Other Tabletop systems and settings you want to try

[Crenando]

On a site cornered mostly by D&D 5e, I'm curious about what people might want to try out.

I personally want to try out GURPS or Mutants & Masterminds, though I'm sure that probably sounds pretty vanilla to people who've been doing this kind of thing for a while. 'Tales of the Solar Patrol' in specific looks like my jam.

 

[Grey]

GURPS or Mutants & Masterminds

M&M is a bit old fashioned but legit. GURPS is, uh, GURPS. Bad and wrong. Don't do it. Worse than D&D.


I am always looking to hook people into the systems and settings I designed because I fucking love GMing, but there are also some great games out there I think more people would enjoy.
Apocalypse Engine games like Monsterhearts or iHunt are great. I'd play either but I'm not hugely into running them.
Be cool to see someone run LANCER or Broken Worlds. I'd be in for that.

 

[Crenando]

GURPS is, uh, GURPS. Bad and wrong. Don't do it. Worse than D&D.

It's more of a personal thing than a "this is a system that I will use for everything ever" sort of dealie.
I've wanted to try it out since I was a wee lad, but I didn't exactly have friends who'd be interested in it, or a copy of any of the books, or really the comprehension skills to play it at that point. I heard the premise of an RPG that can do anything and it blew my tiny mind.

 

[Grey]

There's a joke in game design circles that GURPS doesn't exist - an RPG that can do anything has kinda been abandoned as a design goal.
I totally understand where you're coming from, though; I was being hyperbolic in my rejection.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Hoo boy. I'm glad you asked.

• Starfinder - On the crunchy side, but it's not dreary and washed-out like most sci-fi media I've found recently.
• Shadowrun - Even further on the crunchy side, but the aesthetic is undeniable. I've heard there are some hacks, too.
• Chronicles of Darkness - I've been wanting to try some of the gamelines for more than a year.
• Powered by the Apocalypse - I've played a few games of Masks, and it didn't disappoint. I haven't looked much into the others, but the ones I'm aware of don't sound too bad. Except for Dungeon World, which can bite it.
• Cypher System - I like the system in general and would be down for most games with it, but Numenera in particular kicks serious ass in the vibes department.

 

[Crenando]

• Powered by the Apocalypse - I've played a few games of Masks, and it didn't disappoint. I haven't looked much into the others, but the ones I'm aware of don't sound too bad. Except for Dungeon World, which can bite it

Mind going into detail? Old genre stuff is my thing, so when I saw a Sword and Planet RPG, it jumped out at me.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Mind going into detail? Old genre stuff is my thing, so when I saw a Sword and Planet RPG, it jumped out at me.

It has nothing to do with planets. It's basically D&D hacked for PbtA.

Edit: Or would it be PbtA hacked for D&D? Is the game used for the system the one being hacked, or the the game that's painted over it?

 

[Grey]

I like Dungeon World, a bit, but that might be because I don't like D&D.

There is a Sword and Planet AW game in the works somewhere.

I actually just had a spot free up in a Chronicles of Darkness RP, Specter. Pure bluebook, mind you.

 

[SP3CT3R]

I actually just had a spot free up in a Chronicles of Darkness RP, Specter. Pure bluebook, mind you.

Yeah, I saw that one. I'm more interested in the splats, unfortunately.

 

[Grey]

I thought so, and that's fair. I like 'em too.
I might run Geist or something in the near future. I have an old Mage 2e game I might revive, even. I'll let you know.

 

[SP3CT3R]

I thought so, and that's fair. I like 'em too.
I might run Geist or something in the near future. I have an old Mage 2e game I might revive, even. I'll let you know.

Ohoho, Geist is one of my favorites. I'm not too sure about Mage, but I feel like I could like it if I could figure out all the jargon.

 

[Crenando]

It has nothing to do with planets. It's basically D&D hacked for PbtA.

Sword and planets as a genre is just fantasy on another planet, like if you launched Conan to Mars to fight space sorcerers and space monsters.
Does it at least have that John Carter feel?

Edit: I was thinking of the wrong PBTA game.

 

[Grey]

Sword and planets as a genre is just fantasy on another planet, like if you launched Conan to Mars to fight space sorcerers and space monsters.
Does it at least have that John Carter feel?

Dungeon World doesn't by default, but I know there's a Powered By The Apocalypse game that does.
I'll look into it - it might not have been released yet and I just remember talking to the developer about it.

 

[Crenando]

Dungeon World doesn't by default, but I know there's a Powered By The Apocalypse game that does.
I'll look into it - it might not have been released yet and I just remember talking to the developer about it.

I was thinking about Dungeon Planet, which is something different.

 

[Grey]

I was thinking about Dungeon Planet, which is something different.

Oh, sorry, I must've misread somewhere. Been awake too damn long.
That one does a pretty good job of capturing the John Carter feel once you're fluent with Apocalypse Engine.

