If you were to go away from 5e, what would you go to?

[Skylivedk]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

[Man_Over_Game]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

The new pathfinder seems really cool. One aspect I particularly like is that spells and abilities have better effects the more you focus on them. So if you spend just a standard action for a heal, it heals one person, but if you also throw in your movement, it heals all allies nearby. It has a lot of versatility built in.


4E is also fun, if you just care about being a badass. Great as a board game.

[8wGremlin]

Through the breach by Wyrd games

Excellent setting, excellent system. A lot of fun to run and to play. Cool card deck mechanics

[Skylivedk]

The new pathfinder seems really cool. One aspect I particularly like is that spells and abilities have better effects the more you focus on them. So if you spend just a standard action for a heal, it heals one person, but if you also throw in your movement, it heals all allies nearby. It has a lot of versatility built in.


4E is also fun, if you just care about being a badass. Great as a board game.

Thank you. I played the old pathfinder instead of 4e. Didn't even know there was a new one. I considered Kryx' houserules as a 5.5e. Is the new pathfinder somewhere in between 3e and 5e?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Hmm... there's only, like, a bajillion systems out there. A few major examples...

Mutants and Masterminds 3e-- a d20 superhero game with a custom power creation system; once it clicks, it's probably the most flexible character builder out there (that doesn't get really light, at least). My personal favorite.
Fate Core-- If you liked 5e's traits and bonds system, this is where they stole it from. Only Fate makes those narrative labels a key part of the mechanics, meaning that you can actually have two characters with similar skillsets in the same group that still feel distinct. Just a really fun, flexible system overall.
Exalted 3e-- A bronze age wuxia fantasy epic setting where you play newly-returned demigods out to shape the world. A really cool setting, a really distinct atmosphere, and the 3rd edition rules are really fun. (2e is huge and sprawling and a mechanical nightmare).
Deadlands (Savage Worlds edition)-- An awesome weird west setting, powered by the strong and fast Savage World engine, with lots of setting content out there.
Shadowrun-- Two words: cyberpunk D&D. That's... pretty much it, though it's not a d20 system. I've not played, but it's pretty popular.
Traveler (Mongoose Edition)-- Firefly, the RPG, basically. Assemble a motley crew and fly through sketchy systems, trading and pirating.

What kind of stuff do you like in D&D, and what do you dislike?

[Skylivedk]

Hmm... there's only, like, a bajillion systems out there. A few major examples...

Mutants and Masterminds 3e-- a d20 superhero game with a custom power creation system; once it clicks, it's probably the most flexible character builder out there (that doesn't get really light, at least). My personal favorite.
Fate Core-- If you liked 5e's traits and bonds system, this is where they stole it from. Only Fate makes those narrative labels a key part of the mechanics, meaning that you can actually have two characters with similar skillsets in the same group that still feel distinct. Just a really fun, flexible system overall.
Exalted 3e-- A bronze age wuxia fantasy epic setting where you play newly-returned demigods out to shape the world. A really cool setting, a really distinct atmosphere, and the 3rd edition rules are really fun. (2e is huge and sprawling and a mechanical nightmare).
Deadlands (Savage Worlds edition)-- An awesome weird west setting, powered by the strong and fast Savage World engine, with lots of setting content out there.
Shadowrun-- Two words: cyberpunk D&D. That's... pretty much it, though it's not a d20 system. I've not played, but it's pretty popular.
Traveler (Mongoose Edition)-- Firefly, the RPG, basically. Assemble a motley crew and fly through sketchy systems, trading and pirating.

What kind of stuff do you like in D&D, and what do you dislike?

How's the Savage Worlds system to play? I enjoy the narratives and the impro acting a lot. I'm too much of a math and stats nerd not to geek out over mechanics (and notice when they're bad), but I enjoy the moments where they matter little the most. I like good mechanics because they allow me to not stretch my suspension of disbelief too much

[Matrix_Walker]

I would play whatever people are playing... DnD 5e is way down on the list when I think of the best gaming systems, but it's what people play at my local game store.

[Joe the Rat]

I do go away from D&D for things D&D doesn't do well.

Savage Worlds is my recommended Generic system. There's some learning to make all the fiddly bits work, but actual play is straightforward.

But when I look for something in the D&D vein, I go with Dungeon Crawl Classics. A retro-shift from the srd era, it takes you back to basic and sets you up with a big bowl of whatever Erol Otus was smoking when he painted. Has a reputation for being gonzo and brutal, each of which is about half deserved. I think it's got one of the best approaches to making Warrior types awesome, but it takes some creativity on the player's part to make those Deeds shine.

[Teaguethebean]

I would want to run pathfinder second edition but I would love to play more world of darkness games as a player

[Laserlight]

EABA
HERO/Champions
Runequest/HeroQuest
Probably L5R

I'd join Exalted or Call of Cthulhu for the setting, although I am not sold on the rules. (edit: have not seen Exalted 3e yet)

I don't particularly like DnD--it's not bad, but it isn't great. The reason I play it is, it's easy to find players.

[CantigThimble]

Shadowrun - Fantasy Cyberpunk Heists FTW. The rules are absolute hell, good luck getting an entire group to learn them. The setting is also very complex but is really fantastic and highly integrated into gameplay.

Earthdawn - It's like D&D, if D&D was designed from the ground up to be integrated with its setting and the whole 'Adventurers going into dungeons to fight monsters and get loot' thing was just something that made absolutely perfect sense because of how the world was set up. Seriously, it's super refreshing to be able to say "He's a third circle swordmaster" and have that make sense in character instead of needing to dodge around and try to describe a fighter's skill without mentioning his level. And there is a setting wide justification for buried, trap filled dungeons filled with monsters and magical treasure to show up everywhere.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - Those guys made an RPG. And it's fantastic. It's roughly like AD&D with streamlining and numerous random generation systems that work remarkably well. The character creation system involves each player creating 3-4 100% randomly generated peasants and sending the wole mob of 15-20 into a dungeon. 50-80% casualties are expected, the survivors reach 1st level and pick a class. Magic is also redone from the ground up to work based on skill checks and the game has a whole host of systems for long term consequences for what goes on in the game so almost everything you do feels potentially dangerous and meaningful. (One thing that really bugs me in 5e is that every time you take a long rest, every consequence of previous fights goes away.) It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really like it.

[R.Shackleford]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

4e, 13th Age, Numenera (I personally love the world), Diablo 3, and Mutants and Masterminds.

Diablo 3 isn't a tabletop game, but it's a great game to have fun with the same kind of people. 3e really does feel like the tabletop version of Diablo.

4e/13th Age because you get to be awesome, no matter what class race you pick.

Numenera because awesome world, interesting character designs, and cool mechanics.

M&M because it's just downright cool.

[8wGremlin]

https://www.wyrd-games.net/through-the-breach/

It's so good I had to mention it twice!

[Knaight]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

I have "gone away" from D&D - but it's worth understanding here that the whole concept of having a game you play is pretty rare outside of D&D, and instead people tend to have whole collections used for different purposes, which can include reincorporating D&D as part of that collection once the novelty has partially recovered. So, notables I personally like, mostly restricted to games people can generally transition into smoothly (which usually means traditional games, though there are exceptions):

Fudge: Inasmuch as I have a main game, this is it. If moving away from D&D one of the games you'll want to add to your repertoire is a good generic system that lets you do any setting in any genre, and while there's a lot of options Fudge is my personal favorite. Even by the standards of generic systems it's open, it's a fairly traditional game without being overly crunchy, and it ends up in that sweet spot right between GURPS and Fate, probably because it's descended from GURPS (it was written by a GURPS author as a GURPS alternative to avoid the things he disliked about GURPS) and ancestral to Fate (which started out as a Fudge hack).

Hollow Earth Expedition: HEX is my preferred game for ridiculous pulp action, including the various pulp- genres. It does larger than life characters well, and it also has mechanics that feel like larger than life characters, whether it's the tactile feel of throwing a fistfull of dice or the thorough minimization of accounting. Classic pulp in particular is well supported, as the equipment list and statted people/creatures nest into it so well, from rifles to zeppelins, nazi occultists to warriors from hidden tribes to pterodactyls.

Chronica Feudalis: Chronica Feudalis has three main things going for it. One is that it's just a fun read, written as if it was a found document in a medieval monastery written by monks, a tone that sounds a little cheesy but just works, especially given the way most RPGs tend a little close to the textbook side of the line. Then there's the other two: It's a genuinely medieval game, historical instead of fantasy, without getting bogged down, and it's built around four conflict subsystems only one of which is combat. Chases, subterfuge (stealth and counter stealth), and parley all get just as much attention as combat does, including solid representation of tools in all four.

Warbirds: I picked up Warbirds because I wanted a good system for dogfighting pilots, for essentially any game that features them. I got that; I'm happy with the system - but I also got a really fun setting. Basically it's a dieselpunk Caribbean set on floating islands around the eye of what is heavily implied to be a gas giant, where the floating islands are the actual Caribbean, ripped out of the Earth and transported far away. It's a fairly unique basis for a setting, the research is thorough, and the famous mercenary pilots navigating fame and combat missions (the PCs) are tied into it well.

