Can someone recommend a fantasy TRPG to me?
After playing 3.p I really want to try something else.
>Taking damage/wounds actually has an impact besides your HP going down
>Isn't a d20 based system (please)
>Doesn't need to be a class based system, just picking and choosing abilities for your character is just as fine as something class based
>Magic/magic classes exist but aren't overpowered and can't do literally whatever they want
>Has a decent bestiary and information on how to scale encounters
>Isn't super difficult to learn and hundreds of pages long (I have trouble learning new systems and I'd be the game master anyway so this is probably the biggest thing)
>Optional: Has some online support and not just pdfs
Thank you.
RuneQuest of some variety?
Would you be willing to go for a generic system?
Savage Worlds works well for a grittier fantasy setting.
>no classes
>magic is an option but it's more a versatile tool than something purely superior to other options
>no d20s except for random tables
>decent bestiary and ways to (roughly) scale encounters
>wound levels mean you hurt when a hit gets through
>>46159623
Ooh, this might be fun too.
>Taking damage/wounds actually has an impact besides your HP going down
There's two ways this can go. Wound Penalty/Death Spiral and Narrative Tags.
The former means that as your HP reaches certain thresholds, you take a penalty to some or all actions. This makes combat very "rocket tag" and a race to put the other guy on penalties.
The latter is often either compulsory to win because the game is built around basically requiring you to "tag" the enemy with "wounds" and such to bring them down, or pointless because those actions you spent tagging the other guy with "wounds" could have been spent bringing his HP down, and when his HP reaches 0 he's dead anyway.
>Isn't a d20 based system (please)
There's a lot out there. You know what I hate? "I'm running X, it's a homebrew addition to 3.5/PF and you'll love it."
>Doesn't need to be a class based system, just picking and choosing abilities for your character is just as fine as something class based
Good, good, let the non-d20 flow through you. Character-defining abilities are good things to have, though.
>Magic/magic classes exist but aren't overpowered and can't do literally whatever they want
Here's where you'll have a problem. Magic being Not Overpowered basically requires one of two things: prescribed lists of spells, or a GM being on the ball. If you have narrative freedom in what you do, mages have an easy way to say "I can do X because magic".
>Has a decent bestiary and scaling information
This narrows it down some. Do you prefer a big set of "these are the stats for a tiger, these are the stats for a young drake, these are the stats for a goblin fighter and a goblin warlord, there are the stats for...", or are you OK with "This is how to put together stats on the fly, based on criteria"
>>46159693 cont
>Isn't super difficult to learn and hundreds of pages long (I have trouble learning new systems and I'd be the game master anyway so this is probably the biggest thing)
This is very personal, so I can't be much help. Also,
>Optional: Has some online support and not just pdfs
What do you mean by this?
>Populous, active forums where people discuss it?
>Roll20 style sites that work with it?
>An official online play site developed specifically for this game?
>Developers active on the internet answering questions?
>A
>>46159693
>>46159726
Anyway, here's writeups on a few systems you may like or dislike, and that /tg/ as a whole may like or dislike.
Dungeon World - I'd call it a good "convention game" in that you can, once you're an experienced DW GM, take a group of newbies and run a session in a few hours with no prep time.
Pros
>Strongly class-based. Without
>Decent bestiary and very good info on creating your own stuff
>Simple enough resolution mechanic that's not a pain to wrap your head around
>Decent amounts of narrative and light rules for non-HP threats
>If your players can let go of caring too much about rules, it's a good framework for just saying what you do and having fun with the consequences.
Cons
>GM does not roll anything except damage dice. This is weird as fuck to wrap your head around. Players do stuff and roll dice when told to, you just narrate the world. A monster is attacking them? "Goblin charges you, wat do?" "I wait for it to get near and use its momentum to attack it" "OK, that's Hack And Slash, roll it."
>All actions resolve on the same system: 2d6 + Stat (of -3 to +3) vs 10 for total success or 7 for partial success. If you're not being creative, it's literally exactly as hard to climb a mountain as it is to lift a heavy rock. You as a GM must be up to saying when rolls just are not fitting, far more so than in a flexible difficulty system like d20
>Narrative system wherein actions may have narrative consequences, and half the system is just "Action Name: Narrative Consequence" in a formal manner that lowers the amount of bullshit players may pull. This gets odd.
>Little by way of hard crunch to support non-HP damage
>Classes are heavily predefined, with what looks like but actually isn't a lot of crunch to make them feel different.
>You may want to tailor the class "playbooks" but this needs you to understand what the game is like first.
>If your players can NOT let go of caring too much about rules, this is going to be a rough ride.
>>46159623
I'll take a look, thanks.
>>46159653
I'd be willing to use a generic system. I've heard of savage worlds before and people seem to like it.
>>46159693
>>46159726
*I'd prefer the former. Getting the first strike matters, not getting hit is good.
