Here's how I ran a Cyberpunk RED night market. My goals:

1. Give some stuff for the players to do.
2. Add a few plot hooks, so I have stuff for upcoming sessions.
3. Make a shopping session interesting.

I was going to run the full Salted Legacy one-shot adapted by Sparky_McDibbon, but my world is almost animal free, so having cybernetically enhanced monkeys running around would have been inconsistent. Also, my players don't care if there isn't a direct path to a payoff.

Instead:

1. A Biotechnica Exec NPC that the crew rescued on a previous run was at the Market. He needed to steal some silkworms from Madame Kulp's shop, and offered the crew 400 eddies to do it. Biotechnica wants them, because Madame Kulp has engineered them to do something special. This is a hook for the current session.

2. An NPC who is trying to prevent workers from getting violent at a nearby waste processing facility was seen talking to someone (an exec at the org she's in). This is a clue for an ongoing arc.

3. One of the PCs saw an enemy (a stagehand that ruined his gear), which introduced a new arc.

The crew is pretty violent, so they knocked out a worker at Madame Kulp's shop and searched it, finding nothing. Because Madame Kulp (and her silkworms) are helping set up Night Market Games.

The players made their way to the games. It was a set of three competitions. Each competition is a set of skill checks. A player that loses one competition cannot continue to the next.

1. An insult competition (stolen from a D&D5e resource). The rules were pretty simple:

• NPC rolls a skill, and then insults the PC.
• The PC uses that roll as a DV, choses "an appropriate skill" for an insult and makes an Opposed Skill Check against that value.
• A character wins the competition when they get two consecutive successes, or beats the other by 5 or more.
• The NPC roll was 1d10+1d6+1. That was much too low. In retrospect, it probably should have been 1d10+2d6+1. I was hoping to lose 25% of my PCs during this round, but instead lost 0.

2. Three rounds of the Pepper Challenge. The DVs were too high, and only one of my players thought to ~~cheat~~ use Complementary Skill Checks, so I ended up losing 75% of the crew during this round. I think next time, I'd explicitly ask the players "what are you doing to improve your odds?"

3. Hide and Seek to find the silkworm. The player had to succeed on a DV 12 Stealth to hide a silkworm to sneak away. This was kind of boring, since it's just one check, but 75% of the players had failed out by this point, so that was probably for the best.

Mixed between those, players were able to do some shopping.

How do you run Night Markets or shopping trips? It's generally something I try to avoid, since it can turn into boring grinds that don't contribute to my plot arc, but I enjoyed these sessions.

Hi, all!

Just reaching out to see if there are any Kids on Bikes players active in this community! I've been working on a tool to support play groups at my local games shop, and I thought -- why not open it up to more people?

It's 100% free and open source (GLPv3), there are zero features stuck behind a paywall, ads, or other monetization and I intend to keep it that way. Full disclosure: there is a link to donate to the project, but it's out of the way and will never be shoved in anyone's face.

I want to make the tool better for anyone and everyone who uses it, so if it interests you at all please check it out! It's called Handlebar Heroes. Feel free to make suggestions, ask questions, give strongly worded criticisms, whatever you like. I'm here for it all. 🙂

Thanks so much for your time! I hope someone gets some use out of it.

Any suggestions on a skill check a player should make to see if they notice being pick pocketed by an NPC?

The Pick Pocket skill (p142) sets the bonuses for a character rolling against a DV while they are trying to steal something, but I'd like the players to feel like they're involved in the event.

I was thinking the player would roll an Opposed Skill Check on Perception, while the pick pocket would roll the Pick Pocket skill. If the player fails by more than 5 they have no idea it happened until they try to use the lost item; less than 5 then they notice a few minutes later.

If the player equals or beats the NPC's roll, then they notice as it's happening and have a chance to intervene.

Any suggestions on how that could work, like alternate skills to Perception or how the encounter could run?

High above the crashing waves lies a well-defended castle that is built into the side of a mountain. This castle serves as the home of Captain Flint and his rag tag army of buccaneers and outlaws!

This fortress features high stone walls reinforced with two towers and plenty of cannons to scan the horizon. A large mountain provides natural protection from the north and west. A small hamlet is set up within the castle, with a mountain spring providing fresh water. More buildings are in the process of being built, as this castle serves as a refuge for many convicts and brigands. Download the high-res map for free here.

To see more maps, check out my map archive here.

Let's forget about the Oops TPK, but let's discuss about the time it ended-up greatly, no matter whether the party decided t sacrify their life to save the world (or simply their honour) or that horror game where the PC found-out too late that they're hopeless and bound to die

You know the situation: the players have decided that splitting up is a good idea. Maybe they're on a shopping trip, maybe they're investigating a dungeon/mothership, maybe some of them were arrested.

