What's up, /tg/? I come to you asking for advice.
I DMed a campaign of a homebrew world using Pathfinder that was a lot of work. It took a lot of my time because as a proper user of Mathfinder I always was writing systems and working hard on creating a reactive word where every character they met had their own life going on and after each session I would track their life and write everything that happened on a little diary. All in all, it was really tiresome to keep track of everything and for everything to be decided by dice and numbers because of Mathfinder. So I got burned out and quit DMing and the table died.
Today, I watched a video on Tolkien's use of magic and thought "hey, a low-magic world where magic is something actually rule breaking and mysterious would be pretty cool" and started to feel like DMing again, but as I remembered the amount of work that I had last time the hype kinda died down. However, there must be an alternative. What do you guys suggest that I do? Should I just give up DMing because it's always hard work or should I try another system, another way of DMing, I dunno.
>>47689073
Just try another system. Pathfinder (if you're using all the material anyway) at this point is one of the most bloated and complicated systems out there. I promise if you switch to something lighter you will enjoy running games for your group again. I don't know how rules-light you would be comfortable with, but Savage Worlds, FATE, a few others are good options. GURPS is technically simple, but mostly just in terms of mechanics. It's got an assload of material just like Pathfinder.
WHFRP 2e sounds like just the ticket for you, though magic is straight up dangerous there, so perhaps not. If you absolutely must have d20 and OGL material, just use Fantasy Craft and heavily restrict access to overtly magical things. I'd advocate banning the mage and maybe priest, if only for the first part of the game.
Just don't let the spirit in you die out OP. It's a tough flame to kindle, and you should keep it burning at all costs.
>>47689190
How about using D&D 5e and just cutting out the magic? I heard it's quite simplified.
>>47689073
Pretty much do this, OP >>47689208. 5e is nothing like the nightmare that is Pathfinder.
>>47689190
>>47689073
I'm sleepier than I thought I guess, because I misinterpreted your post to a degree. While that is an absolutely astonishing level of detail to your world that is commendable, if it's more work than you are able to do then you should stop doing it. Don't feel any pressure to do anything that involved. Do what you can be proud of without doing so much that you burn out or don't feel like prepping so much.
You don't even really need to find a new way to DM. All you need to do is take it a bit easier. It's hard to predict obviously, but you can always work on only the characters that will come up in a session or in a few sessions. You don't have to constantly run the whole world in the background aside from major events. It's just a matter of spinning plates; you don't have to work on them all at once, just so long as they don't stop spinning and fall you'll be fine and the players will never know. You only need to put a lot of work into what is going to immediately or imminently impact your players. So long as you aren't the kind of DM who pulls back the curtain (goddammit my DM, you know who you are and what you did!) all the time, players will never really know what you are and aren't doing or have thought up. And if you're worried that they will be or if they are asking questions about things you don't have planned out? Lie to them or just wing it. Make it up off the top of your head and work with it afterwards. It's all about having fun, not making a masterpiece. This is a hobby, not a job. Always think of it like that OP.
>>47689276
Thanks. I believe I did bite more than I could chew when I had this Idea. What I wanted to do as DM was to create a dynamic world along with the players. I just plotted out the cities and major races and as they ran along I too went along their path creating character and situations for them to Interact with. But suddenly I let things go way beyond their power level and they were caught up with a lot of important stuff and I had so much of the previous created content that was important and I had to track them all the time. Also made the mistake of putting them in 2 different hubs along 22 sessions and every hub always had a lot of factions wanting something and if they didn't do it then someone else would do it and depending on the person it would have a different result. My intention was only to make them feel that they weren't the chosen ones and the world lived and breathed but creating and running the systems for that took way too much of my time and energy. The peak happened when one of my players was assassinated by assassins that they set on themselves after they refused to do one simples quest that snowballed to that and I really felt like I was running a Coen Brothers movie. But after that I just kinda burned out even though my players were at their peak enjoyment (I just had set them on a major war with a lot going on, that of course took a lot of work to track).
