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Draupnir, the ring station in orbit around a black hole, has gone from a remote research base to boomtown overnight.
How will the ring change, and how will it change the people who live there?
Find out on The Drop, a PBT-Traveler #ttrpg #ActualPlay.
https://www.happyjacks.org/category/actual-play-podcast/the-drop/
@HeyeBodo
I played from 12 to 25, lost interest, then had kids and raised them. During pandemic isolation at 48 I took up game-mastering again with dependable members of my #boardgames group. We've had three monthly sessions since. Important for someone who likes attention yet works alone. We switch games twice a year.
@HeyeBodo At 8, babysitter taught me Holmes Basic D&D, I soon found Gamma World, Star Frontiers. Friend ran Top Secret bc his parents believed the Satanism thing. TONS of Star Fleet Battles, Car Wars, & Traveller. I quit AD&D because it sucks, ran Palladium, RoleMaster, Stormbringer, Champions, Tunnels & Trolls.
College I did Ars Magica, Kult, a LOT of RoleMaster.
Work slowed me down, mostly Palladium, Witchcraft, & my own games, semi-pro (have been paid).
Now, OSR, Fantasy Trip, etc.
#ttrpg
Eternal ponderings. D&D did not have perception as an ability score.
In my homebrew, I added perception.
Come to find out, such quandaries were happening since the beginning. In White Dwarf Magazine Issue 17 published February 1980, Barney Sloane proposed the same idea.
@HeyeBodo Hello. This is a Work in Progress, and I'm not sure if I will ever complete it. @PictureBandit helped a LOT with that.
#ttrpg folks!
How would you describe your ttrpg „biography“ in one post?
Not only your origin story as a hobbyist (cultists love initiation stories), but also defining moments, changes with regards to your preferred style of play or system, etc.
My ad-hoc system is Level^2 x 100 GP for utility items or nice-to-have, Bonus^2 x 1000 GP for major ability. Growth is Level 2, Detect Enemies Level 4. +2 sword is 4000 +3 minor is 900 GP.
Actual price might be 50-200% or a LOT more if someone's got you by the "we need this or everyone dies!"
If I really care specifically, I have Bard Games' Compleat Alchemist, which lets me work out exact values for many items, more or less in line with that.
#ttrpg #dnd #osr
So let's see what you bought, I'll roll in Swords & Wizardry, my prices:
19%: Potion of Growth, you become 30' tall & are embedded in tavern's 2nd story. 400 GP, please.
38%: Wand of Detection, Enemies! You know immediately who is thinking hostile thoughts about you, & it doesn't run out of charges. BEST WAND FOR PARANOIDS. 1600 GP.
27%: Sword +2, +3 vs Ogres. You will spend your life in endless battle. 4900 GP.
17% were narcs. Snitches get backstabbed in the dark.
#ttrpg #dnd #osr
Made a character for
https://itch.io/jam/ttrpg-character-creation-challenge-jam-2
Tunnels & Trolls 5E (1979). Rolled 3,3,3 for DEX, which triples add & roll over for Humans (Ken's house rule, in my print copy). I could've done a really good Wizard, but that doesn't take much advantage of the DEX, Rogue or Warrior does. If he lives, he can learn some spells. Also rolled 60 for gold, so almost naked spear guy.
I hate Mongoose, but that’s a story for another time. But I have to give them props for dropping a Classic Traveller adventure today.
(The freelancers they hire are cool people who are passionate about Traveller.)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/566257/adventure-14-travel-hazards
I've begun the 2026 TTRPG Character Creation Challenge Jam, in which one creates a new #TTRPG character for every day in May.
My first one is for Nexus: The Infinite CIty
I have been thinking of skills in Star Frontiers again thanks to recent discussions. I think the whole skill list and their varying ways of computing the chance is a bit too unwieldy in the Expanded rules.
So, I propose stick to base skill equals attribute as done in the Basic rules. A characters attribute is going to be between 30 to 70 (with possibly some species attribute bonus).