What's the best way to handle the situation outside of combat? How do you keep it interesting for the players, while moving the story forward?

A Viking’s home is on the restless waves Where salty winds carry far and wide To foreign shores and glory wars we will set sail With axe and sword by our side.” - Amon Amarth

Welcome to the Longship map pack! This map features a 24-oar longship used frequently by raiders and war-parties. The sleek, narrow shape of this ship allows for easy turns and quick maneuvers, making it ideal for a skirmish.

This pack features additional ship variants for Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Cloud Giants, and Undead.

I have also made tokens of each ship to provide you with full flexibility in how you want to use the ships. Foundry VTT modules with pre-built walls and lighting are available to patrons.

Download the base map for free here.

Check out my map archive to see more maps.

Was considering to get a grid mat, large- at least A2 or so - of those you can write and erase. After searching online I found few options, and they're a bit pricey.

Any recommendations? I don't need anything fancy. Just a large laminated grid that can be rolled up. Thanks

In less than 6 hours, Free League will open the Kickstarter for the revised edition of their Alien RPG. It will include revised and new rules, for example for zero gravity and for miniature support, the cinematic campaign Rapture Protocoll, a solo mode (Last Survivor), franchise updates and much more.

I never played the first edition, but I am a bit hyped about this game as I am much fonder of sci-fi than of fantasy.

How about you?

How do you make downtime interesting in Cyberpunk RED? Downtime is a period between RP sessions where players can heal, repair their stuff, and use their role abilities to fabricate new items.

For characters that don't need to do those things, there are hustle charts, where they roll a d6 and role-specific events happen, stuff like: "Something goes wrong, and you need to lay low - 0eb" or "One of your songs goes viral - 500 eb". Usually the character ends up making a bit of cash, but not too much.

How do you make those hustles interesting?

I am a longtime GM, and have been looking to stretch my improv muscles for a long time. I've had this idea percolating for awhile about making quick, micro-rpgs that get resolved in a week or so. If that sounds like your cup of tea, join in! I'll be creating the initial games, but anyone that wants to create and GM a game is most welcome!

The first game is already up and is based on superhero parodies like The Tick. I call it: Stuperheroes!

Here's a direct link to the game: Stuperheroes

And here's a link to the community itself: !Every_Post_Is_An_RPG@Lemmy.ml

Is anyone interested in growing a Cyberpunk RED TTRPG community?

I really appreciate some of the the posts on the CP:R subreddit, and I'd love to build something like that here.

I've got a bit of content (like my Cyberpunk RED cheat sheet for D&D players), and I enjoy putting together session reviews like this one.

Are you playing Cyberpunk RED? Are you into the Interlock meta? Do you want to try and build an active game-based community here?

EDIT: two responses doesn't a community make. I'll keep my RED posts in the main RPG community. :/

If you're a Cyberpunk RED player, please skip this post - it contains spoilers for Tales of the Red: Reaping the Reaper.

I GM'd the Drone Fight scene in Reaping the Reaper (Tales of the Red, p94) last session. Here's my set up and thoughts on the module:

Background

The players are picking up a mcguffin for their Johnson in a container port. The opposition is an evil AI called the Reaper. It is aware of the pickup and attacks the party with a handful of drones. The drones are fragile but very mobile.

The module doesn't state the reason for the scene, but I'm guessing it's to show off the Reaper's green skull symbol.

As written, the scene happens after the players pick up the mcguffin, but I moved it to before. Why? I'm not sure - I think I prefer a reward at the end of a fight.

Setup

For a battlemap I used New Atami Container Port - it's large, and I wanted to be able to have some strategic play from the drones. Here's a free alternative, but it's tiny.

The drones only have 15 or 20 HP, and no SP, so I added another Drone Swarm. For the tokens, I used PeaPu's Cyberpunk vehicles. The three drone swarms only have a melee attack, while the heavy air drone has a ranged attack.

I added a friendly security guard that was taking the crew to the mcguffin. He was mostly there for colour.

Rules Adjustment

I allowed players to hop onto containers with a DV 12 Athletics check. Success got them onto the box at the cost of one movement, failure left them on the ground and cost two movement.

Play

I played the drones carefully: the drones have a MOV of 8, so they used the containers as cover and swung around to try and catch the players when they came out of cover. The lack of range weapons on the drone swarms sucked: they couldn't hit a player and get back under cover.

Halfway through the encounter, I ended up giving the drone swarms a light handgun (2d6 damage, ROF2) to present more of a challenge.

The players were able to mostly stay under cover. One of them screwed up and stayed out of cover, taking a few hits.

Analysis of Play

Good:

• the map was great for the ranged drone: it was able to (mostly) stay under cover and land a couple of shots.

