Just a little idea I had, think it would be fun. Comment your favourite systems and the rest of us will give you recommendations for something that could possibly fit your interests.
My current game crush is Fate. I like the dice system is pretty weighted towards average. I like that it encourages a more writer’s room style. I like that you can just start with your concept instead of the like “I’ll take 2 levels of this, two levels of that, and then after four levels of foobar my character really comes online”. I like that it’s a generic system so you can play any setting.
My main problem is finding players who are eager and able to play it. The last time I tried I dropped the ball a little, but even aside from that the players didn’t really seem to get it, either.
Was a while since I played any Fate but if memory serves (think it does after a quick googling) a key part of it are aspects. And those are cool. City of Mist, a thicc and chonky PbtA, also uses aspects but they call it tags. The hefty book is both setting and really many words about tags, how to use then and how to get more. I really like the system but nit the setting. Lyckily they are working on a mythic cyberpunk adaptation of it and there have for a long time been talk of coming out woth a generic toolset.
To start off here are my favourites, in no particular order. Recommend away!
- Ironsworn
- Genesys
- Burning Wheel
- Mythras
- Fabula Ultima
- Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green
- Vampire: The Masquerade
- D&D 5E (I want to say Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition because it solves the problems I have with D&D 5E but I haven’t had the chance to play it yet because I first need to finish my current campaigns)
(Please no PbtA or Burning Wheel stuff. I’ve tried it but it’s very much not my thing.)
Maybe Runequest?
I love dcc and cairn, and currently enjoying shadowdark immensely. Flirting with call of Cthulhu as of yesterday ( played the solo adventure), think I might take an interest in skill based systems now!
Skill based systems are kind of nice. A few recs
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Runequest. D100 system in the same family as CoV, same publisher even. It is a fantasy system set in a near east bronze age world. Mythology matters, faith matters, community mattersand character matters. The latest version is good snd really prettty.
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Mythras. Formerly known as Runequest 6 but Chaosium took back the license. So they removed all the Runequest stuff and republished it as Mythras. Made it as a more generic fantasy toolkit. Has a really good combat engine.
-Genesys, or the Star Wars line it came from. Uses funky narrative dice and through those creates a really dynamic narrative.
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Homebrew World, a Dungeon World hack by Jeremy Strandberg. It has less D&D legacy in terms of moves, which are more PbtA-style and less of “add this points of damage” or “add +1 to roll”. It’s made for oneshots or brief campaigns, playbooks are interesting and fun to actual use. I’ve run a game recently, took 8 hours and was really a blast!
Have you tried Fabula Ultima? It’s based on JRPGs, and it’s built on having multiple classes. In fact, you start with levels in 2-3 classes! The combat is also quite easy. It all feels very video game-y but it’s quite easy to understand, and the inventory system is also lovely. (Instead of having items, you have inventory points, and when you need a potion or something, you just detract the needed amount of inventory points. Really good for the part of me that always hoards consumables because “I might need it more later.”)
There’s a quickstart available that runs you through it very well! It even has numbers on the pregens’ character sheets that are like. Don’t look at this part yet; that’ll become relevant in part 3. I suppose that’s also based on good tutorial design in video games; things are explained in gameplay instead of rule-dumped at the start.
Of you like Jeremy’s work I bet Stonetop is on your radar. It was kickstarted a while ago and work is ongoing. Think the rules section is pretty much done and it’s only the setting book left. Stonetop is a Dungeon World hack centered around the settlement of Stonetop. The material for that I’ve looked at really makes it centered around the village, playbooks are based on roles in the village and there are rules for developing the settlement. Looks good and they even have a so far short edited and annotated let’s play to highligt the system.
As an adult with particular life circumstances, I don’t have a luxury to play with a same group of people with decent regularity. That’s why HbW is my way to go as a GM. Stonetop needs investment I couldn’t afford… but its well-written and explains core game loops much better than DW rulebook… that’s the result of 10(?) years evolution
It is said that Dungeon World have aged worse than many other 1st gen PbtA, can somewhat agree. Could be that the hacks that have come from it does very much the same but better. And that there never was a 2nd edition that have made us forget 1st edition.
Yes, it’s kinda sad. I’d totally love to have my rulebook with all the enhancements from best hacks but alas. As far as I know, creators of DW don’t plan to update it
Sage may still be in the buisness but I haven’t heard him being involved in anything. On the other hand with DW being “dead” the hack scene can flourish. No new edition can come and reset it.
But I do would need a heroicly epic high fantasy PbtA in my life. Will check out HbW when I have the time.
13th Age
Fate Core
Have you looked into Strike! RPG? Setting agnostic tactical combat on a grid heavily derived from dnd 4e but with all the fat stripped, leaving a very light, low-math, simple to run combat with a ton of depth but low number crunching. All that is paired with a narrative system that’s very intentionally kept light and with intent to get out of your way.
If you’re looking to run something where the PCs are a crew of specialists with distinct roles, this might be worth considering.
Not yet, I’ll definitely look into it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Going to recommend City of Mist to you as well.
Was a while since I played any Fate but if memory serves (think it does after a quick googling) a key part of it are aspects. And those are cool. 13th age’ one unique thing and skill system can also be seen as tags. City of Mist, a thicc and chonky PbtA, also uses aspects but they call it tags. The hefty book is both setting and really many words about tags, how to use then and how to get more. For a PbtA system it is teally mechanically dense. I really like it but nit the setting. Lyckily they are working on a mythic cyberpunk adaptation of it and there have for a long time been talk of coming out woth a generic toolset.
Thanks, I’ll definitely check it out!
I’d also really like to try out some space-opera-like Fate system. Think StarFinder but in a Fate system.
Any solo-playable systems/settings that you’d recommend?
Ironsworn is made with both solo and co-op play in mind. No need for solo toolsets such as Mythic GM Emulator. It is built in. Ironsworn’s sci-fi supplement Starforged can do space opera, but in leans more into perilous fiction.
Settings for fate I have no idea of.
I absolutely love Upheaval. It’s a good balance between the crunchy complexity of Pathfinder and the ease of use of 5e. There are some very cool mechanics to it, too. For example, the weapons are amazing. Each type of weapon has its own traits; hammers are better at destroying objects. Swords have expanded critical range. Big weapons can be used to intimidate people, etc.
But the most fun part is the customizability of it. Warlocks have an invocation system similar to the old 3.5e setup, and have an eldritch form where they can transform into a very customizable “beast” type of form. Fighters have a ton of highly customizable abilities and a stamina system to recharge them in and out of combat. Monks have combat stances that enhance them, and there’s an elementalist class that basically lets you be a bender (as in Avatar).
There’s tons more. It’s some guy’s personal passion project, and it’s just him developing it so it’s a little rough in places, but it’s definitely worth a look.
I don’t have any recommendation for you (other than maybe Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition which takes D&D 5E and adds more customisation), but that sounds a lot of fun and I need to check it out!
If you like weapons that matter I think you should have a look at Mythras and its pretty awesome combat engine. In short you make a roll (possibly opposed because active defense), see what sucess level you land at and choose special effect(s). These range from disengage and choose location (mace to head goes bonk) to impale and sunder armor. Good crunch and impactful.
Also it comes with five magic systems that aren’t just different spell list but they actually work differently.
I love the Cypher System.
As the GM, it gets out of my way and lets me do cool stuff. My players love it encourages them to be awesome. Plus, it being very modular means it’s easy to customize. Plus, it has a lot of setting books that are very well done.