Unknown Armies: I haven't played this yet, but the setting is probably the single most interesting urban fantasy/occult setting I've ever seen by a long shot, and the mechanics both look solid and have Greg Stolze's name on them, which as far as I'm concerned is all I need. The core concept is proactive characters trying to change the world in occult horror, while the setting deliberately pushes back as hard as possible on the whole "eldritch aliens to which humans are but a speck thing", the gods of the settings are human archetypes incarnate (e.g. The Soldier, The Mother, The Knight-Protector, The Tortured Artist, etc.), occupied by humans that best fit them, and the various supernatural beings are generally in that mold.

Nemesis: This is another Greg Stolze horror game, with a more conventional implied setting. It's also probably the easiest way in to a particular family of games, the One Roll Engine titles. The short version is that they use a kind of weird dice pool system where you look for matches, designed to pack more information into results, the long version is that this mechanic serves as the core of a lot of very interesting design, with subtle nuances that feel intuitive after you've seen them and are easy to remember.

Reign: Reign is the fantasy implementation of the One Roll Engine, and it's got a pretty decent setting. It also has rules for statting out organizations, organizational conflicts, merging and splitting organizations, etc. That's why I got it; it's beautiful for political campaigns and the organizational conflict rules take what happens at the character side into account so well.

Microscope: This is the weird one on my list, included mostly because a surprising number of D&D groups use it to make D&D settings, so clearly it's approachable. This is likely a testament to being well written, because the core loop is pretty unique. It's a GMless game about timeline building, where players take turns adding stuff to a time line within certain constraints, focusing upon particulars then shifting, widening the timeline by filling in gaps between a known beginning and end and digging into detail. Every so often you'll drill down into scenes, where everyone grabs a character and does in character roleplaying for a while. Note that using this to generate D&D settings is a massive waste of the game; it works best with minimal restrictions and an existing corpus of elements is exactly not that.

Everyone is John: John is a minimally competent man with voices in his head. You play the voices - everyone is a voice, and the mechanics are mostly about determining which voice is in control at any given time, with a minimal section for John attempting to do things, where "doing things" is something he's just generally bad at. On top of that it's a competitive game - every time John does your goal, you get points, the player with the most points "wins", though it's never really taken that seriously. The more outlandish the goal, the more points it is worth.

Warrior, Rogue, and Mage: WR&M is a lighter, faster, D&D. It's basically replaced D&D for me, and it's up there in terms of more primary games, albeit with some pretty big gaps between it and the games above. The way it works is that you have three attributes, Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, plus some skills and derived stats based on them, and it provides just enough structure for a very beer and pretzels fantasy dungeon crawl sort of game.

Diana, Warrior Princess: Imagine the world 1000 years ago, and realize how thin your knowledge really is. Now, imagine the world 1000 years ago as depicted by lazy TV writers who don't do much research, and just really think about how terrible their depiction is. Now, imagine the modern world as understood by lazy TV writers who don't do much research 1000 years. That's Diana: Warrior Princess, a game set in the modern day, deliberately misinterpreted. There's an entire section on how to understand history poorly and apply that to contemporary times, and there's also example after example of that being done. For instance there's L. Ron Hubble, a con artist who sold NASA a telescope so bad it had to be fixed with glasses. There's a vehicle list which includes both steam boats and space shuttles, both treated much the way one might treat cars. It's hilarious, and a lot of fun.

Qin, the Warring States: At present Qin is my preferred rules heavy wuxia game. It's well researched, it does some cool things with the structure, and while I mostly just raid it for ideas I would still recommend it.

Fudge, Nemesis, and WR&M are all free games, though Fudge does have optional commercial content on top of that.

[Sahe]

Masks: You play teenage superheroes. A Powered by the Apocalypse system with a heavy focus on narrative drawing strongly on cartoons like Teen Titans. It's fun, it's very very different from DnD focusing heavily on interteam drama, what it means to be a teenage hero in a world with established Heroes.

Shadowrun: The rules are...complicated. It is perfect for Heist games, the world is absolutely incredible and one of my favorite settings because it combines trashy cyberpunk with fantasy in a cool way. This is also an especially great setting if you wanna play in a real world outside of the US. While the "standard" setting is kinda the US. It has an incredibly rich and complex setting for other locations like Europe. (I also wanna recommend the Shadowrun Computer games by Harebrain Schemes at this point, especially Dragonfall and Hong Kong).

[Sigreid]

There are so many great games that it's impossible to give you a useful answer. Do you have an idea what kind of game you would like to play? Fantasy, space fantasy, pulp fiction, science fiction, Multi-dimensional tyranny, Lovecraftian?

[RedMage125]

It would depend on if I were going away as a player or a DM.

As a DM, 4th edition. That edition was super easy on the DM.

As a player, I am most familiar with 3.5e, but I got into Pathfinder a little.

PF 2e intrigues me, this thread is the first actual mechanics news I've heard about it.

[Eragon123]

I really like the Dragon Age RPG. Even if it is structurally similar. There is an elegance to a 3d6 system. And I like how some of the classes are hugely imbalanced based on lore. (Though I had 3 mages in one of my games each went down a different path and each ended up being really good. The fourth character, the knight loved his character. The only one who struggled was the rogue... I made changes to since then)

[Avonar]

I adore 13th Age, the system is so heavily built around PC-focused campaigns which is always my favourite.

[R.Shackleford]

I adore 13th Age, the system is so heavily built around PC-focused campaigns which is always my favourite.

http://www.13thagesrd.com/

I love that a couple of the designers were from WotC and honestly this looks closer to what 4e or 5e should have been than 4e. I love 4e, but there are a few design issues that I would have been all "yo, what the hell are you thinking". Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet took what they worked on with 3e and 4e and helped make something really cool :).

Some things that I think can help 5e games...

Icons, Relationships, Backgrounds, OUT (One Unique Thing): 5e is getting close to this already, but still has a little way to go.

Distances: Engaged, near by, and far away is a beautiful way to remove the battle map but not go completely "theater of mind". Throw some minis on a table and use this feature to show distances instead of using nitty gritty numbahs.

Ability Score Flexibility: Your race gives you a choice in ability score bonuses (could be better tho :p) and then your class gives you a choice of ability score bonuses... Love this so much more than the D&D system. Now I prefer a flat bonus you get to choose... But 13th age is a step in a better direction.

Features: Everyone get's cool things! Even the simple characters! The fighter has a great mechanic that I would love to see expanded.

Defensive Fighting
Flexible melee attack

Triggering Roll: Natural 16+; if you fight with a shield, also any natural even roll

Effect: Gain a +2 bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.

Feats: I'm over 5e feats. I prefer a 3e/4e/13 style of feats where they help you build a unique character. Yeah it takes more effort to make a game like this, but damn, the 5e PHB got old real fast when relying on fluff to distinguish characters.

Also, when I take a feat, I don't want it to be a waste of a slot underwhelming. I may be asking for too much... But take Linguist in 5e versus 13th Age.


Linguist

Adventurer Tier: This feat allows you to speak enough arcana, dwarven, elven, gnomish, gnoll, goblin, orcish, and other standard humanoid languages to comprehend enough of what most other humanoids are saying or screaming during battle. You are not fluent in all these languages, no one will mistake you for a native speaker, and your vocabulary is adventurer-centric (heavy on words connected to danger rather than philosophy or emotions).

You can also read enough to get by in all these languages.

Champion Tier: You can speak, read, and write all the humanoid languages fluently. Stranger languages are no problem for you either. If someone is speaking it, you can figure it out.


Not only does this make you way more useful, but it upgrades based on your level without needing to take another feat or use some other feature.

I love a lot of things from 5e, but 13th Age has some things that I would absolutely love to see 6e incorporate in some way even if its the philosophy behind them.

Oh and those who think battles take to long in any addition of D&D... You could always try the Escalation Die. Back a couple years ago I helped play test 5e with the Escalation Dice and it was a lot of fun.

Escalation Die

The escalation die represents a bonus to attacks as the fight goes on.

At the start of the second round, the GM sets the escalation die at 1. Each PC gains a bonus to attack rolls equal to the current value on the escalation die. Each round, the escalation die advances by +1, to a maximum of +6.

Monsters and NPCs do not add the escalation die bonus to their attacks

If the GM judges that the characters are avoiding conflict rather than bringing the fight to the bad guys, the escalation die doesn’t advance. If combat virtually ceases, the escalation die resets to 0.

We changed a couple things, anyone could reset the escalation die and grant themselves advantage on their attack or saving throw once the die reached +3 or higher.

[mephnick]

Fantasy:

Dungeon World: It's what people think D&D is before they play D&D and get passed a 400 page rule book
Dungeon Crawl Classics: Others have said enough about this.
Pendragon: A classic system where everyone is an Arthurian knight. The game forces you to play your character how you design them.
Symbaroum: A dark fantasy system. Amazing artwork and atmosphere.

Space/Other:

Stars Without Number: Great to run as a DM. Worldbuilding and Faction Turns are basically a mini-game for the DM.
The Sprawl: A much better Shadowrun system than Shadowrun, but lighter.
Traveller: The crunchy space sim RPG.
Apocalypse World: The original PbtA game. Social conflict in situations that get steadily worse and worse.
Dogs in the Vineyard: Dogmatic Inquisitors in a western setting with a cool "poker-ish" betting system.


These are all the wonderous games you can explore instead of shoving your political intrigue, space opera crap into a dungeon crawl, resource attrition fantasy game.

[Pex]

Pathfinder

The original not the new play test.

[Kane0]

Most likely Battletech.

