Claim to Game Podcast
035: Top 5 Best GM-Less TTRPGs
Claim to GameMarch 13, 2025
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035: Top 5 Best GM-Less TTRPGs

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#35 - Tabletop RPGs with no Game Master are growing in popularity. The role of the GM can be a pain point for some groups possibly due to scheduling issues, GM burnout, or just plain curiosity about new ways to play where everyone at the table participates equally. In this episode, Clint takes a look at 5 of the Top GM-less games and who might enjoy them.

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00:00:00
>> Clint Scheirer: Are you a game master who feels a little burnt out prepping

00:00:03
and preparing for game sessions week after week?

00:00:06
Do you create marvelous worlds, fantastic

00:00:08
NPCs and intricate mysteries with juicy plot

00:00:11
points for your players only to have your hard work

00:00:14
put on hiatus due to a scheduling issue with your

00:00:17
group? Whether you need a break from prep or

00:00:20
always want a viable option when certain gamers are missing from

00:00:23
your scheduled game night GM list, tabletop

00:00:26
games might be just what you need. Keep listening

00:00:29
to discover my top 5 GM less

00:00:32
RPG's to soothe your achy achy Breaky

00:00:34
heart. Welcome to Claim to Game. We help tabletop

00:00:37
gamers have a great time with friends to experience

00:00:40
amazing stories. It can be overwhelming to start

00:00:43
and run great games. Lets make it easier for you to

00:00:46
play any game you want to have fun with your friends.

00:00:49
Im Clint Scheirer. Ive helped thousands of students in my

00:00:52
career find their way to better themselves and

00:00:55
better their game. With more than 10 years experience in

00:00:57
leadership, coaching, live performance and public

00:01:00
speaking, I know I can help you create immersive,

00:01:03
low stress games youll never forget. Its

00:01:06
time for you to make your Claim to Game.

00:01:38
Hello and welcome back to episode 35,

00:01:41
season two of Claim to Game, Still a

00:01:43
predominantly educational fun podcast in which I

00:01:46
am daring to coin the word funationalal.

00:01:49
Its like making a bacaking soda vinegar volcano for your

00:01:51
seventh grade science fair project, except only super

00:01:54
cool and not sticky or smelly at

00:01:57
all. In our time together you will need to go in

00:02:00
the wayack machine all the way

00:02:03
back to episode nine of the Claim to Game

00:02:06
Podcast titled Should I Play with a

00:02:09
Game Master or Go gmless.

00:02:12
In that episode we weighed both the tenders which

00:02:15
are pro and the Tufts cons

00:02:17
for GMLed M games as well as the GMLess M

00:02:21
games. It was a great episode. Ill put the link in the

00:02:24
show notes for you to go back check it out if you havent listened to it

00:02:27
already. I promise we arent going to just rehash all the

00:02:29
points laid out in episode 9. However,

00:02:32
the reason Im'speaking about the top 5 GM list

00:02:35
games today is because episode 9

00:02:38
is one of my top downloaded and listened to episodes

00:02:41
since the conception of this podcast In March

00:02:44
of 2024, it has received two

00:02:47
times the number of love than any other

00:02:50
episode that I put out there. Why?

00:02:53
If I were to venture a guess, it would be two main

00:02:56
points that I laid out in that episode when talking about

00:02:59
the Tufts or cons for a game or

00:03:02
any game that requires a game master. The first

00:03:04
is GM burnout some GMs say that they never

00:03:07
burn out and they wouldn't want anybody else running the games at

00:03:10
their table. And that's totally fair. That's definitely

00:03:13
not me. I sometimes just want to

00:03:16
experience the role of the player. And if other

00:03:19
players at the table are not willing to take on that mantle of

00:03:22
GM and your table only wants to play

00:03:25
games that need to have a GM to lead them, well then

00:03:27
you'shit out of luck friend. You either need to find

00:03:30
a GM or your group doesnt t get to play your

00:03:33
intended game. And the second point was game

00:03:36
session or game campaign

00:03:38
preparation. There's many time saving

00:03:41
resources and tips for GMs who prepare and run

00:03:44
campaigns. Heck, this podcast is now becoming

00:03:46
a resource to help GMs manage

00:03:49
themselves and their tables with the greatest of ease.

