I just wanna start DMing a game and I need to buy $150 in books to do so? The fuck.

Edit: Lots of people telling me to play other systems. Here’s what’s up:

  • I want to play a 1-on-1 game with my wife
  • I’ve never DMed before
  • She’s never played a TTRPG, so this would be her introduction
  • She’s been reading a lot of fae-related fantasy, which has me thinking she may want to play roleplay heavy with some fae storylines present
  • Ideally the system wouldn’t be too crunchy or combat focused

Edit 2: I’ve spoken with her and she actually wants a more modern setting

  • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
    ·
    2 days ago

    Regarding Edit 2, when you say more modern do you mean like urban fantasy?

    I'm a big fan of the Chronicles of Darkness games (which, fair warning, new books aren't coming out, but you can get a PDF or print on demand copy of any of them, and like most non DND games you're looking at 1 core book only).

    I really like Werewolf the Forsaken but it's pretty focused on playing a pack of werewolves. If she's into faeries you could look at Changeling the Lost (which may or may not be suitable, it's about humans who've escaped captivity after being captured by the "True Fae." They're changed by the experience and couldn't fit back into their old lives even if there weren't a doppelganger made of garbage and fae magic living their life, and they may have conflicting feelings about the whole thing anyway, after all if they hadn't gotten kidnapped they wouldn't have learned to magically learn someone's greatest desire or talk to birds or whatever. Worth pointing out that it's a horror game and the fae world kind of represent trauma).

    If that one doesn't spark joy, Vampire the Requiem is also really cool and is about trying to survive as a relatively new vampire in a cutthroat, backward citywide society of the undead. It's not about violence in the sense of combat but vampires are obviously predatory so this could also maybe not be right.

    The same line of games has one about being a wizard in the modern day, but it's extremely heavy and crunchy and probably not what you're looking for.


    If you mean you're interested in non-fantasy modern settings I don't know much about the available games but I'm sure there are some decent ones someone else will mention.