After a good run, I am nearly completely burnt out on DnD/pf1+2e/osr etc.
Systems like Legend of the Five Rings and World of Darkness/VtM are just way better at roleplaying. The issue is, I love medieval fantasy settings the most and neither system does this. I’ve been researching and have yet to find a good replacement. The closest I’ve found is Burning Wheel, which depending on who you ask is the best game ever or the worst. Unless im mistaken the dice pool doesnt do interesting narrative things like l5r (strife/composure) or vtm (hunger/bestial failure). The only other option looks like Genesys, but im apprehensive of the GM work required for doing a generic system. I read that fantasy age provides a more narrative dnd but it looks like it has all the same issues of dnd and i did not see any narrative mechanics.
What system would TG suggest i look into? (I did not like fate or dungeon world)
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WFRP 4e
Id like to play whfrp but not really for any of the reasons listed in my OP. Is there anything there to allow you to play an entire multi hour session with no combat? I guess that’s what I’m ultimately trying to achieve.
I’ve looked at this as well, but it seems like it would play wonky when the system is encouraging vampire/werewolf mechanics that im going to just ignore. I wish there was a straight medieval version for a l5r or vtm type system. I could also reskin l5r and replace honor with chivalry, but there has to be a baked in medieval setting game out there that achieves what i want and I refuse to believe its Burning Wheel.
>Is there anything there to allow you to play an entire multi hour session with no combat?
What does this even mean? This doesnt have anything to do with system. You could play an entire session of *any* game without combat.
To answer your specific question, oftentimes WHFRP is an investigative horror game. Combat is lethal, especially at low levels, and most parties would do well to either avoid it, or make sure that they have overwhelming tactical superiority going into a fight.
In dnd and pathfinder nearly all your abilities are geared towards combat. Pf2e less so, but its still a wargame at heart. Sure you can play any of them without any combats and I have, but you are working against the system, not with it. Its like playing GTA without committing any crimes.
Care to elaborate why? I only am familiar with vtm but its miles ahead of dnd. You are recommending a more autistic version of OSR to support playing low combat games so Im taking it worth a grain of salt. Even dogshit like 5e accomplishes what I want better.
>I need a system to tell me how to roleplay
I don't know what to tell you, dude. This is a skill issue, not a system issue.
Pretty much, if a system tries and control social with rolls, or social stats it not role playing.
Pro tip if a guard loses their job/life if someone gets pass them they will not let anybody by them, their is no roll that can change that fact. Your party needs to sneak pass, or bring him something that changes the situation, like a letter implicating someone.
The narrative systems dont control your roleplay with rolls, they control the reaction of the npcs, many times instead of the GM, in a way more complicated usually than roll this and if it succeeds you ve convinced him
Your definition of roleplaying is broken and those games are too. Narrative play is not roleplaying. Roleplaying is taking an in-character stance, you make decisions as your dude would. This includes stuff like dungeon crawling and tactical fights if you grant characters basic competence and knowledge. Narrative play demands an out of character stance, you make decisions about what happens to your dude. This includes any planned storylines and meta-mechanics, and mechanical rewards for "roleplay." This includes making choices for the drama they create. They are conflicting goals or at least inharmonious goals. There's no reason to look down on you for wanting a narrative instead of roleplaying, and if you want to insist you can have both at once then go ahead and prove me wrong. But they're different.
In getting tired of D&D you should have realized that the game does have mechanical rewards for good roleplay, because playing the game well is the same as playing your character's role well. Not just in the sense that the wizard's niche is spells so he's the best at spells, the player who can use spells the best is the one who thinks like a wizard. The player who makes the best thief is one who can think and play like a thief. I'm tired, I sympathize with your drive for a different game but at best your terminology is too confused to be helpful.
>Is there anything there to allow you to play an entire multi hour session with no combat? I guess that’s what I’m ultimately trying to achieve.
I hope I'm not reading into this too much but let's kill the stupid narrative that games are made of combat and roleplay which are opposites that do not overlap. This comes from 3e-likes overly systemizing combat and underly systemizing everything else, you need to realize that just because there's a structure and tactics doesn't mean you can't roleplay all of a sudden.
>you should have realized that the game does have mechanical rewards for good roleplay, because playing the game well is the same as playing your character's role well.
idk why this is lost on people, the more game mechanics to engage with, the more roleplaying that is getting done. you're right.