But if i had to keep the fantasy feel probably Savage Worlds, unless i went off and frankensteined my own game together.

[Speely]

Lots of hood suggestions already, so I am gonna take a hard left.

Victoriana is excellent. Very fleshed-out setting (steampunky,) and easy rules that don't get in the way. Sort of demands that the players invest in the setting, though, so it's not as fast-and-loose as D&D. Think Dragon Heist on steroids. This is the "harder" suggestion, not because of mechanics, but because the setting itself demands more of the players.

Another REALLY refreshing game for people used to only one thing: Tales From the Loop. This is extremely rules-light and narrative-based, but it does a great job of making normal kid things seem monumental in importance and is ripe for fun RP. I am personally finding it to be a refreshing break from the D&D meta. It's basically Stranger Things, the Game, with easy, fast rules. Also, everyone loves the 80s.

[R.Shackleford]

Pathfinder

The original not the new play test.

They have some ok adventures but I would rather introduce people to "tier 3" or "e6" 3.5 D&D than pathfinder any day of the week.

[ImproperJustice]

Top Pick:

Stars Without Number: the few times I have played or run it, the stories become so rich. Faction turns and world building tools create such a breathing active universe that is loads of fun.

Savage Worlds: Rifts, Thrilling Tales, and Super Heroes. So many fun settings.

Mutants and Masterminds 1e: Old School, easy to run.

Micro RPGs: All out of Bubblegum, Everyone is John, and the Tearable RPG are all fun single night distractions.

[Mellack]

If you are leaving D&D, I would suggest a totally different genre. My picks would be either Mutants & Masterminds or Torg Eternity.

[Skylivedk]

A big thank you to all of you. From what I've had recommended, my interest was sparked by:

Dragon Age (didn't know it was a ttrpg. Loved the first computer game!)

Mutants and masterminds: I've been a marvel fan since forever. Also loved the Worm novels (if you haven't read them, do! They're online and fantastic).

Savage worlds.

As to what I'm looking for:
I enjoy good lore and tactical depth. Preferably without unnecessary complexity. I like 5e more than 3x/pathfinder and Divinity 2 more than Pillars of Eternity.

I enjoy balance across levels and builds. I dislike the legacy of DnD of having martials outpaced.

I'd like to try something less swingy than d20. 3d6 in dragon age sounds tempting. Also perhaps less: I take twenty arrows to the chest and walk it off.

I'd like a system where out of combat plays a bigger role. Where intrigues and alliances are more encouraged by the mechanics.

[Knaight]

A big thank you to all of you. From what I've had recommended, my interest was sparked by:

Dragon Age (didn't know it was a ttrpg. Loved the first computer game!)

Mutants and masterminds: I've been a marvel fan since forever. Also loved the Worm novels (if you haven't read them, do! They're online and fantastic).

Savage worlds.
Dragon Age was actually a computer game first; the ttrpg was made to fit it. It's got some cool ideas in it, and if you like the setting and want to play an RPG in it it's not bad. The "generic fantasy" broadening of it isn't much broader though. M&M is also solid, and Savage Worlds fits what you're looking for pretty well, and is definitely a good system.



As to what I'm looking for:
I enjoy good lore and tactical depth. Preferably without unnecessary complexity. I like 5e more than 3x/pathfinder and Divinity 2 more than Pillars of Eternity.

I enjoy balance across levels and builds. I dislike the legacy of DnD of having martials outpaced.

I'd like to try something less swingy than d20. 3d6 in dragon age sounds tempting. Also perhaps less: I take twenty arrows to the chest and walk it off.

I'd like a system where out of combat plays a bigger role. Where intrigues and alliances are more encouraged by the mechanics.
Going through these:
1) This is a meaningful parameter, but one easily filled. D&D is on the complicated side of games, and while there are far more complicated ones (Phoenix Command) the space of less complex but still possessed of tactical depth is pretty common.

2) Levels are actually pretty rare in tabletop RPGs. D&D isn't the only class and level system by any stretch of the imagination, but they're very much in the minority. As for balance, while it's not guaranteed it's generally a safe assumption that D&D levels of balance will be met or exceeded. Usually exceeded

3) Less swingy die mechanics and more grounded characters are similarly ubiquitous. Again, there are exceptions, particularly to D&D as normally played as opposed to how D&D operates at extreme optimization levels, but you generally have to seek them out.

4) D&D is an extremely combat focused game, to the point where almost everything else will be more focused on out of combat activity. That said intrigue and alliances specifically is a bit narrower.

If you're still thinking of doing fantasy, give Reign a shot. It meets all four of these, apart from not using levels.

[ZorroGames]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

I would increase my miniature war games time. None of the other FRPG/SFRPG products interest me.

Jaded from the 1970s I expect.

War gaming (historical, Fantasy, VSF, Science Fiction,) has never lost my interest.

[ImproperJustice]

IF you like tactical RPGs , for a good laugh you could look up the German RPG Phoenix command.

The only game I know where dog breed, the type of glass in a window, and how much cofee you consumed at breakfast can all be factors that determine your chance of success at making a perception check to hear a dog barking outside.

[JackPhoenix]

In no particular order of preference...

Shadowrun. the rules are a bit of a mess, but the player from my group least willing to try new things is familiar with it, so there's a good chance he'd go for it. And I want to get away from fantasy for a while.

Exalted. Only if I won't have to be the GM, though. Sounds fun, but not fitting with my GMing style.

Dark Heresy/Black Crusade/Rogue Trader. I love w40k. I'd have to GM that one, but that's fine. Like Shadowrun, mix of sci-fi and fantasy and mess of a system.

There's a new WFRPG edition which I haven't had the chance to check (is it even out yet?), but I'd go for that.

Something old-school, low magic, sword & sorcery. No clear preference, but I wouldn't get my players to try any of that anyway, so it's a moot point. As a player rather than GM, because being eternal GM sucks. And I'd enjoy it more from the player's perspective.

[jdolch]

Raise Horses in Minnesota.

[Rhedyn]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

Savage Worlds is pretty amazing. It's a generic system that sets out to optimize "rules for things" and "low complexity". It's a mid-crunch game that handles anything that would make a good movie well. Also has a near endless amount of content at this point from a wide range of publishers.

[Naanomi]

It depends a lot on the tolerance at the table for complicated stuff... if people are ok with it, HERO system is fantastic; virtually nothing a character can’t do.

I also have a deep love for Aces and Eights

[ImproperJustice]

Savage Worlds is pretty amazing. It's a generic system that sets out to optimize "rules for things" and "low complexity". It's a mid-crunch game that handles anything that would make a good movie well. Also has a near endless amount of content at this point from a wide range of publishers.

I will totally agree that SW hits that great sweet spot of crunch and narrative speed.
Most adventures can be done in 4-6 hours, and a whole campaign resolved in a few months.
Then there is so much good source material. You can find something good to run, or easily make your own.
Rules for Mass Battles and chases allow you to do some exciting stuff.

[Crl1981]

Shadowrun.
I love the free form to build the character you want.

It’s a higher mortality game making roleplay a necessity to find other ways around a problem other than - “Charge!”.

No, as I like ro call it, “ Ding fries are done leveling system.” You spend experience to better your character creating a more progressive feel to character enhancment instead of big power spikes in a leveling system.

Because of the more gradual power increase I find players care about their characters more and are less likely to make bad decisions like “at level 1 lets relieve the city that is actively being overrun by an army of evil creatures and supported by a Dragon!”

[Anonymouswizard]

From the ones that I know have been said:

Unknown Armies: I'm currently running it. I've played both 2e and 3e, and 3e is an amazingly designed game with weird magic, great mechanics, and just the right amount of weird.
Also it's the most humanocentric setting you'll meet, ever.

Savage Worlds: As a generic it's solid but not brilliant, but it does have some great settings (I love Eldritch Skies* and 50 Fathoms, and am still trying to get a copy of the Deadlands books). It's main thing is reducing combat book keeping to make combat faster, mooks are an inherent part of the system, it features a death spiral, and it uses a metagame currency and thus feels somewhat cinematic.

* Essentially Cthulhu mythos SF, there's a bit of transhumanism, a bit of frontier stuff, and Earth itself is ripe for mythos-themed cyberpunk adventures.

Fate: This is essentially Fudge, but with a narrative mechanic bolted on and the scale changed to not be centralised. I personally love the narrative mechanic, the game only has the one but the entire game is based around Fate Points going back and forth as Aspects come into play. Plus there's a load of good 50-page settings/adventures, generally fun ideas. Oh, and the rules are Pay What You Want in pdf, so it won't cost you a penny.

And now one I don't think has been mentioned.

Eclipse Phase: this is a game where the setting is chock full of amazing ideas, but the system has a load of issues. It's a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk transhumanist horror game, featuring body modification and swapping as a relatively standard practice (for PCs, for NPCs it's mainly the rich and the anarchists who get it). Earth was destroyed by some of the first Seed AI we made and is now covered in killbots and polution, so transhumanity mainly lives in space habs, other planets, and the moons of gas giants. Technology is incredibly advanced but relatively hard, featuring hard nanotech and associated nanofabrication, AGI, uplifts, medical tubes, implanted custom organs and drug glands, cyberwear, incredibly powerful electronics, a wireless mesh network in 90% of habs, and all of this can be the PC's to play with/be with the right amount of money/rep/hacking. The Quantum Entanglement communicators are by far the softest piece of technology in the setting, although not all of the stuff is strictly realistic.

