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Post by friartook on Jul 2, 2019 15:59:36 GMT
Hey everyone, I am about to start running a campaign for a group of total RPG newbies. I ran a one-shot for them, and they all decided they wanted to start a campaign.
While this is fun and exciting (I LOVE bringing new folks to the hobby!) I'm having a bit of crisis internally. There's no diplomatic way to say it, so I'm just gonna say it:
I'm over Dungeons and Dragons.
I've been playing D&D on and off since I was kid. I've played every edition except 4e. I've squeezed all the sap outta that tree. And now we live in a time of RPG renaissance! There are so many new games I want to play! I own many of them, and have never gotten to play them.
But...when I consider starting a campaign with any of them, I hit a wall. So many new RPGs have setting and genre built in to them. PBtA games are genre specific (and a bit too rules light for my taste). There's a trove of great fantasy and fantasy adjacent games; Numenera, Symbaroum, Forbidden Lands...but they all have setting hard wired in to them. I like to homebrew. I am way more comfortable making up a world than I am playing a written setting. I never use adventure modules, I prefer improvisational gaming.
I know D&D sort of has a default setting...but its built to be generic. The setting (Forgotten Realms in 5e) is a generic fantasy catch-all and I am confident and content to throw it all out the window as I please. I know the rules back and forth; I'm comfortable making custom species, classes, subclasses, magic items, etc. just because I know how the rules play. But, I want to explore other systems!
So, my question for the hive mind: If you were going to build a fantasy homebrew, and were looking for a rule set BESIDES D&D to do it in, what would you choose?
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 6, 2019 5:53:00 GMT
fF I was going to go with a game that isn't D&D to build off of I would start with the Genesys system from Fantasy Flight to see what all I could build off it to suit my needs. www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/6/27/genesys/ I know that you have played with that dice system enough so as to know whether that kind of system would be something you would want to use. That's the only one that really stands out as a separate rule system that isn't directly tied to some sort of pre built world. |
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Post by DM Onesie Knight on Jul 6, 2019 15:09:50 GMT
You can always disentangle the setting from those systems. Try to abstract the vibe the game has from the actual details. As an example: I played in a one-shot using the Numenera system, but the setting was Mirrodin, from Magic the Gathering.
Even though the details of the setting are different, what’s similar is the artificial world, gizmos and magi-scientific thingamajigs everywhere and totally alien ecology.
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Post by friartook on Jul 9, 2019 15:16:56 GMT
fF I was going to go with a game that isn't D&D to build off of I would start with the Genesys system from Fantasy Flight to see what all I could build off it to suit my needs. Yeah, its gonna be Genesys. I was kind of resisting, because I'm already running another homebrew game in Genesys. But its the best choice. I really like the core mechanics, and I understand them well, so hacking them won't be a huge challenge. Thanks for the moral support and confirming what I wouldn't just admit to myself! |
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Post by Mariok Soresal Hillick on Jul 13, 2020 11:32:19 GMT
I haven't hear of Genesys before, it sounds interesting...
I don't know if you count OSR roleplaying games as D&D. Some of them don't use D&D-like mechanics because they prefer more modern streamlined mechanics over older rules.
And I would also recommend using a different system that has a world attached, but use your own world instead. I remember when I first started DMing when I was 8 or 9 or so I used the "Advanced Fighting Fantasy" except with my own fictional world.
You mentioned Numenera. I think that Numenera is a great game to have the world but still create a section of the world to do what you want with. Still, this is not full worldbuilding so I understand if that's not what you want to do.
