Thread 96081009 - /tg/ [Archived: 428 hours ago]

Anonymous
7/13/2025, 9:35:57 PM No.96081009
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md5: 53f2465a8fea6be680826e4efcc11aed🔍
We always talk about the easiest systems for a newbie GM to start with, but I want to know about the opposite: what are the systems that are considered the hardest and demand so much previous knowledge that only seasoned and experienced GMs should even attempt to run them.
Replies: >>96081218 >>96081238 >>96081275 >>96081348 >>96081363 >>96081576 >>96081680 >>96081805 >>96081852 >>96082027 >>96083568 >>96083705 >>96088364 >>96093229 >>96093588 >>96093964
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 9:36:36 PM No.96081012
FATAL
Replies: >>96081054 >>96099721
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 9:41:18 PM No.96081054
>>96081012
You can't run a car without wheels.
Replies: >>96081220
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:02:02 PM No.96081218
>>96081009 (OP)
Any random OSR system will be terrible for a newfag GM and they will get completely overwhelmed.
Those games outright assume you know only know how to play by default, but that you also understand their mental shortcuts for things that aren't even in the mainstream anymore and on top of that, try to ape the non-informative style of early games without understanding it was a bug, not a feature.
So yeah, pick random OSR and you will have a complete clusterfuck as a newfag.
Replies: >>96081343 >>96089557 >>96093967
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:02:10 PM No.96081220
>>96081054
It not only has the wheels, but also makes you roll for their circumference.
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:06:38 PM No.96081238
>>96081009 (OP)
DnD 5e if you want to run it rules as written
Replies: >>96081272 >>96082297
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:11:11 PM No.96081272
>>96081238
>imagine being so dumb you think running 5e is hard
Replies: >>96082297
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:11:22 PM No.96081275
>>96081009 (OP)
Something with either really heavy mechanics or something with a ton of GM behind the scenes work.

For the former, I'd put forth the MERPS version Rolemaster as the books are terribly organized and jammed packed with charts upon charts. For the later I'd go with In Nomine. A lot of the powers require you to have extensive information on NPCs. For instance one choir of angels can give you a snapshot of a person's place in society and his relationships with everyone around him.
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:19:15 PM No.96081343
>>96081218
>literal children could play D&D in the 20th century
>fully grown adults have trouble following the rules in WotC D&D, including 5e
"uh, actually OSR are terrible systems!"
You sound like a retarded who wanted to Leroy Jenkins in the wrong system and now permanently asshurt.
Replies: >>96081573 >>96081789
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:20:31 PM No.96081348
>>96081009 (OP)
Mechanically: Shadowrun
Lore wise: Legend of the Five Rings if you're playing it 100% cannon
Replies: >>96093941
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:22:36 PM No.96081363
>>96081009 (OP)
FATAL
BESM 3e (Tri-stat)
HERO System
GURPS
PF2E
3.PF1e
Shadowrun
Pokerole 2e
PTU
Dragonball Universe
Replies: >>96081490 >>96083166
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:38:53 PM No.96081490
>>96081363
Any Pokemon system is terrible for new GMs just because they'll have to account for the amount of utility a typical party of 4 who can have up to 6 Pokemon on them..
Replies: >>96093128
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:48:06 PM No.96081573
>>96081343
Nta, but there is such saying in my native that roughly translates as "the bull forgot when he was still a calf". Meaning - you completely forgot how fucking clueless you were when picking this hobby and try to shoulder it on "zoomers dumb" and project bunch of other shit.
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 10:48:17 PM No.96081576
>>96081009 (OP)
granular detailed systems like GURPS, HERO, Exalted. More detailed rules= more homework for GM, more stuff to remember (players won't).
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:01:34 PM No.96081680
>>96081009 (OP)
From industrial main-stays? nWoD games are really fucking bad at explaining both their mechanics and intended tone of play, not to mention how to play at all (both mechanically and by what even do to play the game). You might unironically get the impression you are about being roped into a BDSM act, especially as a GM.
Any game designed like modern D&D (so you need more than a single book to run/play it at fucking all), because that's a lot of busy work for GM for no real gain, while also fleecing people (since they have no idea what they really need to buy at this point).
Any game that assumes outright that people already "know" what those games run and how to run them in the first place. Double points if its OSR, that aggressively markets itself to newfags, despite being by default written for grogs and people already into the hobby.

