blogpost incoming, beware all ye who enter here
>started playing RPGs with a friend's homebrew system back in 2014 or something
>played a WoD oneshot as my first real game
>tried to run shadowrun and got editions mixed up and the game died before it started
>friend ran a couple of games of D&D 3e in my stead, which was my first campaign, but it lasted only a few months
>another friend invites me over for a Pathfinder campaign soon after, it lasts for an entire year
>ran a 5e campaign for a year
>ran and played a couple of con oneshots
>ran a proper shadowrun 5e oneshot
>ran a WFRP 4e oneshot
>ran a couple of games with a homebrew system of my own
>ran a D&D 4e oneshot last year
>the homebrew system was cringe as frick and put me off from RPGs for a long ass while, but it piqued my interest
>the WoD oneshot was interesting and fun but I never played WoD ever again
>D&D 3e and Pathfinder was fricking garbage but the characters were fun at least
>the 5e campaign was enjoyable at first, but slowly grinded to a halt because the system fricking sucks and I spent more time fighting against it than playing it, also one of the players was a c**t who wanted to turn me into a pocket matt mercer
>con oneshots were fun but unfulfilling
>WFRP 4e, Shadowrun 5e and D&D 4e oneshots were super fricking fun for everyone involved, and left me craving for more
>everyone liked my homebrew system and I want to run a full campaign of it
>aside from the D&D 4e oneshot, I haven't played RPGs in over 2.5 years because of the pandemic and the aftermath disbanding all my groups
It's been almost 10 years of playing RPGs and looking back I think I've had more negative experiences than positive ones so far, it's very depressing to know how much time, effort and money I've invested into a hobby that's brings me like 25% of returned enjoyment
should I keep trying to get groups together and run more games, or is it a waste of time at this point?
if you aren't having fun, why bother? Sunk cost is a fallacy.
Because I've tasted the forbidden fruit and it's as sweet as it is rare. The moments I forgot I was playing Pathfinder, the scenes of prolongued narrative bliss inbetween encounters in 5e (because we weren't touching the system) were fun, even the oneshots that led nowhere have been enticing and genuinely fun to play.
The problem is that scheduling is a fricking nightmare and I can't host games in my house because of various things, so I'm always enslaved to the free time and space of others if I want to run anything. Maybe once I move somewhere else, closer to downtown in an easily available location, it will be less of an issue, but for the time being it is what it is.
True enough. At the very least, I could try to run some more of these short but sweet oneshots of various systems so that there's less commitment involved, and maybe hook players into a campaign once I've done a few of these.
Even though I had a terrible time by the end of it, In hindsight, I wish the 5e campaign would've lasted more. It never reached an end, it sort of simply sputtered out, quietly and pathetically. But while it was ongoing, it was alright. We hung out with that group pretty consistently.
>'m always enslaved to the free time and space of others
Don't ignore playing online. Not with randos, but with your people. Cam & mic, roll20 or something, and your sessions can happen way more regularly. No driving, no 8+ hours on a weekend, just a regular 3-4 hour session on a weekday evening. And you can still meet up for those big old real life sessions every few months, when the stars align.
I despise online games with a passion. A big part of the reason I enjoy RPGs and boardgames in the first place is because I get to take a break from being in front of a screen for the vast majority of my waking hours. I don't want to add more screen-centric hobbies.
I almost exclusively play with my friends. It's just that my old groups have vanished over the years, lost to jobs, other groups, and schedule issues. There haven't been any cons to go to lately, though. Maybe I can convince some coworkers to get an after-office campaign going, but I don't trust them with any serious investment and will most likely end up running beer and pretzels shit with them. But, yknow, it's an option.
>I despise online games with a passion.
Then maybe stick with video games.
One of the large changes occurring because of the pandemic is people realized how little they like driving somewhere to do something. So they generally don't now. My wife used to have us driving all over creation every day to ferry the kids around to this that and another thing.
Now she's like "twice a week, max." So the kids do most of their music lessons via Zoom now. One session a month with the instructor so they can go over whatever changes need to be made to technique or w/e.
We drive mainly for sports at this point. You know, the thing where you absolutely have to go somewhere to do it.
>I am a self-loathing moron that purposefully digs with a fork in an electric outet
All you deserve is being mocked
who hurt you
That's life. Put more effort into increasing the good while minimising the bad. It doesn't just happen by itself.
There are too many aligning factors needed to create a good experience in ttrpg, in comparison to something like vydia or sports, where the intended experience is set in stone to a certain degree. The only way to get consistently good games is finding the system(s) and group that better suit the tastes and expectations of each one of you to a higher degree and roll with it for as long as you can.