*Yeah I hate that too. d20 is d20. It's possible to do d20 stuff that's much better than 3.5 or Pathfinder, but modding either instead of running a new system is retarded to me.
*I don't want narrative freedom like that, then. A mage should have limitations for sure.
*I'd prefer the former, but I could deal with the latter if it is good enough.
Optional: Some sort of online website with resources and the like would be an ideal. Even a reddit or something like that. But it doesn't need these things, those are just helpful.
>>46159876
>>46159968
>FATE - the poster child of narrative systems.
to be honest, not the best thing to jump straight into GMing an if you've not ventured outside the d20 box much. It's mechanically very different, there isn't a single big official fantasy setting for it or anything, and all in all better to run once you have more experience. That's not to say it's mega-complex, but running FATE *well* in a way that takes advantage of its upsides is trickier than running it as "roll four fate dice, and maybe spend a fate point: the game"
>Cortex Plus
On one hand, I love this. It's my go-to system for hacking if I want a generic game but with a strong theme of some sort, because it's a very good narrative base which can have a "core theme mechanic" slapped on.
On the other hand, it's four different versions of a core system, each set up for a particular setting and game tone as originally published, three of which have also been stripped down and recollected into a book they call the "hacker's guide" which gives you the core systems with explanations of how you can change up the setting-specific mechanic.
One of those versions is pretty good for running fantasy hero warrior team funtime, has a decent bestiary, and gives you a good sense of how to make the party feel like they're "levelling up" and progressing mechanically.
However, getting through the fucking corebook is a pain in the arse because it's designed and written for people who already know the fucking system. God fucking damnit.
>Savage Worlds
Haven't run or played, so I'm not in a place to sell you on this.
If your players really like crunchy systems and are willing to try something weird and different, Burning Wheel is excellent.
>>46159551
Fantasy craft is really good, but it is d20, and can be a bit of a pain to learn, just because of the book layout. It's worth a look at least, there's a general up right now.
>>46159551
RuneQuest 6:
-Large book, but the base system it's built off of is very simple
Fantasy Craft:
-3.5 but better, good balance, customizability
GURPS:
-Large book, but the system is as complex or simple as you choose to make it
Savage Worlds:
-Versatile, relatively simple
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2e:
-Gritty, dangerous gameplay, very fun setting, the sheer amount of tables can get overwhelming
Iron Kingdoms:
-Unique setting
Torchbearer:
-Dark and gritty, metagame heavy, plays almost more like an RPG videogame, rules can be a bit esoteric
Dungeon World:
-don't
>>46164719
GURPS:
-Large book, but the system is specifically written for by-the-second modern tactical combat, with awful rules if you want anything approaching fantasy classes, an utterly piss-poor magic system, and a strange notion that it's universal when it's fantastic for gritty modern firearm porn and not fantastic for anything else. Don't use it for fantasy, bro.
FTFY.
>>46159968
I should probably explain a bit about magic in runequest.
RQ6 has 5 different systems of magic, but I'll just describe Folk magic and Theism, given they're in the essentials/quickstart document.
Folk magic, is the most basic form of magic, performed by nearly everyone. These are the prayers, rituals, and tricks taught by family, friends, and trainers.
They're simple and rather cheap, performing small tasks, like sharpening a blade (such as a farmer's scythe or a warrior's sword), calm the emotions of others, clean clothing and other objects, calculate how many coins are on a table, heal simple wounds, etc.
Now, you can restrict them, if you don't like every warrior having access to firearrow or vigour spells; but I like how they enhance something that was commonly believed by many people. (And still is. How often have you performed the sacred ritual to find missing objects, by repeating their name over and over)
Theism is more flashy magic. These are miracles granted by gods. Sort of like clerical magic, but theoretically anyone could learn them if they are devoted enough to their god. So a great warrior who pledges themselves to the god of war, and performs his sacrifices may be granted the Berserk miracle, turning them into a merciless and brutal warrior while using it.
Of course, the use of these miracles requires maintaining a decent relationship with your god, sacrificing magical power to them, to make sure they're willing to listen to your exhortations.
>>46159551
There's a system that's never talked about called Dominion Rules that seems like it's perfect for what you want. The only downside is that you will never play it because nobody plays Dominion Rules.
>Taking damage/wounds actually has an impact
Your health starts at whatever value your Withstand Injury skill is (shortened to WithIn), and when your health gets into the negatives the value of your health becomes a difficulty penalty for all of your skills. Once your negative health gets to be as big as your highest skill you're out of the fight.
>Isn't a d20 based system
The only roll used is a single D12 roll under your skill value.
>Doesn't need to be a class based system
DR is skill based, your skills are made up by you with permission from your GM, kind of like the way Unknown Armies does it.
>Magic/magic isn't overpowered
Can't quite say whether or not this is true because I've never ran a game with casters, but the magic system in DR is powerful with some serious downsides. Rolling a 12 on an unsafe spell means you get to roll on the spell failure list. Rolling another 12 on the spell failure list hits you with a spell so powerful it has a chance to take you out of the fight.