Honestly, I can't even imagine how is getting into the hobby nowadays, given quality of books actually decreased, while more and more games are assumiing people already know how to do this shit via pop-cultural osmosis (which is absolutely retarded assumption). I luckied out by late 90s by having a really cool GM and a system that was just two pages of rules and even then I didn't felt like I can handle running this shit for like two years. Today? I would just give up after reading any given random rulebook, given how they throw rules at you, but not instructions on how to play and especially how to run. Actual, physically run, not bullshit advice on how to build mood or how to avoid uncomfortable subjects
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:15:53 PM No.96081789
>>96081343
There is a rather stark difference between "children could (and still can) play D&D" and "you are supposed to use as your very first game some faggot's re-edition of 0e written for and by people that are in this shit for years, explaining jack and shit beyond their revolutionary changes to pre-existing conventions that aren't explained, because they are obvious for the actual target audience".
You would know that, if your IQ wasn't equal to the room temperature of an industrial freezer. And if you were actually playing anything at fucking all.
Replies: >>96089557
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:17:31 PM No.96081805
>>96081009 (OP)
Dungeons: the Dragoning 40k 7th Edition
Replies: >>96090478
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:19:56 PM No.96081831
s-l1600
s-l1600
md5: 5140484a18d8a49ffd5eb7b8656ec9db🔍
Shadowrun, especially before the wireless era
Having to run the mages in astral, the meat men in real world, then the decker in the matrix and keep the 3 time systems synched, engaging for all 3, make it feel like its not all about 1 group ect.
Its hard to keep it all fun for basicly 3 separate systems with diffrent goals and layers.

A good shadowrun 3rd ed gm is a skilled man
Replies: >>96082036 >>96093941 >>96093979
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:22:00 PM No.96081852
>>96081009 (OP)
Paranoia.
It requires almost no prep and is extraordinarily intense on execution. Everyone is scheming simultaneously, and you have to resolve all their actions.
Replies: >>96083089 >>96085544 >>96093823 >>96093980
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:41:35 PM No.96082027
>>96081009 (OP)
From the top of my head:
>Exalted
>Paranoia
>GURPS (unless it's Lite)
>Everyone is John
>Any given "TRVE" OSR
>Pathfinder
>BitD
>GDW's editions of Twilight 2000
And the only reason I don't bring 3e DnD is because it came out before any potential newfag you will get was born.
Replies: >>96082036 >>96083568
Anonymous
7/13/2025, 11:43:02 PM No.96082036
>>96082027
>>96081831
Oh, right, Shadowrun. This shit is something else to run, especially if you have no prior experience with cyberpunk systems and urban fantasy ones - and it does both at once. It's no surprise Germans love this game, for it's such a fucking mess tonally and mechanically..
Replies: >>96093941
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:17:28 AM No.96082297
>>96081238
>>96081272
I wouldn't say 5e is hard to run mechanically, but if you just gave a someone who's never ran a game but interested in the concept the 3 core books and said ,"ok, we'll be back in a month to play a game, also you're not allowed to read any other books or read anything online, just these 3 books." They'd be pretty fucked. For the theoretical patient zero of ttrpg, it does fuck all to teach GMs how to run any kind of game.
Replies: >>96082322 >>96082713 >>96083055
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:20:25 AM No.96082315
Sort of the opposite of what most people are posting, I think ultralight stuff like black hack, white hack and Mörk borg are probably really bad for newbies. In a more mechanically robust system, you can sort of fall back on mechanics when not sure how to move forward. These games have so little by way of mechanics and procedures, it's obvious they expect you to already have played and run games before.
Replies: >>96082350
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:21:09 AM No.96082322
>>96082297
That's not even 5e thing, that's just DnD in general. And it's twice as bad in TSR-made games, since they explain you fuck-all, despite having much more narrow focus of 'go to dark holes and fight things you find there" - it still doesn't provide any sensible or concrete info on how to run or play those
Replies: >>96093841
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:23:48 AM No.96082350
>>96082315
>ultralight
>stuff like black hack, white hack and Mörk borg
You keep using that word, yet it's clear as day you have no clue what it means.
>In a more mechanically robust system, you can sort of fall back on mechanics when not sure how to move forward
This is a complete bullshit statement, especially from newfag perspective. If the game doesn't explain how to play it, but instead is just a set of rules of the game itself, you are fucked, doesn't matter if it's a single page, or two books 500 pages each.
Also:
>If you have 300+ pages, you somehow will have easier time running this than when having a single page
I will never understand this idiotic line of marketing or why dumb cunts like you keep it circulating
Replies: >>96082387 >>96082423 >>96083055 >>96089443
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:29:01 AM No.96082387
>>96082350
Why are you so fucking angry, dude?
Replies: >>96083000
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 12:33:01 AM No.96082423
>>96082350
>I'm going to completely ignore what you said, and instead get angry at an argument I made up in my head! AAARRRGH!
Replies: >>96083000
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:09:14 AM No.96082713
>>96082297
The basic rules are available online as a pdf. If you try to get into it by reading the monster manual front to back your ass deserves to get filtered.
Replies: >>96082743 >>96088319
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:12:08 AM No.96082743
>>96082713
not that anon, but monstrous manuals shouldn't be filtering anybody.
They're the draw. The main appeal. The primary thing you'll be dealing with in the game.
A good monstrous manual should get someone excited to play, which involves having cool monsters that do cool things. And descriptions of how they live and do stuff.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:42:39 AM No.96083000
>>96082387
>>96082423
Why are you projecting things that aren't even remotely implied, then samefag to double-down on your projection?
Oh, right, that's because you have nothing to say, when your idiotic statement was put under any level of scrutinize. But apparently I'm mad about it, and not you seething that you were told to fuck off
Replies: >>96083042
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:47:05 AM No.96083042
>>96083000
>any level of scrutinize
Angry typos are low IQ and effeminate
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:49:17 AM No.96083055
Screenshot_20250713_164702_Samsung Notes
Screenshot_20250713_164702_Samsung Notes
md5: e0a6b7710bfd8ec578e180ea4ba7d2be🔍
>>96082350
>>96082297
Why exactly would a book tell you how to a fantasy imagination land game.
Its up to you the gm on how that looks.