00:03:52
Like a daring young man or woman on the flying

00:03:55
trapeze. Yet, sometimes it can

00:03:58
just be nice to show up and play a

00:04:00
game without spending any amount of time preparation

00:04:03
in advance or having to expend

00:04:06
any sort of mental energy managing the moving parts

00:04:09
of players, NPCs, dice, math

00:04:12
and anything else that goes along with being a game

00:04:15
master for a game. For this reason I

00:04:18
believe you and others are looking

00:04:20
into the deep dark void of the universe calling out

00:04:23
for sweet reprieve. Well dont you

00:04:26
worry friend, Reprieve has

00:04:29
come if you are a GM who is

00:04:32
weary and burdened. Or maybe you wish to avoid the GM

00:04:35
seat altogether for fear of burnout and too

00:04:37
much prep. The gmless games are

00:04:40
here baby.

00:04:42
Okay, on a calmer note, I will mention that GM list

00:04:45
games are usually designed for one shot games where the

00:04:48
adventures are meant to be completed in one session.

00:04:51
If youre someone who wants a longer campaign played over

00:04:54
multiple sessions, I believe that my number one

00:04:57
pick has you covered right now on

00:05:00
the R RPG subreddit there are

00:05:02
30 GM list games listed by the

00:05:05
community that the community thinks are great and

00:05:08
I wanted to cut through this list with the communitys

00:05:11
help. So I asked the following

00:05:14
can you rank your top 5

00:05:17
GM list tabletop RPGs from 1

00:05:20
to 5? It needs to be a game that is playable

00:05:23
for at least two or more players. Now this doesnt

00:05:25
mean that there isnt possibly a solo mode in

00:05:28
some of these games where you could just play by yourself without

00:05:31
other people. But I wanted these games to be ones that

00:05:34
a game master who maybe wants a break or

00:05:37
somebody who doesnt want to jump into the GMC yet

00:05:40
would be able to pick up this game with low prep and

00:05:43
get some friends around the table to play and with

00:05:46
over 12 views and nearly 80

00:05:48
responses, I've analyzed and prioritized

00:05:51
the top 5 GM/less games which came up time

00:05:54
and again as the best of the best. I

00:05:57
will put the link to that Reddit thread in the show

00:06:00
notes if you want to look at the entire conversation. There were some

00:06:03
games that I just couldn't include in this episode but

00:06:06
definitely should see the light of day and you

00:06:09
you should check it out. U I will say that if you can

00:06:11
imagine we are currently pouring out vinegar

00:06:14
into our baking soda clay volcano.

00:06:17
Time for an explosion of opportunity. We

00:06:20
are going to begin with Number five and end on the

00:06:23
Number one GM List game.

00:06:25
Here we go.

00:06:28
Quick pause on the episode Okay, I lied.

00:06:31
Before I give you the number 5 pick for top GM list

00:06:34
tabletop RPG's I just wanted to give a plug for one

00:06:37
of my personal favorite GM less RPG's

00:06:39
which unfortunately didnt make the top five

00:06:42
list. Season one of the claim to Game Podcast

00:06:45
focused on Goblin Quest, the RPG

00:06:48
by game designer Grant Howitt. Simply put, you

00:06:51
play as green tiny little goblins trying to succeed

00:06:54
in a perfectly hopeless quest in a Lord

00:06:57
of the Rings-esque as setting. And in case you miss season

00:07:00
one, Ive helped you out. Ive packaged everything together

00:07:03
and tied it with a nice little bow in the show notes. You can find a link

00:07:06
to access my free resource the Complete seven

00:07:08
Episode Series of How to Play Goblin the

00:07:11
RPG and the Complete seven Episode

00:07:14
Series of the Rules hacks to Goblin Quest, giving you

00:07:17
different settings, character choices and modes of

00:07:19
play. Still using the same rules as Goblin

00:07:22
Quest, picture yourself pretended to be gross

00:07:25
grotty little buggers on your next game night with your

00:07:28
closest friends. Youll be wreaking havoc all over the great

00:07:31
battle camp in no time. Thanks.

