This art is amazing. Is this your project or what’s the background here?

Thanks for crossposting! Pardon my Lemmy ignorance, but I have a question. So, when you crosspost, it creates a copy of the linked thread on the new community? Meaning there are two separate but identical articles but on different communities with separate sets of comments? I had originally crossposted the first post to sci-fi, but I wasn’t expecting the two copies thing, so I thought I had done something wrong. I deleted the crosspost after that and left it only on the traveller community. Was I doing it ‘right’ originally after all?

Yup, that’s the book. There’s a lot more in there than just the Eight Steps but it’s worth it just for that in my opinion. Have fun!

For session prep, I use The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM by Mike Shea at Sly Flourish. Admittedly, the Eight Steps have turned me into a bit of a Mike Shea fanboy, but that’s because the system has had a big impact with making my game better. It is a system that focuses on prepping the most important things that will help you run the game at the table.

I wanted to suggest the Eight Steps because I think it circles very closely to your mad libs idea and also follows the prep situations not plots concept. Where mad libs is a system where the players fill in the sentence blanks with their own noun or verb, if we follow the metaphor, I would equate the Eight Steps with prepping a list of nouns, verbs, subjects, and adjectives, which you then use to help the players make their own sentence.

For example, in the Eight Steps you would prep likely locations the players would visit, secrets and clues they might learn, and potential monsters they could encounter. That’s all pretty standard fare, but a key concept is that all those things are decoupled from each other. There is nothing saying that this monster will be encountered in this location, or this secret will be learned from this object in this location. Instead, you plug the components you prepped into the adventure as the players unfold it.

I could gush further on how much it’s helped me, but I won’t do that. Instead I’ll encourage you to check it out because it sounds like it might work with your brain.

Our group had a shared GM game we ran for a while. Not exactly rotating GMs like in this post, but swapping out regularly. The lack of continuity and overarching storyline was one of the major reasons interest died out. It was a hodgepodge of stories and became kind of a mess.

I have not seen this platform before but it looks appealing.

This looks very cool and I love your commitment to the vibe. My mind immediately conjured a MIDI soundscape while I was reading it. I will definitely read it when you put it out. Thank you for sharing!

Also, what term are you using for the gamemaster? I see KC referenced but couldn’t find a definition. I suspect it is ‘knight’ something.

Traveller Discord?

As the others have said, I just straight talk with my players. I don’t mind if they take a different direction and I honestly enjoy when they take the initiative to do what they want. I don’t try to force them back onto the railroad track, but I will save bits of whatever they would have encountered for later (especially if I’ve already prepped it!).

If, however, they are taking that exit because I gave them the wrong directions, I will try to get them back on track. I don’t consider this railroading, but nudging them in a direction. My players are willing participants in the adventure, but they don’t always pick up subtle clues. If they need some more-obvious direction, I try my best to do that without taking away their freedom of choice.

I am learning Traveller as well but have not taken on the starship combat yet. This looks much better than similar designs I’ve seen. I also like the general aesthetic. I will try it out with my group and see how it works. Thank you for sharing!

Convoy escort is a good one. It’s the sci-fi equivalent of caravan guard of fantasy trope fame.

I saw a Star Trek RPG sourcebook that focuses on a not Starfleet campaign. Hell if I can remember what it was called or who made it though.

Putting aside game system and mechanics, I enjoy Traveller, Numenera, and Shadowrun, sure. But none of those can compete with Star Wars as a sci-fi setting.

Edit: Honorable mention to Star Trek.

Looks cool and I like the art style. I would host an adventure in this.

“Tabletop journalism deserves better than this, and so do you”

“This post is for subscribers only.”

I sure wish I had as much time as these blogs seem to think I do.

I agree. They will not get my click.

It has taken us 4 years to work through two calendar months.

Holy shit. And from level 1 to 9-10.

Fuck, yes.

If you have a mystery situation set up and the party has a solution that cuts right to the end, I don’t see the problem. My feeling is, instead of figuring out ways to force people into your line of roleplaying, play into their solution and let them feel good about it.

Thank you for taking a look and for continuing to do the thing for us here!