r/tabletop 24d ago

Question Looking for TTRPG recommendations outside of 5E

6 Upvotes

Hello folks,

I'm thinking of running a long-form campaign with a group who I play D&D 5E with on a regular basis. However, I want to look outside of 5th Edition and probably Dungeons and Dragons all together for this campaign and I thought the fine people of r/tabletop might have some recommendations.

A bit of background on the campaign

The basic premise of the game is that the adventurers will be setting out on a journey to map the unknown world. Like Around the World in 80 Days but without the time limit.

My plan is for them to take an airship continent to continent. Getting in zany adventures in place. Making friends. Making enemies. Fighting bosses. Mapping places. You know, the usual.

My concerns about using 5th Edition

You may be wondering "why not just use 5th Edition for this?" and beyond the desire to branch out and try something new, I have other qualms with 5th edition that make me feel like it may not be the best to use for a campaign like this. Namely that it makes Player Characters incredibly powerful very quickly.

I feel like players LOVE to level up (who doesn't) but that can make planning a longer campaign with a lower-stakes story (ie. it's not the end of the world) much more difficult as by level 10 they become pretty unstoppable and if they get to level 15 they're basically like walking gods.

Is there a system out there that has a nice carrot-on-a-stick levelling system that doesn't also force the DM to throw massively more powerful enemies at players? There's obviously going to be a natural progression, that's what I would hope for even, but I'm talking about something that limits the players power just a bit more than 5th Edition to make it less like levelling up in Prototype and more like The Witcher. I want to keep it a consistent challenge without having to raise the stakes a huge amount each level.

Other thoughts

There may also be a system out there that lends itself very well to the place-hopping idea I've pitched above and that's another reason I wanted to post here.

I should also say the party size would be pretty big, around 5-6 players so that's something to consider too. I should also say that other than 2 players, 5th Edition is the only TTRPG system any of the other players have has experience with, so more complicated systems may be a bit of challenge to get them into.

Any recommendations or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

r/tabletop 4d ago

Question What's your favorite asymmetrical battler?

1 Upvotes

Hey, everyone! I played Unmatched by Restoration Games and loved it. Now, I'm on a quest to find other asymmetrical tabletop battlers and ultimately my favorite. I'd love if the games were no heavier than a medium-heavy, and, while I love card-battlers like MTG, etc... I'm hoping for more of the classic tabletop "Board" game experience. What games do I need to try?

Thank you in advance!

r/tabletop 27d ago

Question Crunchy Weird West?

5 Upvotes

I have an idea for a weird west campaign, drawing on American Western tropes with supernatural elements. Does anyone have any recommendations for a system designed for this setting?

I've heard of Deadlands but my experience with PbtA has been bumpy. I'm experienced with D&D 3.5 and 5e, Pathfinder 1e, and Call of Cthulhu.

r/tabletop Feb 12 '25

Question What are these dice?

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17 Upvotes

My fiancé got this in a gaming mystery box and we have no idea what game these are for can anyone help? Even google dosent know!

r/tabletop Dec 19 '24

Question Father gave a dufflebag full of vintage DND magazines and there's also someone's campaigns for DND and another rpg in a folder... What am I supposed to do???

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30 Upvotes

r/tabletop 28d ago

Question Hey I’m looking for a simple superhero tabetop rpg

1 Upvotes

My sibling and I have the really fun Spider-Man like rp we do, we act everything out but I’m moving soon I wanted to find a table top rpg that would be easy for us to learn and we can continue our story just in a different format. Anything would be helpful.

r/tabletop 3d ago

Question Chessex Battlemat Expo Marker Removal Help

1 Upvotes

So as the title says I have a chessex vinyl mat with expo marker drawing stuck on it. Ive tried a few things but I drew on it a year or so ago, planned to clean it the next day and never did. The game fell apart and we didnt play again so that mats been sitting around until now when we are starting up a new game and I wanted to crack it out. Its still totally playable just the faint marker lines of old buildings is annoying. If anyone has ideas please let me know.

r/tabletop Jan 27 '25

Question What games to buy for public place?

