Noddsoc - NoDDSoc

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thank you very cool

hi marn!!! im gonna try to convince my friends to start a ttrpg campaign but none of them have really done any rpgs before, do you have any games you would recommend for a batch of newcomers?? probably something more rules light + gmless but pretty much any genre should work

claps my hands yes i doooooo

i'm sorry did you say street magic is a gmless game where you work together to create a magical city, its landmarks, and the people who live there! it's really fun for kicking off a campaign by spitballing and building a setting you're all excited to explore

stewpot is a gmless game where you play a series of minigames as retired adventurers settling down and running a tavern together! it also has a hack called wishing well that's about moving out of the big city and joining a small rural community, inspired by stardew valley and harvest moon

if not us, then who? is a card game where you create your own episodic tv show about a team of heroes fighting villains, inspired by power rangers, sailor moon, animorphs, etc! it's fun for multi-session play because you're essentially writing your own season-long arcs of the show

sleepaway is a gmless belonging outside belonging game where you play as summer camp employees trying to protect the kids you're in charge of from an ominous cryptid. it has rules for one-shot and multi-session play, and some bonus expansions! it is a horror game though so you should make sure your group is into that

tendencies is not gmless but it's one of my favorite campaign games of all time. it's a pbta game based on hunter x hunter and jojo's bizarre adventure and it lets you level up and unleash cool new powers in the middle of battle. it fucking shreds AND it has collaborative worldbuilding mechanics baked into its setup

bell songs is a gmless game where you play small animals on a redwall-style adventure! it's a game that feels very homey and warm, and lets you create interesting characters and experiment with the scope of the stories you want to tell with them at the table

i am gonna stop myself here lol but yeah here are a handful of recs!

A piece of advice that I THINK comes from the Blades in the Dark rulebook (but I'm not sure because I've read so many TTRPG rulebooks in the last year or so) but that I think could be applied to a lot of other TTRPGs is that a roll shouldn't make a competent character look incompetent.

Like, I think most players and GMs (especially those of us that come from the D&D paradigm) tend to think of the dice roll as representing how well the character does the thing. This seems intuitive, but it tends to make a character's perceived level of competency at the things they're supposed to be good at weirdly swingy, which might be undesirable unless you're aiming for a slapstick tone.

Like, your stats/skills/modifyiers/whatever the hell the game you're playing has/ already represent how good/bad your character is at doing certain stuff. So the die roll, being a luck-based number unrelated to these skills, probably shouldn't ALSO represent how well your character does the thing, but instead represent outside factors that influence the outcome of your action, such as something distravting your hero, the enemy jumping away to avoid the swing, or the lock you're trying to pick having a bit of rust that's giving you trouble.

In practical terms, what I'm saying is that if your thief with a decent sneak skill is trying to stealthily follow a guard, but you get a disastrous dice roll that causes you to be discovered, that dice roll probably shouldn't represent your thief suddenly stumbling over and making a lot of noise, but the guard suddenly remembering he left something in his quarters and turning around at the worst possible moment. Mechanically both get you the same result, but one of them doesn't have the unintended of effect of making it seem like your thief suddenly forgot how to sneak.

sixty-nine more questions for your ttrpg characters!

(i originally made one of these on a defunct sideblog; i thought it was about time i made a new one! send an oc’s name and a number, go wild!)

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1. what drives them? what’s their ultimate goal?

2. what was your original concept for this character? how did playing them change that concept?

3. can they accept failure?

4. what one person, place, or thing do they love more than anything else?

5. is there something they want to be known for?

6. how have they changed in the last year? how about the last five years?

7. there’s a magic item (or technological innovation, or special resource) made just for them—what is it?

8. what songs remind you of them? if there are specific lyrics or movements, list ‘em!

9. when in their life were they most scared?

10. what inspired this character’s creation?

11. if they have a pet or animal companion, how do they spend time with them? if they don’t have one, what sort of animal would they be interested in raising, if any?

12. how have they altered their body? piercings, tattoos, biohacks, or other modifications—anything. why (or why not) did they (or someone else) make those changes?

13. what are some motifs you associate with them? did you intentionally bring in those motifs, or did it happen over time?

14. what keeps them up at night?

15. is there something that never fails to make them laugh?

16. do they value their appearance?

17. they’re crying—what did it take to make them cry?

18. what dish brings back the best memories for them?

19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them?

20. what attracts them to someone—platonically and/or romantically, anything counts.

21. do they have an idea about how they’ll die? do you?

22. how would they decorate their living space, if they had a chance?

23. in what moment did they consider themselves to be “grown up”?

24. are they close to any family members?

25. who is their best friend?

26. what type of person pisses them off?

27. how do they usually dress? why do they dress the way they do?

28. do they collect anything?

29. what feelings do they internalize?

30. how do they handle confrontation?

31. do they respond well to praise? how about criticism?

32. which of your decisions led to their voice being the way it is?

33. what artistic medium are they most drawn to?

34. what languages do they speak? how did they learn them?

35. when did they feel loneliest?

36. how do they fidget?

37. if they’ve had one, what was their first kiss like?

38. do they see themselves as an important part of their party?

39. are they insecure about their appearance? how about their personality? what aspects specifically worry them?

40. if you had to remake this character right now, how would you change them?’

41. how do you keep notes for this character, if at all?

42. can they dance?

43. how much do they know about the world they live in?

44. what lies do they tell others?

45. what lies do they tell themselves?

46. have they taught themselves any skills just for fun?

47. what could they talk about for hours on end?

48. do they relate to anyone in their group? conversely, which person do they relate to the least?

49. how often do they cut their hair, if at all?

50. do they have a go-to beverage, alcoholic or nonalcoholic?

51. what element of their backstory are you proudest of?

52. how would they dress themselves up for a formal event?

53. do they keep their plans close to their chest?

54. how important is money in their life? do they save up for ages, or spend quickly?

55. they’re seeing their greatest wish come true—what’s happening?

56. who would they trust with their life, unequivocally?

57. do they see value in the laws of where they live?

58. how often do they swear? do they mind when others swear?

59. what’s an element of their philosophy that you disagree with?

60. what do they have faith in? what keeps them believing?

61. is there an in-game moment of theirs you think about and just laugh?

62. do they believe in good and evil?

63. what’s a meme or tiktok or vine (or whatever) that you associate with them?

64. how would a party member describe them?

65. what would their go-to karaoke song be?

66. which fruit do they like most?

67. do they consider themselves to be special?

68. where’s their home?

69. what’s one secret they don’t want getting out?

More people need to know about We Are But Worms; A One Word RPG (free on itch by riverhouse games). I am constantly thinking about this. (desc in alt)

What is up gamerz, We are NoDDsoc, (Not Only Dungeons and Dragons), the University of Sheffield’s TTRPG society. We run both campaigns and one-shots, both online and person, and also run a social discord sever and other social events, all of which are available to both students and not students, including those outside of Sheffield. Link to our social server: (which includes links to most of our other sites) https://noddsoc.co.uk/SocialDiscord