00:07:33
And now back to the episode number five on

00:07:36
our list of top GMLESS tabletop

00:07:38
RPGs is Polaris the Role

00:07:41
Playing Game Shoutout. And much thanks to

00:07:43
RPGT reviewer Aaron Stone. He took a peek at

00:07:46
this game back in 2006 and his words

00:07:49
enlightened my brain nuggets on how Polaris is

00:07:52
played. So thanks Aaron. This game has unique

00:07:55
takes on narrative stakes and structured

00:07:58
tragic themes created by Black Book editions.

00:08:00
The story will revolve around a post apocalyptic

00:08:03
sci fi setting where wars and climatic

00:08:06
catastrophes have ravaged the surface

00:08:09
of Earth, making it uninhabitable

00:08:12
to all but mutated monsters.

00:08:15
Humanity searching for refuge, combs the world's oceans

00:08:17
and finds sanctuary in the

00:08:20
frickin North Pole, the

00:08:23
game's main city is at the top of the world and it's

00:08:26
called Polaris. There's also a king

00:08:28
also with the name of Polaris, so don't get that

00:08:31
confused. A queen is also there, but we don't know

00:08:34
her name. And there is a captain of the knights and

00:08:37
the queen's guard, Al Gol. The city

00:08:39
consists of strongholds surrounding a

00:08:42
large opening straight to hell. And the pit is

00:08:45
called the Mistake, you think? And out of the

00:08:48
Mistake there are demons that are coming out trying to destroy

00:08:50
Polaris, probably the city and the king too.

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Players take on the roles of the Night

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Stellar who recognize this threat and they're trying to

00:08:59
take on the destruction and the corruption coming out

00:09:02
of the Mistake. And the mechanics are very

00:09:05
interesting in how this is played without a gm. They're

00:09:07
fascinating because each player they are

00:09:10
designed to be a guide for other players

00:09:13
according to where they are sitting around the table in a circle.

00:09:16
First you have the heart and this is the player who is taking

00:09:19
on the primary storytelling role at

00:09:22
that moment or at that scene. Then you

00:09:25
have the Mistaken and this is the person who's

00:09:28
directly opposite and seating position from

00:09:31
the primary storyteller. And that person the mistaken

00:09:34
is trying to introduce conflict and

00:09:36
temptation controls all the enemies who are opposing

00:09:39
forces in the scene. You also

00:09:41
have the player who's being the new moon.

00:09:44
This is the person who is to the left of the primary

00:09:47
storyteller who controls the characters who

00:09:50
are in close relationship to the

00:09:53
primary storyteller's character or close

00:09:55
relationship to the heart of the scene.

00:09:58
And lastly you have the Full moon who controls

00:10:01
characters who have more social or hierarchical

00:10:04
relationships with the primary storyteller. A quick

00:10:06
example, in a scene where the knight meets his lover,

00:10:09
the player who is currently the Heart plays the knight, the

00:10:12
primary storyteller. The New Moon plays

00:10:15
the lover. The Mistaken will try to introduce

00:10:18
conflict into the scene and the full moon will control

00:10:21
any close friends. There are many more facets

00:10:24
to this game such as aspects which are unique

00:10:26
characteristics of your nightight, ice, light,

00:10:29
zeal, weariness scores as well as

00:10:32
the games major play modes which are free play,

00:10:35
conflict and experience. A single

00:10:38
side dice is occasionally rolled but the game is

00:10:40
mostly driven by player negotiation and

00:10:43
invention. Three to five players and ages

00:10:46
14 and up is what is recommended. However a

00:10:49
helpful tip from one of our Redditors said that

00:10:52
the rules allow for three players but really

00:10:55
anybody who he he or she has known to

00:10:57
have played Polaris said that it's really best played

00:11:01
with four players. So that's a word to

00:11:04
the wise. Bottom line, this game has so much

00:11:06
going for it and it's only number five

00:11:09
on our list. We still have four more to go. So put this on your

00:11:12
list of games to put on that shelf of shame and let's get

00:11:15
moving on to number four, which

00:11:18
is the Fall of

00:11:20
Magic. This game gets many

00:11:23
enthusiastic endorsements and is beloved on Reddit.