>lots of cons mentioned
>lots of oneshots mentioned
>barely anything about the people you play(ed) with
It's all about the people, anon. Play with friends and acquaintances. Playing with internet randos will grind you down quicker than anything else.
Don't get me wrong, cons and oneshots can be great to broaden your horizons and to introduce you to new systems, but you NEED your core group(s).
>get into RPGs in high school
>play 3.5 with friends a lot
>at one point doing a different game every week
>every single fricking game fell apart after a few sessions. Some didn't even last one who session
>so many forgettable games that I can't recall a single character I played in any of them
>try a couple other systems with some other guys
>those games somehow go worse
>play WoD games (changeling, vampire, werewolf) for a few years
>those games are the longest out of anything I've ever played but they're also huge fricking trainwrecks that had more immature high school drama than my actual high school years
>try to run Changeling game.
>it goes so badly that I stop being friends with a few dudes for a while (we've since patched things up)
>stumble across Fantasy Craft
>decide to run it with a small group of friends
>literally one of the best campaigns we've ever played.
>nearly perfect group.
>fantastic game that is still fondly remembered and quoted amongst the players to this day
>finally get that thing I've always wanted from playing RPGs!
>plan a second campaign to follow it up
>it goes to shit
>some of the shit players from all the games that bombed were involved.
>Never really gets off the ground before the game is just dead
>5e happens
>back to playing half-assed 5e games that never last more than a few sessions
>the ones that do last are fricking miserable
>decide to try homebrewing a game
>hit the fricking jackpot again
>game runs for over a year
>it's the wildest shit I've ever run
>pandemic happens
>all games are ded.
>trying to get a game going again
>success limited
When it's good, there's nothing like it. Downright magical. Worth chasing down and suffering through the bad games for. The real challenge is finding people who share that understanding and are willing to try and find that magic spark that happens with truly great games played by great groups that understand each other.
>pandemic happens
>all games are ded
he says while using the internet
The post was getting a little long, but the truth is I tried several online games, including ones with old friends. They all fell apart and they were all miserable.
Sounds like a lot of cool experiences anon. In-person games seem like they're very fun. But social hobbies will always be frustrating because they depend on others so much.
I wasn't able to find people for an IRL game and getting into online GMing has been just as much of a struggle. People just want their own idealized experience and not whatever you're offering, not even a collaboration.
In my experience, people have been pretty open to try new things. The fact that I got so many people hooked to try out D&D 4e in the first place despite its perceived stigma should be proof enough that I can essentially run whatever I want. The problem is that not everyone can make it to games in the first place, not everyone can host in my stead. It's a bummer, because I've got a huge pool of potential players just waiting for me and I can't fricking line them up for the life of me.
>I've got a huge pool of potential players just waiting for me
epic flex bro
If we’re blogposting read mine and take a lesson from it.
>get into rpgs when a friend in college wants to try out DnD 3.5
>it’s fun but the majority of our friend group just dicks around
>around that time I learn about GURPS and run a long campaign with that friend as my only player
>it’s set in a homebrewed quasi iron age setting like glorantha
>his characters die occasionally and he makes a couple new characters throughout the campaign but we’re both having a blast
>eventually I get in touch with another friend of mine from highschool and invite him over
>he joins our campaign but starts complaining about the setting not being proper fantasy because only humans are playable
>he starts dicking around which kills my motivation and I end the campaign before it’s truly finished
>instead I start a new campaign with Stars without Numbers
>things are going well and it’s fun until my high school friend’s character dies and he gets salty about the system
>says he’s going to break the system and makes a new character specifically for that
>eventually him dicking around kills this campaign too and makes me salty
>he wants to run a DnD 5e campaign instead
>he throws so many goblins at us during the first session that we get a TPK
>he says the CR said this shouldn’t be that hard but whatever
>we stop playing with each other for a while
>I eventually find VtM V5 which just came out then and try to run a short campaign for the friend who was my first GM and another friend of ours
>the other friend’s a pothead who uses my campaign to get stoned and act like a moron near us
>I tell him to knock it off and focus on the game and he agrees but still continues like before
>I eventually lose motivation and end this campaign prematurely as well
>I stop trying to run rpgs physically and instead recruit randoms on the internet for a new VtM V5 campaign through discord
>I find three guys and also invite over the friend that was my first GM
>one random quits after his character dies and he gets salty about it
>my friend’s character also dies but he just makes a new one and we continue for half a year with this campaign having a blast and getting to know each other much better
>eventually I get burned out on rpgs and end the campaign prematurely, the guys understand my situation
>I try to run two more VtM campaigns because I’m not sure if I’m not just exagerating with the burn out thing
>both campaigns end after a couple weeks and I actually stop with rpgs for a year or two
>eventually I get to know some people online through a chat and we become internet friends
>I eventually drop the idea of rpgs to them and two want to try out
>so I run a VtM campaign but one of them doesn’t like it so it ends prematurely and I get fed up with VtM as well
>somehow I learn about Conan 2d20
>being a Conan fan I pick it up and fall in love with it
>I find only one player but he says his friend might want to join and I invite one player from my last VtM campaign
>I run a weekly Conan 2d20 campaign for these people for a year and a half and we’re having a blast
>we’re actually about to end it soon and start a follow up campaign afterwards
>I’ve finally managed to run a long campaign to it’s end
>I also ran a short Conan 2d20 campaign for that friend of mine who was my first GM and we both liked it a lot
>he actually still plays with the VtM group I gathered back then, they tried Werewolf, WHF, Pathfinder, Starfinder and some Star Wars game together
OP find a system you are passionate about and find randoms that are passionate about rpgs and you will have an awesome time. Stop trying to get your friends into the hobby.
