I've always wanted to play ttrpgs with my high school friendos and after the whole pandemic I've had that thorn on my side ever since.
Ideally i would run for them the following systems:
>Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
I want to run something in the fallout setting or a somewhat sci-fi setting. Mostly due to our shared liking for the series.
>Shadow of the Demon Lord
This is to quell their idea of TTRPGs being like DND and having the general tropes of classes ingrained into their skulls and to try some fantasy stuff where i can make up a more unique setting without that many races (human, dwarves, fawns and changelings), many of them like tieflings but idk if that would be pushing it.
>Hunter the Vigil 2e
My favorite as it runs on my favorite genre of urban fantasy, being able to use local conspiracy theories and folklore to have a good time while they try to unravel the campaigns mystery and acquire powers solving them.
I do wonder which one of these is better for first time players and gm, will it be too much for them to digest? Should i tests the waters before running something too ambitious?
ARE MY SYSTEM CHOICES SHIT?
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Man these are not great first timer systems. They're all pretty crunchy and honestly kind of niche in genre. If you're really set on these three, then I'd push you towards Savage Worlds, hoping that passion for the setting pushes you through the slog of growing pains learning the system. Motivation counts for a lot.
If you're all really this new, then learning how to relax around each other, improvise characters and story, play off each other, and incorporate mechanics into choice points is all what should be focused on more. A lighter system will let you do that. A beer 'n' pretzels game, like Risus or Lasers & Feelings or Everyone Is John, would work very well for that. Look for the kinds of games that get played as one-shots in conventions. Also, something really spare like B/X D&D - even though it's extremely unbalanced and has some janky systems and rules gaps - will let you get your feet wet as well without requiring much commitment. But I agree with your impulse that D&D in general is not something to make players expect, because then they get siloed in and pick up bad habits.
İ would recommend Holmes basic or Swords and Wizardry core. İf you're dead set on these systems, use SotDL but only the core book to begin. İt's the easiest of these.
SotDL isn't particularly crunchy imo
Sell me on Swords and Wizardry.
Like () said, Risus is an apt entry level TTRPG. I don't like it at all, but it has merit as something easy for newbies to latch onto; it doesn't have much for newbies to track.
IIRC, you have a pool of dice relevant to each of your character's concepts (referred to as "clichés"), spending those dice when performing a relevant action under duress.
It's supposed to be a silly game (the art is funny little stick figures) and be a tropey romp where the players and GM laugh it up, but honestly, it can work with anything, because of how the cliché system works.
If I had a .pdf, I'd definitely post it.
From the titles you listed, I don't have any practical experience from any of them, and I don't have any second-hand knowledge beyond SotDL being "the game with the poopy magic".
Funnily enough, I'd recommend Shadow of the Demon Lord because of both your players' familiarity with D&D, and the fact that you could flex your creative muscles a bit more.
You seemed to speak highly of Hunter the Vigil, and running a system you love is a good way to keep yourself from burning out, but you have to consider if your players will want to play it, or if they have the capability of piecing together conspiracy theories to solve mysteries.
As for Savage Worlds, it seems to draw upon a resonant interest in Fallout for you and your group, but you don't seem as excited to talk about it as the others.
The safest bet would be to do a one shot or a short-term campaign, than to go balls-deep in a globetrotting epoch.
Your idea for SotDL seems like it would be better suited for when you and your players have more experience, but there's nothing stopping you from doing something non-committal to practice and get your players used to it.
What I really want to tell you is to make something completely tailored to what you want to run and what your players want to play, but I know not everyone is a psychopath like me, and game design is hard when you give a shit about it.
Here you go.
I was gonna say Tiny Dungeons and I understand Risus is in the same ballpark? In Tiny Dungeons you roll pools of 2d6 and succeed if any dice rolls a 5 or 6. 3d6 at Advantage, 1d6 at Disadvantage.
OP here. I apologize for taking so long to answer to you anons of this here thread.
>Motivation counts for a lot.
I will take this into account, it seems to be that you guys have mistaken my brevity as lack of interest in SW, i really like how the edges and hindrances mimick the Fallout system and the way things can go to the shitter for me and the players really quick with the exploding dice.
If i were to point out the one for which i care less it would be SotDL but thats mostly because of how much i would have to do to run a campaign in a world if feel as mine.