00:11:26
Why? Maybe it's the handmade scroll that reveals a

00:11:28
landscape of locations, roads and strange

00:11:31
encounters. Possibly it's the open ended

00:11:34
story prompts that guides players in creating a narrative to

00:11:37
help develop a fantasy world. The handmade map

00:11:40
scrolrel is five and a half feet or about

00:11:42
1.6 meters. It's double sided, it's

00:11:45
100% cotton. So don't shrink that bad boy in

00:11:48
the washer in the dryer. Keep them Cheeto Dorito

00:11:50
fingers away. No touchy. The game's initial

00:11:53
prompt begins like this. The magic is

00:11:56
dying and the Magus is dying with

00:11:59
it. We travel together in the realm

00:12:02
of Umbra where magic was born.

00:12:05
So it is the characters job to accompany the dying

00:12:08
Magus or sorcerer in this magical realm.

00:12:12
One redditor described how each session

00:12:14
produced a uniquely immersive experience which is

00:12:17
never the same. By the end you develop a deep love

00:12:20
and understanding of the other players and characters.

00:12:23
This game is described as tactile, a ritual

00:12:26
like in the presentation of the scroll. it seems

00:12:29
truly enjoyable to players. It also comes with five metal

00:12:32
tokens, one die, 12 cards and an

00:12:34
instruction booklet. Now mechanically gameplay

00:12:37
is simple. On your turn you choose a prompt at

00:12:40
the location youre at on the map and answer the question.

00:12:43
You can tell a story, you can act out a

00:12:46
scene, you can just discuss what the answer is and

00:12:49
what it means to you. This is the game. You keep doing

00:12:52
this until you and the other players find the end of the

00:12:54
story and the first player moves the megas token

00:12:57
shared by all the players to a location on the map and uses the

00:13:00
locations primary prompt to set the

00:13:03
overall scene on a players turn. If they havent

00:13:06
yet chosen a prompt at a location they pick

00:13:09
one and then play out the scene. And if theyve already

00:13:12
had a scene they can either choose to do another

00:13:15
or decide to move the magus along the path and

00:13:17
answer the new locations prompt. This game is said

00:13:20
to be good for 24 players though I believe the consensus on

00:13:23
Reddit is that three or more players is the sweet spot.

00:13:26
Its published by Heart of Deernichord Studio and

00:13:29
Workshop based in Olympia Washington and their games

00:13:32
are focused to drive gameplay and have all

00:13:35
players share equally in the storytelling

00:13:38
experience. Coming in at number three, the Quiet

00:13:41
Year First, I want to give credit and much thanks

00:13:44
to Shelby DJ Bab, who left a very clear

00:13:46
and helpful review of this game back in 2013 on

00:13:50
RPG.net. after reading her description of the

00:13:53
game, I not only understood it better, but I got

00:13:55
excited about potentially using this game to allow my

00:13:58
gaming table to create their own world and

00:14:00
setting for another tabletop RPG system we may

00:14:03
play. In fact, this is what some of our Reddit friends said theyve

00:14:06
done playing multiple campaigns, using the Quiet Year to make their

00:14:09
world and then going on to use a different tabletop RPG

00:14:12
system later. I know the popular comedy and fiction

00:14:15
podcast the Adventure Zone created by the McElroy brothers

00:14:18
and their father Clint.Scheirer@claimtogamepodcast.com. Great name. They used

00:14:21
the Quiet Year in the first five episodes of their season

00:14:24
titled Ethery to build the world for their adventure

00:14:27
and then they moved on using Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition

00:14:30
for the remainder of the season. Quiet Year is a collaborative

00:14:33
strategy and map based storytelling game. Its purpose

00:14:36
is to build out a world by having players draw

00:14:39
responses to story prompts about the world on a

00:14:41
map, whether that's a physical paper or some type of

00:14:44
digital tabletop. It was published by the company Buried

00:14:47
Without Ceremony and the description is as

00:14:50
the Quiet Year is a map game. You define the

00:14:53
struggles of a community living after the collapse of a

00:14:56
civilization, an attempt to build something

00:14:58
good within their Quiet Year. Every

00:15:01
decision in every action is set against a backdrop

00:15:04
of dwindling time and rising concern.

