Quote from: ForgottenF on December 29, 2023, 12:43:34 AM

Quote from: Dropbear on December 28, 2023, 05:46:42 PM

Quote from: ForgottenF on December 28, 2023, 01:00:06 PM

Quote from: daft on December 28, 2023, 01:34:36 AM
It's really frustrating. I don't particularly like D&D and it's derivatives, and would love to play Dragonbane or WFRP 4E, but it's close to impossible finding games online. D&D is so incredibly dominant. I did run CoC for some friends years ago, but that was the last time I played.

Boy you said it, brother. I went looking for new games to join recently, and if you don't want to play 5e or Pathfinder2, the pickings are slim indeed. It wasn't like this a year or two ago, but the COVID RPG bubble has well and truly burst.

It seems to me to have been like this for about four years now. I first experienced the "5E or nothing else" crowd in 2019 locally. When I moved a a large city (Houston) last year, I thought that might finally change. Nope. Just MORE people playing ONLY 5E.

HECK, it wasn't until I found a full-time job back in the town I ran from that I even noticed PF2 gaining steam on D&D, back in October. And even then, it's only through people I know and have gamed with online.

5E is pretty much dominating. What's worse is that if you mention anything else that might be different, suddenly you're pariah. Especially if it is remotely attached to OSR games. I even got a bunch of flack for promoting a potential OSE game, lol.

Speaking only from my own experience, of course, but when I started looking for online games to join in April of 2021, it was considerably easier to find non-5e games than it is now. I remember being essentially spoiled for choice. That's not to say 5e wasn't still the dominant game; it was. But the mere fact that there were more games total meant more people were playing other games. Based on what I see in the Roll20 and Foundry LFG listings, there's been a significant uptick of Pathfinder 2 games, especially since the OGL situation, and noticeably in comparison to Pathfinder 1. When I was looking three years ago, Pathfinder 1 and 2 games seemed to be almost evenly split, but Pathfinder 2 is thoroughly more dominant now.

At the same time, there's been a drying up of games outside of the D&D-derived paradigm. Ironically, after 5e and Pathfinder 2, I'd say OSR games are the easiest to find. If you're looking, you can pretty much always find an OSE or Castles & Crusades game looking for players on Roll20. What seems to have changed is the diversity of OSR games. All I see posted are those two and DCC.* Lamentations, OSRIC, Hyperborea, and the other "2nd tier" OSR games all have noticeably diminished VTT footprints from what they did in 2020.

*(not counting people who are playing actual old editions of TSR D&D. You still see a fair bit of that.)

I should specify that this is only based on what I see online. The home group/game store scenes are probably totally different.

EDIT: fixed an incorrect date and changed some formatting.

I play online in Discord with a few people I have known for a while. I'm reticent to try Roll20 any more than I already have. There are too many Pronoun Police folks there if I try to run a game with randos. If there were less fake trans and non-binary people there telling everyone else how they MUST speak and define reality according to their whims, I'd go back and try again. But that has not seemed to abate just yet.

I run AD&D 2nd Edition pretty much exclusively. But I'd like to give AS&SH (3e) a shot. At the moment, I'm running a campaign set in Ravenloft where the PCs are natives to the realm. I also had the roll up characters using the classes and kits from the "Masque of the Red Death" boxed set that were appropriate for a standard Ravenloft setting.

The players are enjoying it.

Quote from: Digitalelf on December 31, 2023, 01:23:28 AM
I run AD&D 2nd Edition pretty much exclusively. But I'd like to give AS&SH (3e) a shot. At the moment, I'm running a campaign set in Ravenloft where the PCs are natives to the realm. I also had the roll up characters using the classes and kits from the "Masque of the Red Death" boxed set that were appropriate for a standard Ravenloft setting.

The players are enjoying it.

MotRD is probably my favorite setting for 2E aside from Planescape.

Unfortunately, my previous group would have nothing to do with 2E, being fully indoctrinated into the 5E only cult, and they asked that I run it for 5E.

While decently designed, the 5E version on DMs Guild of the setting just really doesn't do it for me. Nor does 5E in general. So I opted out, and they pretty much splintered and joined different 5E only groups instead.

Glad to hear that you made your save vs sheeple.   

Quote from: Dropbear on December 31, 2023, 01:15:58 PMMotRD is probably my favorite setting for 2E aside from Planescape.

Unfortunately, my previous group would have nothing to do with 2E, being fully indoctrinated into the 5E only cult, and they asked that I run it for 5E.

While decently designed, the 5E version on DMs Guild of the setting just really doesn't do it for me. Nor does 5E in general. So I opted out, and they pretty much splintered and joined different 5E only groups instead.

I felt the same about the 3rd edition version of MotRD. it was just missing... something.

I don't know if anyone's mentioned Mythras yet, but I'm really into the game and all of the derivatives based off of it. Originally, it was the system for Runequest 6e, but after Design Mechanism lost the license for the setting, they re-released it as its own generic system. All of the tools to play Runequest are still there, but it really shines in doing a Conan-esque Sword & Sorcery style fantasy game with it's really gritty and meaty combat rules. It's a modernized version (in all the best ways) of the older Runequest/BRP type games with unified mechanics for all of it's activities, making it far easier to learn and teach despite it's more complicated combat and magic rules.

modified D6 Fantasy with OSRIC features incorporated as advantages/disadvantages/special abilities, for those who insist on it. AD&D books overrule OSRIC at table if present and player desires (OSRIC is always present), and D6 Fantasy overrules or subsumes both of them.

Quote from: Dropbear on December 28, 2023, 05:46:42 PM5E is pretty much dominating. What's worse is that if you mention anything else that might be different, suddenly you're pariah. Especially if it is remotely attached to OSR games. I even got a bunch of flack for promoting a potential OSE game, lol.

What was the push back on OSE? Other than not wanting to play that, was it a political thing or something else?

I'm really lucky right now. I'm play testing my OSR/Into the Wyrd and Wild/Harnmaster/Wild magic mashup with the neighborhood 5E group. Only one game so far, but everyone had a lot of fun.

Outside of that I am having trouble getting anything going in person.

I'm looking forward to Knave 2E coming out and I'd love to run a more whimsical low effort campaign with that, but I have doubts I'll find players.

I'm trying to figure out if Against the Darkmaster would be fun, or if I just like the art in the book. That's a game where I wish I could be a player, just to get feel for it. I could probably find something online, but I find online play very tiring an unrewarding compared to in person.

Savage Worlds - (yeah I know... shocker). It's become my default system for Fantasy and Sci-fi. Love the Deadlands setting, of course Rifts, Rippers, Flash Gordon, Beasts and Barbarians, Weird Wars. It strikes a solid balance for my GM-fuckery with rules, optional sub-systems, and pro-active genre emulation that allows you to fine-tune your games into whatever you want. Even on the fly.

MSH (FASERIP) - I don't think it will ever go away. It's the longest running system at my table, since its inception and never has lowered in demand among the many many players that I've introduced to it.

CP2020 - I will *always* be into CP2020.

Talislanta - Still one of the greatest settings, and one of the best systems ever made.

D&D 1e-2e - Haven't run them in many years. But I would if my players asked, in a heartbeat. I never sold my 1e or 2e stuff. Never will.

Lately have been running/playing "Godbound" and "Worlds Without Number". They're reasonably easy to play solo, and I had some fun running several games for a group including an adaptation of a "Pathfinder" adventure path. (I already owned books 1, 2 and 6 for it and had a summary of the rest, before swearing off Paizo.)