You can avoid a spell failure roll if the spell you use has a charm associated with it. Charms are usually physical objects that you have to use in a certain way while casting the spell. There are plenty of situations where you can be away from your charms.
>decent bestiary and ways to (roughly) scale encounters
Making monsters for Dominion Rules is the EASIEST system I have ever had to make monsters for. The game gives you 54 different monster attributes all stated up for you. It takes me an average of two minutes to make a fully detailed monster with the attributes given, and since making new monsters is all point buy you can roughly judge how much this monster is going to fuck up your players by the number of points you've spent on it.
http://dominionrules.org/
>>46166656
Not OP, but thanks for posting this. Looks pretty cool.
>>46159551
This certainly does not meet all of your criteria, but running it certianly helped me get out of the old D&D rut.
Pendragon 5th edition.
>>46168972
Taking damage and wounds have a huge impact, combat is deadly and wounds have long-lasting consequences.
It is not class based because everyone is a knight! you would be surprised how much variance is in that seemingly limiting restriction.
Who needs to worry about magic when the players can't use it!
>>46159551
I was going to jokingly not suggest GURPS, but you really ought to consider it.
The core book that players will need (GURPS Lite) is a free PDF. The books you'll want are Low Tech, Martial Arts, and Sorcery.
Optionally, their default fantasy setting is really, really good. It's called Banestorm and basically is an elves vs orcs world where some unusually powerful, arrogant, and unwise elves staged a massive ritual to summon the bane of the orcs. The backlash turned the central continent's vast forest into a low-magic desert, and tens of thousands of humans were teleported from the real-world Earth middle ages. Nobody knows if the ritual worked or failed, because humans have been systematically kicking the asses of the orcs ever since... along with everyone else. The main human empire (Megalos) is a catholic/roman hegemony devoted to world domination and suppressing knowledge of gunpowder and the Reformation by erasing the memories of people who still occassionally teleport in from later earth eras. With a large, devoutly christian goblin minority.
It's way better than I'm making it sound, and it has one thing GURPS in general lacks: a bestiary.
Martial Arts overhauls the GURPS combat system; it was written when HEMA and ARMA were getting big and incorporates a lot of their insights. It also adds a "martial arts styles" system that is absolutely great and now used for other things, too.
Sorcery replaces the default magic system in the Basic Set (or if you prefer can coexist with it). It is a full new spell system, complete with spell creation and costing, but doesn't add any new rules. Like many GURPS supplements, it's a guide to how to use the core system to do some really funky stuff. IMO it's better than the system in the basic set, and themeable enough that you can make several magic-using classes that are still highly unique. Other systems are in Ritual Path Magic (excellent), Psionic Powers (very good), Magic (meh), and Thaumatology (good).
>>46169795
Two warnings.
1) GURPS is a game that's very front-loaded. It plays quickly and smoothly on the tabletop but requires a lot of GM investment of time and planning before the campaign starts. D&D is clunkier in my experience but requires very little prep, so GMs are often surprised by this. If you're going to skimp, play something else instead.
2) Don't use all the rules options. Start with the stats and combat system in GURPS Lite. That's more than enough; a more rigorous system but still comparable to WoD. If you decide to try some options, turn them on ONE AT A TIME. Turning on everything at once: wound locations, miniatures, combinations, advanced wounding, etc. makes the game enormously complicated. But so is every other game that has all that at once.
For your "classes" (roles/whatever), try this.
Fighters, rogues, and rangers work out of GURPS Lite. With the Berserk advantage in the Basic Set, you have the foundation for your Barbarian.
Monks work decently with Martial Arts, but you'll want to give them cinematic powers from the Basic Set. If you really want to go crazy, Power-Ups: Imbuements will increase that.
That leaves magic users. The default magic system in the Basic Set is designed around wizards-- use modular abilities for vancian magic. Or just leave it. Sorcerers and Warlocks work well with Sorcery. Or reskin the system in Psionic Powers. Clerics can be desigend with any of these systems... or Divine Favor, which pre-designs a Cleric role.
Since it's a pure points system, "multiclassing" or hybrid classes just means getting GM approval to buy from two sets of abilities at once.
GURPS isn't quite Riddle of Steel, but can get close if you're willing to pay the price in complexity that RoS pays. If you're coming from D&D, you'll get a better game, more accuracy, and more fun than D&D by staying closer to Lite.
RuneQuest 6 is the best balance of simple mechanics, tactical combat, common sense, and magic IMO.
It has a great forum for rules questions and an $0.99 android app for combat effects that I use as GM to speed combat up.
BUT FAIR WARNING. The Deaign Mechanism is losing the RuneQuest license and RuneQuest 6 will soon be published as Mythras.
>>46172178
>RuneQuest 6 will soon be published as Mythras
Is it still going to be more-or-less setting neutral, or are they going to go whole hog with the Meeros setting.
