What System should I use Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > What System should I use Megathread

AweStriker: Oct 6, 2014

Seconding Valor there. I might also use a custom Companion variant that links a character�s health to their companion�s, because of the sympathy between a Stand user and their Stand.

# ? Aug 17, 2020 23:13

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 18:13

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

What�s the best system for dungeon crawl(s)? I�m too busy with my current games to start another, so this is mostly a thought experiment. It has been a long time since I played something tactical and I am wondering what�s out there now.

# ? Aug 21, 2020 04:27

paradoxGentleman: Dec 10, 2013; wheres the jester, I could do with some pointless nonsense right about now

I suppose it depends on what interests you when it comes to dungeon crawling. If your thing is the atmosphere, you don't care much for heavy crunch and/or you like Darkest Dungeon, this interest you: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/284817/Best-Left-Buried-The-Zini-Edition

I played it the other day and it was good fun! We robbed a zombie lord and his robot owl minions of a magical magnifying glass and a robot cat.

# ? Aug 21, 2020 16:35

Glazius: Jul 22, 2007; Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.; Clapping Larry

If you want something Darkest Dungeon, Torchbearer was actually used as the system to play it for the promotional tour. But, you know, lethality and all.

# ? Aug 22, 2020 22:57

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

Ruleset: Lite
Support: DIY
Chargen: Quick
Setting: Neutral

I'm working on an exploration-based game in a custom setting. My group likes light systems and my fallback is probably using some kind of blades hack but blades isn't perfect for a few reasons so I figured I'd ask here.

The intended arc of the game is to explored the world, gain knowledge and resources, and then, after some inflection point, begin using that knowledge and those resources to leave your mark on the world, and leave it better suited for you than you found it. Ideally I'd like the mechanics to reward players for making and advancing long-term plans, and I'd like the mechanics to encourage players, when faced with something over their pay grade, to retreat, come up with a specific plan for overcoming that challenge, and come back prepared. (I.e. something more involved than just "this is too high level, let's come back after leveling up")

Any ideas?

# ? Sep 19, 2020 07:17

Mirage: Oct 27, 2000; All is for the best, in this, the best of all possible worlds

The first system that leaps to mind is Fellowship, particularly Inverse Fellowship, which uses a story construct called "the Horizon." Explore the world, fix problems, move on to the next place. There's a campaign setting in there too but you can ignore it.

Fellowship is a PbtA hack rather than a Blades hack, so it depends on how you feel about that.

# ? Sep 19, 2020 17:47

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

Mirage posted:

The first system that leaps to mind is Fellowship, particularly Inverse Fellowship, which uses a story construct called "the Horizon." Explore the world, fix problems, move on to the next place. There's a campaign setting in there too but you can ignore it.

Fellowship is a PbtA hack rather than a Blades hack, so it depends on how you feel about that.

Does it do the same thing pbta usually does where the world is primarily generated by the players? That won't work in this case

# ? Sep 19, 2020 22:48

Lemon-Lime: Aug 6, 2009

Yes.

# ? Sep 20, 2020 09:40

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

RULESET: Normal / Crunchy. At least as much mechanical heft as FitD, no more than Exalted 3e
SUPPORT: Any, I�m going to be hacking it anyway
CHARGEN: Involved / Days, unless it�s somehow a system with quick chargen *and* a robust system
SETTING: anything but Inseparable

I have a terrible brain bug that is driving me to at least think about how I would do Warframe in a TTRPG context. For those not familiar, Warframe�s pitch is �cybernetic space ninjas with the mobility of Spider-Man and a dizzying array of weapons and exotic power-sets overlaid on a surprisingly deep bedrock of weird lore.�

This would likely never get played anywhere but my table where we have a few thousand hours of combined play-time in that game, so I�m looking for something that fits not only the vibe of Warframe, but the predilections of my group. That makes my wish-list something like this:

quote:

REQUIRED
Highly Mobile Combat. The combat system needs excellent handling for highly mobile characters. Warframes zip around the battlefield with parkour and impossible gravity-defying leaps, never standing still, transitioning seamlessly from, say, warhead-tipped bow and arrow to beam-chaining energy pistol to blade-and-whip melee as the distances involved change. This also implies�

Gridless Combat. The feeling of speed and momentum is going to be hard to translate into a tabletop environment, and it definitely rules out grids. Also, after running 5e for four years straight, I am completely loving done with grid-based combat. It doesn�t have to be theater of the mind though: something like the �zone-based� of Exalted or Fate is great, and things like that are actually preferable to FotM.