>What I really want to tell you is to make something completely tailored to what you want to run and what your players want to play, but I know not everyone is a psychopath like me, and game design is hard when you give a shit about it.
I was always a dream of mine and my best friend to make a ttrpg system, maybe one day i'll do it anon, i think i just dont feel adequate for the type of stuff i want to do and why i am asking for pointers.
Thanks man.
I wouldn't say they are 5egays since they are open to new systems, our old DM was the most reddit like individual so they have a sour taste on their mouth with all that 5e represents.
Ok, one likes tieflings because of Hellboy and the other wants to have a race with horns for some reason (prob furshit? idk) so it isn't the type of liking that comes from Critical Role and that whole sphere of ttrpgs since it's fairly unknown in our country besides basic shit like Ze Bashew and that homosexual Jocat's series.
I am sure i can counter brainwash them.
>The best system to start with is the one the table most excited to play.
We will have our bi-daily spring break discord talk today (we all live in different states due to uni) so maybe i will try to skim over the general basis of the systems and what i will run in them.
I am now between SW and HtV. End part 1
My preferred system to run for new people is Call of Cthulhu, though that's typically in the context of one-shots, and tends to work since it's mostly just a skill list and has a relatively modern setting.
I'd be inclined to suggest Hunter the Vigil of the ones you listed for that reason, as the players might have an easier time getting into things if the game is focused on the world they know, since they'll more readily come up with ideas for how to solve problems based on the world around them.
SotDL, despite the memes, is probably decent for trying to give them a D&D-like that isn't too complex out of the gate, since it even has rules for level 0 characters.
As far as Tieflings go, I think one of the splats adds Cambions, though they might have a better time with Changelings if they want to be a secretive loner who was kicked out of their home once their true nature was discovered, or Fauns if they just want to play a technicolor goat person.
The best system is the system that you actually feel like playing. Don't worry about anything else.
It doesn't fit your sci-fi desires, but I've always been partial to WFRP 2e as a first time system. It's simple and trains away some of the worst RPG habits that D&D encourages (PCs are special, use magic to solve every problem, racial traits as character personality).
>My favorite as it runs on my favorite genre of urban fantasy, being able to use local conspiracy theories and folklore to have a good time while they try to unravel the campaigns mystery and acquire powers solving them.
If that's what you're looking for then not only is Delta Green(and Call of Cthulhu to a slightly lesser extent on the conspiracy side but more on the horror side) better suited, but it's also way easier to run and play.
many of them like tieflings
oh nononono
They are 5egays on the making
Blades in the Dark also has Tieflings, so at least OP has another option. They do seem like a lost cause though.
Can you be a fricked up bug person? That's the only tieflings I like, fricked up bug people.
man, frick that, i wanna be a demon sharkman
>many of them like tieflings
Get new friends. These ones are broken beyond repair and already well on their way to becoming braindead DnDrones.
All three will be fine. I've started people with HtV and SotDL with no problems. They're both fairly easy to grasp and middle of the road for crunch.
However, none of that is important. The best system to start with is the one the table most excited to play. That's really all there is to it. Enthusiasm for the game is what creates investment in it.
Out of those savage worlds would be the easiest to start with but it still involves a bit of abstract thinking to work it out. I would say try that one if those are the systems that motivate you.
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/255088/The-Black-Hack-Second-Edition
This and subsequent “hack” games are great for beginners.
I recommend you hire somebody to break your hands with a hammer so I never have to see your posts again
I> I want to run something in the fallout setting
Maybe Mutant Year Zero will do
Savage worlds might be appropriate if your new players are already the type of person who would play these games, but for actual non-players, you need something much lighter and easier
Not OP, but what would be some good online guides for avoiding GMing in the way that DnD encourages? I've been planning to run a non-DnD game for some friends but I don't want it to just turn into DnD.
Don't focus on combat as the sole means of story/progression/conflict resolution and you're nine-tenths of the way to a good game. Give players complex (or not) situations and the freedom to explore diplomatic, pacifistic, monetary, or avoidance-based solutions. Promote professions and skills as means to ends. D&D literally cannot be played this way. It can only be played as a tactics-based skirmish game.
TY for the advice anon! I'm looking forward to running a non DnD game for once.