>>he joins our campaign but starts complaining about the setting not being proper fantasy because only humans are playable
>>>he starts dicking around which kills my motivation and I end the campaign before it’s truly finished
>>says he’s going to break the system and makes a new character specifically for that
him dicking around kills this campaign too and makes me salty
I've played with this person. The dude who ran 3e for me briefly played Pathfinder with us and was a part of the WFRP 4e oneshot. He's a mid-30s nerd with a boomer mindset and basically anyone who plays any other way than the way he plays (read: dicking around like in the good ol' days of the early 00s) is a fricking homosexual and he is within his divine right to do as he pleases regardless of what other players feel like or what the rules say, that is after all the TRVE way to play.
I don't associate with him anymore, but he ruined enough games for me while we played together.
Wise words, anon. I'll take it into account.
>I don’t associate with him anymore
That’s good, people like that are much more trouble than they are worth. I haven’t spoken to the guy that killed two of my campaigns either after the shit he did. As long as you want to GM you can always find players for your games on the internet. It’s not worth dealing with shitty people, especially when they can be replaced so quickly.
>especially when they can be replaced so quickly
How?
I generally look on /r LFG for players. There are some lazy shits or weirdos among them but if you filter them out you’ll find a bunch of normal people to play with.
This reminds me, what actually happened to greentext threads? You don't see them anymore.
People stopped posting them in favor of prompts, questions, themes and provocations. That and generals, but that's another topic.
The reason, I reckon, is because it's been a good few years of people calling bullshit on anything anyone posts ever, or tries to ridicule anyone who posts stories and personal accounts by saying they don't play games, asking for proof, and other such things. Greentext threads have become increasingly unpopular because we've been colonized by what I can only assume is tourists whose knowledge of Ganker doesn't go past what they've read on knowyourmeme about 2009 /b/ and believe that the internet hate machine idea is still true.
It fricking hurts.
because frickers kept making videos on them and monetizing anonymous content
neckbeardia is still at it. they're just plundering archive depths and reddit nowadays.
They are also making dredging threads on /tg/ so they aren't exactly "done" with us
dredging threads? what?
Where they try to prompt you into greentexting.
I recall there was some talk of doing this sort of thing to try and stave it off, but it's tiresome.
>archive depths
Where would one see archives for old threads beyond the 3 days that get stored here?
Bruh literally google 4cham archive or tg archive and you'll get plenty of options. In fact if you've got GankerX installed, you get automatically redirected to the 4plebs archive when you enter the link of a deleted thread.
At lurkmoar.frickingnewbie.org
Aww shit, I remember those two. Still stealing content?
Why does this look like a frame from a porn comic?
Because you have a crippling porn addiction that warps your perception of reality.
I think it's more because while porn comics have gone up in quality, general fantasy artwork has gone down, so now they very often meet in the middle.
>legends of runeterra
nah it's because the artists literally do porn
Source?
don't have a source but look up zeronis and you'll get the idea
You won't get a confirmed source because if you openly draw porn under the same name that you do professional art for you risk getting shitcanned because these companies like to do business in China, Korea, South East Asia, and the Middle East.
This is the reason one of the greatest fetish artists in the history of Japan stopped doing porn for several years. He recently said "frick you, China" and quit the job that stopped him by getting a manga greenlit. Japan doesn't give a frick if you're a fetish artist on the side, so he's back doing it.
Most things in life are more negative than positive. The experience should ensure it's easier to get the positive in future endeavors.