miss, and PC aren’t doing practice shooting. A combat shall be quick and deadly, if you’re lucky one hit shall cause an injury, but usually an opponent doing a successful attack roll will at least incapacitate a PC.
PCs that hit 0 HP aren’t dead, they’re just helpless (disarmed, KOed, socially cowed, etc.) Make it clear that nonlethal options are always on the table. [Spiceomancy]
In the same category, once a character lost enought HP to get maluses, I ask them to roll endurance (whatever how it’s called in your game) to simply stay conscious, not only it helps preventing stupid death, but make combat faster. I believe some OSR games have a morale roll acting a bit similar
While I never GMed Blades in the dark I have some forged in the dark XP and GM an old game about thieves a while ago, so I may have some pointer
Mechanics
forged in the dark is IMO at the sweet spot between rule light and rule heavy, while the core rule are simple, the stress mechanic, the position/effect, and the special playbook action adds a certain layer of complexity, do not advertised it as a rule light game it’s not.
Another important thing, ask the player to roll the f… dices. As a GM, I tend to skip roll for “common action” that the player would be able to do no matter what. In Forged in the dark, “everyting is a clock” that you fill with failure/success. So rolling the dice is what make the games move forward (and the whole partial failure means that the dice result matters). In general I keep a large macro clock the plot thicken/alarm level when I’m getting rid of short term idea to materialise time lost letting NPC move in the background
While I am less happy with the downtime phase, it’s a key part of the game, depending on your game style it may evolve to the main game, but I use it as a fancy purchase/XP/Heal phase
Urban Thieve campaign
Remember, as the player are stuck in the city, their action matter, treat it like a political game, they’ll quickly need to find allies
Is it really AI or is it Temu/Ali Express/Shein taking a huge market share?
The whole game dynamic is incredible, and the secret roles being different from the main roles gives some replay potential at least on GM side.
As usual, make sure players know what they signed for, if they’re into miniature combat it’s not the game for them. If they look for a emotional role play heavy game about a family dynamic that’s a must play.
Note that the first act feels a bit slow, but it really helps building the dynamic to have a strong game during second act and tears during final scene
Read the book
Create a bunch of 'test character"
Use these test character for a “test one shot” with player interested to try, and understanding that the point of the one shot is to learn to GM the system