• the mechanics of jumping up onto the boxes was nice - it gave the players a way to extend their vision, while jumping off got them into cover. The combat optimized character essentially got the jumps for free (they could only fail on a critical failure), while the other characters failed once, so that added some nice differentiation.

• the friendly security guard presented some colour

Analysis of Module

• The drones don't have enough HP/SP to challenge the players. If I hadn't buffed them, the scene would have been over in a round or two.
• There isn't a plot reason for this encounter: it presents the Reaper's green skull, and uses some of their HP/SP/ammo, but it doesn't move the story forward. It feels like a D&D attrition fight.
• There's a NetArch in the ranged drone. But with a MOV of 8 it's not clear how a Netrunner would maintain contact.

If I ran it again

The scene needs a reason to exist. I'd give it three reasons:

1. The drones are trying to kill the friendly security guard, since he knows where the mcguffin is. They focus him in the fight. If the friendly dies, then the players face a complication to find the mcguffin.

2. The drones should be a threat. I'd have one drone per PC. When they can't hit the friendly, they fire on the players. I'd make each drone a heavy air drone and give it 7 SP on top of 20 HP. Alternatively, buffing the MOV on the swarm from 8 to 12 could give them enough range for melee attacks.

3. Introduce the Reaper (beyond the green skull): give it some dialog from the drones. Troll the players. The Reaper seems like it would troll its victims.

I'd been planning on the Reaper possessing a couple of cranes in the terminal and using them as an environmental weapon. Something like a single attack on the players per round, with a DV 15 Evasion check to avoid 2d6 damage as the magnetic hook drops on them (players can disable the cranes with an aimed shot on the crane's camera that's 25 meters away). But I got carried away and forgot.

Conclusion

This is a poorly designed encounter: it has no reason to exist, the opposition doesn't challenge the players, and there isn't a player goal beyond kill all the ~~goblins~~ drones.

I didn't put much effort into rewriting this encounter, because I'm coming off of Agents of Desire (also Tales of the Red) which is great and needed no extra GM work. I just assumed this one would be good.

A few weeks ago I have found a very nice jam on itch.io called Road Trip Game Jam 2025 which was really inspiring and chill. At the time there were already a lot of really good little video games. I decided to hop on and try to submit something physical instead and ~~many coffees later~~ my solo TTRPG Focus on the Road was born.

It's a chill game about driving across a big country, meeting interesting people and visiting some cool landmarks. You will take some pictures of your new friends and visited places using an instant camera and try to continue your trip before the gas tank is empty. As many solo RPGs it's not really a game you can win or lose, it is mostly a tool to narrate a cool story while listening to some old rock music. The main mechanic is interacting with any hitchhikers you might take with you, trying to find a good discussion topic, listening to the radio together, etc. It's absolutely non-violent, features no cigarettes, drugs or booze and has been designed to be as chill as I was when designing it. Oh, and it's free and features only creative common art. Hope you might enjoy it!

Hi everyone, just wanted to announce our upcoming Modular Map Tiles—a solution to the limitations of static, one-size-fits-all battlemaps.

We’ve created a collection of over 50 high-quality, modular tiles that can be mixed and matched to create endless dungeon layouts. Each tile is designed with a wide variety of features, including corridors, rooms, traps, treasure vaults, and more—giving you the tools to customize the dungeon as you see fit.

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Our tiles are currently designed around the unique theme Ancient Temple. These tiles are thematically suitable for most dungeons, ancient ruins, temples, and other buildings. And if you're looking for even more variety, our Stretch Goals will expand the collection with a new theme and more dungeon tiles!

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I want to start a stream with some of my friends and other players trying to play these games. So I wanted to get a list of them before starting the stream. And they don’t even have to be good.

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

*New: For 2025, I'm updating all my old work to be more accessible for the Visually Impaired! Check out the link below, which contains improved notes with larger font, better contrast, color-blind features, and more!

The Delian Tomb is a Level 1 Introductory One-Shot based on Matt Colville's first episode of his Running the Game series on YouTube.

This adventure begins in the backwaters of a small kingdom; It's a quiet place...most of the time. Recently, there has been an influx of goblins in the region, and some of the foul creatures have even begun attacking the farms on the outskirts of the village. Your players are all friends, just traveling through, in search of adventure. It isn't long before they find themselves mixed up in the business of Goblins and pursuing a kidnapped child into the depths of a long-forgotten tomb. This is their opportunity to prove themselves and to rescue someone in need...if they can survive the perils of The Delian Tomb!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for The Delian Tomb (Nyx): DM Notes
• (New) Link to: DM Notes for the Visually Impaired
• Link to: The Delian Tomb Playlist (Nyx)
• Link to The Delian Tomb PDF: Version 1
• Link to: The AAA Collection + Original and Second place versions

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• Downloadable copy of DM Notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly, along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Spellsheet Handout for the Goblin Shaman
• Custom Maps

As always, if you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc., please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,
Advent

Saw a discussion on reddit today and thought it might be interesting. Name the system, media influences, and basic plot ideas. Mine is: Over The Edge, Film Noir: Four friends in 1935 are involved in a plane crash in the desert and end up in Al Amarja. Stuck without papers or passports, the group is forced to take piece work from the criminal element to survive. A cross between The Maltese Falcon, Naked Lunch, The Lost Weekend, and Sullivan's Travels.