Oh, and it's available for free due to being CC-BY-NC-SA licenced (https://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/). Also, while the system is incredibly over-complicated in all the wrong places (I'm looking at you character creation and resleeving) there is an official Fate hack, which is quite good, and several unofficial fan hacks for various systems.

[iTreeby]

Blades in the Dark. The setting is amazing, it takes place in a world that is very post-apocalypses. Several world ending events have happened, the sun was shattered into a bunch of chunks so it is perpetually dark with brief light periods of "dawn" and "dusk". The oceans were turned into literal ink. Primordial demonic leviathans were set loose in the oceans. The gates of death were broken so, insane ghosts rove the land. Also the air is poison.

The game's setting is based on the aftermath of a savage world's game that got out of hand but, the game has its own rules system that I prefer to savage worlds'. Your group is a newly formed gang that is trying to make it in the city of duskwal that keeps out the poison and most of the ghosts with a lightning barrier that is powered by leviathan blood.

The game is much more player driven than dnd which I prefer as a DM and as a player because it makes the game easy to prep. its good for fostering a colaberative story. It is very easy to have bad things happen to your character but you always feel like a great scoundrel even when you fail.

[kebusmaximus]

Burning wheel.

I don't know how it hasn't been mentioned yet, honestly. It's vaguely medieval fantasy, like D&D, but the focus of play is entirely on the PCs and their beliefs. Everything else is secondary. There are rules for combat in the game, but they're not strictly necessary, and there are more or less complicated ways to fight depending on your preferences and how dramatic/important combat is.

[Anonymouswizard]

Burning wheel.

I don't know how it hasn't been mentioned yet, honestly. It's vaguely medieval fantasy, like D&D, but the focus of play is entirely on the PCs and their beliefs. Everything else is secondary. There are rules for combat in the game, but they're not strictly necessary, and there are more or less complicated ways to fight depending on your preferences and how dramatic/important combat is.

Asnwered your own question, most of us have been trying for systems that contrast in some way.

[solidork]

Blades in the Dark. The setting is amazing, it takes place in a world that is very post-apocalypses. Several world ending events have happened, the sun was shattered into a bunch of chunks so it is perpetually dark with brief light periods of "dawn" and "dusk". The oceans were turned into literal ink. Primordial demonic leviathans were set loose in the oceans. The gates of death were broken so, insane ghosts rove the land. Also the air is poison.

The game's setting is based on the aftermath of a savage world's game that got out of hand but, the game has its own rules system that I prefer to savage worlds'. Your group is a newly formed gang that is trying to make it in the city of duskwal that keeps out the poison and most of the ghosts with a lightning barrier that is powered by leviathan blood.

The game is much more player driven than dnd which I prefer as a DM and as a player because it makes the game easy to prep. its good for fostering a colaberative story. It is very easy to have bad things happen to your character but you always feel like a great scoundrel even when you fail.

I will second Blades in the Dark, I'm currently running two games of it and both are a blast. This review is a great synopsis:
https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/rpg-review-blades-in-the-dark/

[HappyDaze]

D&D5e isn't my primary RPG. It's not even my primary fantasy RPG. I tend to favor elaborate settings over complex rules and I stay away from anything that requires minis & tactical maps to play.

Here are a few fantasy options that are out currently:

The Dark Eye: Highly detailed Euro-fantasy world for simulationist-styled play. Rules complexity is somewhat higher than average.
Shadow of the Demon Lord: Like playing D&D with simple rules and a coating of Warhammer Fantasy-like dark grime.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition): A very flavorful world with very familiar tropes. The new system is an evolution of the 1e/2e system but I haven't played it yet. Currently available only on pdf, but the books should be out soon.

[Spriteless]

World of Darkness
Either Werewolf game is a fun class based modern fantasy about exploring the relationship between self, nature, and spirit, and also about being a giant territorial murder monster.

Mage is fun classless. If you run The Ascenion, get an old copy of The Awakening and allow your PCs to create their own spells.

Also I hear they have many other lines for monsters, like something with vampires? Weird stuff can be novel.

Also, I love a system where fighting good is not much more detailed than talking good and crafting good.

[intregus]

TORG eternity is a ton of fun, both as a system and its setting. It really lends itself to role playing. The mechanics are a little clunky compared to 5e but still not overly complicated.

[mgshamster]

I pretty much already have abandoned 5e. I no longer run any 5e games and I'm still in one just because I like the story and the DM.

But otherwise, I've completely moved over to Shadow of the Demon Lord. By Robert Schwalb Entertainment.

Robert Schwalb was one of the 5e authors, and he's the same guy who wrote for a lot of Warhammer Fantasy RPG, so it's no surprise that SDL is a combination of the two systems.

The books are absolutely full of wonderful flavor, as the Demon Lord is close to ripping through the veil and making the world go insane. Character Creation is fast and simple while at the same time providing a great depth of mechanical options. A 0 level PC (yes, you start the game at 0) takes about five minutes to create. Multiclassimg is built into the system and there are no pre-reqs, allowing you to create some beautiful unique mechanical combinations. I've yet to see a character that wasn't fairly balanced with any other PC.

New material comes out all the time, and most of it is less than $5, making purchasing content easy and cheap.

It's fast, it's fun, it's easy to learn and play. And it just breeds roleplaying.

I've now run two PBP games with it, from a mix of 5e and Pathfinder players, and all of them love the system. My 5r players love it for the simplicity of rules and ease of play. My PF players love it for the chargen options and how easy it is to make a PC.

Typically, a game starts at Level 0 with just your Race. At Level 1, you pick one of four Novice Classes (Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warrior). At Level 3, you pick one of 16 Expert Classes. Since there are no pre-reqs, you could be a Magician-Berzerker or a Warrior-Paladin or a Priest-Inquisitor. At Level 7, you pick one of 54 Master Classes. The game ends at Level 10, but there are splat books for going beyond. You can plan ahead or let the story dictate your Path.

The setting is embedded in the system, which reminds me of Planescape and how the pages were just dripping with the flavor of the world. Demon Lord is the same way. There's enough there for you to run in system, but it's vague enough for you to fill in whatever you like. There's monsters and guns and trains and demons and devils and the Elven Court. There's insanity rules, corruption rules. Magic is easy and plentiful for those who want it. Martial classes are on par with casters. Both are easy to dip into one another. Core races are Human, Changeling, Clockwork, Dwarf, Goblin, and Orc, with lots more in splat books.

I'll probably never go back to PF or D&D after this.

[Son of A Lich!]

A big thank you to all of you. From what I've had recommended, my interest was sparked by:

Dragon Age (didn't know it was a ttrpg. Loved the first computer game!)

Mutants and masterminds: I've been a marvel fan since forever. Also loved the Worm novels (if you haven't read them, do! They're online and fantastic).

Savage worlds.

As to what I'm looking for:
I enjoy good lore and tactical depth. Preferably without unnecessary complexity. I like 5e more than 3x/pathfinder and Divinity 2 more than Pillars of Eternity.

I enjoy balance across levels and builds. I dislike the legacy of DnD of having martials outpaced.

I'd like to try something less swingy than d20. 3d6 in dragon age sounds tempting. Also perhaps less: I take twenty arrows to the chest and walk it off.

I'd like a system where out of combat plays a bigger role. Where intrigues and alliances are more encouraged by the mechanics.

I'd go with Mutant's and Masterminds. Any edition. It's so versatile and smooth, it works like a Charm for me. I ran a Pokemon game, back in the day through M&M. You only need d20s but personally? I just used 3d6s instead. The rules are pretty intuitive, I'm 70% positive that 4th edition D&D cribbed the minion rules from M&M, because it was just that obvious and I still use their Minion rules in D&D.

2nd Edition is almost identical to 1st with some pretty minor tweaks (I think the skill list changed... and that is about it), and I can't think of what changed between 2nd and 3rd edition.

It's rare for a system to be that solidly designed from the get go. If you are a fan of Marvel, you can use that as your setting and just run with it.

The Atomic Think-Tank (Their forum) are a really good crew of people too, in the event that you can't figure out how you are supposed to do what you want to be done within the confines of the system itself.

I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure a guy went through the entire Monster Manual of 3e D&D and translated it into Mutants and Masterminds 2nd. I don't think you need to do anything to use that in the system.

If you don't know what you want to play, I always point to M&M first and work out from there if I want something else, and WHY I want something else.

[Dark Schneider]

RMFRP (Rolemaster Fantasy Role-Playing). But if you make a Magician, there are some fixes not officially published as the class has some mistakes:
- It get +20 to power awareness, but really is +10 power awareness and +10 power manipulation. As shown in RMSS (previous edition).
- The cost for Directed Spells is 1/4, as shown in RM2 Master Skill List but never fixed in the books.

Also, if you want to save bookeeping, and I recommend you to do so, use the initial potential stats (values characters have at lvl 1) for determining the DP (Development Points) of that character, as it shows the sacrifice that character did of the bonus stats (more used on skill checks) to get more DP. So don't modify the DP when potential stats modifies, or base them on temporal stats.

Also, look for the Classic Arms Law, instead using the new one or The Armory, as attacks tables where not well generated (very criticized).

