Choice _is_ the challenge. I've been fortunate in the last few years to finally get into a career that pays somewhat decently and I've been able to start getting more TTRPGs since I actually have money, lol I had of course experience with D&D, but even with it being my intro to TTRPGs, I knew that I didn't quite care for it and was eager to find other things. I happened upon "new" World of Darkness around 2004 or so and was smitten - I got three of the "core" books. It became my go-to for gaming even as other members of my then group would choose to run D&D. I'd still be the one pitching WoD games and I apparently did a fairly good job running them because my group were often quite enthused to play them. WoD (and in particular that 2003 - 2008 version of it) has lasted me ever since. Years later I'd find Fate and enjoy that.... well, once I got some people gathered to play it. It was a novel new approach to TTRPGs from what I'd played and also from other games I'd heard and read about -- and admittedly its uniqueness does sometimes make it hard to get players of something like D&D interested in trying it. But when I was finally able to afford more TTRPGs in 2020 (what a year, right?) I finally branched out to Call of Cthulhu and also some Forged in the Dark games... though it wasn't until we were playing in-person again that any of them made it to the table since the online experience was not great. Now I've got a slew of CofC books, but also RuneQuest and 7th Sea -- the latter two both of which I eagerly want to run for my current group. I'm not sure which will be a better fit. 7th Sea is great because of it's more lightweight design and I also absolutely love the lore/setting of it. Meanwhile, RQ has a lot more mechanical weight to it which I know one player will probably favor and it is fantastic for mythology which another player is very much interested in. And in either case it's a break from "horror" games which I admittedly favor. But yeah, the major obstacles are choosing the games (finding out they exist and then learning enough about them to decide if it's something you'd want), and that is followed by affording them. TTRPGs are, I think, a heck of a discount over video games but even so you don't often get off easy with only buying a single book. I love that you _can_ do that with Chaosium games as well as a lot of the stuff from EvilHat... but CofC has a lot of extra stuff that can be quite useful (scenarios!!) and RQ as well. Being a bibliophile doesn't help, I guess, I just really love having a nicely produced book to physically flip through... and while PDFs are handy, I also prefer having the physical book at hand when running a game as it's easy to "get lost" in a PDF, especially if it's lagging for any reason while you're trying to search for the thing you need. Just my preference.
"Through a veil of blue mist did I first behold Talislanta: dreamlike and surreal as if suffused in amberglow. At once it became my goal to investigate and explore…" Talislanta was definitely my fantasy game too. Not sure how many of us there were in the north of England. Glad to find out (all these years later) I was in that same headspace as Lynne. Awesome.
Great interview. The other one Lynne was trying to recall was "Bundle of Holding" another great site for pdfs where part of the money goes towards charities.
YES!!!!!!!! * ahem * Yes. Definitely. Please. There is a whole universe of TTRPGs out there waiting for you. I don’t think you can really know what you like until you try at least a few different things. You may find D&D really is your game, and that’s fine. But you may also not know what you’re missing out on.
Great idea to give it a try! I'd recommend looking for Talislanta that Lynn spoke about - easy to find the PDFs free (official creative commons!). I posted a longer reply earlier with some recommendations, but it disappeared so clearly somebody didn't like it. But, beyond the CoC starter set, the City of Mist starter is worth a look too. 😁
She is such a great writer 📝! Great interview and advice.
Choice _is_ the challenge. I've been fortunate in the last few years to finally get into a career that pays somewhat decently and I've been able to start getting more TTRPGs since I actually have money, lol
I had of course experience with D&D, but even with it being my intro to TTRPGs, I knew that I didn't quite care for it and was eager to find other things. I happened upon "new" World of Darkness around 2004 or so and was smitten - I got three of the "core" books. It became my go-to for gaming even as other members of my then group would choose to run D&D. I'd still be the one pitching WoD games and I apparently did a fairly good job running them because my group were often quite enthused to play them. WoD (and in particular that 2003 - 2008 version of it) has lasted me ever since.
Years later I'd find Fate and enjoy that.... well, once I got some people gathered to play it. It was a novel new approach to TTRPGs from what I'd played and also from other games I'd heard and read about -- and admittedly its uniqueness does sometimes make it hard to get players of something like D&D interested in trying it.
But when I was finally able to afford more TTRPGs in 2020 (what a year, right?) I finally branched out to Call of Cthulhu and also some Forged in the Dark games... though it wasn't until we were playing in-person again that any of them made it to the table since the online experience was not great. Now I've got a slew of CofC books, but also RuneQuest and 7th Sea -- the latter two both of which I eagerly want to run for my current group. I'm not sure which will be a better fit. 7th Sea is great because of it's more lightweight design and I also absolutely love the lore/setting of it. Meanwhile, RQ has a lot more mechanical weight to it which I know one player will probably favor and it is fantastic for mythology which another player is very much interested in. And in either case it's a break from "horror" games which I admittedly favor.
But yeah, the major obstacles are choosing the games (finding out they exist and then learning enough about them to decide if it's something you'd want), and that is followed by affording them. TTRPGs are, I think, a heck of a discount over video games but even so you don't often get off easy with only buying a single book. I love that you _can_ do that with Chaosium games as well as a lot of the stuff from EvilHat... but CofC has a lot of extra stuff that can be quite useful (scenarios!!) and RQ as well. Being a bibliophile doesn't help, I guess, I just really love having a nicely produced book to physically flip through... and while PDFs are handy, I also prefer having the physical book at hand when running a game as it's easy to "get lost" in a PDF, especially if it's lagging for any reason while you're trying to search for the thing you need. Just my preference.
I'm getting back into running RQ 2nd. Ed. and this was so helpful. Thank you!
"Through a veil of blue mist did I first behold Talislanta: dreamlike and surreal as if suffused in amberglow. At once it became my goal to investigate and explore…"
Talislanta was definitely my fantasy game too. Not sure how many of us there were in the north of England. Glad to find out (all these years later) I was in that same headspace as Lynne. Awesome.
Great interview. The other one Lynne was trying to recall was "Bundle of Holding" another great site for pdfs where part of the money goes towards charities.
Love the content
Dungeons and Dragons is the main TTRPG I've played I wonder if I should branch out more lol
I would be utterly bored out of my mind, if I mainly only did one system/setting.
YES!!!!!!!!
* ahem *
Yes. Definitely. Please. There is a whole universe of TTRPGs out there waiting for you. I don’t think you can really know what you like until you try at least a few different things. You may find D&D really is your game, and that’s fine. But you may also not know what you’re missing out on.
@@--enyo-- Oh ya I agree I need to play some other systems! Luckily one of my friends wants to run some Call of Cuthulu.
@@kunopumpernikkel215 I at least change it up by trying out new races and class each time! keeps it more fresh lol
Great idea to give it a try!
I'd recommend looking for Talislanta that Lynn spoke about - easy to find the PDFs free (official creative commons!).
I posted a longer reply earlier with some recommendations, but it disappeared so clearly somebody didn't like it. But, beyond the CoC starter set, the City of Mist starter is worth a look too. 😁