Mook / Horde rules. Warframes are not troubled by any single opponent that isn�t a named character.

Meaningful Mechanical Differentiation. If people build their characters differently, they need to play differently.

NICE TO HAVE
Meaningful Actions Outside Combat. As much as I�m emphasizing the combat system in this post, I�m not super interested in systems that only care about the fight scenes.

Starship Rules. Flying �em, fighting in �em, primarily using them as a means to execute boarding actions so your cool robo-ninja can get inside the enemy capital ship and tear it to pieces from within.

PIPE DREAM
Crafting. God, there is so much crafting in Warframe, and acquiring the necessary resources to build new cyber-ninja-armors and bizarro weapons or repair / upgrade your ship drives a lot of gameplay, but these systems barely exist in TTRPGs. I�m more than happy to steal the crafting system from one engine and bolt it into another, too.

Honestly, the thing that best suits the vibe I�m looking for is Exalted 3e, but that system is so intimately tied to its setting that the amount of hacking I�d have to do to separate them is just not worth the effort. The RPG design space has moved pretty hard away from this sort of thing, so I�m reasonably certain nothing out there to accommodate it, but I ask in the vain hope that someone might have heard of something!

# ? Sep 27, 2020 03:01

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Kestral posted:

RULESET: Normal / Crunchy. At least as much mechanical heft as FitD, no more than Exalted 3e
SUPPORT: Any, I�m going to be hacking it anyway
CHARGEN: Involved / Days, unless it�s somehow a system with quick chargen *and* a robust system
SETTING: anything but Inseparable

I have a terrible brain bug that is driving me to at least think about how I would do Warframe in a TTRPG context. For those not familiar, Warframe�s pitch is �cybernetic space ninjas with the mobility of Spider-Man and a dizzying array of weapons and exotic power-sets overlaid on a surprisingly deep bedrock of weird lore.�

Do your players have to be Tenno, specifically?

Because Fragged Empire can basically run Warframe out of the box -- as long as your players are, like, Grineer deserters and Corpus heretics or civilians from the various colonies. I've done it before, it was great fun and barely even counts as reskinning, the premises are so similar.

If you want Tenno, that's a little harder. Something D&D 4E-like would be my initial choice (Gamma World 7E, maybe?) but the attrition-driven gameplay of stock 4E isn't necessarily a good match for the sheer power fantasy that Warframe represents, and highly formal grid movement doesn't line up with the extent to which the game is about mobility.

e: as you have already noted in the second half of your post lol.

sorry, I jumped the gun because your initial question is so close to something I've actually done

Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Sep 27, 2020

# ? Sep 27, 2020 03:08

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

Definitely Tenno. Honestly, I'd also be interested in a game set in Warframe's universal that came at it from the ground level, but what I really crave is the ability to dive deep into Tenno weirdness without waiting for Digital Extremes. The tantalizing hints about the Void at the end of Heart of Deimos set my brain on fire.

And yeah, you nailed it: 4e or anything like 4e is a hard pass. I know it's the default recommendation here for "game with good combat," but it just doesn't line up. From what I've heard of Fragged Empire it would be perfect for everything except the combat, which is a pity.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 03:22

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Kestral posted:

Definitely Tenno. Honestly, I'd also be interested in a game set in Warframe's universal that came at it from the ground level, but what I really crave is the ability to dive deep into Tenno weirdness without waiting for Digital Extremes. The tantalizing hints about the Void at the end of Heart of Deimos set my brain on fire.

And yeah, you nailed it: 4e or anything like 4e is a hard pass. I know it's the default recommendation here for "game with good combat," but it just doesn't line up. From what I've heard of Fragged Empire it would be perfect for everything except the combat, which is a pity.

i'm asking on the FE discord if any of the game lines had a variant ruleset for zone-based combat. the core book has rules for pure Theater of the Mind, but it swings too far in the opposite direction -- it's basically a rules-lite resolution system for fights that aren't important enough to model, which isn't helpful

i once considered exploiting OSR inter-compatibility to run a Tenno game using Stars Without Number + Godbound; I decided against it because I don't really want to deal with descending AC and all the other jank that goes with that sub-genre, but it does have tactical combat at a less-granular level than modern D&D

e: maybe Edge of the Empire? it has range-band combat, already has sci-fi trappings, and the "your character is burdened with unfortunate obligations you have to pay back or dodge" theme is pretty appropriate for Warframe. not sure the typical character's power level really lives up to Warframe, though.

Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Sep 27, 2020

# ? Sep 27, 2020 03:25

BabelFish: Jul 20, 2013; Fallen Rib

Kestral posted:

RULESET: Normal / Crunchy. At least as much mechanical heft as FitD, no more than Exalted 3e
SUPPORT: Any, I�m going to be hacking it anyway
CHARGEN: Involved / Days, unless it�s somehow a system with quick chargen *and* a robust system
SETTING: anything but Inseparable

I have a terrible brain bug that is driving me to at least think about how I would do Warframe in a TTRPG context. For those not familiar, Warframe�s pitch is �cybernetic space ninjas with the mobility of Spider-Man and a dizzying array of weapons and exotic power-sets overlaid on a surprisingly deep bedrock of weird lore.�

This would likely never get played anywhere but my table where we have a few thousand hours of combined play-time in that game, so I�m looking for something that fits not only the vibe of Warframe, but the predilections of my group. That makes my wish-list something like this:

Honestly, the thing that best suits the vibe I�m looking for is Exalted 3e, but that system is so intimately tied to its setting that the amount of hacking I�d have to do to separate them is just not worth the effort. The RPG design space has moved pretty hard away from this sort of thing, so I�m reasonably certain nothing out there to accommodate it, but I ask in the vain hope that someone might have heard of something!

The Infinity Role Playing Game does zone-based combat with a very broad sci-fi theme that you could probably fit Warframe's universe into. Never had a chance to actually try it though.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 04:45

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

cheetah7071 posted:

Ruleset: Lite
Support: DIY
Chargen: Quick
Setting: Neutral

I'm working on an exploration-based game in a custom setting. My group likes light systems and my fallback is probably using some kind of blades hack but blades isn't perfect for a few reasons so I figured I'd ask here.

The intended arc of the game is to explored the world, gain knowledge and resources, and then, after some inflection point, begin using that knowledge and those resources to leave your mark on the world, and leave it better suited for you than you found it. Ideally I'd like the mechanics to reward players for making and advancing long-term plans, and I'd like the mechanics to encourage players, when faced with something over their pay grade, to retreat, come up with a specific plan for overcoming that challenge, and come back prepared. (I.e. something more involved than just "this is too high level, let's come back after leveling up")

Any ideas?

That's Goblinville to a T. It's a rules-light OSR-ish dungeon/hexcrawl game where you play, duh, goblins going out in the world to make rent and not die horribly. As you advance your home town also develops.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 05:14

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

i'm asking on the FE discord if any of the game lines had a variant ruleset for zone-based combat. the core book has rules for pure Theater of the Mind, but it swings too far in the opposite direction -- it's basically a rules-lite resolution system for fights that aren't important enough to model, which isn't helpful

i once considered exploiting OSR inter-compatibility to run a Tenno game using Stars Without Number + Godbound; I decided against it because I don't really want to deal with descending AC and all the other jank that goes with that sub-genre, but it does have tactical combat at a less-granular level than modern D&D

e: maybe Edge of the Empire? it has range-band combat, already has sci-fi trappings, and the "your character is burdened with unfortunate obligations you have to pay back or dodge" theme is pretty appropriate for Warframe. not sure the typical character's power level really lives up to Warframe, though.

I appreciate the effort! My understanding is that the FE designers are considering putting in a more robust gridless combat in the next edition, but if there's something available now I'm all for it. I've been wanting to do a Fragged Empire game for a few years now, and if this is the opportunity to do that, that'd be great.

Edge of the Empire didn't resonate too well with my group beyond the Star Wars trappings hooking our resident SW fanatics, but I think that may have been because it was playing things a bit too... safe? A hack as extensive as I'm considering might spark some interest, so I'll put that on the list to investigate.

BabelFish posted:

The Infinity Role Playing Game does zone-based combat with a very broad sci-fi theme that you could probably fit Warframe's universe into. Never had a chance to actually try it though.

... Huh. This is an interesting one. Browsing the quickstart now, and my curiosity is piqued. Combat seems like a nice mix of tactical decision-making and abstraction; the "combat dice" mechanic even has a way to proc status effects off of weapons, which is Warframe as hell and should make for some interestingly diverse builds. The GM's Heat mechanics are a little bare-bones but I can easily flesh those out with some FitD influences. Yeah, this definitely promising. Thanks!