One more piece of advice, since a lot of players will enjoy combat, or at least see it as the best solution some of the time: make morale important to your fights. This is one thing old-school D&D did mostly right. Opponents generally have a sense of self-preservation and will not fight to the death. They will try to escape, parlay, call for back-up, or all three. If they're cowardly, the first draw of blood will rout them. Most will route after the first few major injuries/the death of a comrade, or handful if they are a larger force. The players may decide to behave like lunatics fighting to the death, but nobody else in your world has to behave that way.
I've only run SWADE of these three and it's not particularly hard to learn or run. The basic concepts are not always very intuitive , but once it clicks you get a robust and flexible system. I like it a lot, particularly the Weird Wars settings. One thing though: it gravitates towards pulpy, high-flying action and heroes, it won't fulfill your mudcore needs.
That said you can pick litetally any system as long as you're enthusiastic about it. Enthusiasm is infectious and gives a great deal of momentum at the beginning. I started GMing with Deathwatch, an unwieldy monster of a system filled with weird unrelated little subsystems but I loved it and that made my players love it, so we learned it together and played it for years.
SOTDL is just 5e but with even less skills and social mechanics, boons instead of advantage and a difficulty more like epic 6 from 3.5
I'm not saying it's as bad as 5e, but it is an offshoot of 5e
Delta Green is very different to HtV. Firstly it runs on Chaosium's BRP system, as opposed to the WoD system, so instead of pools of d10s you have percentile based d100 roll-under. The system itself is extremely simple, and easy to learn, but, in my opinion, offers more than enough to be able to do a lot of shit with it.
Second, the paradigm of Delta Green is very different, you don't typically fight vampires or werewolves, although you easily could, the main adversaries are based on the Cthulhu Mythos. Deep Ones, Mi-Gos, cultists of Shub-Niggurath or Yig, Delta green is built with cosmic horror in mind. Now, again, that's not to say you can't fight more vanilla horror stuff, such as ghosts or demons, but most of the stuff within the rulebook will be about Lovecraft monsters.
Thirdly, Delta Green is an investigation/horror game through and through. Characters are agents of Delta green, and are given a mission they must go through. They interview people, search around locations, make connections between pieces of evidence, figure out what is happening and why, and then try to stop it. The difference between it and HtV is that it's a lot less personal. Hunter, like all WoD games is centered around personal horror, tying your character to the world and building relationships. Delta Green just isn't like that, it's more about getting the job done and trying to keep yourself sane(and alive), about sacrificng your peace of mind and understanding of the world to try, desperately, to keep your loved ones safe. It's really a personal preference type of thing, and I've always been a huge fan of Lovecraft related shit, so DG appealed to me a lot, but it may not to you.
There's also regular Call of Cthulhu, which I personally prefer, but DG fit what you were going for better, so I recommended that.
> Is it based on that game? From what i've read PC's can be all sorts of fricked up mutants so i'll probably check it out in my free time, thanks for the recommend.
No, the setting is just familiar and the theme is surviving in the post-apocalypse with radiation making weird things. The system itself is very simple and snappy. The disadvantage may be that the system relies on re-rolls.
Personally, I would use a d100 home rules to run a Fallout campaign.
>d100 home rules to run a Fallout campaign
It would even be far closer to the actual rules of Fallout 1 and 2.
>is that it's a lot less personal.
I'll keep the system in mind for when i want to run something different but for now i want to see what they come up with for how they interact with a more corrupt world of darkness.
>16th century tech world
That's just the sort of setting i'll like to do some day. I hope it has better combat taking into account it's wargame background, that's the main thing i hate about 5e.
Also they are quite onions about 40k (no figures tho, the average figure it's a whole day's salary over here) so maybe they'll like that in some sort of pavlovian way.
Last bump before letting this die for good.
I'll probably end up playing HtV and make something out of SW and SotDL once i feel readier for the things i want to do in those settings.
Prep for the world seems to be easier for me since i already know a lot of my on country.
Thanks a lot everyone.
>Huh for some reason I've never heard of this one, does it come attached to the WHF setting or is at least adaptable?
It's very grounded in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. You could use it for generic fantasy adventures in a 16th century tech world...but that wouldn't be playing to its strengths narratively. Mechanically? It would function just fine.
If you want something more generic but easy for newbies, there's Barbarians of Lemuria, which is a pulpy swords & sorcery system.
I'd also second the recommendation of CoC people have made. It's good culture.