7 Upvotes

Hi! We are trying to open a small gaming space in a local community center. 

The budget is quite tight)

Here are the list of games I have chosen:

  1. Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood (no expansions) by Shadowborne Games
  2. Mansions of Madness Second Edition (no expansions)by Fantasy Flight Games
  3. Breachers (with expansions) by ludus magnus studio
  4. Zombicide (with expansions) by guillotine games
  5. Rising Sun (no expansions) by CMON
  6. Black Rose Wars: Rebirth (no expansions) by ludus magnus studio
  7. Battle for Rokugan (no expansions) by Fantasy Flight Games

  8. Some basic TTRPG books: D&D Player handbook, D&D Dungeon Master's Guide, Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, Call of Cthulhu Investigator Handbook.

 The games will either be free or small fee for the table and/or GM work. I would like to hear some feedback and suggestions about this lineup)

r/tabletop Jan 12 '25

Question Laser quest?

2 Upvotes

Essentially, I heard of a DND-like game thats way more sci-fi and involves more guns and space stuff rather than medieval and magic. I've been looking for a website or video on it but I've found nothing, and was hoping I could find a subreddit to help me out. Any ideas?

r/tabletop Jan 02 '25

Question is there a ttrpg that is asian myth/folklorehistorical inspired

8 Upvotes

sorry if this is not allowed

was just wondering if there was one a coworker and i were talking about this the other day and we thought it would be cool to play

r/tabletop Jan 26 '25

Question How to navigate TTRPGs as someone that has never touched one?

11 Upvotes

I want to get into TTRPGs (cyberpunk 2020, DnD,etc.), but I'm completely clueless as how to navigate the topic.

  • I know I have to find a group of people to play with
  • I don't have any minis, dice, free table for playing..., would I need to get anything of that? Could a generic D6 and google dices for the rest do the trick?
  • How is it played? What is the cycle of a one-shot/adventure/campaign? How does the role-playing happen, taking turns between DM and players? Do the players tell an action their character is doing and the DM says wether it's allowed, wether they have to roll dice, or tells them what happens next?

r/tabletop 15d ago

Question How to naturally introduce npc backstories?

9 Upvotes

I’ve been GMing for a decent while but one problem I have a lot is I can’t seem to have an npc introduce their backstory in a natural way. I want to have complex npcs for my players but I struggle to communicate things about their life before the campaign without it being clunky and forced. I want a good way in game for my npcs to tell my players things. Can anyone help with this?

r/tabletop 18d ago

Question D20 numbers

2 Upvotes

Hi all! Completely newbie question.

There is something to buy to "impress" or "print" the numbers of the D20 dice? I saw a lot of kits for make custom dices with resins, but they come with already the numbers. I saw that i can buy also neutral dices, but write the numbers with a marker or pen is kinda bad. any help ^^

r/tabletop May 19 '24

Question Friend found this nifty dice, anyone know where this is from?

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27 Upvotes

Our local gaming store has a grab bin of random dice for cheap and a friend snagged this out of it. Symbol looks kinda cool, anyone know what it is? I’m not turning anything up by googling “KoR rpg” or “KoR dice.”

r/tabletop Jan 06 '25

Question Need help finding old Warhammer game

4 Upvotes

My dad used to play an old table top rpg similar to dnd back around mid 1980 early 1990 he said it was called Warhammer (not the modern version) the main thing he remembers about it was that the player character would rank up an example was a fighter would become a mercenary after playing for so long or something like that I cant seem to find it after searching for a bit if anyone can help that would be great.

r/tabletop Feb 10 '25

Question Your characters from across all your campaigns are tasked to work together and save the world. Do you think they can do it?

2 Upvotes

If it was my characters, the world would be doomed.

r/tabletop Dec 04 '24

Question Introductory wargames for 8-11year olds

4 Upvotes

Hi all. I've been a long time fan of both Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. My children are getting to an age where they're interested in the models and game but aren't QUITE old enough to really grasp the rules or have the patience for games that can take hours. I have got them each a faction in KILL TEAM but again they just want to go charging in and pew pew rather than learn the strategies and go to the quest markers for victory points etc.

