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.
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 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.