# ? Sep 27, 2020 05:52

ShineDog: May 21, 2007; It is inevitable!

Here's a weird take but what about feng shui 2? It's a game where you might roll a d6 to determine how many mooks you kill on your turn. It mostly kind of ignores movement and positioning as a concept which means you can be as ridiculous with it as you want.

The classes would need to be re framed to all hell and back though. Some might be an easy fit but there's lot of ones that are really specifically flavoured after 80s action movie tropes.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 11:25

Rick: Feb 23, 2004; When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.

RULESET: Light but maybe more
SUPPORT: User-Generated to Established
Chargen: Quick
Setting: Now
Requirement: Make it work in Roll20 or Discord

Uhh I have never run a game before and the thought of doing so gives me 3/4 of a panic attack but want to do something nice for one of my game groups for the coming holiday so I want to do a one or perhaps 2 shot.

The setting is an unexplored place on the South Pole where there are reports of a mysterious toy manufacturing ring, full of . I might suggest people make themselves as characters,optionally, although perhaps better with weapons, depending on the scenario.

Challenges I wish them to potentially deal with: Parking the sub,
Over-friendly fauna, mechanical Santa-style elves, a collapsing building, a futuristic bladesman (perhaps as the end boss?) and a large, under-friendly fauna (also possibly the end). Perhaps with a dab of eldritch horror.

We normally play for about three hours though so I want something I can pivot to the end to pretty quickly if necessary, since I have played enough one shots to know that is necessary.

We currently play a Forged By and before that played 5E, and are probably open to anything we can pick up and play, although sometimes part of the fun for us is dealing with weird rules. We have joked about playing Gurps but I know little about it other than the memes.

# ? Nov 2, 2020 22:18

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

Rick posted:

RULESET: Light but maybe more
SUPPORT: User-Generated to Established
Chargen: Quick
Setting: Now
Requirement: Make it work in Roll20 or Discord

Uhh I have never run a game before and the thought of doing so gives me 3/4 of a panic attack but want to do something nice for one of my game groups for the coming holiday so I want to do a one or perhaps 2 shot.

The setting is an unexplored place on the South Pole where there are reports of a mysterious toy manufacturing ring, full of . I might suggest people make themselves as characters,optionally, although perhaps better with weapons, depending on the scenario.

Challenges I wish them to potentially deal with: Parking the sub,
Over-friendly fauna, mechanical Santa-style elves, a collapsing building, a futuristic bladesman (perhaps as the end boss?) and a large, under-friendly fauna (also possibly the end). Perhaps with a dab of eldritch horror.

We normally play for about three hours though so I want something I can pivot to the end to pretty quickly if necessary, since I have played enough one shots to know that is necessary.

We currently play a Forged By and before that played 5E, and are probably open to anything we can pick up and play, although sometimes part of the fun for us is dealing with weird rules. We have joked about playing Gurps but I know little about it other than the memes.

Danger Patrol, assuming "make it work in roll20 or Discord" can stretch to a game that requires minimal any of that

# ? Nov 2, 2020 22:48

Rick: Feb 23, 2004; When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.

Splicer posted:

Danger Patrol, assuming "make it work in roll20 or Discord" can stretch to a game that requires minimal any of that

Interesting! It seems like it's easy to run.

# ? Nov 3, 2020 04:54

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

Looking for a system to run a particular adventure in, not sure if it was mentioned in this thread, but I checked back a few dozen pages, and nothing.

It's a dark fantasy adventure called, simply, "A Wizard", which starts as a typical 'get the wizard' adventure but becomes way more dark and eldritch than expected, and isn't really a good fit for the systems we usually play in (nWoD, D&D, even some Torchbearer).

The adventure is fairly system-agnostic - there isn't any loot to find (it's mostly 'complete the adventure and survive'), but it does have skill checks that are marked in a way that's, for example: A successful DEX check (12/Medium) So anything that I can map to those values.

A system that's quick to learn is ideal, and one where we can just put together characters quickly. Not a lot of roleplaying or character advancement here, so that's not really necessary. I'm honestly going to be surprised if the characters make it through at all. My group is fairly knowledgeable about RPG systems, so should be able to pick up mostly anything.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 02:54

pork never goes bad: May 16, 2008

That sounds perfect for Mork Borg.

There's even a character generation website that'll spit out a new character for you if you die.

https://morkborg.com/preview/
https://scvmbirther.makedatanotlore.dev/

Your earliest memories are of a burnt-black building in Sarkash. Your home?