00:15:07
The game is played using a deck of cards. Each of the

00:15:10
52 cards corresponds to a week during the

00:15:13
Quiet Year. Each card triggers certain

00:15:15
events, bringing bad news, good omens, project

00:15:18
delays and sudden changes in luck. And at the end

00:15:21
of the Quiet Year, the frost giants will

00:15:24
come ending the game. The main moves a player

00:15:27
takes when its their turn consists of discussing something new,

00:15:30
starting a project, or holding a discussion. The

00:15:32
discussing something new is a way that the activaer can actually

00:15:35
add a new element into the world by drawing it on the

00:15:38
map. Maybe they see a strange fog coming out of the

00:15:41
nearby body of water. That fog and that body

00:15:44
of water should be drawn onto the map by the player.

00:15:47
The starting a project move allows players to do something

00:15:50
with the elements added to the map. So with the fog and the

00:15:53
water, maybe the active player believes that the fog could be

00:15:56
dangerous to the community and needs to be explored. They

00:15:59
take one six sided dice and sit it on the map on

00:16:01
or near the fog or body of water and the number on the

00:16:04
dice that they place upward should be equal to how

00:16:07
many weeks they believe the project will take. The number on the

00:16:10
die will be reduced as time moves on in the game until

00:16:13
the project is completed and the player who started the project

00:16:16
will get to determine how that went for the group and

00:16:19
update the map accordingly. Now the last part

00:16:22
holding a discussion is where the active player gets to make

00:16:25
a statement example we should go explore the

00:16:27
strange fog and the other players then get to

00:16:30
respond with 12 sentences based on how they

00:16:33
feel. Theres no way that another player can

00:16:36
stop a project or reverse the actions of

00:16:39
another player. However there is an interesting mechanic

00:16:42
called contempt. Players can silently let the

00:16:44
acte player know if they disagree with an action

00:16:47
taken. They use markers and these markers

00:16:50
dont change anything thats been done. But by adding them

00:16:53
onto the map youre letting the activeer know that

00:16:56
you disagreed with what theyre doing and this adds an

00:16:59
element of social consideration. You can choose to keep moving

00:17:02
forward with the actions certain players at your table disagree

00:17:05
with, or you can decide to

00:17:07
communicate with the group, hold discussion and then to

00:17:10
decide whether you wa want to take a different approach Reddit players

00:17:13
recommended that the Quiet Year is best played with at least three or

00:17:16
more people and once again props and appreciation to

00:17:19
Shelby for her review. I'll put a link to it in the show notes if

00:17:22
younna check the whole thing out and I will dedicate my first

00:17:25
Quiet Year map and world that I build to Shelby.

00:17:28
And coming in at number two is Fiasco and I'll be

00:17:30
focusing on the second edition of this game which came in a box

00:17:33
set with cards. This game is narrative driven

00:17:36
narrative driven chaos and I've run it several times.

00:17:39
Moments in this game feel dynamic and cinematic

00:17:42
in regards to storytelling. The designer of this game

00:17:45
is Jason Morningstar who is actually active in the

00:17:48
R RPG Reddit community and

00:17:51
who actually replied to the question in this thread. He

00:17:54
didnt recommend his own game which shows a sign of

00:17:56
humility but instead offered up 5 games

00:17:59
he didnt design which he loves that offered GM

00:18:02
less play. So thanks for taking the time to share your top picks

00:18:05
Jason. If anybody wants to go check out Jasons list to the Reddit

00:18:08
thread go and look in the link in the show notes and look for the user

00:18:11
JM M star now prior to the 2e

00:18:14
box set of Fiasco which has cards and helps

00:18:17
to speed up and streamline the gameplay, the classic version

00:18:20
of Fiasco was more of a traditional pen and paper. there

00:18:23
is much love for both versions, but like I said, I've

00:18:25
only played the one in the box set, so that's the one I'm gonna focus on.

