A friend has been talking about starting a D&D group ever since BG3 dropped and I already have a matching character concept complete with partial backstory. However, between the OGL fiasco and the dubious plans WotC have for D&D 6e I really don’t feel like buying the required book or pushing my friend to get his campaign worked out.
DnD somehow tries to sell itself as a combat simulator. And yeah, it’s combat system is more fleshed out than many other roleplaying systems, but at the end of the day a lot of the combat interactions are down to the DM to decide so it ends up being a normal roleplaying game with the occasional stumble into a waste-deep muck or rule interactions for what ended up being almost no reason.
My very favorite system is Apocalypse World; it always plays out as high-drama operatic pulp. It does tend to go PvP in later sessions, so it’s definitely not for every group.
I also enjoy Blades in the Dark, a heist game set in a haunted Victorian London-inspired city. There are a lot of great innovations that mean the players don’t have to meticulously plan out their session (often wasting time on contingencies that are irrelevant), and instead can jump right in and get to the juicy bits.
Mothership is a great sci-fi horror OSR (old school revival) game that is very modular and has a ton of pre-written modules. Normally I prefer a more improvised style, but this is a solid ruleset that works well towards building the tension required for the genre.
If you’re just looking for a one-shot, Fiasco is always a great time: very rules light and more like a writers room exercise than most RPGs, but there’s no better game for hilarious hijinks inspired by films like Fargo or Burn After Reading.
Dogs in the Vineyard is another great one by the same designers as Apocalypse World in which the players are teenage paladin gunslingers in a weird old west populated by demons and heretics. The players come to town with absolute moral authority and may judge whomever they wish, but there’s no guarantee they’re really the good guys even though their characters absolutely see themselves that way.
Pathfinder 2e is really good. Its a little more complex than 5e but you have a lot more character variety in terms of crunch which then spills over into more interesting roleplay. Its also pretty hard to make a useless character unless you just straight up try to on purpose.
If you like a little more crunch, Pathfinder or Starfinder.
If you like a little less crunch, Cities without Number/Stars Without Number/Worlds without number.
If you want something different, Vampire: The Masquerade.
If you want something completely different and to only last a session, 10 Candles.
I haven’t explored other options yet but after DMing I’ve definitely started to make homebrew rules to try and take some of the silly rules out of the picture. Some RAW stuff and playing with rules lawyers really takes the fun and momentum out of trying to get newbies into the moment. Also doesn’t help when some folks have terrible attention spans.
DnD is a fine game.
But in my opinion, there are so many better roleplay systems.
Also, D&D has a lot of baggage these days.
A friend has been talking about starting a D&D group ever since BG3 dropped and I already have a matching character concept complete with partial backstory. However, between the OGL fiasco and the dubious plans WotC have for D&D 6e I really don’t feel like buying the required book or pushing my friend to get his campaign worked out.
DnD somehow tries to sell itself as a combat simulator. And yeah, it’s combat system is more fleshed out than many other roleplaying systems, but at the end of the day a lot of the combat interactions are down to the DM to decide so it ends up being a normal roleplaying game with the occasional stumble into a waste-deep muck or rule interactions for what ended up being almost no reason.
Do you have some favorites?
My very favorite system is Apocalypse World; it always plays out as high-drama operatic pulp. It does tend to go PvP in later sessions, so it’s definitely not for every group.
I also enjoy Blades in the Dark, a heist game set in a haunted Victorian London-inspired city. There are a lot of great innovations that mean the players don’t have to meticulously plan out their session (often wasting time on contingencies that are irrelevant), and instead can jump right in and get to the juicy bits.
Mothership is a great sci-fi horror OSR (old school revival) game that is very modular and has a ton of pre-written modules. Normally I prefer a more improvised style, but this is a solid ruleset that works well towards building the tension required for the genre.
If you’re just looking for a one-shot, Fiasco is always a great time: very rules light and more like a writers room exercise than most RPGs, but there’s no better game for hilarious hijinks inspired by films like Fargo or Burn After Reading.
Dogs in the Vineyard is another great one by the same designers as Apocalypse World in which the players are teenage paladin gunslingers in a weird old west populated by demons and heretics. The players come to town with absolute moral authority and may judge whomever they wish, but there’s no guarantee they’re really the good guys even though their characters absolutely see themselves that way.
Pathfinder 2e is really good. Its a little more complex than 5e but you have a lot more character variety in terms of crunch which then spills over into more interesting roleplay. Its also pretty hard to make a useless character unless you just straight up try to on purpose.
Fabula Ultima not mentioned yet, so I will.
If you like a little more crunch, Pathfinder or Starfinder.
If you like a little less crunch, Cities without Number/Stars Without Number/Worlds without number.
If you want something different, Vampire: The Masquerade.
If you want something completely different and to only last a session, 10 Candles.
I haven’t explored other options yet but after DMing I’ve definitely started to make homebrew rules to try and take some of the silly rules out of the picture. Some RAW stuff and playing with rules lawyers really takes the fun and momentum out of trying to get newbies into the moment. Also doesn’t help when some folks have terrible attention spans.