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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[Egan_BW]

worldbuilding-ish idea? A spacewarping dungeon with multiple entrances across the continent. Due to this and wide corridors suitable for driving a wagon through, it's sometimes used as fast travel by merchants and messengers in a hurry. But it does constantly shift its layout and refill with monsters which can reliably be dealt with by good enough adventurers but would pose trouble for most people. As such, if you want to get through you'll need to hire an escort to kill the monsters and find the way.

[NullForceOmega]

That's a pretty cool idea.  Could be interesting to see the economic impacts explored in detail.

[scriver]

worldbuilding-ish idea? A spacewarping dungeon with multiple entrances across the continent. Due to this and wide corridors suitable for driving a wagon through, it's sometimes used as fast travel by merchants and messengers in a hurry. But it does constantly shift its layout and refill with monsters which can reliably be dealt with by good enough adventurers but would pose trouble for most people. As such, if you want to get through you'll need to hire an escort to kill the monsters and find the way.

I like it. If the layout shifts drastically enough you could have a risk/reward thing with "sure, I might get trapped in a thousand miles long monster-filled corridor, but I also might be in Rome in a week if I'm lucky, and Bonaventura said her parents aren't home..." situations.

[Loud Whispers]

Imagine how livid some faery prince would be if they found out you were using their sacred interdimensional grove as a shopping route

[Grim Portent]

Imagine how livid some faery prince would be if they found out you were using their sacred interdimensional grove as a shopping route

'Oh look, more prey has wandered into the hunting grounds. Fetch my horn, my spear and my hounds.'

[Loud Whispers]

That's a good point. Fae bastard's probably the one who spread the rumours that you could use the interdimensional "dungeon" as a way to ship goods in the first place

[Grim Portent]

The angle I would take on it for a grim fantasy take is that there are many gateways to the realms of the Fey, most of which lead to another gateway that opens into another part of the mortal world. Anyone and anything can pass through these gates provided they enter properly,* which take the form of things like standing stones, trees that have grown into an arch, the entrance to a burial mound, a windblown hole in a rock or an underwater grotto. Once you go in, you can't turn around, you have to reach the next gate to get back out.

The gates usually lead to the same place consistently, for hundreds of years at a time, resulting in them being used as an alternative to conventional roads if the locations that can be reached from either end are worth it. Sometimes they just stop working, break due to subsidence or forest fires, or suddenly lead to a different realm than before.

Different Fey lords have different realms, some are places of misty forests stalked by horned huntsmen accompanied by packs of spectral hounds, some are home to whirling wind and scraping sand, haunted by jackal headed monsters that gnaw on the bones of the lost, or steamy jungles run through with streams and the alluring song of women-faced spiders. Yet others are copies of mortal cities, filled with soulless changelings that seek to replace travellers as they pass through, or are gardens of pleasures that tempt travellers to stay forever among the fair folk.

Most of the time people who go in gates come back out, barring the odd person who falls prey to the slightly above average dangers within, but some gates are able to be safely traversed only by people with specific qualities, with anyone else being almost certain to die or be trapped forever. The Fey do not generally converse with mortals, at least not on any matter of substance, preferring to limit dialogue to petty insults, threats, banal trivialities or riddles, and deciphering their motives is entirely a matter of speculation.


*Not necessarily intentionally mind you.

[Loud Whispers]

I'm thinking of canning my dark heresy campaign. So far everything had been going good, the one shots I did had gone superbly, but in the aftermath of some drama around a friend's campaign also being killed over drama, I am now being buried in drama contagion and I just want it all to stop

All I did was ask them to stop metagaming but it has since become something beyond my mere comprehension -_-

[Grim Portent]

Been ruminating on Darkest Dungeon lately, and how I'd like to use elements of it for a game.

Thinking primarily on the subject of Stress as an alternative to the Insanity, Corruption or Taint rules found in some other games. Thinking a D100 system as a base, probably drawing a lot on Dark Heresy. So stats from 1-100, usually between 30-50, and a HP amount of about 12-18.

Spoiler: Basic idea (click to show/hide)

Stress is tracked from 0-100, and is inflicted by damage, encounters with horrors mundane or supernatural in nature, poison, disease and other stressful situations.

Every character has a Stress Theshold of 50 plus half their Willpower stat (Willpower ranging from 25-50 or so.) When a character's Stress reaches their Stress Threshold they become Afflicted and begin suffering the effects of any Stress Flaws they have. If a character has no Stress Flaws they instead must roll a Willpower test, gaining a Stress Flaw if they fail. If a character's Stress reaches 100 they automatically gain a Stress Flaw.

