Looking for a new system

[Invader]

My group and I are looking for a new setting and system to try. We’ve played primarily 3.5/5th for years so the high fantasy magic setting is kinda stale. We did try a 4e gurps campaign but the rules proved to be way to burdensome since none of us had ever played before.

Any suggestions for some fun settings with a system that’s not to cumbersome for a group to pickup without any experience with it?

Edit: I thought about something with one if the WoD settings but I’ve heard the system doesn’t hold up well so I wasn’t sure if it was worth the time or which setting tended to be the best.

Something that encompassed modern combat like maybe running a squad of soldiers during ww2 or Vietnam sounds interestingly different to me.

[the_david]

Call of Cthulhu seems to be the most popular rpg on RPGGeek. You might want to look into that.
I've got City of Mist which certainly looks interesting. It's a massive tome though, even heavier than the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. That's mostly because the creators messed up and used a bigger font than you'd normally use in a book like that. Still, it's a superhero/detective game with a specific setting.
Savage Worlds is a generic rpg that can fit any setting you want.

[Imbalance]

Something that encompassed modern combat like maybe running a squad of soldiers during ww2 or Vietnam sounds interestingly different to me.

Terminus V may fit your needs.

[ZenoForce88]

I couldn't recommend Tenra Bansho Zero enough.
It's still a bit fantasy with magic and stuff. Very anime with ninjas and samurai. But there are also mechas, robots, tanks, and you could easily have a WWII style game with the setting.

It doesnt do Zero to Hero, sense as long as you keep a unit called karma below 108, that can start super powerful. It focuses more on storytelling, so looting, or gaining power isnt the focus.

The Fates Mechanic, of Tenra, and how it interacts with Karma, ensures almost constant character development throughout play.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I just released my Simple Tabletop Roleplaying System, so... youshouldplaythat But actually-- it's designed top to bottom to be easy to learn and run, and it's generic enough to do all kinds of games. (The sample setting is a Weird West, for instance).

[OmSwaOperations]

Definitely agree RE Call of Cthulu. It's a brilliant system. Having said that, it's obviously extremely geared towards a particular type of scenario (gibbering tentacle monsters driving PCs insane).

[Alexvrahr]

I can't agree that any version of CoC is a good or even coherent system. It's a collection of fudges piled together into something resembling a system, and it relies on a good GM with knowledge of the tropes to make it work at all.

Savage Worlds is a simple, easy to make work system. After a couple of games you'll probably want to try something else, there's limited depth to it.

[Calthropstu]

First, there are many d20 systems made for this kind of thing. Similar to 3.5, they may be your easiest transfer.

I also recommend shadowrun. It's a fun system and you can easily adapt it to a ww2 like scenario (but with magic) simply by changing names of creatures.

I recommend against world of darkness as creating scenarios is highly convoluted for this type of thing.

Using cthulhu could be interesting... (Hitler is actually cultist and is killing jews because hiding amongst them are people with the means of using elder signs to stop him.)

I recommend against using exalted for this. The power levels involved make tanks look like micromachines.

Savage worlds could work rather well.

[Hackulator]

Mutants and Masterminds uses a similar chassis to 3.5 but a totally different and unique system for generating your characters and what they can do, it's pretty cool.

WoD is more about the setting than the system to be honest. The system works fine as long as you understand going into it that it requires the ST to make a lot of decisions about which skills you use to do things and what the difficulty is because those things are not specifically set, they just have a lot of guidelines. Also you have to realize that the various games are not really designed to work together even though it seems like they are, and while they technically all take place in the same world the view of that world from the perspective of each game is incredibly different. That doesn't mean you can't play a game with a werewolf, a vampire and a mage in a group together but it isn't something you should do until you're comfortable with the system and setting, and it isn't how the game is meant to be played.

[Invader]

Thanks guys, I see some systems I’ve never heard of so I have a little research to do.

Much appreciated

[Mutazoia]

The Star Wars D6 rules are extremely easy to learn, and who doesn't know Star Wars? You could also go with the generic Open D6 and come up with your own setting if you wanted to put in the extra work.

[olskool]

If you are looking for a particular type of system, here are some suggestions...

D100/Percentile Systems:

The most "polished" system would be The Design Mechanism's MYTHRAS game. It is an action-based (everyone gets 3 Actions in a turn) percentile system that uses Skills rather than classes. Mythras CAN be "dense" in so much as there is a lot of optional detail added into the game. If you want to try the system in a "lighter" (and cheaper) format, the game LEGEND by Mongoose Publishing will be a good choice. LEGEND is not as detailed as MYTHRAS but it is far cheaper and a bit less complicated.

D6 SUCCESS System:

Pioneered by Shadowrun, this system either uses a Target Number set by the GM or a fixed Success Threshold (of 5 or 6) and you roll a number of dice equal to your skill level. In the original system, any roll of 6 was rerolled and added together (ie. rolling a 6 and then rolling again and getting a 3 would net a 9 result). This add to the die roll on a 6 is commonly known as the Rule of Six. The most recent version of Shadowrun (5th Edition), just adds or subtracts dice and fixes successes at any roll of 5 or 6. The version of this game I'd recommend for a "light" or "low-crunch" game would be SHADOWRUN, ANARCHY. This is a rules-light version of that game.

Modiphius 2D20 (Success) System:

This is another "Success generating" system where the player rolls 2 1D20's to try and roll UNDER a score in order to generate one or more "successes." These successes generate "Momentum" which can be used individually or as a group to achieve a favorable outcome. The system is pretty simple and open but I would recommend you look into CONAN the rpg because the Momentum/2D20 system is optimized differently from game to game. Either CONAN or JOHN CARTER ON MARS would be the most optimized for your need for a detailed yet easy to use
system.

These are some suggestions to help you pick an easy yet detailed system to use.

[Pauly]

My go to system for a fun easy to pick up system is Barbarians of Lemuria, which is set in a Conan the Barbarian world. Lots of fun, and you can pick up the rules free online.

For a slightly more crunchy system, I run an Honor + Intrigue campaign. This is a three musketeers/cyrano de Bergerac/alatriste 17th Century system, based on the Hollywood version of the world not hard core historical accuracy. The key fun of this system is the different dueling styles.

[Malphegor]

I've always wanted to run a Call of Cthulhu campaign set in a cyberpunk setting, and for that you can't go wrong imo with the non-D&D d20 books like D20 Modern.

I'm pretty sure with some tweaking the old Ghostbusters RPG can be used for non-Ghostbusters campaigns. Of note is ghost die rules (you roll a seperate die with each roll and you have a chance of getting bad luck even with good results otherwise) and having attributes like how cool you are. Oh and you accumulate Brownie Points to add dice onto your dice rolls. I think these were gained by achieving personal goals for your character, so for example an Egon character if they spend time doing science they get brownie points for doing so.

[Ornithologist]

The main systems I am working with right now are True 20, and Genesys.

They both work as genreless systems so you can go however you want.

Be aware that most genreless systems needs more set up time as you have to develop the genre/ world more when you plan out the campaign.

[Rhedyn]

I'd also recommend Savage Worlds.

Settings are more "plug-n-play" so you would pick one of the vast options after getting the core-book ($10 PDF right now, $40 hardback later this year, 208 pages graphic novel format).

The system is basically a simpler more pulpy version of GURPS 4e (it's like if GURPS and Fudge had a commercially successful baby)