If you are plenty of time to play, as the game system is complex, probably will become your favorite game system. In our case is the opposite, we used Romelaster, but due to the lack of time, moved to D&D 5E where we found the perfect balance for complexity and time required.

[Anonymouswizard]

Blades in the Dark. The setting is amazing, it takes place in a world that is very post-apocalypses. Several world ending events have happened, the sun was shattered into a bunch of chunks so it is perpetually dark with brief light periods of "dawn" and "dusk". The oceans were turned into literal ink. Primordial demonic leviathans were set loose in the oceans. The gates of death were broken so, insane ghosts rove the land. Also the air is poison.

The game's setting is based on the aftermath of a savage world's game that got out of hand but, the game has its own rules system that I prefer to savage worlds'. Your group is a newly formed gang that is trying to make it in the city of duskwal that keeps out the poison and most of the ghosts with a lightning barrier that is powered by leviathan blood.

The game is much more player driven than dnd which I prefer as a DM and as a player because it makes the game easy to prep. its good for fostering a colaberative story. It is very easy to have bad things happen to your character but you always feel like a great scoundrel even when you fail.

Since this game has come up a couple of times I want to chime in on it. I don't own Blades in the Dark, but I do own the space opera version Scum and Villainy.

It's a very good rules-medium narrative system, and in many ways a heavier version of Apocalypse World. The system is slanted towards 'succeed at a cost' being the most common result for characters with a bit of skill, and for characters with a lot of skill to rarely fail. Playbooks seem to be less restrictive but at the same time crunchier than Apocalypse World ones.

Note that unlike the rather unique setting in BitD, SaV is intentionally a very familiar mashup of Firefly and Star Wars, but genericised enough that it can take on literally any tone you want. Do you want some Doc Smith style galaxy spanning epic? Just ignore the included sector and let the PCs go wherever they want. An Asimovian story with lots of science? A party heavy on the Mechanics and Stitches, low on the Muscles, Mystics, and Pilots. Want some more modern dashing space traders? Simply by changing the playbooks the players use and the general technology in the universe you can go anywhere on the space pulp spectrum.

Finally, it has my favourite rules for playing aliens ever. 'Declare your character to be an alien. If you want your alien to have a special ability replace one of your Playbook abilities with it, but don't feel the need to'. Sure, the game expects all aliens to have such abilities, but it does leave the option open for you to be roughly human-equivalent instead.

[Baptor]

Some form of OSR D&D. Basic fantasy is nice and free.

I've played 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. I played 3rd the most, but since then I've come to like it there least of all systems. 2nd had great stuff but had many flaws. 5e is one way to fix that, but I'd much prefer going in the other direction to a simpler version of d&d filled with my own tweaks. If that makes sense.

[KorvinStarmast]

StarCraft and StarCraft II. I recently got the red of StarCraft for my Bnet Account, and I never did finish SC II.

[GlenSmash!]

Adventures in Middle-Earth. It's a bit of a cheat in that it's a 5e OGL product, but it is different.

Honestly getting my players to try a new system is difficult. They play D&D with as little system knowledge as they can get away with.

Still, I d pick up a humble bundle of The One Ring books, I might try to get them to switch to for our AiME game.

I'm intrigued by both Savage Worlds, and Shadow of the Demon Lord, but the same problem exists.

Still I am enjoying my 2nd The Witcher 3 play through, and my Skyrim Survival Mode game is making me wish it was an option when the game debuted 7 years ago.

[Kadarai]

I didn't see it anywhere so I'll just leave this here:

I loved the Iron Kingdoms:
https://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms

Great vibrant setting, solid dice engine, rather fun. It has a D&D 3.5 incarnation too.

[darknite]

I'd go 13th Age, myself. For limited, boutique play I'd like to do a DCC campaign. And the new Witcher game seems like it could be a lot of fun, though it needs a bit more meat on its' bones.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Man, where do I even begin?

I still play 3.5 on occasion, so that's nothing new. I really like Esteren and want to play it more. I might finally be able to convince my players to let me throw them into GURPS, or pick up my Giant Guardian Generation game again. I've got Dragon Age collecting dust despite everyone liking it.

But I've also been slowly crafting my personal Fantasy Heartbreaker, purely for personal use because I'm under no delusions about what it is. I might finally do a campaign in it instead of one-offs, provided that doesn't scare away enough people. Or maybe because it would scare off a lot of my players, I've got too big of a stable anyway.

[Demonslayer666]

I've only played DnD for more than a decade. What else do you rank highly and why?

Pathfinder. It's 3.5 D&D with a lot of extra stuff added in to make it really good. Plus there is a ton of source material available for it.

In reality, any game is good because you are getting together with your friends and having a good time.

[Zilong]

Since I run both D&D and savage worlds games I would have to go very far if I left D&D. I have been curious about lighter systems like dungeon world and fate/fudge so would consider running those. But savage worlds is my usual go to alternat system. Sometimes I even prefer it over 5e for certain styles and settings.

[Skylivedk]

So for those of you who have tried, how does the experience with Dragon Age, Savage Worlds and 13th Age differ in game?

To give an example: I did play Pathfinder while 4e was out (honestly just counted it as DnD) and found it and 3,5e to suffer from having very static combat and in general a rule system that didn't seem ready for its own magic.

Some builds could do ridiculous things both in and out of combat. In comparison, I've found 5e to be a smoother experience and, probably due to concentration and cantrips, the martials are viable for much, much longer (haven't tried truly high levels) and Spellcasters are more fun early on.

The smoothness I enjoy since it's made it easier for casual players to join (ie one of my favourite players always has crazy interesting characters and never seemed at home in Pathfinder, but instantly took to 5e).

[Man_Over_Game]

So for those of you who have tried, how does the experience with Dragon Age, Savage Worlds and 13th Age differ in game?

To give an example: I did play Pathfinder while 4e was out (honestly just counted it as DnD) and found it and 3,5e to suffer from having very static combat and in general a rule system that didn't seem ready for its own magic.

Some builds could do ridiculous things both in and out of combat. In comparison, I've found 5e to be a smoother experience and, probably due to concentration and cantrips, the martials are viable for much, much longer (haven't tried truly high levels) and Spellcasters are more fun early on.

The smoothness I enjoy since it's made it easier for casual players to join (ie one of my favourite players always has crazy interesting characters and never seemed at home in Pathfinder, but instantly took to 5e).

13th Age is rather interesting. It takes the mechanical stiffness of 4e and...warps it into a fluid thing that allows you to make stuff up on the fly. So while combat is very plainly laid out, what you do necessarily isn't. You can make actions up, or how something is possible for you to do because of your experience in doing something else. It takes 5e's "Rule of Cool" and the rigidity of 4e's combat and makes it into a very powerful "thing".

Notably, it's an extremely hard system to DM, due to having a billion moving parts. Simple for the player, but your DM better be a genius if he wants to feel like he knows what he's doing.

[Rhedyn]

So for those of you who have tried, how does the experience with Dragon Age, Savage Worlds and 13th Age differ in game?

To give an example: I did play Pathfinder while 4e was out (honestly just counted it as DnD) and found it and 3,5e to suffer from having very static combat and in general a rule system that didn't seem ready for its own magic.

Some builds could do ridiculous things both in and out of combat. In comparison, I've found 5e to be a smoother experience and, probably due to concentration and cantrips, the martials are viable for much, much longer (haven't tried truly high levels) and Spellcasters are more fun early on.

The smoothness I enjoy since it's made it easier for casual players to join (ie one of my favourite players always has crazy interesting characters and never seemed at home in Pathfinder, but instantly took to 5e).
In Savage Worlds, anything can happen.

But some big differences right off the bat; No HP, no classes, no d20

Instead of HP there is a wound system and damage dice can explode. Anything can kill you but the actually likelihood is small, so everything feels more threatening than it is. The downside is setting up a good hit is more useful than doing a little damage which for players that love plinking tiny amount of HP progress every turn, tougher enemies can lead to a lot of unsatisfying rounds of combat where "just attacking it" is completely ineffectual.

No classes means you are free to make whatever you want. The downside is that the devs don't believe in niche protection. So players may overlap heavily if care isn't taken. This also means that if you only use the core book and no settings, after enough campaigns, characters can feel samey. (I personally use one of the great setting books every campaign to keep things fresh)

No d20, means bonuses are smaller and the math is simpler in their roll 2 dice, pick the higher system. The downside is a loss of granularity.

I play Savage Worlds all the time (twice a week) I like it a lot. It has all the parts that I like about D&D (but lacks the parts others find essential).
Some mechanics may seem silly at first until you use them. (Card initiative, bennies, etc) but I highly recommend running the system as is before you go fiddling with it.

Martials never lose relevance, not in Sci-fi or supers or anything really. But part of that is because "powers" are flavored by the GM/players. Any "spell" can have a Martial equivalent. But even outside of that, Martials do fine because it's an action/skill based game and skills do things without tons of investment.

[ImproperJustice]

In Savage Worlds, anything can happen.

But some big differences right off the bat; No HP, no classes, no d20

Instead of HP there is a wound system and damage dice can explode. Anything can kill you but the actually likelihood is small, so everything feels more threatening than it is. The downside is setting up a good hit is more useful than doing a little damage which for players that love plinking tiny amount of HP progress every turn, tougher enemies can lead to a lot of unsatisfying rounds of combat where "just attacking it" is completely ineffectual.