Stress Flaws include a number of coping mechanisms or personality flaws. Kleptomania, Paranoia, Flagellation, Alcoholism and Gluttony for example. The following are not intended to be all encompassing, merely outlines of the sort of effects intended.

Kleptomaniacs obssessively steal small objects when above their Stress Threshold. When presented with the opportunity to secretly pocket a small item such as gemstones or jewelry Kleptomaniacs must make a Willpower test to resist the urge to do so. Items claimed by the Kleptomaniac in this fashion cannot be sold or given away later unless the Kleptomaniac is cured of their condition, they are now part of the character's own secret collection.

Paranoid characters distrust those around them, believing them to be conspiring to bring them to ruin. While above their Stress Threshold Paranoiacs must make Willpower tests to allow others to help them with magic or mundane aid, fearful of treachery. They must also make a Willpower test to not check that an item that has not been previously interacted with, such as a door or chest, is trapped, an endeavour that can take some time.

Flagellants are driven to scarify their own flesh to redeem themselves for their failings, through acts of self-harm such as flagellation or cutting. When a Flagellant is above their Stress Threshold they must immediately flagellate themselves, reducing their stress by 1d10 at the cost of 1 Wound. This action must be repeated until their stress falls below their Stress Threshold.

Alcoholics and Gluttons are similar in nature. In situations of stress they are driven to consume their vice to soothe their ravaged mind. While above their Stress Threshold they must test Willpower to resist consuming their vices when they are available. Alcoholics will consume alcoholic drinks until they reach the final stage of inebriation or run out of alcohol. Gluttons will consume almost any edible material, though with bonuses to resist consuming rancid food, or food that is not generally considered edible such as human meat. Both Alcoholics and Gluttons will consume poisoned or spoiled items if they fail their Willpower test, the pressures of their stressed mind overwhelming self preservation.

[Loud Whispers]

I've always renamed all insanity point systems to stress anyways, even if mechanically they were the exact same. For some reason calling it insanity points always made half of my players turn into Jared Leto whenever they saw a squid or a dead body whereas if you call it stress they understand perfectly that they are still to continue acting like a human being rather than an insulting caricature of mental illness

[Telgin]

I'm thinking of canning my dark heresy campaign. So far everything had been going good, the one shots I did had gone superbly, but in the aftermath of some drama around a friend's campaign also being killed over drama, I am now being buried in drama contagion and I just want it all to stop

All I did was ask them to stop metagaming but it has since become something beyond my mere comprehension -_-

This is one reason I hate GMing.  Most games I've run had a ton of drama and it takes all of the fun out of an already thankless job.

People as a whole are entirely too childish.

The other reason I hate GMing is because people lose interest in the other half of my games.

I think it's no coincidence that I've had more fun running a personal, solo Ironsworn: Starforged game than anything in recent memory.  There's no drama, and I don't have to worry about other people forgetting about it or neglecting it.

You could argue I might as well just be writing instead at that point, but I think I've always preferred that to running RPGs anyway.

[Persus13]

I'm a big fan of how stress dice works in Free League's Alien RPG. System uses pool of d6s, and stress dice are more d6s, which increase your chance of rolling a 6 (success) but a 1 on a stress dice causes you to panic. So stress makes you more likely to succeed at a skill, but also more likely for bad things to happen to you.

I feel the stress mechanic in Darkest dungeon would port decently well to that, but that's obviously not a d100 system.

[Kagus]

I've always renamed all insanity point systems to stress anyways, even if mechanically they were the exact same. For some reason calling it insanity points always made half of my players turn into Jared Leto whenever they saw a squid or a dead body whereas if you call it stress they understand perfectly that they are still to continue acting like a human being rather than an insulting caricature of mental illness

Yeah, I've felt this way about a number of "insanity" meters in games. Stress does a better, more logical job of describing it, even if you're not actively trying to RP it.

Shame about the Dark Heresy campaign by the by, drama is no fun at all... And it does like to have wide-reaching effects now doesn't it?

[Loud Whispers]

Shame about the Dark Heresy campaign by the by, drama is no fun at all... And it does like to have wide-reaching effects now doesn't it?

Yeah there is no containing it. Friendships shall be broken, games shall be shaken, ride to ruin, ride for Rohan, ride for the game that never ends! DEATH! DEAAAAAAAATH!!!!

This is one reason I hate GMing.  Most games I've run had a ton of drama and it takes all of the fun out of an already thankless job.

People as a whole are entirely too childish.

In my case it's just a communication/empathy problem

[delphonso]

My high-seas party has made their way to the Elemental Plane of Fire - for all of them, this is the first time they've felt dry air in 50 years, if not their whole life.

Any recommendations of silly fire things to encounter?