>Is there anything there to allow you to play an entire multi hour session with no combat? I guess that’s what I’m ultimately trying to achieve.
Bruhhhh my groups been playing 5e for over two years mostly to make our game accessible to our friend who can't math too good and likes crithole, we've had numerous sessions with no combat. That happens when players are collectively invested in the details of the game, the world, and the characters and story. you don't even need dice or a book for that. (though tbf I've often encouraged pc debates/arguments to go long when I dont have enough prepared...)
>I wish there was a straight medieval version for a l5r or vtm type system. I could also reskin l5r and replace honor with chivalry, but there has to be a baked in medieval setting game out there that achieves what i want and I refuse to believe its Burning Wheel.
GURPS is pretty good at simulating medieval play. There are a bunch of mechanics that you'll just ignore, but that's probably a good thing as options are nice even if you don't use them, and in GURPS, the options are very optional.
No system will cure the autism of you and your group. Trying to encourage roleplay through system mechanics is a futile endeavor that only leads to worse autism.
Thanks WotC influencer. $0.02 has been deposited into your account.
He is right tho... In my experience at least, systems trying to codify roleplay elements into mechanics often make roleplay harder instead of encouraging it.
Take Burning Wheel as an example, since OP mentioned that... It's Duel of Wits mechanic sounds pretty cool at first and seems like a pretty engaging way to handle "social combats"... But once you try to run it, you realize how awful it is to try and make sense of the arguments thrown around in the debate and how to codify them into the mechanics, which often will lead to more discussion and rules lawyering at the table... It's just not organic, and before you know it, the players will only act through the maneuvers instead of actually putting up arguments and engaging with the fiction. Seriously, if you're gonna have a roleplay moment, just roleplay... Players shouldn't do it through quirky "narrative mechanics".
Anyway, I'm assuming OP is particularly fed up with D&D 5E, since HP bloat and shit really does suck. Have you tried OSR systems? Even the rules lite ones? Regardless, I suggest giving B/X or BECMI a shot, specifically using the Mystara gazetters for a setting, since you're into fantasy and for me Mystara is a pretty cool medieval fantasy setting (It even has it's own Capcom arcade game). And don't be fooled into thinking OSR is all about gritty players-get-one-shot kind of thing... Yes, it plays pretty much like a survival horror in the first few levels, but once you get past that, it's not too hard to delve into heroic fantasy territory, heck, players can even turn into literal gods eventually in BECMI (I'm assuming heroic fantasy is your roleplay of preference)
I suggest OSR in specific because imo the "Rulings Over Rules" axiom is all you need for a more diegetic experience, not more mechanics. Less is more, my friend...
OP here. Bx was the last game i played, last weekend. Everyone was over it, including me. Prior to that it was pf2e. Also over it. Bx is too barebones and places the burden on the gm to fill in the gaps. Pf2e is too limiting in its character options, too many level ups i go, “I don’t want any of this shit.”
Maybe its a more classless system that would support building what you want to be and not taking “sneaky dirty mcfrick” for your upstanding lawful good pc because mechanically its the only nonshit option. Or likewise taking an ability you will never use because it was the only thematic one. This issue is huge in pf2e and an example of how a system can or cannot facilitate roleplay.
Its less about rules to tell you how to roleplay and more about having tools as a gm to adjudicate roleplay.
You almost have a coherent thought there, and then you completely lose it by the end. The things that you are complaining about are, at best, orthogonal to roleplay, and in general have absolutely nothing to do with it.
>i have no rebuttal but im going to pretend im smart
You dont play games
Proprietary dice are annoying, especially for a dice mechanic that doesnt really call for them.
>I am incapable of actually describing my issue, so I gesture vaguely at "system's inability to roleplay" then last out when people point out that doesn't make any sense.
you really don't need propietary dice. You just need d12 and d6s
11s are 0s/Sauron Eyes
12s are Crits
6s in d6s activate skills
you don't need the runed dice to play at all
>Its less about rules to tell you how to roleplay and more about having tools as a gm to adjudicate roleplay.
Adjudicate them how? I don't really think you need fancy rules for roleplaying, heck I don't think you really need ANY rules for roleplaying. However I do think having systems to create situations for roleplaying can be useful... which is more about what the OSR is about presently than any RETVRN TO SOVL.