 

[Crenando]

Oh, sorry, I must've misread somewhere. Been awake too damn long.
That one does a pretty good job of capturing the John Carter feel once you're fluent with Apocalypse Engine.

Nah, I misread it. One's name is a reference to the other and I got confused.
There's also crossover content for it with Dungeon World and Monsterhearts, which feels like it takes away from what makes Dungeon Planet and Monsterhearts unique just based on what I know about them.

 

[Grey]

AE is a weird design sandbox like that. Very focused, but quite modular and cross-compatible in the broad strokes. Game designers love it and weird crossovers were inevitable.

Two interesting evolutions of the form are Forged In The Dark, which came out of Blades in the Dark, and Belonging Outside Belonging which was born with Dream Askew/Dream Apart.

 

[Crenando]

AE is a weird design sandbox like that. Very focused, but quite modular and cross-compatible in the broad strokes. Game designers love it and weird crossovers were inevitable.

My boyhood of reading GURPS books exclusively for the fluff has taught me that systems with very broad ranges of settings end up with that kind of thing, yeah.
Even licenses like VtM had ill-fitting pitches for crossovers.


Honestly, it's what I'd do if I was given any amount of control in the fluff of a book. It's fun to flip to the back of an in-depth lore or genre splatbook and come across pitches for wacky crossovers.
I'm more disappointed that the crossover is less weird than I'd like. The one stand-out crossover with Dungeon Planet sort of waters down the true pulpiness of it to fit a more modern 'science fantasy' aesthetic.
It sort of highlights what makes Dungeon World uninteresting rather than highlighting what makes Monsterhearts and Dungeon Planet cool, at least judging by that description.

Two interesting evolutions of the form are Forged In The Dark, which came out of Blades in the Dark, and Belonging Outside Belonging which was born with Dream Askew/Dream Apart.

Mind linking those?

 

[alabast]

I don't know much about RPGs, tbh, and thus I am completely blind to that realm (besides dnd, since many of my friends play it now) but someone recced me City of Mist, and another recced me, Vampire: the Masquerade. Once some of the dnd stuff I'm in finishes, I'd love to find time to try other RPG systems.

TRPG fulfills a lot of what I dreamt of playing as a child, but it's pretty intimidating at times so I'm slowly exploring it.

 

[Grey]

Blades in the Dark - Evil Hat Productions

Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game by John Harper about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city.

www.evilhat.com

I don't like BitD much except for the lore, but it's an interesting design blueprint I might adapt sometime.

Dream Apart - Buried Without Ceremony

Jewish fantasy of the shtetl. Dream Apart is a roleplaying game of belonging outside belonging, by Benjamin Rosenbaum.

buriedwithoutceremony.com

BoB is both mechanically and thematically interesting, and I'm working on a Silent Hill fangame using it.

 

[Crayons]

Blades in the Dark - Evil Hat Productions

Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game by John Harper about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city.

www.evilhat.com

I don't like BitD much except for the lore, but it's an interesting design blueprint I might adapt sometime.

Dream Apart - Buried Without Ceremony

Jewish fantasy of the shtetl. Dream Apart is a roleplaying game of belonging outside belonging, by Benjamin Rosenbaum.

buriedwithoutceremony.com

BoB is both mechanically and thematically interesting, and I'm working on a Silent Hill fangame using it.

SILENT HILL FANGAME

 

[SP3CT3R]

Alright, I've poked around in some more PbtA games, and I'd say I like the sound of Monsterhearts, Monster of the Week, Blades in the Dark, and maybe Epyllion, which is admittedly super saccharine compared to the other three.

And City of Mist sounds cool, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. Probably because of how similar it is to Mage: the Awakening.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Sorry for double posting but I just remembered this other RPG I discovered a while ago because it went on sale.

It's called Shattered, and although the system's kinda wack, similar to Shadowrun, it's got cool lore and I'd love an RP set in it without the dice.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I really want to try out the Discworld version of GURPS that I got years ago as a birthday present, but something tells me that is never gonna happen.

I've played in one Mutants & Masterminds game that was a ton of fun and that I'd love to try playing again, but the GM who ran it hated the system so I doubt that'll happen either.

I made several Exalted characters and one Godbound character, but those campaigns all got suspended cause of scheduling conflicts, so it would be great to get to do a full campaign someday. (One guy I know it's actually gonna do a mini campaign of Exalted with me, so that's pretty lucky! I'm super excited for it).

The past few years I've gotten to try out a bunch of systems, even though I'm still pretty new to dice/tabletop rps. If you can find a GM to run it, I highly encourage trying out new systems There's always a ton of cool stuff to learn.

 

[Crenando]

I've played in one Mutants & Masterminds game that was a ton of fun and that I'd love to try playing again, but the GM who ran it hated the system so I doubt that'll happen either.

Why'd they hate it? I always hear it as the first thing to be suggested any time someone brings up a power-heavy setting.