>>47689379
If that is really what you enjoy running, then I'd advise running a "one-city" or "one-country" type game. If people have the understanding that one place will be the main focus of the game it can allow you to prepare crazy stuff like what you've mentioned. If you really love D&D in general then the best setting for this would be Planescape. It all takes place in one gigantic city in what might as well be the center of existence. It's certainly not the "magic is mysterious" style you're asking for, but it's something to look into. If you do, I'd highly recommend using AD&D to run it. It's obtuse, but rules-light compared to anything after 2e. It will also need significant homebrewing to be palatable to a modern player, but part of what makes AD&D fun is that you can easily tailor it to your personal taste.I really don't want to start anything, but I will say this much: going from 3.5 to 5e felt like a step down. And by the end of my 7-ish years playing 3.5 I had ended up hating 3.5. I was one of the people in my group excited for 5e, but I was pretty disappointed with it. 5e just felt restricting while being less flavorful. 2e may superficially seem limiting since it has so few classes, but there's no real flavor or fluff attached to the base classes, so it feels easier to imagine what you want to with them. But this is purely my subjective opinion, not a judgement of anyone or anything. I just warn you that 5e may feel underwhelming when you're used to 3.PF's buffet of options.
What do you guys think about getting a very bland regular fantasy world with low usage of Magic and just use the pre-made campaigns and just tie them up to my own world little by little. This way I have minimal prep time, can use professional made content whenever I want and use it as freely as I want. I think that'd be fun.
>>47689580
>I don't want to start anything
>But I consider 3.5 the peak of D&D
And I consider 0D&D as the peak, because it was first D&D I ever played. Everything else was just a step down from it, around 3.0 no longer even resembling the game I've played and enjoyed.
Also, if someone is suppose to go for AD&D, why not directly to 0D&D? It has all the good elements of Advanced, without all the shit that was added in it
>>47689596
Just to see if I get this right, so in advance calm your mammaries, I'm just asking clarification here in the most sincere way possible.
You want to create "generic fantasy" setting and supplement yourself with pre-made modules and campaigns written for other games, but all "flavour" would be from your own setting. Which is, as you noted already, a "bland regular", hence lacking any flavour.
In short - you want to create environment where you can use pretty much all modules, from high to low fantasy, as your own setting barely has any distinctive features?
Also, if using pre-made campaigns, ALWAYS be vary about possibility of your players knowing them. No point using stuff like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, because there is a very high chance they've already heard about it. If using pre-mades, either outright say so at the start of the game, or if you want to pretend it was your idea - use obscure stuff. Otherwise you will be fucked in case of players catching you on this and your pretense of providing own, original content.
>>47689073
Another system will help you immensely. PF is designed for high-end heroic fantasy with lots of absurdly powerful magic running in it. Not exactly the friendliest setting to make anything else than high-end heroic fantasy campaigns.Not to mention how fucking awful and bloated PF is on crunch level.
Try Warhammer Fantasy 2.0. Or GURPS Lite (no, really). Or Savage.
>>47689379
KISS. Keep It Simple, Silly.
There is a difference between interesting campaign and having shitload of things at once in it. If you really want to keep going in this fashion, dig this - get yourself an assistant. And I'm 100% serious. Running big games can be much easier and more enjoyable to everyone if you have an assistant. A person that helps you run the game, reminds you about important stuff when you forget and provides additional voices when handling NPCs (this also means you can have two NPCs arguing without any problem with organising it)
>>47689658
No, I kinda went overboard with "bland" thing. My setting would have distinctive features, but I would adapt the modules to fit them. Also, my players won't know a single of the modules, really. They started playing when I started DMing and stopped when I stopped, they don't even know how to fill up their own sheets well. They're good roleplayers and have fun doing it, though.
>>47689730
Well, I pulled on my players the example campaign from the rulebook after two years of playing together and they've didn't realise at all.
So I say - go for it.
Try RQ6. Excellent combat, can be made low-magic style or high magic just as you want it. Actually a pretty flexible system and rulewise it's not too heavy, except maybe the combat part. But running a low magic game would probably need a decent combat system to keep things interesting, and rq6 offers just that.
>>47689580
>Planescape. It all takes place in one gigantic city
No it doesn't, what are you on?