In d&d you can influence the man sitting in the tavern to tell the party where the bandit is hiding out by rolling for charisma. But the rules for adjudicating what happens are vague and loose leaving the burden on the GM to decide a DC for the check, and often results in a binary result of pass or fail. Other systems have clear targets for the dice roll, shades of gray for the results rather than pass fail, and parallel mechanics that happen regardless of passing or failing (ie l5r’s opportunity dice). This is an example of systems that facilitate easy GMing for roleplay. The idea that games DO NOT have or need roleplay mechanics is silly and wrong, even OSR has tables for monster reactions and retainer loyalty. The issue is that those mechanics are the total depth of the system and its not enough. OSR has the same problem that 5e adventures have, the GM is expected to do the work the author didnt do. If you love homebrew its the perfect system, but right now its too much work for the multiple games i run.
>I’m too stupid to understand how pf2e’s rigid character building options impede roleplay
This says more about you and the games you don’t play than me. My last pf2 character was a wrestler, I was stuck with background options that either granted circus lore or war planning skills, neither make a lot of sense. I was stuck with feats that were mechanically inferior because they matched thematically. You are truly braindead and nogames if you cant understand how the mechanic/narrative dissonance of dnd gets in the way of actual roleplay and character building.
Frankly the responses in this thread show what a disaster 5e has been for the hobby. People cant even conceive of roleplaying mechanics that have existed in the hobby for like 25-30 years.
>OSR has the same problem that 5e adventures have
Don't let them hear you say that, they'll burst a blood vessel
>My character is a wrestler without a background in circus lore and strategy, therefore I can do literally nothing if it doesn't relate to those three things.
You're too stupid for ttrpgs. Do something else bud, you've struck out.
Try reading my post again slowly
Its trolling to expect a system to do more than ask you to just make it yourself? And regardless of if i could have houseruled a background it still doesnt address the same issue in the feat tree. Please dont tell me to just write my own feats
The overwhelming majority of games in the past 30+ years have rules that facilitate role playing. Some niche example that has to run everything on GM fiat isnt a good representation of the average ttrpg.
Perhaps the mechanics I mentioned in the post you are quoting but clearly didnt read?
I dont know abt the irc. Newvola is another link aside from the archives. Just r£br@dly/ and then newvola to get there. I had this exact problem 2 days ago trying to find the same pdf.
What is Newvola?
I'm devastated*
Instead of typing sharethread in the hyperlink type newvola instead. Idk why there is a new one or why it has that name. I had to google newvola to figure it out.
So, yes, your idea of """roleplaying""" is rolling a social skill and having the gm tell you what that means.
That's fricking dumb. Sorry you're dumb.
As opposed to a railroad fest where the GM decides by fiat the result of every social encounter based on how they are feeling that day?
I'm sorry that you have an abusive relationship with your gm, but no amount of rules are going to protect you from a shitty gm, my dude.
You need to play at better tables, with better people, or perhaps they should without you.
If I am playing a social heavy game with zero social mechanics and running an entire session without combat am I still even playing a game at that point or just a freeform roleplay? I dont understand what you are suggesting. What system are you even talking about?
>The idea that games DO NOT have or need roleplay mechanics is silly and wrong
Nah. Games have existed for decades without explicit rules for muh socials and not had any issue. It's more about how you have to manage things at your personal table.
I guess the rest of the thread is right that OP is just an austist.
>Frankly the responses in this thread show what a disaster 5e has been for the hobby. People cant even conceive of roleplaying mechanics that have existed in the hobby for like 25-30 years.
What mechanics are you talking about? Because, in pretty much ANY of the systems mentioned in this thread, it's a fricking roll based on your stats. Which both pathfinder and 5e have. And if your idea of """roleplaying""" is "I role persuade/deception/intimidate to get head pats from the gm," than you're beyond fricking help.
>Systems like Legend of the Five Rings and World of Darkness/VtM are just way better at roleplaying. The issue is, I love medieval fantasy settings the most and neither system does this
Play Vampire: Dark Ages. Or werewolf dark ages, or changeling, whatever. You can have wod narrative but in medieval fantasy with knights and dragons and the holy grail
Earthdawn
>medieval-ish fantasy
>set in the real world-ish
>magic users are balanced against non-magic users because everyone is a magic user to some extent
>dice pool rather than the tyranny of the d20
>indie, so no support to globalists
I am looking forward to Gloomhaven RPG
Why haven't you commented on your thumbnail system?