No classes means you are free to make whatever you want. The downside is that the devs don't believe in niche protection. So players may overlap heavily if care isn't taken. This also means that if you only use the core book and no settings, after enough campaigns, characters can feel samey. (I personally use one of the great setting books every campaign to keep things fresh)

No d20, means bonuses are smaller and the math is simpler in their roll 2 dice, pick the higher system. The downside is a loss of granularity.

I play Savage Worlds all the time (twice a week) I like it a lot. It has all the parts that I like about D&D (but lacks the parts others find essential).
Some mechanics may seem silly at first until you use them. (Card initiative, bennies, etc) but I highly recommend running the system as is before you go fiddling with it.

Martials never lose relevance, not in Sci-fi or supers or anything really. But part of that is because "powers" are flavored by the GM/players. Any "spell" can have a Martial equivalent. But even outside of that, Martials do fine because it's an action/skill based game and skills do things without tons of investment.

I will second that SW has a really fine tuned balance.
Characters are free form, but there is a trade off for every specialization.
Agile fighters are hard to hit, and often do bonus damage due to high hit rolls vs. Strength fighters that can wear heavier armor to better absorb hits, and can dish more damage.
As an example, a longsword does 1d8 damage + the Str die of the wielded.
But if the wielder on has a Str of a d6, then the longsword damage is capped at a d6.

But a lower strength fighter may have a high agility which makes their Fighting skill cheaper to increase.
So if they make a really good fighting roll, they may get to add an extra d6 damage for a precise strike.

In the midst of all of this is a simple system for all manner of “combat manuevers”. From being able to hit multiple enemies, to swinging like a mad man with no thought of defense, or even using words or intelligence to “trick” the enemy into making a poor tactical decison that leaves them vulnerable to attack.

Equipment is also balanced and recognized as a source of a martial characters power, so a character may devote level up increases to gain more money to pack better weapons and armor.

Casters gain their power at the cost of attribute, skill, and edge (like feat) increases.

Thus a Wizard can do a lot of things with their selection of powers, but the martials will have much better skills, equipment, and combat prowess.
The powers often have more than one application built in, and players can add simple modifiers to them to keep them diverse.

Example: the simple bolt apell can shoot one force bolt for 2d6 damge for 1 power point, or 3 for 3 points. Or one bolt for 3d6 at 2 points, or go crazy and combine them for a whopping 6 point mega barrage.
(Average caster has 10 power points to start, which recover at 1 point per hour).
That bolt can be a fire bolt, an acid bolt, a shadow bolt, or a holy bolt (chosen when the power is taken). Each property can have different effects listed in the book.

Everything is really neatly and tightly defined.
It really is a dream to run as a GM.

[Tawmis]

D&D has always been my preference, with 5e being the best version to date. (I was hardcore 2nd Edition until 5e).

So if I stepped away from D&D to another system, I'd probably do Pathfinder, since it's the one I am most familiar with.

Although I'd kill to play STAR FRONTIERS again.

[Throne12]

Has anyone tried Open Legend?

[MThurston]

Harn Master 3 is a great realistic damage RPG. It's not for everyone. No HPs and no experience points.

Skills are king in this game and you test them vs an opponent.

Crits are based on skill and not a 1 in 20 roll. Say you have a Stealth of 77 . Any number under 77 with a 0 or a 5 at the end equals a critical success. Any number over ending in a 0 or a 5 is a critical failure. 96-100 Is always a failure.

You can be killed with one blow and two people fighting eachother can both be killed.

Blades in the Dark is an interesting game of shadows.

Shadowrun is a futuristic game that is fun.

Many, many RPGs out there. D&D is just one.

[DaveOfTheDead]

Monster of the Week
Fate
Pathfinder
Try Starfinder? But I looked at the character sheet and hoo boy, it's a mess.

[Lille]

Try Starfinder? But I looked at the character sheet and hoo boy, it's a mess.

To be honest, the whole system is a mess. It's not the worst thing I've seen, but far from the best.

[Knaight]

To be honest, the whole system is a mess. It's not the worst thing I've seen, but far from the best.

I was cautiously optimistic for it, as space fantasy is my jam, but I don't trust Paizo to be competent. Then it came out, and I read the SRD.

[MThurston]

I was cautiously optimistic for it, as space fantasy is my jam, but I don't trust Paizo to be competent. Then it came out, and I read the SRD.

I went through Traveller Character generation for hours, then had my character die in creation.

Never played it again.

[Knaight]

I went through Traveller Character generation for hours, then had my character die in creation.

Never played it again.

There are a lot of things I respect about Traveller, but the way dying in character creation is constantly presented as wonderful feature is not one of them.

[CantigThimble]

There are a lot of things I respect about Traveller, but the way dying in character creation is constantly presented as wonderful feature is not one of them.

Well, in Classic Traveller character creation was basically a 5 minute push-your-luck dice game, most people I knew who tried it would just roll up a dozen random characters/NPCs on occasion because it was fun.

I haven't looked at later editions much but it sounds like they have a far more detailed, involved character creation system where death fits a lot worse.

[KorvinStarmast]

Well, in Classic Traveller character creation was basically a 5 minute push-your-luck dice game, most people I knew who tried it would just roll up a dozen random characters/NPCs on occasion because it was fun. Yeah, and it was fun.

[ImproperJustice]

Yeah, and it was fun.

Having player a fair bit of Stars Without Number and some Traveler.
I think the reason Traveler’s character creation is do detailed is because you do not level like in other rpgs. You need that rich backstory to help you plug in to the universe.

That being said, I hate it to. I much prefer SWN which has some optional life path rules that can be resolved in like four dice rolls, and you get a nice character progression arc over gameplay, which ultimately leads to the players becoming a universe influencing faction and having significant impact on the game world.

[Blazmo]

If you really wanted to try something different I would recommend Goalsystem Delves. It's a hybrid miniatures wargame crossed with an RPG set in a generic fantasy world. It's pretty old, having been released in 2012, and there isn't much support for it outside of the core rulebook but the system is quite flexible and even encourages GMs to come up with their own stuff.

[Anonymouswizard]

I went through Traveller Character generation for hours, then had my character die in creation.

Never played it again.

Of course in modern Traveller it's actually really hard to do it (I think I once intentionally worked a character to death of old age, but they got hilariously bad rolls), failing a survival roll just has you roll on your career's mishap table and get discharged. Even then I've made complete characters in about an hour, including shopping and debt calculation.

And has been said, back in the days when a single roll could kill your character a complete set of terms took about five minutes.

[Cybren]

I would go to GURPS, or Dungeon World, or The Sprawl, or Hackmaster (the good one not the one that inexplicably wants to be a “real” game), or Warrior Rogue Mage

[Evanta]

I would probably end up playing RPG-lite stuff like Descent

[Particle_Man]

How's the Savage Worlds system to play? I enjoy the narratives and the impro acting a lot. I'm too much of a math and stats nerd not to geek out over mechanics (and notice when they're bad), but I enjoy the moments where they matter little the most. I like good mechanics because they allow me to not stretch my suspension of disbelief too much

It is fast, furious and fun!

[8wGremlin]

Through the breach you create your character using a series of poker cards in a tarot like reading.

It also uses the cards as dice. But you can change your fate by having a small seperate hand of your own. Card counting is fine.

And the DM never has to roll a dice (or flip a card). Honestly have a look.

[olskool]

Shadow Run: (originally by FASA) For many of the same reasons already mentioned.

Traveller: (Far Future Enterprises) See Above.

Twilight2000 V2.2: (GDW now Far Future Enterprises) This has the best modern combat and automatic fire rules I've ever played.

Mythras: (The Design Mechanism) This percentile based fantasy RPG has been my go-to game for 20 years until I returned to D&D5e as a player. It is a Classless system that plays fast and realistically.

[Marcloure]

I too am in the process of abandoning 5e on the look for a system more character-centric and with less rigid actions. I have played a lot of other editions of the game, and I currently run a game by Kryx's houserules (which are better than any D&D IMHO), but I wanted something new anyway.

I got the following:

Dungeon World: Fantasy RPG, very D&D-esque. It goes fast and is very fun, a D&D without all those specifics of combat like initiative and action economy. It is more centered on the fiction and the story, the desires, successes and failures of your player's characters.

Burning Wheel / Mouse Guard: Oh boy, so much can be said about this game. It's currently my favorite RPG, it's 100% focused on what your players' characters want to achieve and what they are. Character progress is made through using your character's motives and trails, through trying and failing, and suffering the consequences, or through joyful success. It's a really great system for character-driven stories. It can have varying levels of complexity too, depending on how much of the rules you apply.

The One Ring: I really like this one for low magic games. Its setting is the Middle-Earth, but it's not impossible to use its mechanics in another setting. What I most like about it is the combat rules: each side is divided into three ranks, and each character can be in one of those ranks. Characters of a team can only target certain ranks of the enemy team depending on the rank they are. It's somewhat similar to 13th Age combat, I believe.

Honorary Mention:

Warhammer 40k RPG: I played Rogue Trader for a while, and I really liked it. But I don't think it's for everyone. Power armor, lasers and spaceship combat can get very complicated.

Blades in the Dark: I would like to test it too, eventually.

[Imbalance]

I dunno, probably just right back into HeroClix and video games.

I just got into D&D, though, so it would take something like my group splitting up to move on. I guess I could try Mage Knight: Dungeons since I have near complete sets now.