And to level up, what if a player can just spend 1 experience point to level up their skill 1 point? A typical encounter will only yield 1 or 2 experience points so it will still take a long time to get a skill up to 100.
Note, I would take away any system to increase attributes and just keep improvement to skills.
Join the Second Circus, a rogue band of performers and secret agents trying to navigate Lae'zel's uprising against Vlaakith.
New episodes of The Astral Circus drop live Sundays at 5 PM PST/8 PM EST. Catch up on past episodes below! #ttrpg #ActualPlay
https://www.happyjacks.org/category/actual-play-podcast/the-astral-circus/
Broadcast your endless craving with our Thirsty Vampire tee! #ttrpg #VtM
https://happy-jacks-rpg-shop.fourthwall.com/products/mote-of-sin-thirsty-shirt
Looking for an AP that hits a little different?
Happy Jacks has shows that run the gamut of genres and #ttrpg systems!
Check out our full lineup to discover your next favorite #ActualPlay.
Speaking of Nathan Paoletta, there was an old post apocalypse Soviet robot game I kept not remembering the name of, so I had to ask on their discord.
I played it with some friends 13 years ago, luckily still had pics on my phone.
It’s cute and fun, and PWYW.
Vesna Thaw!
https://ndpdesign.itch.io/vesna-thaw
#TTRPG #MicroGames #StoryGames #NathanDPaoletta #VesnaThaw #GiantRobots
Du suchst ein #OSR Modul, das ihr an einem Abend fertig bekommt? Ich habe fünf! Und die sind alle kostenlos.
Welches davon kennst du schon?
Und - für mich viel interessanter - welches Abenteuer, das diese Kriterien erfüllt, sollte ich mir unbedingt mal anschauen? 👀
https://rollenspielblog.net/rollenspiel/osr-abenteuer-kostenlos-oneshot/
RE: https://social.vivaldi.net/@randomwizard/116489977777721324
I detest the concept of “magic shops” in D&D. It turns the wonderous mundane in short order and throws power balance out of whack too. And, apparently, Gary Gygax also thought so many moons ago. #dnd #ttrpg #ttrpgs #garygygax
So… I did throw $5 at Probably Bad for this. It has long been one of my favorite blogs & podcasts. So many stupid ideas! I steal a lot.
And we watched some Mazes & Monsters in the Satanism tape on Forgotten_VCR earlier tonight. It's such a weirdo movie, trying to be anti-D&D but it's not convincing.
There was an amazing "retro-clone" of M&M:
https://www.blogofholding.com/?series=mazesandmonsters-2
A guy sidles up to you in the tavern.
"Hey, buddy, you wanna buy…" <looks around, sees no guards> "… some magic?"
You know Big Magic, aka The EGG of COOT, aka They Sue Regularly, doesn't want you buying magic, except from Hobby Official Dungeon Shop.
| Buy a magic potion: | 9 |
| Buy a magic wand: | 18 |
| Buy a magic sword: | 13 |
| Report him to the guards: | 8 |
Closed
@randomwizard It's always hilarious how much I do the opposite of Gygax.
Common stuff like potions & +1's are the basic way mid-high-level Magic-Users make a living.
Better magic items are a major currency, but obviously super dangerous to possess or try to sell… like drugs. So any item auction is an adventure. PCs bring back a wand or something they don't want to use, & it's backstab city.
PLUS, most of Gygax's adventures say people will "demand a magic item" for services.
#ttrpg #osr #dnd
What are some podcasts that talk about indie games/pbta/story games and stuff?
I used to hear about things from the Jankcast (their old AW actual play really helped the game click for me) but they’ve been dead for ages and I haven’t replaced it in my listening.
I know there are a ton of OSR/D&D ones, but I want something that will talk about stuff like Good Society and Masks and Stonetop and stuff.
#TTRPG #PbtA #FitD #StoryGames #GoodSociety #Podcast#Jankcast
Did you know that Happy Jacks does not accept ad money or sponsorships of any kind? Happy Jacks is completely sustained by our Patreon supporters!