> I read that fantasy age provides a more narrative dnd but it looks like it has all the same issues of dnd and i did not see any narrative mechanics.
Aside from that I have read a ton of negative comments on the system about HP bloat, and the system feeling incomplete. I want it to be good because it has a nice modern design but im not sure its got enough strength to replace dnd for me.
I am waiting on the weird wizard system. Does shadow have enough to it to support a session with zero combat?
Im really looking for a complete system rather than a hack and bennies are the reason i didnt bother mentioning savage worlds.
Then honestly just go with Genesys.It sounds like what you want but are afraid to commit to it
The social and exploration stunts for fantasy age look interesting for narrative play.
>Does shadow have enough to it to support a session with zero combat
There is some basic 'social combat' rules which I've not personally seen used, however I did run a combat-free session where the players had to gain access to a university to research an artefact
I forgot this thread existed.
>I am waiting on the weird wizard system.
That wouldn't be a bad bet, it's more standard fantasy than SotDL is and I think the game is generally better over all.
>Does shadow have enough to it to support a session with zero combat?
I've done plenty of them without combat. However, if what you're asking is "are there lots of non-combat mechanics?" than there aren't. It's pretty light when it comes to that stuff. It's got the main dice resolution system, a light skill system, and it all works pretty smoothly. SotWW has got more going on for that stuff with some social rules, chases, and a few other bits in its core book though. But I don't think you need a load of rules to make RP interesting and engaging.
>I was stuck with background options that either granted circus lore or war planning skills, neither make a lot of sense.
>I was stuck with background options
No you weren't. You just decided not to make a new background. It tells you how to do it before it even tells you what any of them are.
>just write the system yourself!
This exactly the problem I am talking about.
Sorry I thought you were being sincere. Kindly frick off back to /b/ where trolling isn't against the rules. Thank you.
I like L5R and CofD, and I went to Shadow of the Demon Lord after getting a bit burned out on D&D stuff. Might be worth a look.
if you want a narrative dnd check out fantasycraft. It's still a narrativist hack of dnd with some class abilities that always work like the burglar being sneaky etc, a bennie system to influence scenes narratively, a scenes structure etc
This spammers obsession with hating D&D is so ridiculous. Rather than play games for their own sake, he'd rather play games just to make people know that he's totally over his ex and that he's the one that broke up with her and he doesn't think about her at all.
I knew things at wotc were bad but they dont even offer health insurance for you to be able to take your meds?
I had the same problem as you and started playing Savage Worlds about 6 or 7 years ago and it was the best decision im my DMing "career".
It's a generic system, but it has a ton of setting books that you can use. It uses a wound system (so vary fast combat), has a very nice power point based magic system and many sub-systems for assorted situations like social encounters, quick encounters, mass battles, etc.
The books are also very cheap to buy and you need only two for medieval fantasy (SWADE core rulebook + SWADE fantasy companion)
I can aswer any questions about the system if you want.
Is there a trove where I can pick these up? Not OP, just curious.
Check the share thread its in da curated archive.
Why do you suggest dragon age over fantasy? I actually ended up settling on Fantasy Age because it seemed pretty modular. Im assuming i can port over whatever is good from DAGE, Modern age, blue rose etc. Fantasy AGE seemed generic yet specific enough to run the kind of settings i write without being married to an explicit setting. Ive never played Dragon Age the vidya so i have no connection to it.
>Why do you suggest dragon age over fantasy?
I feel that Dragon Age has greater depth, and that there's mechanics which go with the setting.
I also like the dark fantasy vibe well. DA is a great setting in general.
>mechanics that go with the setting
Can you elaborate? I feel like i missed the boat by not playing the game but maybe i can steal bits of the mechanics.
Lion and Dragon it does medieval fantasy right.
And frankly Wod and the narrative games suck as role play games.
>What system would TG suggest i look into?
Unless you really really hate the setting, play Dragon Age RPG instead of Fantasy AGE, which is a weird genericized version of it.
The only system that actually does more "roleplaying" is Drama System, the system that the game Hillfolk uses.
>I don't want to play D&D
>Posts a worse D&D with roleplay replacement mechanics.
Play Traveller or Ryuutama instead.