Using rifts as an example of its...how to roleplay. What would you say is missing from this write up?
I cut out 2 pages of terms mind you.
Rifts is far superior than most RPG's but I cant think what more you need to be told to run A game.
Tldr; do you consider this enough instruction on how to play?
Replies: >>96083201 >>96100037
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 1:53:30 AM No.96083089
>>96081852
>extraordinarily intense on execution
Phrasing!
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:04:52 AM No.96083166
>>96081363
Gurps is hard?
Replies: >>96083219 >>96093987
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:08:28 AM No.96083201
>>96083055
The entire point of this thread is books that are terrible for newfags.
Now, exercise those few braincells you still have and riddle me this:
From where a newfag trying to GM is supposed to know those things, if the game he is handling doesn't tell him how to run it?
>this excrept
No, not really.
It boils down to following information
>Rifts is a registered brand
>It informs the reader that they can feel intimidated and confused (big mistake, the same as telling kids that math is hard or Chinese tough to speak, instilling the concept of difficulty right off the bat)
>It compares role-playing to playing a board game
>It goes on an elaborate narrative scene, informing the newfag GM they need to elaborate on details to nauseating level that only works in textplay
>It tells to detail and visual places, without telling why or what's it even all about (after a whole page of such instructions)
>It instructs to railroad in a very unsubtle way.
>It goes to dictionary before explaining rules
This is bad even for a 1990 game.
All this text, the3 fucking pages of it, don't inform how to run this game. They tell you how to write an atmospheric short story.
Even saying "Imagine you are all playing pretend, except there are general rules what you can pretend (described in this book) and the role of the game master is to affirm those rules. This game also uses dice rolls, as the ultimate way of knowing who succeeded in their pretend, in an unbiased way" is more informative and to the point that this cumbersome, self-pleased bullshit.