Find out more below! #ttrpg #ActualPlay
When a group of friends returns to the world they created in high school and things take a dark turn, what will they do to get home? What will they do to stay forever?
You can’t split the party.
Find out in Return to Raelis, a DIE #ttrpg #ActualPlay.
https://www.happyjacks.org/category/actual-play-podcast/return-to-raelis/
1995. The OJ trial, Forest Gump, and the destruction of the Hoover Dam and flooding of Boulder City, NV.
Follow five people dealing with the fact that their youth didn’t pan out how they expected in Floodwater, a Things from The Flood #ttrpg #ActualPlay.
https://www.happyjacks.org/category/actual-play-podcast/floodwater/
The Simplest Quest Model – Lazy GM Tip: SlyFlourish YouTube Video
#ttrpg folks. I'm trying to write a one-shot zine of "tragic superheros". The base premise is an old comic called "Strikeforce Morituri" where the heroes are given powers to fight an alien invasion, but the process will kill them within the year.
This idea has been percolating for years in my head, so I'm building it.
I'm stuck on finding a good open source system to use as a basis. I've looked at Mork Borg, SNAP, Blades in the Dark.
Any better suggestions to build my game on?
I managed to find this in a thrift store/op shop today. Only $6! It sells for about AU$100 on eBay. It is probably the first #TTRPG item I’ve found, to be honest. #MiddleEarth #MERP
Stonetop is a town at the edge of a wild, monster-filled world. Few ever venture beyond the edge of the village, which is not known for turning out heroes.
Until now, at least...
Follow the story in Stonetop, a Dungeon World #ttrpg #ActualPlay.
https://www.happyjacks.org/category/actual-play-podcast/stonetop
It is interesting to go back to the very early issues of White Dwarf magazine and see RPG luminaries speak of concepts I had to form on my own. In Issue #7 from June 1978, none other than Gary Gygax wrote an article entitled
THOUGHTS ON THE PROLIFERATION OF MAGIC ITEMS IN D&D
"First and foremost no magic items should ever be for sale in a D&D campaign! Never? Well, almost never. Let's leave the qualifiers for a bit later on and get t o the basics first. Magic items are the weight factors in the game. They can be the balance, they can overbalance. They are also the "plums" in the pie. Players immediately recognize the desirability of these items and evidence a strong wish to acquire as many as possible. They do so to assure character survival, but secretly hope for character dominance as well - either by the sheer power of the items or by employment of magic therein t o defeat and loot encountered monsters and rise In level accordingly. The game does not envision any easy access t o magic items, and the introduction of magic shops where players can purchase such is anethma."
Friendship may change your fate. ⛰️💫
Grab this Unsung Tales tee below! #ttrpg #Lotr
https://happy-jacks-rpg-shop.fourthwall.com/products/unsung-tales-shirt
Got a head start on the TTRPG Character Creation Challenge Jam
https://itch.io/jam/ttrpg-character-creation-challenge-jam-2
I've got 3 so far:
A fieldwarden for Cairn
An occult detective for Nexus: the Infinite City
A disgraced self-help guru for Over the Edge
Looking for APs that aren't afraid to stray outside of "the world's greatest roleplaying game"?
The Happy Jacks RPG Network has shows that run the gamut of genres and #ttrpg systems!
Check out our full lineup to discover your next favorite #ActualPlay.
Thinking of what RPGs I have I played as a player, in order from most to least... I have played as a player very little in comparison to being a referee, but still have had the chance to try out a lot of different games over the years.
1. 2nd Edition D&D
2. 3rd Edition D&D
3. Some form of Basic D&D, Moldvay, Holmes, OD&D, or close homebrew
4. 5th Edition D&D
After that, it is a bunch of short games or one off games.
Psi World
Car Wars (not GURPS version)
Toon
Marvel Super Heroes TSR
Chill
Star Wars d6
FUDGE (in a Mad Max like setting)
Lord of the Rings (Decipher version)
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