00:18:29
Hats off to Jared Rasher who wrote an

00:18:31
excellent review on this version of the game for Gnomes

00:18:34
Stew back in 2020. the link to that review is going to be

00:18:37
in the show. Notes Jared does a great job laying out the

00:18:40
gameplay and IMN to try my best to summarize

00:18:43
his experience of the gameplay as well as my own

00:18:46
the game is played out in two acts plus an aftermath

00:18:48
phase. Players assign relationship cards between

00:18:51
one another. Two players receive cards with needs on

00:18:54
them, another receives a location, and others receive

00:18:57
objects. Players choose to either establish a scene

00:19:00
or resolve a scene. The person resolving the scene

00:19:03
determines if its a positive end or negative end and the

00:19:06
players attempt to then work on the items handed out at

00:19:09
the beginning of the game. After playing through the first act,

00:19:12
characters total their positive and negative cards

00:19:14
and look up the tilt option, which

00:19:17
introduces a change in the status quo that needs to be worked

00:19:20
out into the narrative. After the second act is

00:19:23
played, each player can hand either a negative

00:19:26
or a positive card to another player and explain how

00:19:29
they helped or hindered the person that received the

00:19:31
card in the story. When the cards have all been handed out,

00:19:34
characters look at their totals and reference the aftermath

00:19:37
cards with the appropriate totals on them. The closer to zero

00:19:40
characters are, the more the characters hold their status quo,

00:19:43
the further away from zero, either positive or negative,

00:19:46
the more dramatic fortune shift.

00:19:48
The game introduces itself with the following

00:19:51
During a game you engineer and play out stupid, disastrous

00:19:54
situations, usually at the intersection of greed,

00:19:57
fear and lust. Its like making your own Coen Brothers

00:20:00
movie. And about the same time itd take to watch one

00:20:03
tell cinematic tales of small time capers gone

00:20:06
disastrously wrong. Inspired by films like

00:20:09
Blood Simple, Fargo, the Way of the Gun, Burn

00:20:11
After Reading, and A Simple you play ordinary

00:20:14
people with powerful ambition and poor impulse

00:20:18
control. I played two different games on two different

00:20:20
occasions. I used the Tales of Suburbia playset

00:20:23
as well as the Dragon Slayers playset, both

00:20:26
of which came in the box. And also there was another playset,

00:20:29
Poppleton Mall, that I've never played. What struck me about both

00:20:32
games was how truly easy it was to make characters and

00:20:35
start playing immediately. I vaguely remember one

00:20:38
of the players breaking an entry to a house in the

00:20:40
suburbs only to have cops unceremoniously show

00:20:43
up. The player jumped into a tree, but it was so

00:20:46
obvious that he was in plain sight. It was embarrassing for him when

00:20:49
using the dragon slayer playset. Im pretty sure there was a

00:20:52
character who was the dark Lord of the Sith Persona from Star Wars

00:20:55
and another one who was like the apprentice of the Dark Lord of the

00:20:57
Sith and a vigilante automaton who

00:21:00
another player was playing to try to bring them both to justice. And all

00:21:03
this happened while spelunking in a cavern with you guessed

00:21:06
it, a wild black dragon. If you do not

00:21:09
already have the Fiasco box set this is a must

00:21:12
because its so streamlined and simple. I love to

00:21:15
use it as an introduction to role playing for anyone who's never played

00:21:18
a role playing game before. The game basically holds

00:21:20
everyone's hand to perfection.

00:21:22
And finally coming in at number one I

00:21:25
actually have two games. Both were designed by Shaw

00:21:28
Tompkin, printed by Tompkin Press and are

00:21:31
pieces of art. Well not modern

00:21:33
art because modern art can be strange, confusing and

00:21:36
open to interpretation. No, these games are beautiful,

00:21:40
clear and open to marvelous storytelling

00:21:42
moments. The games im raving on about are Ironsworn

00:21:45
Sworn and its evolution into the sci fi genre.

00:21:48
Ironsworn Sworn Starforged Forged. Both of these

00:21:50
games have been described as powered by the apocalypse

00:21:53
Perfected. Lets begin with Ironsworn Sworn.

00:21:56
The original Ironsworn Sworn was released in

00:21:59
2018. If you want a fantasy Viking

00:22:02
setting, use Ironsworn. A player of

00:22:04
Ironsworn takes on the role of a hero sworn to

00:22:07
undertake a perilous quest in the dark fantasy setting

00:22:10
of the Ironlands. The game has three modes of

00:22:13
play. Solo by yourself, co op, which I

00:22:16
would also title GMless and Guided which

00:22:19
means you actually play the game with a GM

00:22:22
acting as the facilitator and the moderator, such as you would

00:22:24
experience in a normal traditional GM LED rpg.