You have thirty or so friends who never let you down: YOUR TEETH. Disloyal, deranged or simply uncontrollable, any group that didn’t boot you out you left anyway. But your parliament of teeth — enormous, protruding, thick and sharp — have always been your allies.

Conflicted and vindictive. One hand replaced with rusting hook (d6 damage). Consistently loses important items and forgets vital facts.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 03:10

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Morpheus posted:

Looking for a system to run a particular adventure in, not sure if it was mentioned in this thread, but I checked back a few dozen pages, and nothing.

It's a dark fantasy adventure called, simply, "A Wizard", which starts as a typical 'get the wizard' adventure but becomes way more dark and eldritch than expected, and isn't really a good fit for the systems we usually play in (nWoD, D&D, even some Torchbearer).

The adventure is fairly system-agnostic - there isn't any loot to find (it's mostly 'complete the adventure and survive'), but it does have skill checks that are marked in a way that's, for example: A successful DEX check (12/Medium) So anything that I can map to those values.

A system that's quick to learn is ideal, and one where we can just put together characters quickly. Not a lot of roleplaying or character advancement here, so that's not really necessary. I'm honestly going to be surprised if the characters make it through at all. My group is fairly knowledgeable about RPG systems, so should be able to pick up mostly anything.

I had a really goddamn good time running it in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Though that made it a bit easier on the players.

Also I highly recommend A Wizard, it's one of the most fun pre-mades I've ever run.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 04:41

Verisimilidude: Dec 20, 2006; Strike quick and hurry at him,
not caring to hit or miss.
So that you dishonor him before the judges

Looking for some scifi rpgs, in the vein of Star Wars but not necessarily Star Wars. Cowboys, fantasy elements, space travel etc

# ? Nov 9, 2020 19:11

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

Verisimilidude posted:

Looking for some scifi rpgs, in the vein of Star Wars but not necessarily Star Wars. Cowboys, fantasy elements, space travel etc

Lasers and feelings.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 19:32

Haystack: Jan 23, 2005

Verisimilidude posted:

Looking for some scifi rpgs, in the vein of Star Wars but not necessarily Star Wars. Cowboys, fantasy elements, space travel etc

Scum and Villainy is probably the current gold standard for that.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 19:39

Lemon-Lime: Aug 6, 2009

Scum & Villainy if you want space crimes. Fragged Empire if you want crunchy tactical combat.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 19:43

Esposito: Apr 5, 2003; Sic transit gloria. Maybe we'll meet again someday, when the fighting stops.

Stars Without Number if you want an OSR take on it.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 19:52

Rick: Feb 23, 2004; When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.

Beam Saber is also Forged and Star Wars inspired.

# ? Nov 9, 2020 20:00

pork never goes bad: May 16, 2008

Haystack posted:

Scum and Villainy is probably the current gold standard for that.

Currently running this and its one of the best experiences I've had in this hobby. Negotiating position/effect is glorious mechanically and the potential for cool episodic stories is really high.

# ? Nov 11, 2020 07:05

BetterWeirdthanDead: Mar 7, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Asking for a friend:

We�re looking to start a game on Roll20 that has a rules engine crunch close to D&D 4e decent with support for noncombat skills and travel. The core story-telling concept is LotR but the story winds up wildly off-rails after the Prancing Pony.

The GM doesn�t like running PbtA games, so Fellowship is out. My group has previously played Ryuutama and Beyond the Wall, and those aren�t what the GM is looking for. I also get the vibe that Torchbearer�s grind mechanic isn�t ideal.

# ? Nov 12, 2020 17:41

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Isn't the actual Lord of the Rings RPG supposed to be really good at what it does

e: there are like five of them and I haven't played them personally but I think this is the one I was thinking of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Ring_Roleplaying_Game

# ? Nov 12, 2020 17:48

Lemon-Lime: Aug 6, 2009

The One Ring is extremely good but it's absolutely nothing like 4E crunch and not really meant to support "literal LotR fanfiction: the campaign."

# ? Nov 12, 2020 18:35

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

Haystack posted:

Scum and Villainy is probably the current gold standard for that.

With Traveller as the classic version with a very well developed setting for exactly that sort of play. Mongoose 2e is the current standard version. Then there's 40 years of setting books, although whatever Mongoose has out is generally considered the current canon.

# ? Nov 12, 2020 19:35

sebmojo: Oct 23, 2010; Legit Cyberpunk

Mongtrav 2e is great, and pirates of drinax is incredible.