[MaxWilson]

There are a lot of things I respect about Traveller, but the way dying in character creation is constantly presented as wonderful feature is not one of them.

I love it. So much so that I made my own 5E equivalent (https://maxwilson.github.io/Beast/AbstractDungeoneering/) and offered it to my players as a valid chargen option (although no one took me up on it, they opted to start from normal 1st-3rd level instead).

I love the idea of PCs crossing back and forth between the solo-play/group-play boundary and carrying their history with them, so that by the time they arrive in group play they already have an organic history attached, and a reason to deeply appreciate the other members of the party once they meet each other (because an alliance of four PCs is far more robust than one PC on his lonesome--"all for one and one for all!"). I admit that I have no idea if the Traveller implementation is a good one, and the 5E implementation I linked above is fairly rubbish really and could stand lots of improvement. But I love the idea of crossing that solo-play/group-play boundary, before the PC enters the campaign or even during the campaign between adventures, and I'd like to make it work.


Yeah, and it was fun.

I have some young teenage friends who enjoy the 5E abstract dungeoneering game linked above (and its successor-in-progress, Citadel of the Hundred Gates (https://shiningsword.blob.core.windows.net/public/v0.2/index.html)) enough that they're always asking me to play them on my phone, despite the games having almost no decision-making available to you yet, basically on the same level as a slot machine: "quit while you're ahead, or push your luck some more."

Go figure. I guess some people just like slot machines. :-P

[BobZan]

I'd recommend Earthdawn

[EggKookoo]

World of Darkness
Either Werewolf game is a fun class based modern fantasy about exploring the relationship between self, nature, and spirit, and also about being a giant territorial murder monster.

Mage is fun classless. If you run The Ascenion, get an old copy of The Awakening and allow your PCs to create their own spells.

Also I hear they have many other lines for monsters, like something with vampires? Weird stuff can be novel.

Also, I love a system where fighting good is not much more detailed than talking good and crafting good.

I've played lots of 2e Werewolf and I have almost all of the other 2e WoD sourcebooks (Vampire, Mage, Wraith, Changeling). Very creative conceptually. WoD systems are level-less but not really class-less. Most systems have a pseudo-class structure you build your PC around. You then earn experience points which you spend on improvements. The combat mechanics are a little clunky and it often feels like you rapidly transition from perfectly fine to nearly-dead, which is fine for the less combat-oriented settings but makes the fighty games feel a little punitive. Plus that you get penalties to your rolls as you get injured. The character powers are imaginative but "the GM decides what happens here" crops up from time to time. I mean, there are literally abilities with just that kind of description.

Great atmosphere for the most part.

Vampire: Vampire intrigue, kind of like the Underworld movies (which to be honest felt like it ripped off WoD) but less focus on action and the werewolves are much deadlier. Very Game of Thrones. I never played this but my Werewolf campaign featured vampires prominently as antagonists.

Mage: Modern-day wizard, feels very Matrix-like (which Mage predates by quite a bit) without the VR aspect. The rules of reality are subjective and and can be altered by a sufficiently powerful and disciplined mind, but the overarching Technocracy is trying to unify physics to stomp out Mages. You make your own spells (called "rotes") which is a detail that probably turns off a lot of players. I always wanted to play this but I could never find takers. The magic rules are very cool and intriguing.

Wraith: You play a ghost. Normally you live in a kind of afterlife world but you make excursions to the land of the living (the Skinlands). Interesting and creative character types. Also, each character is two in one. You play the "main" PC but you also have a kind of minor imp/shade thing controlled by another player who tries to undermine you.

Changeling: Probably the least engaging for me. A Fey-based setting where you play elves, fairies, trolls, and the like. Your character is driven by passions and strives to maintain their "glamour" in an increasingly banal and pedestrian world. Seems very social-oriented, and while all WoD games are kind of "half LARP' this, along with Vampire, probably lean the most LARP-y.

Werewolf: This is the one I actually played. Garou (werewolves) are one of a number of shapechanging species created -- according to their own mythology -- to oversee some aspect of creation. Garou in particular are defenders of the wild, and as human civilization encroaches on natural spaces they find themselves getting backed into a corner. Never really clear if it's meant to be more of a combat game or a social/intrigue game, we ended up playing it more as the former. But the WoD combat rules felt like they got in the way a lot, and I eventually ported it over to a d20 system with mixed success.

[Erulasto]

I'm a huge fan of Warhammer Fantasty RP (specifically second edition), and as a base system it can translate well into any homebrew setting that's a bit lower magic than normal.

Like historical fantasy, or something like the Wheel of Time.

[RSP]

Mage: Modern-day wizard, feels very Matrix-like (which Mage predates by quite a bit) without the VR aspect.

Both Mage and The Matrix drew off the same works (Neuromancer is one), which leads to the similarities, I’d say.

As for games:

The latest Star Wars interests me, though I haven’t played it.

Savage Worlds seems like it would be a good system, but the one time my table tried it, it didn’t really produce desired results (hiding was a particularly shoddy bit that basically made any stealth character useless, if my memory serves). If avoiding combat and your GM has the system down, it works for a lot of stories. I like the settings.

I haven’t played the new editions of WoD, but the original editions were great games. Played a lot of Vampire, some Mage, and some “pick any.” If looking for a different system of magic appeals to you, I always thought Mage’s was fantastic: you gain points or levels in different “spheres” of magic such as Time, Spirit or Forces. Each point gives you better control in that sphere and you can combine different spheres to create effects, such as combining Forces and Matter spheres to create a fireball (Ball of Abysmal Flame as they named it, if memory serves). A magic system much closer to Wheel of Time’s than 5e, if that description helps.

[Innocent_bystan]

I haven’t played the new editions of WoD, but the original editions were great games. Played a lot of Vampire, some Mage, and some “pick any.” If looking for a different system of magic appeals to you, I always thought Mage’s was fantastic: you gain points or levels in different “spheres” of magic such as Time, Spirit or Forces. Each point gives you better control in that sphere and you can combine different spheres to create effects, such as combining Forces and Matter spheres to create a fireball (Ball of Abysmal Flame as they named it, if memory serves). A magic system much closer to Wheel of Time’s than 5e, if that description helps.
I have played the both the Old and the New World of Darkness and nWod symplified the whole system much in the same way that 5e simplified dnd. The settings are a lot less bombastic as well. I liked it. I believe that nWod was sold by White Wolf and is now published as The Onyx Path.

[RSP]

I have played the both the Old and the New World of Darkness and nWod symplified the whole system much in the same way that 5e simplified dnd. The settings are a lot less bombastic as well. I liked it. I believe that nWod was sold by White Wolf and is now published as The Onyx Path.

What in particular did you like? Just curious as the mixand match magic system was a plus for me so I might not like it getting changed.

[EggKookoo]

I have played the both the Old and the New World of Darkness and nWod symplified the whole system much in the same way that 5e simplified dnd. The settings are a lot less bombastic as well. I liked it. I believe that nWod was sold by White Wolf and is now published as The Onyx Path.

I think there's an even newer WoD out there (their 5e). I don't know too much about it but from what I gleaned they've gone back to a more 2e-style setting with lots of tribes, clans, etc. The dice pool mechanic has changed. Where before you had a target/difficulty (DC) typically of 7, and you succeeded if you got at least one 7+ in your pool, now the target is always 4 but you need to get a certain number of successes based how difficult the task is. A really hard task will require more "successes" than an easy one. You still get to reroll 10s but I think 1s no longer negate them, or something along those lines...

[Willie the Duck]

Both Mage and The Matrix drew off the same works (Neuromancer is one), which leads to the similarities, I’d say.

All three of those come from a more general literary and philosophical tradition related to poking at the nature of reality (and guessing, "y'know, I think this world we're seeing isn't the whole picture!") that goes back thousands of years. Plato and the shadows on the cave wall or the Gnostic traditions and their belief that the afterlife is the real world and the like.

I've just started a campaign of Monte Cook's Invisible Suns, and I am liking its take on the Mage-esque 'real world is just a shadowy reflection of the real 'Actuality' ' motif. I would recommend it to anyone who likes the Mage concepts, but not the specific rules or world-specifics.

[Zanthy1]

Dystopia Rising: Evolution It had an amazing kickstarter (that I backed so a little bias here) but I am really looking forward to its release. Also has a national LARP that it is based off of, so you a can play around a table with friends and spend a weekend camping out in character.

[MilkmanDanimal]

5e really hits the sweet spot for me between just enough options for customization and creativity, but not getting bogged down in 3.5e's level of detail. I don't see me walking away from it, but, then again, I'm lucky to get two games in a month played, so it's not like I'm playing it enough where I'm going to exhaust my options. I expect to be playing it for a good long time.

I do miss the craziness and flexibility of Champions, but it felt like every edition raised the level of powers enough to where more and more dice were getting rolled, and, by the time we finally gave it up years back, 15d6 was a standard attack, and adding dice together became about half the time we spent at the table. I'd kind of like to play it again, but I was always the default GM for it, and it was just too much work.

If I went away from 5e, I'd probably go back to my board game collection; my board game group transitioned to my 5e group, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch. I don't know that there's another tabletop RPG system I'd mess with at this point.

[2D8HP]

My gaming circle did walk away from (A)D&D in the 1980's, Villains & Vigilantes was first (unless you count using the Arduin Grimoires as a seperate game), and a host of other FRPG's and Wargames followed,
I'd say the standouts were:

RuneQuest which felt like what D&D was trying to do.