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Post by friartook on Jul 13, 2020 14:35:34 GMT
I haven't hear of Genesys before, it sounds interesting... I don't know if you count OSR roleplaying games as D&D. Some of them don't use D&D-like mechanics because they prefer more modern streamlined mechanics over older rules. And I would also recommend using a different system that has a world attached, but use your own world instead. I remember when I first started DMing when I was 8 or 9 or so I used the "Advanced Fighting Fantasy" except with my own fictional world. You mentioned Numenera. I think that Numenera is a great game to have the world but still create a section of the world to do what you want with. Still, this is not full worldbuilding so I understand if that's not what you want to do. Genesys is the setting agnostic version of the system used in the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPGs. It's worked well for me doing homebrew. The one downfall is a near total lack of adversary stat blocks. I am fascinated by the OSR, but haven't found the right game to try out. I started out gaming on 1st Edition Red Box D&D. The idea of taking that old school feel and updating it with more elegant game design appeals to me in concept. A lot of the OSR seems to revolve around grimdark TPK dungeon crawls and that is not really my style. I've glanced at Lamentations of the Flame Princess (not for me), and Hackmaster (reminds me of 2nd Edition Advanced D&D in it complexity). Any other suggestions? I am not a huge fan of the game mechanics in Numenera. Its a cool world, and I own the games, but I can't get on board with spending XP as an in-game resource. Rubs me the wrong way. |
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Post by Mariok Soresal Hillick on Jul 26, 2020 5:12:09 GMT
Okay, I just had my whole post deleted and now I have to rewrite everything so I'll make it short (sorry!): There is Swords & Wizardry Lite and White Box, which are incredibly simple systems based off of the Original D&D rules. I don't think they emphasize grimdark TPK dungeon-crawling, though there is an element there to it. I mention here before the other games because it doesn't use modern mechanics, although I would still recommend it. The ones that do use modern mechanics are listed here: 1. Castles & Crusades (not sure if it uses modern mechanics, but it seems to be a fairly simplified version of AD&D, and it seems to be simplified with modern game philosophy). 2. Basic Fantasy RPG (uses 3.5 SRD mechanics but with an old school feel and some ideas built in: like race as class). 3. Brimstone RPG (to have an OSR feel with modern mechanics is its clearly states design goal. Though a warning: it is said to be "unfinished", so there may be holes in the system. But all the reviews are 5 stars, and I can attest to those good reviews.). 4. Low Fantasy RPG (isn't OSR, but has a similar feel. It uses modern mechanics, but has that low fantasy feel. But that might not be something you're looking for in OSR games, based on what you asked for.) 5. Heroes Against Darkness (also not OSR, but is an alternative to D&D. One could call it a clone of the whole D&D line, as it takes inspiration from all the designer's favorite rules and rulings from each D&D edition. Might not be for you though, since it's so close to D&D.) Also, I should mention that I am currently designing a system that I consider fairly streamlined and simple and different from D&D - it is a total skill system, so people can play who they like. But it also has some modern D&D and OSR D&D influences in it - there are optional Traits which can serve as D&D5e feats and classes and races, just in case you want to play a simple class or race without thinking about choosing skills. I should warn you though - it is a first draft so the writing might be off and the rules are not playtested yet, so they might be a little odd. But if you want to take a look at it, you can find it here: docs.google.com/document/d/1scJ0SBqv4eEul_oiwG4ZkbrFgWoGP45vKtMt5GGUhR0/edit?usp=sharing. I hope you have fun playing a totally new system with totally new players! |
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Post by Mariok Soresal Hillick on Aug 2, 2020 4:22:57 GMT
Was that helpful? Or should I put in some more research into it?
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Post by friartook on Aug 21, 2020 17:45:19 GMT
Was that helpful? Or should I put in some more research into it? It was helpful, thanks! No need for further effort on your part at all! I'm in a weird space with TTRPGs right now. I feel like there is a bit of a "famine in the midst of plenty" situation right now. There are more TTRPGs being written and released now than there ever have been. But, perhaps because of that, I seem to be gravitating more and more to one reliable system. Part of this is that I lack patience when it comes to learning new systems. I don't have the time, nor the attention span, to read a full rulebook. I tend to learn systems by playing, preferably with someone who already knows the system. Right now, in my friends circle, I am the king nerd. I am more into TTRPGs than anyone else, with more experience playing and GMing. So I spend more time teaching than being taught. Another part is I don't enjoy some of the most popular hackable systems: D&D 5e, Powered By Apocalypse, Cypher System. I don't consider D&D to be a universal engine, and a lot of folks try to treat it as such. Although I love PbtA's ability to give a focused genre experience, it isn't crunchy enough for me. Cypher has the same issues as Numenera regarding XP. I sense there is some kind of interesting synergy to be had between the OSR's old school approach and modern "story games", like PbtA. I don't have my head wrapped around what pieces of these two very different game experiences fit in to my hypothetical venn diagram...but I sense there is something there. I think its related to how OSR types tend to talk about "characters developing through play". Lots of OSR games lean in to characters starting as very low power. I like a good "zero to hero" story, and I am intrigued at the idea of a character having minimal background and no solid arc planned. Leaning in to developing a character and a story through play. But I'm not sure there is a game currently on the market doing that quite as I conceptualize it. |
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