I guess this really takes running almost endless open table for kids and teens to know how absolutely abysmal majority of games is at explaining how to play and especially run them and what's even the point. They cover rules, they cover concepts tied to the game, but can't explain what's it all even about in layman terms, in a way that someone who never played prior can get into the whole concept in less than 5 sentences, not three pages
Replies: >>96083322 >>96089033
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:10:23 AM No.96083219
>>96083166
Nta, but GURPS is terrible newfag system, since unless you picked Lite, it's very easy to get the impression that you are supposed to use if not all, then at least most of those rules. GURPS is notoriously bad at selling its own core concepts.
That and unassisted chargen is going to lead to people constantly and consistently make terrible characters: overlapping skills, extremely overbudget, weird stat values and spending enough points to make a demi-god to produce a weakling schmuck.
Replies: >>96093987
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:22:26 AM No.96083322
>>96083201
Give any fucking example of a better how to play blurb

If you cant speak gook cause someone told you its hard you are way to easily diswayed pussy.

Seriously who are these fags that need instruction on play pretend with rules?
Replies: >>96083353 >>96089217
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:29:30 AM No.96083353
>>96083322
You're dumb or just ESL that the point bounces over your forehead and falls flat?
Let me repeat the question:
From where a newfag trying to GM is supposed to know those things, if the game he is handling doesn't tell him how to run it?
Don't ignore it, answer it. You are new, you never played not to mention run anything, and you have a "rulebook" that gives you rules of a game, without telling you how to play the game, just what the rules are. How are you supposed to know then how to play, and especially how to run it?
>g-give better
The whole fucking point is that vast majority of games are not better, you tool. The fews that are actually better, usually have an entire fucking separate chapter discussing the whole concept, in details and with examples. Not examples of rules in action, but how the game itself is played and run.
When was the last time you run with a complete fucking newfag?
How many years ago you get into the hobby?
And keep in mind I'm being generous, assuming you play at fucking all, given how you are unable to even grasp the real issue at hand (which would be better for you if it came from being in this shit for years, rather than being clueless never-game)
Replies: >>96083390 >>96083431
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:35:26 AM No.96083390
>>96083353
No one starts out GM so raw. Assuming 4 people buy a book mail order from a catalog, they live rural so all 4 have 0 game experience, 0 internet access to see someone else run a game..ect.
Truly raw to all that is gaming, no uncle or older brother to run a basic crawl or opening scene...nothing

Then their games gonna be all that more unique, and hopefully fun for them, they will stumble and fall and if they get back up, as long as their interpretation of gaming is fine.
Its theirs, if they all view it as what ever they came up with and use the rules how they see fit...all the better

Ive never met a gm that didnt play a game as a player first. Youd have to go back to original dnd way back when to find that level of isolation in gaming
Replies: >>96083460 >>96083557 >>96083605
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:40:42 AM No.96083431
>>96083353
Side note, are you incapable of seeing objects in your minds eye? Because you seem to need an hefty level of hand holding far beyond anything warranted in the common parlance of gaming.
Replies: >>96083485
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:44:08 AM No.96083460
>>96083390
>No one starts out GM so raw.
Except, you know, actual newfags.
>They will then just magically figure it out on their own, you know
Which brings us back to original point that you continue to miss: majority of books don't explain how to play their own games.
>Ive never met a gm that didnt play a game as a player first.
This will probably shock you, given how dumb you are, but someone has to tell you those things
- if nobody runs, then you can't be a player first
- your personal experiences aren't universal, objective truths
>Youd have to go back to original dnd way back when to find that level of isolation in gaming
Or you could just find random 3-5 kids that want to get into this whole tabletop RPG thing and none of them played before, you amazing moron.