00:22:27
A big aspect of Ironsworn Sworn and also Starforged which

00:22:30
we'hit on shortly is the oracles. Oracles

00:22:33
are tables or charts which have general

00:22:36
ideas or themes or even names on them.

00:22:39
And to use the oracle you roll your dice, get a

00:22:42
number, find the number that you rolled on the

00:22:45
oracles table and that answer fills in the details

00:22:48
or at least begins to fill in the details to a question that

00:22:50
you don't already know the answer to. think of a Magic 8

00:22:53
Ball toy. When you ask the ball if you would win a million

00:22:56
dollars you shook it up and the little floating

00:22:59
answer dice that was bobbing around in that water would appear

00:23:02
at the window of the eight ball and say most likely

00:23:05
or probably not. Its a similar concept here.

00:23:08
Instead of shaking the eight ball again you take the answer that the

00:23:10
oracle gave you on the chart and you apply the

00:23:13
interpretation of it to your story. And this process

00:23:16
in a GM led game would be fulfilled through a human

00:23:19
game master. The Oracle opens up access for

00:23:22
all humans at the table to participate as

00:23:24
players in the storytelling experience. So

00:23:27
your characters in Ironsworn Sworn have stats

00:23:30
and they consist of edge, heart,

00:23:33
iron, shadow and widths. These are your main

00:23:36
abilities. You use these abilities which you assign a

00:23:39
score to during character creation to help you make

00:23:41
oaths and complete tasks. As you complete

00:23:44
more tasks on your way to completing your sworn vow or your

00:23:47
quest, you gain experience which allows you to gain

00:23:50
new assets for your character or upgrade existing

00:23:53
ones. An example of an asset might be a special

00:23:56
companion, maybe an animal companion or a friend who aids

00:23:59
you in combat. Or maybe you have non combat

00:24:01
oriented assets like special rituals

00:24:04
or natural talents, special gear, unique

00:24:07
allies, expert training. You get the idea. The

00:24:10
game uses a single six sided die

00:24:13
adding either an attribute or another number

00:24:16
and then comparing the two against two ten

00:24:19
sided dice. An example might be that youre re trying to climb a

00:24:22
cliff to reach an eagle nest of all things to

00:24:25
steal its eggs. Bold move right now climbing

00:24:28
a cliff might use your attribute of iron which is

00:24:31
related to anything involving physical strength or

00:24:33
endurance. There are certain moves you can take

00:24:36
outlined in the book which determine what you can do in combat

00:24:39
and also what you can do during your adventuring or non

00:24:42
combat. Without getting too far into the weeds here,

00:24:44
I would say this is a pretty risky move on my part.

00:24:47
So I would make the face danger adventure

00:24:50
move and on page 60 of the Core rulebook for

00:24:53
Ironsworn Sworn if I decided I was rolling my iron

00:24:56
attribute here, the number that I would assign during

00:24:59
my character creation to iron is what I'll use

00:25:02
to modify the roll of my dice. So If I

00:25:05
rolled 1D6 16 sided dice

00:25:08
and then added my number for iron let's say that my iron

00:25:11
is three. if I roll my 1D6 and I rolled a

00:25:14
five on the die I would then add three

00:25:17
to the five that I rolled and my action score

00:25:20
for trying to climb up the cliff and get those eagles

00:25:22
eggs is a score of 8. I am then

00:25:25
going to roll my 210 sided dice and

00:25:28
here's how my action resolves. If my

00:25:31
total action score 8 is higher than

00:25:34
both numbers I roll on my separate D10

00:25:37
then I get whats called a strong hit.

00:25:40
I succeed and usually im'often granted some type

00:25:43
of bonus or advantage in the situation and this will

00:25:46
be determined by the type of move im making and since I was

00:25:49
facing danger with the Face Danger move, this tells me that I

00:25:51
am successful and I takeus one

00:25:54
momentum. So I reach the Eagles nest and steal

00:25:57
the eagles egg. Now I'm gonna go to my character sheet and

00:26:00
I'm gonna move my momentum up on my momentum tracker

00:26:03
which we're not gonna cover here. you should go get the game. It's really great.

00:26:06
There's also a health tracker and a spirit

00:26:09
tracker, all of which are taken into account as your

00:26:12
hero journeys across the Ironlands.

