Hello everyone!
I’ve had some issues with D&D 5E lately and would like to try something else. I’ve thought a bit about what I actually want from a new system and came up with this:
The RPG should
- be universal a.k.a. adaptable to different settings
- be able to include magic of some kind, preferably already offering that option by its default rules
- be balanced between different character archetypes/classes (if such exist)
- guarantee smooth and fast combat (specifically less complicated than D&D 5E)
- guarantee smooth play in general, no constant looking up rules
- encourage role-playing (not necessarily via rules, but IMO D&D 5E neglects RP by its rules being overly focused on combat)
- still offer as much customization options as possible
- be easy to modify if needed and easy to create homebrew content for (e.g. items, monsters)
- be suitable for one-shots as well as longer campaigns
- have an online tool or a clearly structured index to look up rules/other stuff
- already have some homebrew content available on the internet, as well as a platform to discuss rulings
Using the criteria above, I put together a list of potential candidates:
- Adventurers!
- AGE
- Apotheosis
- Cortex Prime
- Cypher
- Dungeonslayers
- Fate (Core, Accelerated and/or Condensed)
- Freeform Universal
- Fudge
- Genesys
- Hero System
- HeroQuest
- Ironsworn
- Low Fantasy Gaming
- Mini Six
- Old School Essentials
- PbtA (and/or more specifically Dungeon World)
- Prose Descriptive Qualities
- Risus
- Savage Worlds
- The Black Hack
- World of Dungeons
- Worlds Without Number
- Whitehack
However, I only read about each RPG briefly… and as you can see, the list is still very long. Do any of the systems named don’t fit what I’m actually looking for or meet the requirements listed above especially well? My goal is to bring the list down to 2-3 RPGs, ultimately choosing from them. Oh, and if you think there is another RPG that I haven’t named, but fits my needs better than all the others: Recommend away!
Many thanks for all your help!
EDIT: added suitability for longer campaigns as a desirable quality
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So I’ve been transitioning to GURPS lately.
For smooth, simple gameplay you can run GURPS Lite. Or Ultra Lite, I don’t think it’s possible to get much simpler than Ultra Lite.
However, there is also a lot of content in the full system and supplements, so you can add the bits and pieces you like to the Lite framework. Want modifiers for targeting specific body areas? It’s in there. Want penalties from bleeding out? It’s in there. Want a robust magic system? There are several to choose from. Want to homebrew abilities, items, spells, pretty much anything, without breaking the game balance? All the tools are there.
Everything is customizable. It’s designed for any setting. Sure, there are a lot of rules, but even the publishers are very insistent that they’re all optional. It’s basically an encyclopedia of mechanics you can use to add as much crunch as you want to your game of make believe, whatever that looks like.
GURPS Lite is secretly the real core rulebook. The Basic Set is a supplemental toolbox. :P
I’m only half-joking, because if/when you get the hang of GURPS, building up from the Lite version is so much easier than starting with the Basic Set, cutting out the bits you don’t want, then maybe adding more from supplements/house rules. And it’s a much easier way to actually learn the dang game.
But once you do, it’s a really flexible system, with a dead simple core (roll 3d6 under some number), with a ton of options if and when you need or want them.
Yeah, I think if you’re comfortable with the
Wing it -> Oh this is actually coming up pretty often -> Add mechanic
process, then it’s basically the perfect system
For the requirements you give I’d reach for Fate, CORPS, or EABA. Fate is the most story game-like and if you’re more interested in the simulation side of things it may not be your cuppa. EABA and CORPS (both by BTRC) are both fairly traditional, somewhat crunchy, but very regular and thus easy to learn game systems.
CORPS is not supported any longer, but that’s OK. It’s still available and it has quite a few endearing traits (chief of which is that it’s an astonishingly thin book for what it covers). It’s built on d10 resolution and a theory that removing unnecessary die rolls is a good thing. (It’s not a diceless game, mind, just a game that removes the unnecessary die rolls, keeping the tension on places where it matters.) When the Traveller suite of games was going through a sequence of absolutely terrible rules (first Traveller: The New Era, then Traveller 4), we switched our Traveller game over to CORPS and it worked really well. We also used it for a fantasy campaign and a near-future “in the headlines” game.