Which is what I'm dealing with on regular basis at least once per six game meet-ups in a youth club, where I run every single fucking Wednesday an open table for the past 19 years. I'm doing it in a large conurbation, to kids that were born after wideband internet access, and they are completely fucking clueless. Especially the ones that decided to "prep" and read the rules of the game I'm running that week.
>b-but everyone knows what those games are and how to play them
From where? Ever occured to you not everyone consumes the same media, operates in the same social and internet bubble, read the same books and hangs with the same kinds of people? Or I'm asking from you too much to imagine right now, because you are still stuck in that one-room dwelling, heavy with the musk of sweated bodies in the hot, summer air?
Replies: >>96083524
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:48:45 AM No.96083485
>>96083431
>If you are questioning the fact that the game doesn't explain how to play it, instad assuming you already know it's about playing pretend with dice, it means you are an unimaginative twat
Side note: are you really so stupid that the same point beat over your head five times in a row somehow still misses you?
Replies: >>96083546
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 2:56:59 AM No.96083524
>>96083460
You bypassed ever example of online recourses being avaliable and you would have to find no previous example or players good job
Replies: >>96083582
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:02:16 AM No.96083546
>>96083485
Why dont you write something to give them instead of making the manufacturer whole clearly sells plenty of product without it since 1970s
Replies: >>96083582
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:04:39 AM No.96083557
>>96083390
Nta, but let me guess: the people that play TTRPGs are naturally interested in them, all like fantasy, are all at least a bit nerdy, they all watched Stranger Things and also of course are familiar with the gaming before they even tried, because they watched 3d6 different youtube nobodies pretending to play games in front of camera... right?
No other people enter this hobby, and if they do, they are utterly marginal promile of population, for there is no way there are any other people than (You) and those similar to you.
I still remember my first group. None of us had a clue, and the only reason we played at all was because the game in question was "for adults only". And that was more important than anything else for us, since we were 14 and 13 yo. Took us nearly 2 months to play the session at all, and we spend nearly a week hand-crafting board for our "special board game", figuring it out as we went along. I don't think we ever managed to correctly make a character, despite sticking to the game and rewriting its rules for the whole midschool.
But hey, I can at least tell a bunch of amusing stories about how I hand-drawn a huge Bristol board in hexes in the hopes that it's pre-requested to play V:tM.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:06:17 AM No.96083568
>>96081009 (OP)
Living Steel (I will find players for it one day)
>>96082027
I've never had trouble running Paranoia or Twilight 2000.
Replies: >>96083582
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:09:42 AM No.96083582
>>96083524
What makes you assume players are going to use online recourses?
And, more importantly, why if you have a book with the game and its rules in your hand, should you need to go online and ask how to play this thing? You know, the same fucking question you've been asked at this point seven times and it somehow still bounces off that thick skull of yours.
A game that can't explain how to even play it is a terrible game for a newfag. How fucking hard is it to grasp, that we keep going with this for what now? An hour?

>>96083546
I'm sorry, which one of those are you trying to pull here now
>It sells, so it has to be good
>it sells, so it has to work
>It sells, so they know what they are doing
Because I'm a little confused right now which non-argument you are trying to use.

>>96083568
Different guy, but were their your first, or n-th systems? I mena naturally both couldn't be first, but you get the drift.
Replies: >>96083648 >>96083698
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:14:45 AM No.96083605
>>96083390
I GM'd for years before I ever played in a game.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:23:02 AM No.96083648
>>96083582
If I remember correctly, In order, the systems I've GM'd are:
D&D 4E
Dark Heresy
Call of Cthulhu 6th edition
Twilight 2000 V2.2
It's all a blur from there, but there's Stalking the Night Fantastic, A Time of War, Shadowrun, and some other stuff I'm forgetting in there. Paranoia was the most recent. Bushido is probably the next system I'll play.
Replies: >>96085544
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:33:29 AM No.96083698
>>96083582
Ohh well
I say that dismissivly, your odd no one to teach you how to play in modern era is unheard of.
Your story of learning how to play is take that from others?
Their is a setting for everyone, but if your not into sci-fi or fantasy you reaching for a game is unlikely.

What does it matter how people play. if it's not how you or the author expects or teaches you