# ? Nov 12, 2020 19:49

Hypnobeard: Sep 15, 2004; Obey the Beard

sebmojo posted:

Mongtrav 2e is great, and pirates of drinax is incredible.

They've released a second campaign book, for the Sword Worlds, which looks good, and there's Deepnight Revelation, which is about an exploratory mission something like 20 sectors outside of the Imperium.

They've got a Mercenaries box set in the worlds, containing a full campaign running a mercenary company. MgT2e is quite good.

# ? Nov 12, 2020 19:59

BetterWeirdthanDead: Mar 7, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I don�t know how I blanked on The One Ring and will let my friend know about it.

Thanks everyone!

# ? Nov 12, 2020 20:56

Viscardus: Jun 1, 2011; Thus equipped by fortune, physique, and character, he was naturally indomitable, and subordinate to no one in the world.

RULESET: Lite/Normal
SUPPORT: Any
CHARGEN: Quick/Involved
SETTING: Neutral/Established? (Not 100% sure)

Okay, so that was pretty imprecise, but I feel like I can explain better in words what I'm looking for. Basically, I'm interested in running something like a classic D&D-ish fantasy adventure, but I don't really want to run something as combat-focused as D&D. I tend to prefer systems where combat is just one thing a character can be good at. On the other hand, I'm not really interesting in running something like a PbtA game, either. I'd prefer something "in between", although maybe that's not precise enough. Regarding complexity, I find that I don't mind a somewhat complex system as long as it boils down into something reasonably straightforward in play. I previously bounced off of Fantasy Flight's Star Wars system, for example, because even though their dice system was conceptually elegant, I found it to be burdensome to actually use in play.

As for setting, I do plan to use my own setting, but I'm okay with a system that makes certain assumptions about the setting as long as it's still somewhat customizable (e.g. D&D). I'm currently envisioning it as my own take on a D&D-like setting, but that's mostly because of where the idea started, and I'm not totally committed to it. I'm still in the very early stages of planning this, and part of why I want to try to find a system I like is so that I can make sure it fits together with the setting while I'm working on worldbuilding and planning. That said, it should be somewhere in the region of medieval or Renaissance-era fantasy, or easily adaptable into that.

# ? Nov 24, 2020 09:09

sebmojo: Oct 23, 2010; Legit Cyberpunk

Dungeon crawl classics?

# ? Nov 24, 2020 09:29

Lemon-Lime: Aug 6, 2009

I've not played it but it sounds like Quest might do what you want.

# ? Nov 24, 2020 10:49

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 23, 2024 18:13

Haystack: Jan 23, 2005

Viscardus posted:

RULESET: Lite/Normal
SUPPORT: Any
CHARGEN: Quick/Involved
SETTING: Neutral/Established? (Not 100% sure)

Okay, so that was pretty imprecise, but I feel like I can explain better in words what I'm looking for. Basically, I'm interested in running something like a classic D&D-ish fantasy adventure, but I don't really want to run something as combat-focused as D&D. I tend to prefer systems where combat is just one thing a character can be good at. On the other hand, I'm not really interesting in running something like a PbtA game, either. I'd prefer something "in between", although maybe that's not precise enough. Regarding complexity, I find that I don't mind a somewhat complex system as long as it boils down into something reasonably straightforward in play. I previously bounced off of Fantasy Flight's Star Wars system, for example, because even though their dice system was conceptually elegant, I found it to be burdensome to actually use in play.

As for setting, I do plan to use my own setting, but I'm okay with a system that makes certain assumptions about the setting as long as it's still somewhat customizable (e.g. D&D). I'm currently envisioning it as my own take on a D&D-like setting, but that's mostly because of where the idea started, and I'm not totally committed to it. I'm still in the very early stages of planning this, and part of why I want to try to find a system I like is so that I can make sure it fits together with the setting while I'm working on worldbuilding and planning. That said, it should be somewhere in the region of medieval or Renaissance-era fantasy, or easily adaptable into that.

Take a look at Spellbound Kingdoms. It's got a solid, unique combat system, but also an absolute fuckload of stuff to do outside of tactical skirmishes, up to and including running your own shadow empire. It's got a decent amount of it's own setting baked into it, though. It's a fun setting, though! You could probably hack it into a renaissance D&D shape, if you put a bit of elbow grease in.

# ? Nov 24, 2020 16:27

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