EABA is the current BTRC house system and it, too, is a generic game that fits in a smaller space than you’d think given the subjects covered. It approaches things from the opposite philosophy of CORPS: die-rolling is fun! I’ve only ever played in one campaign of EABA. I liked it, but have a slight preference for CORPS.
Other games you might want to look at are Chaosium et al’s “BRP” (Basic Role-playing) the core engine behind games like Runequest, Ringworld, Superworld, etc. PDQ (Prose Descriptive Qualities) is pretty nifty on a read but I’ve never tried it so I can’t comfortably recommend it. If you want to try a diceless game out that still feels like an actual game, Active Exploits is really cool. (Diceless, however, is not to everybody’s taste.)
I haven’t tried a whole lot of the systems on your list but i HAVE tried Cypher System and it for sure ticks all of those boxes. Tons of character options, online character builder, but at its core a system that’s meant to get out of your way.
Players roll to attack and defend (GM almost never rolls), using skills and assets to reduce the difficulty rather than adding modifiers to their roll.
Damage is standardized dependent on what grade of weapon you use, and if you roll a 17-20 you deal extra damage. This helps to speed things up because you always know how much damage you’re dealing and you don’t have to roll more dice.
Distance is broken up into near, far, and very far, so you’re not as tied up in the minutiae of 5ft grids or hexes.
Magic is included in the core rules, and more from the genre guidebooks is included in the free CSRD.
(There are a few really well implemented online instances of the aforementioned Cypher System Reference Document, one of particular note is arranged and maintained by Old Gus: https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/
homebrewing new monsters takes like a couple minutes
Players are rewarded xp for exploring and engaging with the world, as well as having story complications thrust upon them by the GM, and they can spend xp on either leveling up their character, affecting the world narratively, or to refuse the “GM Intrusion”.
There’s a large active enthusiastic and very friendly Discord community over at Cypher Unlimited. Both one shots and long campaigns work very nicely.
Online Cypher Tools include a character builder, creature index, and setting finder.
There’s plenty of 3rd party content as well on Drivethrurpg.
I hope this helps and i hope you choose Cypher cause it’s friggin cool!
I suggest simplicity https://www.swordfin.com/
Genesys is kinda good. My preferred generic system. Enough crunch and customization to give it meat while still flowing nicely. Only downside would be if you and your group needs physical dice as it uses proprietary ones.
Ironsworn (especially with Starforged) can almost be used as a setting generic system. Change up Oracles and Assets and you have a whole new setting.
You can also look at families of games, such as Crawford’s X without Numbers. There you will get a system made for a setting but it still being oretty much the same system.
I don’t mind game-specific dice. Without having read the actual rules of it, Ironsworn’s vow mechanic seems like a double-edged sword to me. Seems to encourage RP and progress, but also sounds like it makes any side-track activity pointless. Am I getting something wrong? Also, is an Ironsworn game over once the PCs’ vows are fulfilled? (It would be cool to have a system that makes longer campaigns possible. I’ll add that to the original post.)
I don’t mind game-specific dice.
You will when you lose one of them and the publisher is out of business or no longer supporting that game or the like. Genesys looks like a great game for my tastes, but the custom dice are a show-stopper for me. They’re simply unavailable where I live unless I import them at great expense.
Of the systems you listed, and based on your requirements, I would suggest looking more into pbta/dungeon world, old school essentials, world without numbers, and maybe black hack. Though a number of them I have far from any amount of experience with, so there might be better ones listed too.
Do Old School Essentials and Worlds Without Number also work for long-term campaigns if that wish should arise?
PbtA seems to be too general to be usable without a lot of effort (as others have pointed out); I’ve read some more about The Black Hack and that probably won’t click with me, too. The list’s getting shorter, nice!
“dungeon world” is “D&D pbta” (that’s why i listed it as pbta/dw). You should be able to play that as a long term campaign just fine. But yes, pbta is a framework, and DW is a specific use of that framework to make a D&D-like game.