As long as everyone is playing by the same rules its fine, its better than fine its homebrew at its best
Replies: >>96085544
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:36:04 AM No.96083705
>>96081009 (OP)
I found GURPS very hard to run because there are so few resources for it. There aren't really premade modules, there isn't even a real bestiary without some real fucking searching. Basically everything has to be built from scratch by the GM.
On the other hand its main mechanics are easy to learn and teach.
Replies: >>96086666
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 10:16:04 AM No.96085544
>>96083648
That's fair. I just can't imagine anyone starting with old T2k, especially 2e (2.2 simplieid bunch of things in comparison), because that's a rather crunch-intense system with a lot of subrules that you need to keep track off.
Ironically T2k has zero issues with explaining itself and how to play it (both new and old editions), since it tells you more or less "it's a wargame, but with few changes, so you won't be moving entire companies across the terrain diorama". The tough part is keeping track of all the moving parts as a newfag GM.
As for Paranoia, it's what >>96081852 said: you need to be really good at improv with this game, and keep a straight face while doing so. Game is non-complex, and as a GM you are (technically) the only one allowed to know to read it, giving you a leg over players, but it's easily one of the most improv heavy games until BitD became a thing

>>96083698
... did you have a stroke when typing it down?
Replies: >>96091535
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:42:21 PM No.96086666
>>96083705
GURPs need a better form to exists.
Replies: >>96086709
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 3:49:01 PM No.96086709
>>96086666
Hello Satan.
That form is Lite. But the company can't be arsed to properly market their own games, not to mention GURPS itself
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 7:08:35 PM No.96088319
>>96082713
You're completely missing the point. It isn't about the rules, the books have nothing about okay procedure. They don't teach you have to stock, key and run a dungeon. They don't teach you anything about running any kind of game structure. The concept of game structures isn't even introduced. You're told how to build a combat encounter, and then everything else is just kind of "figure out it, OR use one of our Wizards of the Coast™ Dungeons and Dragons™ official campaigns." If all you're taught is theoretically how to run combats and your only example of how the game at large is supposed to run are piece of shit, unplaytested railroads, you're only ever going to know how to railroad players between combat encounters. It's bad.
Replies: >>96089033 >>96089298
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 7:13:16 PM No.96088364
>>96081009 (OP)
GURPS, 3.PF, Shadowrun, Battletech A Time of War, and Cthulhutech are all GM-unfriendly systems that come to the top of my head.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 7:51:52 PM No.96088797
GURPS
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 8:13:56 PM No.96089033
>>96083201
>>96088319
Those guys get it (assuming it's not the same person)
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 8:32:17 PM No.96089217
>>96083322
The first 2-3 chapters of the 4e DMG
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 8:40:47 PM No.96089298
>>96088319
>you're only ever going to know how to railroad players between combat encounters.
This is literally what most players want unfortunately
Replies: >>96089438
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 8:53:57 PM No.96089438
>>96089298
In a world where most Game Masters only know how to railroad players between combat encounters and the game they've chosen only really supports combat encounters as a thing the PCs do, of course all they are going to want to do is combat. It's the one thing the rules give them agency in, and a lot of them have been conditioned to know that trying to do anything outside of combat gets them the metaphorical rolled up newspaper to the nose. In a lot of games, combat is the only place players have any kind of ability to roleplay.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 8:54:30 PM No.96089443
>>96082350
Games that tell you to just make shit up instead of giving you rules are absolutely harder to run than games that have procedures for everything for a new gm. You're fucking paying these people for a rulebook, you'd think they'd actually give you fucking rules for your money. It costs zero fucking dollars and zero cents to say "lmao do what you want". Saying a system with many rules is harder to run than a system that puts the onus on the gm to write the fucking game is like saying it's harder to eat at a restaurant than it is to go to a farm and harvest and cook your meal from raw ingredients.
Replies: >>96089822 >>96090432
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 9:03:32 PM No.96089557
>>96081218
I would agree that GM advice in rule books is a problem for a a couple of the typically recommended systems (looking at you OSE) but there's no shortage of adventures written for to be teaching experiences to GMs (B2 continues to be popular for a reason) as well as written material spanning back decades online on GM advice.
>>96081789
>you are supposed to use as your very first game some faggot's re-edition of 0e
no one is going to go out of their way to play something like MEATHEADS as their first experience GMing a game
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 9:29:06 PM No.96089822
>>96089443
This anon hits near the mark. "Games" without rules are cringe fag shit, but there is a balance. Games with rules for everything are almost universally played a little different at every table because nobody plays with all the rules; there are simply to remember all of them so people stick to what they find the core rules are. For example, in all the AD&D tables I've played at, none of them used all the same rules. You always had to accept some quirks.