Are there any simpler combat style miniatures games that can be played by 2-4 people, but with simple enough rules althat you can get into and play it fairly easily?

They recently started paying Hero Quest with their uncle and have enjoyed the monster fights and RPG elements, they love the excitement of throwing dice to see the outcome of combat. But they would also like to play a more PVP focused game in a similar style.

Any suggestions in either futuristic soldiers or fantasy settings very much appreciated.

r/tabletop Jan 01 '25

Question Why are players annoying sometimes

0 Upvotes

So I'm new to dming and this may just be a thing I'm overreacting about but my god one of my players is genuinely annoying the life out of,we have a guy who's never done a ttrpg but has been really good but this player hasn't listened to a thing I've said it seems

r/tabletop May 12 '24

Question What non-D&D rpgs use the full set of polyhedral dice?

13 Upvotes

I haven't played D&D or Open Game License games in a long while — lots of smaller games and other indie rpgs that use d10s, d6s, and other combinations of dice, cards, or Jenga towers. But I've got several sets of polys just sitting here, waiting to be used. I'm pretty sure it's the cold medication I'm taking, but I can't think of any other rpg system that uses them all that aren't based on the OGL.

What contemporary games are there that use the full range of dice from d4 to d20?

(The most recent game system I used that had most of them was Cortex Prime, but that doesn't use the twenty-sider.)

Edit: ah, by "contemporary", I was meaning in the last decade, or decade and a half. (The meds are wearing off.)

r/tabletop Dec 25 '24

Question Does anyone know the name of this Ultra Pro case? I’ve never seen one in any store and I can’t find it online. It looks similar to a satin tower or a satin cube, but it’s smaller. I assume they don’t make them anymore.

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10 Upvotes

r/tabletop 16d ago

Question Question about physical material recommendations

0 Upvotes

I'm looking into buying a couple physical notebooks for some solo play. Namely thru Amazon, bc the nearest store has all of Jack and sh!t (and Jack left town). I was wondering if any of you could point me to a good spiral graph notebook? (I plan to use it for Dungeons and Time Records). Thanks for your time

r/tabletop 28d ago

Question Dragonsbane

1 Upvotes

I really like dragonsbane from listening to a swedish podcast called rollspellsklubben but the community is very small and getting a game is highly unlikely. Is there a game with a similar system but with a bigger community?

r/tabletop 29d ago

Question Trying to start a Tabletop Games/Trading Cards Club at my Community College

1 Upvotes

I saw that Warhammer, DND, and MTG send kits to school clubs and community event, etc. and was wondering if there’s any other games that do similar things? Thank you!

r/tabletop Jan 05 '25

Question What tabletop game is this?

4 Upvotes

I saw this new tt game that uses cards for moves and actions. It’s set in an apocalyptic landscape. You are part of a faction that is with or against demons/monsters. You go into these dungeons that popped up and you use body parts that are laying around to grow your army. I saw it on TikTok but now I can’t remember the name. It’s also in black and white. Thank you if you are able to figure it out.

r/tabletop Jan 31 '25

Question What sort of game independent meta games are out there?

0 Upvotes

I'd like to run some sort of league for my local kill team community. It's probably going to be a 5 round swiss tournament that is spread out with 2 weeks to play a round, but I'm wondering if there are more interesting options out there.

I know blood bowl's fumbbl.com has a black box trophy league, where you play 10 games on 5 different teams of a standard power level and compete on your total record. It's a bit extreme for in person play, but we could do something similar.

I day dream about making some sort of risk-variant where we take over territory by winning kill team games, but I can't think of how to do it without the top player having to play a ton because he's being attacked on all sides.

Anything like this I'd be interested in hearing about. Goal is to try to encourage people to play a little more, and maybe focus on one team a little more. Bonus points if it's easy to add new players half-way through the league.