Empire of the Petal Throne which is kind of a cheat in that it's basically D&D, but it's based in oD&D not AD&D so simpler and an interesting setting.

GDW Traveller great fun, I may have actually spent more time playing this than D&D, but I have little memory of the rules, instead I remember the adventures.

Call of Cthullu besides the 48 page 1977 "bluebook" version of D&D this is just the easiest to GM ("Keeper") FRPG I've experienced.

Pendragon I'd gladly play this again, a favorite.

Otherwise, if someone else handles the rules and bookkeeping, most everything listed upthread sounds like a winner, except for superheroes and "World of Darkness", I've played them and they're just not my jam.

Not mentioned before but have settings that intrigue me:

Castle Falkenstein

Flashing Blades

Eternity Realms

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Rocket Age

7th Sea

and

Space 1889

I still love low level 5e D&D though

[EggKookoo]

5e really hits the sweet spot for me between just enough options for customization and creativity, but not getting bogged down in 3.5e's level of detail.

As I get older I find I seek customizability less. I've played highly customizable systems and in the end I find I either build something akin to what you'd get from a class-based game like D&D, or I end up with something gimped, or everyone in the group makes basically the same build. Now I'm more interested in getting fun play out of a given class than I am in fine-tuning the build to some preconceived concept. I like to see where it takes me, and how I can leverage its strengths to overcome its weaknesses.

[ImperiousLeader]

The short answer is whatever my GM runs. My group played 4e with a lot of enjoyment, so we'd probably go back to that. I'll tolerate Pathfinder, but it's not my thing, I'd honestly rather play 3.5. If I were to run a game, probably FATE Core.

[RSP]

Pendragon I'd gladly play this again, a favorite.


I do recall really liking Pendragon’s skill increase mechanic, if I’m remembering it correctly.

[Innocent_bystan]

What in particular did you like? Just curious as the mixand match magic system was a plus for me so I might not like it getting changed.
Well, I have only played Mage: the Ascension once so the comparison might be a bit off. The combat system is simplified a lot: no more roll for accuracy, roll for dodge, roll for damage and roll for soak. It's 1 roll with a penalty equal to the opponents' defense number. You can't split actions and there are only a few -very limited- ways to get extra actions in a turn.

The level of spellcasting power has been diminished. Mages are still very powerful, but they aren't demigods. There are still spheres and you can still combine them. There is a 100-some amount of pages with example spells, but they are only examples. Paradox is still a thing, but it isn't as debilitating as in Ascension. Gnosis is used for improvised spellcasting, and it limits the amount if mana you can hold.

Skill-wise, the system is very well designed: there are 9 stats: power/finesse/defense in the flavors physical, mental and social. It's very easy to combine with a skill. All difficulties are 8, rerolls on 10. Smaller dice pools, but 1 success is enough.

What I like the most, probably is that they did away with the world-spanning conspiracies. No more technocrats, Wyrm, Weaver and no antideluvians and certainly not a long lost totally overpowered clan of true Brujah.
5 factions, 5 towers (each with 2 spheres). It's about local politics.

[EggKookoo]

My gaming circle did walk away from (A)D&D in the 1980's, Villains & Vigilantes was first (unless you count using the Arduin Grimoires as a seperate game), and a host of other FRPG's and Wargames followed

We have some overlap of experiences. My first was AD&D 1e but I was too young to really know what I was doing. Then Star Frontiers, V&V, Top Secret, and eventually RuneQuest. That followed by alternating campaigns of DC Heroes and Call of Cthulhu (a lot of the latter) with some AD&D 2e mixed in, and eventually WoD Werewolf: The Apocalypse (2e) for a multi-decade campaign. Finally back into D&D with 5e but I have a friend who wants to dig out his old 2e stuff again.

[Max_Killjoy]

I'm just now coming back to D&D, in the form of some side projects for 5e-related stuff for some friends, after more than 20 years away from D&D-like systems. Pretty sure that many posters know that levels, classes, etc, bug me fiercely.

Played a lot of HERO system (4th and 5th), a lot of oWoD Vampire and Warewolf, a lot of WEG d6 Star Wars. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but none of them are anything like perfect.

At this point I'd need to write my own system from scratch to get what I really want. It would probably look a bit like HERO but with an action point pool instead of fixed Segments and Phases, and a bit flatter dice curve.

[PracticalM]

I would go to GURPS, or Dungeon World, or The Sprawl, or Hackmaster (the good one not the one that inexplicably wants to be a “real” game), or Warrior Rogue Mage

I will second GURPS. I think their Dungeon Fantasy line is making it easier to make characters (which was one of the harder parts) and the game itself isn't hard to run.

I really love the Yrth setting as well. Historical humans brought into a fantasy world and making it work.

[Drascin]

Oh, I have played all sorts of stuff. I spent a long time playing D&D 3.5 only because I had nothing else, but now that I have a game collection, the idea of limiting myself to "this is my game and it's the one I play" makes me wince. There is so much stuff to try!

Some suggestions:

For something that works for pretty much anything that requires cinematic action and badass heroes, Mutants&Masterminds works like a charm. If I have any "main" game, it's M&M without a doubt - it's the game I pull when I have a game idea and I don't know what system would go with it. I have used M&M second edition to play, among others, a magical girl game, a game that was basically Kamen Rider meets Evangelion, a Planescape-ish multi-universe crossover, and an XCOM-inspired game of humans versus fae.

Have you ever wanted to do kung-fu battle balancing atop a sea of spears in the middle of a war? Then you might want to try Legends of the Wulin. It uses an unusual dice pool system where you pair up dice with equal results to perform actions, and the mechanics mesh wonderfully with the fiction.

On the other hand, if you're feeling more like some space opera derring do and blasters at noon, the new Star Wars games by FFG (Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion) are fun, fast, and evocative. Might need to buy special dice or use a dicerolling app though. (The old d6 Star Wars game by West End is also pretty dang aces, but probably less of a departure, game-philosophically speaking, from D&D).

And if you want to jump straight into the deep end of the narrative weirdness wilderness of RPGs, give a look to Chuubo's Marvelous Wish Granting Engine, which is one of the few mechanically-heavy heavy-narrative games I've ever found. By which I mean, the game does in fact have a pile of mechanics, it's just extremely few of them have anything to do with things like "stab goblin" or "climb tree", rather being much more concerned with "intended character arc" and "which genre conceit applies here". It's rather meta.

[Tvtyrant]

I'm pretty good with my cobbled together house rules in this edition, I like that 5E has relatively straightforward rules and the implications of changing them is fairly predictable.

I think the setting I gravitate towards is lower tech and magic then D&D assumes, and if I was making my own game it would probably be something like 5E base mechanics, all martials that use combat powers like 4E and 5E+4Es ritual magic out of combat. Magic isn't a combat ability at all, wizards either use swords themselves or rely on being court wizards for protection, and the world is either early iron age or the 800s.

[Telwar]

Right now we're playing Star Wars. I think it's a little more improvisational than the GM really expected, but not bad so far. We need to remember to use the Destiny points more ("use the Targeting Computer, Luke, that's what it's there for!").

Our other game is Iron Kingdoms, which is a really nicely built system, which suffers a little bit on having so much of a combat focus that the Out of Combat stuff is "uh, figure it out with skills." Like, there's almost no non-combat magic. OTOH, combat is smooth and easy, like it's built off of a wargame that encourages fast play. After this game is done, the GM is talking about doing a Tomb of Annihilation game in 5e in the Primeval Thule setting.


TBH, I'd really rather play anything than 5e; among other things, I'd like to make out-of-game character building choices more than once every three levels or so. I'd much rather play:

4e: I know this is heresy on this board, but it's a great game and easy to DM, with a ton of character building options and great tactical play. Every time I'm forced to play 5e, I sigh internally and wish they'd pulled more useful things from 4e, like keywords and not having a confused mishmash of "so I attack this, and force a save on this, because...?"

13th Age: It's like 4e but more improvisational and without a defined grid. Needs more options, but works very well. I'm trying to get the second game's GM to instead use this for ToA (he ran it before the Iron Kingdoms game) but he insists it's too much work to port. I think I am going to offer to run a game of this next year if the Star Wars games sputters to a halt.

Shadowrun: I'm in this, actually. Or was. No, I'm not telling you where. But this has, and always will be, my game, even though I'm not terribly fond of the 5th edition (...apparently I dislike 5th editions?). This is the only game I've ever actually run. Hell, one of my WoW characters is named after the Vindicator minigun from the 1e Street Samurai Catalog.

Earthdawn: To be fair, this is because this is a prehistory of Shadowrun. But it's also a pretty well-designed fantasy RPG. The one flaw is that it feels...like it's a little *too* tied to its setting.

Honorable mention:

Exalted: I'd love to play this, but there's no possible way anyone I know would run it for more than two sessions without falling over and screaming. And it'll be at least four more years for my beloved Lunars to come out, and they'll still bleep bleep bleep bleep be terrible compared to anything that comes before or after.

[Pixel_Kitsune]

I've played and enjoy several systems. Old WoD, L5R/7th Sea, but my favorite is Classic Deadlands. Specially the Wasted West. It's my go to for any post apocalyptic/terminator/road warrior/fallout type scenario. Plus I love the way Junkers work.