00:26:15
Moving on, let's move on to Ironsworn Sworn

00:26:18
Starforged forged, released in 2022. The

00:26:20
artwork is beautiful and was completed by Josh

00:26:23
Mihan, who was the lead artist for the game. The gameplay

00:26:26
here is similar to Ironsworn Sworn, except you are a hero

00:26:29
that travels through space completing jobs which you do

00:26:32
through ritually swearing vows. Sound

00:26:35
familiar? Your character will have a command ship

00:26:38
allowing them to travel from planet to planet, gaining

00:26:41
new assets, Gaining new gear There have been some

00:26:44
elements added to Ironsworn Sworn starforge that weren't

00:26:47
existing in the original Ironsworn Sworn game, one of them being

00:26:49
safety tools which have been added to the game to

00:26:52
ensure proper reflection for the player or players

00:26:55
if an element of the game appears which they don't want to

00:26:58
explore during gameplay. And this came up in

00:27:01
episode 18. When I was speaking with game designer Ken Heightt about

00:27:04
horror games, we talked about the X Card and

00:27:06
safety tools ensuring emotional and mental safety

00:27:09
at the gaming table. Other elements of

00:27:12
starforged are altered slightly from Ironsworn Sworn, such

00:27:15
as starship mechanics, how experiences

00:27:18
tracked, space exploration, extra

00:27:21
assets, as well as a reference guide to navigate the expansive

00:27:24
universe of the Forge. And if you

00:27:27
want a sci fi setting in space

00:27:30
which feels like the Mandalorian you star forged,

00:27:33
it's good for solo play, two to three players for co op

00:27:35
mode, and if playing four, it s suggested

00:27:38
that players either increase to hard

00:27:41
mode with a less generous, set of stats,

00:27:44
or any more than four players, you'd probably either wa wantna play a different

00:27:47
game or run it with the gm. So whether it's

00:27:50
solo mode or co op mode, this

00:27:53
game, Starforged Forged and also Ironsworn Sworn, came

00:27:56
up time and time again as the top pick

00:27:59
for GM list games when we asked the Reddit

00:28:01
community. It's versatile. Its narrative structure

00:28:04
makes it consistently the favorite. In fact, both

00:28:07
of these games currently hold a prominent spot

00:28:10
at my workstation on my desk for me to gaze upon fondly

00:28:13
throughout the day. They are truly that great.

00:28:16
Okay, final thoughts GM burnout and being

00:28:19
tired of prepping as a GM for games is a real thing for

00:28:22
some people. Maybe you definitely for me.

00:28:25
And the RPG community rose up and

00:28:28
gave us five excellent GM list games that you should

00:28:30
consider to add to your next gaming night. And here they

00:28:33
are. #5 Polaris

00:28:36
#4 the Fall of Magic

00:28:38
#3 the Quiet Year has two

00:28:41
fiasco, second edition and number one which

00:28:44
I cheated and put two up on that pedestal.

00:28:47
We have Ironsworn and its cute little baby brother or

00:28:50
sister Ironsworn Sworn Starforged forged

00:28:53
and thats it. Thats all I got. our bacon soda volcano has

00:28:56
stopped fizzing.

00:28:57
Now go out there and play your GM list games.

00:28:59
Damnit. Join us next time as we find the best ways

00:29:02
to have great times with friends and experience amazing stories

00:29:05
through tabletop role playing. If you are struggling to keep

00:29:08
a campaign going, feeling overwhelmed as a GM or dont

00:29:11
know how to get started, get personalized guidance to

00:29:14
build confidence, create engaging sessions and manage your

00:29:17
group effectively with an absolute absol free

00:29:19
15 minute coaching strategy. Call with

00:29:22
me during our virtual call I will give you some

00:29:25
quick wins, actionable steps and clear directions

00:29:28
you can take away to make your game better. Click on

00:29:31
the link in the show notes to schedule your free 15 minute coaching call

00:29:34
today. Well laugh, well cry and well make you

00:29:37
the big bad evil guy dominating all the other GMs

00:29:40
in your path in just 15 minutes. Cant wait

00:29:43
to speak with you. Im ready and ran. Come at me

00:29:46
bro or sis or person. Alright im done and may you keep

00:29:49
having fun as we continue to make our claim to game.