Ideally, a game is in that state by default and therefore remains consistent by default.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 10:40:32 PM No.96090432
Excuse me, but what the fuck
Excuse me, but what the fuck
md5: 1e5a65b998f01b908eefd2489bae0c31🔍
>>96089443
It's like you deliberately tried to miss the point to then make a statement that's in full agreement in what I'm saying in a really weird attempt to own me.
Anonymous
7/14/2025, 10:45:35 PM No.96090478
>>96081805
This is the funniest post this entire thread to me, because it was the first TTRPG I DM'd for and two of my players started with. 4+ years later, still going with the campaign possibly wrapping up next year. What makes you say what you said, inquiring minds really want to know!
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 12:35:23 AM No.96091535
>>96085544
I think the worst systems for inexperienced GMs are absolutely the ones that expect you to already know how to GM and emphasize using your own judgement. If you have to say "hold on a second guys..." 10-20 times a session to track down a table to see how much the RPG penetrates your HMMWV and what % you need to roll under for the fuel tanks to explode and cover everyone inside in flaming gasoline and how many d6s of damage they take per turn until they can pass the agility roll to extinguish themselves, that's a suboptimal gaming experience but at least you know what you need to do. On the other hand, you can absolutely run Paranoia with no knowledge of the rules whatsoever if you know how the game should be run, and the rulebook is very explicit that you can and should do that, but that requires experience as a GM.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 5:03:56 AM No.96093128
>>96081490
Pokerole because the rules are a bit vague and janky due to the writers being ESL.

PTU because it requires a literal spreadsheet just to play it.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 5:21:21 AM No.96093229
gnome
gnome
md5: 0defc660da906500ad01a7739161ab62🔍
>>96081009 (OP)
The worse the system the better it is for the newbie GM. Because it's already fucked up, so there's no standards. They can't make it worse. They can at most make it better by forgetting or tossing half the rules of a bloated system. Then they are evaluating what's actually needed, what works and what doesn't, which results in much better system.

Compare that to a GM with a rigid and well known and relatively simple system, or just fucking 5e or something. There's expectations. There's more pressure to keep to the rules for a newbie who doesn't know to trust their judgement over the rulebook. So their story might hit a snag with a rule they didn't know. Their encounter might fall the pieces. A single overlooked thing could kill their plans and they wouldn't know to homebrew/hourserule it away. They'd be putting the rules over themselves.

So play the worst fucking game you can find and break it in like a pair of boots. If no one else knows how it's meant to be played they can't argue.
Replies: >>96093415 >>96093531
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:02:17 AM No.96093415
>>96093229
This is dogshit advice, because I found BESM 3e and we dropped it after two sessions because it was just that godawful.
Replies: >>96099313
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:26:06 AM No.96093531
>>96093229
This is like suggesting composers begin by listening only to bad music, or that aspiring artists should do studies on the drawings of six-year-olds.
Replies: >>96099313
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:41:25 AM No.96093588
>>96081009 (OP)
Of the games I've tried, the worst options for a new GM seem like the following (and what kind of experience you need to run them well)

Wraith: the Oblivion (picking and managing the players for a dark drama, especially when players act as Shadows for other PCs)
Mage: the Ascension (being able to make spell rulings on the fly and understand paradigms)
Ars Magica (being knowledgeable enough to adjudicate magic, and also managing troupe play)
Nobilis (just... damn)
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 7:41:04 AM No.96093823
>>96081852
I'm currently running my very first game and its in Paranoia, it's been a bit hard to make sure that everyone's stupid actions are being accounted for. But honestly a lot of it just comes down to a good group as well. One of my players broke his leg, so he can't attend IRL. I had his character die, and then get recloned in the wrong sector. He is now playing as T.R.U.N.D.L.E a remote bomb disposal robot. Its basically a brick on treads with two clamp manipulator arms. One of our players video calls him and tries to show him the map they are working with. There are so many tech problems this causes, and they are basically all intentional.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 7:46:04 AM No.96093841
>>96082322
Yes they do.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:16:02 AM No.96093941
>>96081348
>>96081831
>>96082036
Shadowrun is really bad, it's one of few games I've ran that I've categorically stated that I will never run again.
I also think if some madman decided to run WoD with multiple splats as their first game that would be a disaster, a single WoD game would be enough to tackle at once.
Replies: >>96094006
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:23:28 AM No.96093964
>>96081009 (OP)
Here's one where the difficulty isn't overwhelming mechanics.