Upcoming Print-on-Demand Book Price Changes – Effective April 1, 2025

We always want to keep print costs as low as possible, and it has been years since we passed any price increases through to our publishing partners.

However, our print supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced a price adjustment starting April 1, 2025, that will be reflected on DriveThru sites.

Key Changes

• Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.

• UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but generally only by 3-4%.

• Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.

• On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.

Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.

Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.

Here’s all playlists I collected, from different users across Spotify and Apple Music. All genres covered, from horror to fantasy. Enjoy!

PLAYLISTERBR - Follow on Spotify

Sci-Fi Atmospheric: Spotify | Apple Music

Dreamy: Spotify | Apple Music

Disturbing: Spotify | Apple Music

Mesmerizing: Spotify | Apple Music

Eerie: Spotify | Apple Music

Hypnotic: Spotify | Apple Music

Haunting: Spotify | Apple Music

Suspenseful: Spotify | Apple Music

Unsettling: Spotify | Apple Music

Unnerving: Spotify | Apple Music

Magical: Spotify | Apple Music

Exotic: Spotify | Apple Music

Futurebleak: Spotify | Apple Music

Gloomy: Spotify | Apple Music

Demonic: Spotify | Apple Music

Despairing/Relieving: Spotify | Apple Music

Daunting: Spotify | Apple Music

Horrifying: Spotify | Apple Music

Synthwave: Spotify | Apple Music

Cyberpunk: Spotify | Apple Music

Retrowave: Spotify | Apple Music;

PLAYLISTERBR2 - Follow on Spotify

Dark Isolation: Spotify

Dark Future: Spotify

Nightmarish: Spotify

Future Nexus: Spotify

Tormentor: Spotify

Abysmal: Spotify

Outgamers: Spotify

Synthpunk: Spotify

Post Apocalypse: Spotify

Apocalypse: Spotify

Syntheticity: Spotify

Tenebrosity: Spotify

Thanatology: Spotify

Anxiety: Spotify

Teratology: Spotify

Pyromania: Spotify

Bushido: Spotify

Conspiracy: Spotify

Phobia: Spotify

Cosmogony: Spotify

Mythology: Spotify

Futurology: Spotify

Taumaturgy: Spotify

Criminology: Spotify

Demonology: Spotify

Chiromancy: Spotify

Technocracy: Spotify

Necromancy: Spotify

Neuromancy: Spotify;

DIMITRI DE ALENCAR Follow on Spotify

Follow his page for the playlists, which are at the bottom of the page. Each one is in the 3-4 hour range and they are:

Dungeon Crawling: dark ambiences for setting the mood for exploring labyrinths/caves/catacombs or dark forests etc.;

Crossing The Ocean: for pirate-themed adventures, or any campaign heavy on nautical/river combat; In The Village: when the group reaches a town, tavern or trading outpost, for generally pacific encounters with villagers and townspeople;

Ruins and Temples: to set the appropriate mood when in sacred places, sacerdotal houses, monuments or exploring sacred ruins, magical buildings or dealing with entities from other planes;

Heroic Fight: for epic battles against powerful dragons, mages, demons or armies, or situations that require heroism from the PCs;

Distant Places: for travels far away from the group’s places of origin, be it distant kingdoms or towns or even other planes.

NEW The Magical Forest: be it when looking for a legendary unicorn or a reclusive mage, the woods can be full of wonders… and dangers.

If you want to go really dark, try the playlist called DARK AMBIENT

Ambient Retrowave: you just landed at Gliese IV, an apparently abandoned planetoid which was a penal colony. As you explore the place, you feel that you’re being watched by someone… or something.;

Instrumental Retrowave: enemy fighters breached the outer rim, and all fighters from your brigade are launched to battle. Like a menacing swarm approaching, you see bogeys right and left that you have to engage;

Synthwave Selection: you are in the biggest space station in the quadrant, looking for your undercover contact. You have to find them first, searching in luxurious halls, rusty and half lit corridors, crowded gateways and suspect entertainment places. Bring your own oxygen though.

Eerie Sci Fi: your space freighter was boarded by a ship from unknown origin. You hear the hiss from hatches being opened. Will the newcomers see you as allies or foes… or food;

If you want to go for a space opera mood, try the one called SPACESURF

spoiler

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