Genesys is a pretty shitty system when I tried it. You have to constantly come up with extra shit every time you roll the dice, you'd think it would be fun but it's actually exhausting. And having to use their own proprietary dice is moronic. Like you can make your own or use their dice roller but what you get from their shitty dice isn't worth it.
I thought burning wheel was hot garbage but I guess I'm one of the people who hate it.
Haven't played Fantasy Age but given the diverse woman of color on the front I'd avoid it like the plague.
Without knowing what you want in an RPG it's hard to give recommendations. I always recommend people play Polaris at least once because of how unique it is. It could take a few sessions to get through. Dread is great for a one shot and is very unique too.
>You have to constantly come up with extra shit every time you roll the dice, you'd think it would be fun but it's actually exhausting.
I hate this fricking shit. First off "ow, my head, I have to pretend in my game of pretend," is such a water head critique it blows mind. Second, it says in the rule book, if there isn't a good use for advantage or disadvantage on a roll, you can just ignore it, or inflict some strain, or give a boost or negative die on the next roll. You don't "have to come up with something for every roll." The system gives you a bunch of fallbacks for that. And every time I've played, my players were actually engaged in the game, and came up with there own idea for advantage and disadvantage without prompting.
Nah the system is garbage and their dice are annoying. Game is pretty much dead for a reason.
The game is dead because Edge/Asmodee are fricking awful.
You sound like the kind of person who cannot picture an apple in there mind.
>there mind
Lmao, at least I know the difference between there and their. moron.
NTA but frick you, THERE post is correct about Edge/Asmodee and you are a silly homosexual.
I think the thing with Genesys is that you only call for dice rolls when you have a large situation that cannot be resolved simply whose outcome is still largely unknown. Otherwise if it's simple, you don't roll dice and just rule it via fiat which already is a cornerstone to what GMs have to do anyways. But I do agree that the system doesn't lend itself to simple solutions all that well.
Burning Wheel is interesting to read, but the earlier gripe about how it gets too easy to think in terms of the maneuvers rather than with the duel of wits itself is a gripe I stand by. It's still great for mining for ideas and concepts.
I do have the Fantasy Age book saved and I haven't read too deep into it, but it looks geared towards heroics. It's not my cup of tea as I feel it still keeps to a number of archetypes (Warrior/Rogue/Mage) that, while a classic staple, isn't what I want.
I don't know anything about Polaris though, but Dread is only for horror games but is really good at it.
One system I do like though is the Cortex system. There is Cortex Prime, but I know that some of the art is very DEI friendly so the anon I'm replying to would be put off by it. That system however isn't so good as a resource management/dungeon crawl system, but does a great job emphasizing drama and critical moments especially in line with the flow of a comic book or a manga. Lord knows how much that system inspired the changes I made to my own system.
I prefer to use specific systems rather than generic myself. They have mechanics that encourage the theme and feel of the game. For example WoD has very specific mechanics for each sub game.
That being said players can be a bit finnicky about learning new systems.
Seems like you know more about the systems than I do, would either Genesys or Cortex work well for 40k? I want to run a 40k game but I'm worried Imperium Maledictum will be too heavy a system for them.
Genesys is the generic version of the FFG Star Wars system like from Edge of the Empire or Age of Rebellion. If I was going to use it for scifi, I would crib stuff from the Star Wars RPGs as appropriate, and just skip the Jedi/Sith content beyond basic Telepathy stuff.
What
said. But if you want your 40k game to flow like a graphic novel with its own dramatic moments and cinematics, it might be interesting to see you use Cortex Prime for it anyways for science. I made a hack Pokemon system using Marvel Basic Heroic Roleplaying as the chassis (Which is Cortex based) and it ran surprisingly well, but it ran more like the manga than like the video games.
I have a copy of marvel heroic but not the generic cortex book. Is it easy enough to hack into medieval fantasy?
I found it to be pretty simple, but the equipment part gets to be tricky in my opinion. Consider unarmed attacks to be a d4, while other weapons are larger in number but also include some SFX on those weapons. Like if you have a Dagger, give it the Thrown SFX to grant you the means to throw your Dagger at a foe without the foe getting an extra d6 to their Defense pool against your attack.
Maybe you can come up with better?
