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@Remathilis, in their post about the climactic fight against the arch-lich, was talking about the design and the play of the game. I don't think it's any real answer to that post to just assume the status quo for the fiction and the game play. What I mean by that is that the way spells and...

Moldvay Basic. My first RPG was Classic Traveller (1977 version).

So one thing is: how is adversity introduced, as a component of the fiction? I think play tends to be more interesting if adversity is introduced as a response to failed rolls by players: this means that action declarations tend to have clear stakes, and aren't just "roll to avoid attrition"...

It depends how the RPG structures play. Rolling dice against a "random attrition table" is apt to be relatively uninteresting. But there are other ways to frame the declaration and resolution of actions in an exploration-oriented RPG.

OK? I mean, you asked and I answered.

I definitely thought of Torchbearer! Having gear break or be lost is a fairly typical failure consequence in TB2e. In our most recent session, both PCs had most of their gear stolen by nandies (carnivorous simians, from the old White Dwarf module The Halls of Tizun Thane).

There are some free downloads here. I haven't looked at them, but from the descriptions they should give you some idea as to whether or not it's of interest. TB2e can be light-hearted in the sense of non-serious or ironic. But it's not light-hearted as an actual game experience: it's fairly...

I didn't know that that was the reason for that!

I'm a huge fan of TB2e. My actual play thread is here: Torchbearer 2e - actual play of this AWESOME system! (+) Key system elements are: inventory; clear phases (adventure, camp, town) with distinct "currencies" that drive each; journey rules, that incorporate weather; light sources; a...

I don't know what the general state of affairs is - but for me, this isn't true. When I was GMing 4e, I found it quicker to use modules - which come with maps - than to draw my own maps. And GMing Torchbearer, the time to write up my own "mini-module" or convert something like the Moathouse is...

It depends on the prep that the system calls for. I've run one-shots of Wuthering Heights, Cthulhu Dark and In A Wicked Age that require no prep at all: PC gen, and/or other parts of the game, provide the initial situation and a trajectory for play. Burning Wheel is a campaign-oriented system...

Duellist; fog; Gruxu; nandies; lost!

We did get in a session last Sunday. With two player present we had two PCs: Fea-bella the Elven Dreamwalker, and Telemere the Elven Ranger. Telemere's player provided the prologue, and thus was relieved of Exhaustion. The Elven duo decided to travel from the Forgotten Temple Complex...

Free-form roleplay seems like it involves fictional position. LARPing is different, because at least a fair bit of the position is actual, not fictional. In Diplomacy, too, the position - of having alliances or being betrayed - is actual and not fictional. I dunno. There seems to be a lot of...

Yeah, this was my first thought for a non-combat, non-adventure RPG. But then I had a second thought: Wuthering Heights. The rules are pretty short, and pretty simple, and free here <wuthering heights> or here <https://www.oocities.org/soner_du/files/wuther.pdf>. In my experience, a good...

Burning Wheel has its first version a bit over 20 years ago - I don't have a copy. The version that brought it to prominence is Revised (2004). But since then there have been two more iterations - Gold (2011) and Gold Revised (2019). It's that last version that falls within a modern/contemporary...

Burning Wheel and Torchbearer come pretty close in terms of rules elements, and have versions/editions that fall within the time span.

I can't comment on anyone else, but when I think of roleplaying, I think of what is distinctive about the play of a RPG from the perspective of player participants. And that is: *The player's "moves" - both what is permitted, and what will result from it - are shaped by the player's fictional...

I'll bring my receipts even if it takes me 10 years!

This seems relevant, at least: D&D General - Ben Riggs interviews Fred Hicks and Cam Banks, then shares WotC sales data.