Ars Magica. Actually is best played with all the players having some GM experience rotaing. Really requires a reasonable base in european history and a little bit of latin.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:24:33 AM No.96093967
>>96081218
youre a worthless feckless man
Replies: >>96094094
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:27:37 AM No.96093979
>>96081831
I remember doing it back in second edition. And on top of that we had riggers running interference/car chases at the same time. Was some inception shit where the astral battle determined wehether the hackers succeded, which determined whether the rigger was able to break target lock from the incoming missiles, which determined whether the chromed and edgy were able to attack the enemy mages physically.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:28:38 AM No.96093980
>>96081852
Paranoia is only as hard as your players are.
Replies: >>96096687
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:30:46 AM No.96093987
>>96083219
>>96083166
Gurps needs to LIMIT SCOPE, which is a very common error that GMs are going to make.
Replies: >>96094099
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 8:36:33 AM No.96094006
>>96093941
I actually tried running WOD with multiple splats. Werewolf, mage, vampire. I had experience running shadowrun, and ars magica, so I wasn't afraid of complexity, and had a grasp of the gestalt of the magic system, and of weird tonal clashes.

I ended up ditching all my prep 2 months in and went episodic, where the players would travel in their mystery machine deal with whatever splat or combination of splats they pissed off this week. At times it felt like I was fingerpainting picasso with my toes, and fortunately the players were OK with not having power equity in characters..
Replies: >>96096354
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 9:09:45 AM No.96094094
>>96093967
>OSR fag coming out of the woodwork, more news at 11
And then you animals wonder nobody takes you serious and why you're mocked
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 9:11:36 AM No.96094099
>>96093987
GURPS needs to explain itself better. Compare those two
>"This game can do anything you want, pick the building pieces you need"
>"This game has every rule possible"
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 5:31:47 PM No.96096354
>>96094006
Coming off SR and Ars Magica you at least had a fighting chance, imagine that as GMs first game.
Replies: >>96097045
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:17:25 PM No.96096687
>>96093980
Are you running Paranoia as ERP?
Replies: >>96096880 >>96097037
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:40:04 PM No.96096880
>>96096687
How would that even work? They should have no concept of sex, and are on libido suppressants.
Replies: >>96097031 >>96097037 >>96099342
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:58:21 PM No.96097031
>>96096880
A malfunction in lamba sector means that the labido suppressants are replaced with Spanish fly.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 6:58:53 PM No.96097037
>>96096687
>>96096880
Of COURSE not. But we do need to be aware of commie subversive vampires who may attempt to drain us of our precious bodily fluids. Sex-U-All's briefing explains it all.

And if the Romantics found some ancient artifacts for ritual use from the great transit hub of the megaopolis of Porn, they would immediately turn them in to friend computer.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 7:00:02 PM No.96097045
>>96096354
I've seen it happen. Group of drama kids want to try it out, get all the books. Try to combine it all at once.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 11:36:48 PM No.96099313
>>96093531
>>96093415
you two retards have never GM'd more than 5e if anything. And it shows.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 11:39:24 PM No.96099342
>>96096880
>How would that even work? They should have no concept of sex, and are on libido suppressants.
Seksmisja
Replies: >>96099534
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 11:44:03 PM No.96099397
Song of Swords
On top of being extremely complicated, the system is only built around 1v1 duels, I seriously have no idea how a dungeon delve or a tavern brawl would work. or basically any fight with more than 2 people lmao.
Anonymous
7/15/2025, 11:59:00 PM No.96099534
5f8329e8a5cf9
5f8329e8a5cf9
md5: 237f0b580bcb8c1d9d9d5e7d0fa63f47🔍
>>96099342
Anonymous
7/16/2025, 12:18:38 AM No.96099721
>>96081012
FPBP
Anonymous
7/16/2025, 1:02:50 AM No.96100037
>>96083055
The fact that you consider Rifts far superior, just shows how damaged you brain is. And this is from someone who played Palladium games all through the 90s.