Make It Yourself

[Reynard]

TTRPGs are an inherently DIY hobby. They are often not so much "games" as they are "toys" with which we make our own fun.

So it is frustrating when people complain that this style of game or that character class or a certain sort of adventure doesn't exist or they don't like the one from the publisher.

Make it yourself. Create that mundane fighter or that cosey vampire game.

You can do it. I believe in you.

 

[delericho]

Two issues with that:

• If I'm the DM, I have a serious shortage of time. I'd ideally love to run an entirely homebrewed set of adventures in an entirely homebrewed setting. But I simply don't have time. So I'll outsource what I must so I can pick my battles.
• If I'm not the DM, I don't get to choose what materials are allowed in the campaign. How am I supposed to use my game-breakingly powerful Cavalier class if the DM is so unreasonable as to not let it in?

Which is a shame, because in theory I agree with you.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Even if you can't create a game from scratch, you can definitely create bespoke elements you need, by yourself or by crowdsourcing them via the RPG community.

I haven't run a single game of Shadowdark (which is extremely easy to homebrew, to be fair) where I haven't created something new that I've wanted. At this point, I have a huge document of ancestries, classes, monsters, magic items and a handful of spells, and it's likely to keep growing. (And yes, I intend to find a cheap solution to put it into a nice Shadowdark-themed format and put it out there for people to enjoy.)

But if only the people at your table are going to encounter your work, it doesn't have to be good enough to survive the internet tearing it apart. It just has to be good enough to be fun. I think @Reynard is spot on there: We can all definitely whip up something our friends will enjoy.

 

[Reynard]

Even if you can't create a game from scratch, you can definitely create bespoke elements you need, by yourself or by crowdsourcing them via the RPG community.

I haven't run a single game of Shadowdark (which is extremely easy to homebrew, to be fair) where I haven't created something new that I've wanted. At this point, I have a huge document of ancestries, classes, monsters, magic items and a handful of spells, and it's likely to keep growing. (And yes, I intend to find a cheap solution to put it into a nice Shadowdark-themed format and put it out there for people to enjoy.)

But if only the people at your table are going to encounter your work, it doesn't have to be good enough to survive the internet tearing it apart. It just has to be good enough to be fun. I think @Reynard is spot on there: We can all definitely whip up something our friends will enjoy.

Shadowdark is perfect for this. At a con last weekend I created a Stress mechanic pretty much on the spot to ramp up the horror elements and it worked great. Would it stand up to repeated use or balance scrutiny? Surely not, but it worked for the game I was running at the moment.

 

[Reynard]

Two issues with that:

• If I'm the DM, I have a serious shortage of time. I'd ideally love to run an entirely homebrewed set of adventures in an entirely homebrewed setting. But I simply don't have time. So I'll outsource what I must so I can pick my battles.

Third option: wing it!

• If I'm not the DM, I don't get to choose what materials are allowed in the campaign. How am I supposed to use my game-breakingly powerful Cavalier class if the DM is so unreasonable as to not let it in?
  

if you know it is game breaking, trying to get it signed off means you are the one who is wrong. But for other situations, GMs generally need to remember that balance is not the most important element if play at the table.

 

[ichabod]

I hate winging it. If I had to wing an adventure and a whole campaign world I'd go nuts. And some of us like balance. If the game is not balanced, I'm probably not going to have fun.

Yeah, some people can make it themselves. I do, but I'm retired so I have lots of time. But that advice doesn't work for everyone, and so it's not unreasonable for other people to complain that what they want is not represented in the market.

 

[bloodtide]

As stated in places like the old timers thread, things were different a couple generations ago.

Back in the Time Before Time, we had no internet or cell phones. And we had few gaming stores. Sure some people lived in big cities right next to game stores......but that was not true for of most of the country. And even making the huge trek to a game store was often pointless: they often did not have anything.

And when they did have something....prices would be sky high. The "Wizard and evil minions" pack cost all the money in the world. But the bag of DFC Dragonriders of the Styx Figures was only $3 at the flea market and has wizards and minions(and the infamous faceless nagas).

Then, of course, you sit and say "gosh wish they could publish X", but they would not....ever. So...you had to make your own.

I have dozens of adventures written on Yellow Legal Pads (they were only 5 cents at D&K Store) with maps drawn on Everready Battery Company Graph Paper(my friends dad worked there and gave me a whole box of graph paper pads). And then down the years I have made more and more.

 

[Thomas Shey]

TTRPGs are an inherently DIY hobby. They are often not so much "games" as they are "toys" with which we make our own fun.

So it is frustrating when people complain that this style of game or that character class or a certain sort of adventure doesn't exist or they don't like the one from the publisher.

Make it yourself. Create that mundane fighter or that cosey vampire game.

You can do it. I believe in you.

Yeah, but they don't. At least at a level where they feel comfortable putting on their designer hat. And that's even assuming they can get it in play when they do--not everyone is a GM or plays in an environment where the ultimate 3PP would be welcome.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, but they don't. At least at a level where they feel comfortable putting on their designer hat. And that's even assuming they can get it in play when they do--not everyone is a GM or plays in an environment where the ultimate 3PP would be welcome.

Right, but what we are talking about is the cohort that won't stop grousing about how bad the Ranger is or that there's no Warlord or that this adventure has a bad dungeon. That stuff those people can do if they just let themselves.

Give yourself permission to make your own game better.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Right, but what we are talking about is the cohort that won't stop grousing about how bad the Ranger is or that there's no Warlord or that this adventure has a bad dungeon. That stuff those people can do if they just let themselves.

Give yourself permission to make your own game better.

Is everyone who does that a GM? Who runs only in a home game, rather than organized play? Because people stuck in those situations can still have issues with those design choices, but what they can do about it is pretty limited.

I realize this board is probably pretty GM-heavy, but you still can't jump to that assumption.