After playing almost exclusively D&D in its various incarnations for the past 5 years (tried Only War once with the group, didn't go well), I've decided to drop it for a while after my 5e campaigns hopefully within the next month. So I started doing my research and found a few games that spark my interest, mainly for much they have a theme I like or easy to chop up and make things customized to my liking. I've got
>Shadow of the Demon Lord
>Fantasy AGE
>Torchbearer
>The One Ring
and I've heard good things about all of them but I thought I'd come ask if anyone has played a regular game with any of them and your thoughts.
>>47115084
I've played none of them but also heard (at least mostly) good things.
I recall some complaints that Fantasy AGE doesn't really address certain complaints with how DragonAge (the predecessor system) deals with spellcasting, though I also don't remember exactly what those complaints were supposed to have been.
I'm interested to see /tg/'s take on this lineup. Also, bump.
Torchbearer is horse shit. I read it very thoroughly as did one of my players. I DMed a few long sessions with open-minded and experienced rpg players. Nobody had fun. The combat system is the worst any of us had ever seen. Doesn't help that 1/2 of the design team, Luke Crane, is a notorious prick who literally says "you're doing it wrong" if you don't like his broken, unplaytested game.
>>47115197
I haven't played but I get the feeling that it's definitely one of the OSR style games where it's definitely about a different type of fun. There's a fine line between 'restrictive' and 'streamlined' I think.
Did some more digging into SotDL and it looks like just my cup of tea in gameplay. The custom setting I'm working on has a lot of takes from the Soulsborne games, and given that Warhammer has a certain air of deadliness, SotDL seems to lend itself to what I want to do.
>>47115084
I have had experience with The One Ring, it's pretty much a good representation of being an adventurer in Middle Earth.
Reading both Fantasy AGE and Shadow of the Demon Lord, both are pretty nice books.
Haven't read tourchbearer but I have heard both really good things and Terrible things at the same time.
OP search Savage Worlds Test Drive and read he first pdf result. Trust me on this, I can't guarantee you'll like it but I get you will.
>>47115985
He might also want to get the free Fantasy adventure "tomb of terror" and the characters for it.
It was a pretty good way to play fantasy Savage Worlds.Even though it is for the Explorer's edition.
>>47115197
To be fair, Luke Crane playtests his games EXTENSIVELY. They do exactly what he wants them to do, it's just that that's not what you want them to do. He is a bit of a snob about his One True Way, though, I'll give you that.
>>47116087
I would suggest against starting Savage Worlds with a fantasy adventure. A lot of players have some ingrained ideas about how a fantasy game should work (a side-effect of D&D's popularity), and the SW system is very different. I find that new players tend to grasp the system a lot better if you start them with something wildly different from standard fantasy stuff, like a western game or sci-fi, or something. If you try it with fantasy, a lot of players get stuck comparing the SW system to the fantasy system they started out with, and end up not liking SW solely because it's not like what they're used to.
>>47115084
The One Ring is really dope, but it's also more or less locked into Middle Earth and Middle Earth-like settings. But goddamn, it is one of the best games for playing a party of adventurers in a relatively grounded fantasy setting.
>>47115985
>>47116087
>>47116170
I actually have a friend who bought a bunch of Deadlands stuff, so that may end up being our next campaign for a few months. And I liked SW; looked into it some years ago and liked what I saw for the flexibility of different settings. My major problem with D&D right now is that it has so many of those ingrained ideas, yeah, which is why I would like to find a system to help get away from that to either avoid them as a whole or allow me as a setting writer to subvert the way players see the classic races (like how in Dark Sun cannibal halflings and bandit running elves and muls).
>>47116291
Just finished reading the Silmarillion and I am all up ons right now for some Middle-Earth action. Even bought another expansion for the LCG. I know one of my players is die hard Tolkien and it wouldn't be hard to get the other guys. I guess if I went with it at least I could stop feeling like I need to write a campaign setting.
>>47115084
I can't help jizzing all over Barbarians of Lemuria because it's great.
Honestly, I prefer 5e.
>>47116433
>I actually have a friend who bought a bunch of Deadlands stuff...
That might not be Savage Worlds, depends on what specifically your friend bought. The original Deadlands used its own system... I think it had some similarities, but I've never played that one, so I don't know what it's like.
>>47116433
>the big problem is that D&D has those ingrained idea in it, and I would like to get away from it.
If I had to recommend any of the systems you want to run, I'd pick Shadow of the Demon Lord, simply because it isn't based on D&D fantasy tropes.it's based on WHFRP
>>47116678
It's the SW stuff for sure. He seems jazzed to play it so I do want to make use of it.
>>47116692
>whfrp
Probably as close I'll ever get to a Dark Souls atmosphere in a game.
>>47116728
>It's the SW stuff for sure.
Cool. Western is a good place to start... everybody knows how the genre works just from basic cultural awareness, and there aren't a lot of fiddly extra bits (like high tech gear or the like), so it makes a great introduction.
A "pure" western might be better, since Deadlands has some weird stuff in it, but Savage Worlds doesn't really do "pure" anything... pretty much all of their flagship settings have some sort of interesting twist on the genre, so that'll do alright.
>>47116678
Savage Worlds is based off of the original Deadlands system. They're more than a little similar.
Op bump
>>47115084
>all fantasy adventurer shit
You're doing it wrong anon. You need to quit that shit for a time.
>>47115084
Try RuneQuest. It's very different from D&D, but it'snot a complex mess and it's not some airy-fairy "MUH NARRATIVE" emofest either.
>>47119050
So Shadowrun?
>>47119273
No. Put out the "adventurers" part also, if possible.
Personally I suggest something very different from what the guy is used to play, when he wants to try something different.
How about Monsterhearts? Too emotional?
My Life with Master? Chronicles of Skin?
Commitee for the Exploration of Mysteries (adventurers, but the system is pretty different)?
>>47119498
If all he'sever played is D&D he is not ready for Monsterhearts. Maybe something half-way, like World of Darkness?
>>47119622
That's EXACTLY why he should quit the "tradition" to me.
Also, WoD is probably more traditional than DND.
>>47119056
I'll second this recommendation. Runequest is a whole different paradigm.
>>47119669
Not all games are like D&D even when they're about dungeon delving. Look at Dungeonworld or Donjon for example. A game like Vampire can be a real eye-opener to someone raised on D&D with it's radically different focus on politics and personal expression despite it's seemingly familiar cast of supernatural monsters and magic.
>>47119736
Those are. At least at the level I think he shouldn't be playing for a while
(and yes, DW as well, which is a damn good game. Something that Vampir isn't, but that's another point altogether)
I've been thinking of picking up all of these except Torchbearer. I'm addicted to reading new systems. I think I'm going to go with The One Ring.
>>47119736
OP here. I actually was a fan of Bloodlines, and also picked up a copy of the Dark Ages Vampire from a used book store a ways back. Might finally be time to try it out.
>>47120508
Yeah I think TB I will be skipping, and Fantasy AGE too just since Green Ronin seems invested in supplements for a setting that I don't care about. SotDL still has my eye.
last chance bump before my thread dies
>>47121171
I myself was always interested in the "Dark Age" line of WoD. Just never had the time or the people to play it.