Why not the official 40k rpg? I prefer specific systems too so Id try that before trying to write it into genysis or cortex
It’s probably better but I want to explore alternatives. I’ve played a lot of Dark Heresy etc and it’s a very janky system. It has a certain charm to it but I’m curious if there is something a bit less weighed down by sacred cows.
The Genesys general surely has fan supplements for 40k
>Fan supplements
Aren't all of those on their forge. I think that’s why the general is dying everyone with homebrew tries to sell it
Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages
The One Ring 2e
It has humans, dwarves, elves and halflings.
It's pratically classless and you lean more into what you want your character to be good at, rather than being pidgeonholed into a party role. No PC magic users. It has a simple feat system that allows you to customize your character further but never gets bogged down into "combos" or "optimizing" and lean a lot into the RPG aspect of your character (ie. you are always rested when travelling, you can earn the trust of other races after sharing a meal, etc.). Combat is fast and lethal, and it's more reminscent of OD&D side-based initiative combats. You can adapt it to your preferences and transform it into grid-based or tabletop with miniatures.
There's meaningful weight system and getting wounded actively affects your performance. Getting seriously hurt can kill a character quickly.
It has a Shadow/"Sanity" mechanic, and a "Fate" mechanic that players can use to activate skills or add more dice to a roll. If you use too much Fate and the Shadow value increases, you risk having your character be weakened by despair.
Travel is important, and it tires you before you reach your destinations. Getting lost and having problems on the way is possible through events tables, that you can easily expand.
Equipment has a nice variety and it's very easy to create new pieces of equipment with meaningful variables, since damage/critical value/weight and properties are different for most weapons.
There's an unified concept of "wealth" and individual items aren't priced, instead assuming that at X wealth level you can own certain items instead of tracking every penny.
Codified rules for diplomatic encounters in which petitions and requests are subjected to various rolls, in which the whole party must contribute to obtain aid from a powerful NPC.
Contd.
DM wise, it's so fricking easy to play that D&D turns into a chore. Enemies are easily created with 3 stats and roll with an unified "level", which is also their threat value. You know how dangerous a creature is by its value alone, and you can create a monster or npc on the fly easily. Wealth being an abstract value allows you to reward adventures on a consistent basis. Maybe my only issue is that there aren't a lot of things to spend money on, but you can adapt some larger properties like strongholds and such.
Magic items can be created using a table, and they cannot be bought. I cannot stress how good this is in order to promote more roleplaying instead of chasing +3 weapons that combo with your build. Finding a magic sword and slowly discovering it's properties is a quest on its own. A weapon that can kill ghosts or certain beings is an important advantage for the character that wields it.
XP is rewarded on a per session basis, but you can easily adapt it to milestones if you wish.
Finally you can play it in LOTR or most other settings (I've played in Greyhawk, and Ravenloft), and get good results by adapting some monsters and rules.
Not OP, but I appreciate this recommendation. A LotR game is also an easy sell for the new players.
Can you link a full pdf of it? I found one link, but it was an "Alpha" version which I don't feel is the full version. It sounds intriguing.
My favorite not-D&D-but-still-D&D-ish game is probably Open Legend (Everyday Heroes is a close second).
Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I actually haven't played a fantasy campaign with it.
It's free, classless, open-ended, and in practice most of it is like the 'effect-based' ability system from Mutants & Masterminds.
You build a character from attributes and feats, and it's point buy. Attributes are, broadly, also skills. Points in attributes determine your dice pool: d20 plus the die or dice from your attribute. You even roll the attribute directly for attacks.
Most attributes are pretty direct. Points in Agility means your character is more agile, obviously. But there's a list of 'Extraordinary Attributes' which are more abstract: Energy, for instance, can be a wizard's evocation magic, or a dragon's fire breath, or a supehero's laser vision. In a sci-fantasy game I ran it was an inventor PC's phaser-inspired energy gun/multitool.
There's a universal pool of positive Boons and negative Banes. You can use any of them so long as you have an associated attribute at a high enough score and it makes sense. You can make a character that gets access to stuff at level 1 that you'd have to wait a while for in something like D&D, but at the cost of being a bit shit at almost everything else...and you're not necessarily going to be great at it, or be able to do it reliably, and it might just get you into more trouble. See the attached example character: they can do a LOT of stuff, but a couple bad rolls and you're a corpse.
idgi, isn't it the job of the DM to encourage roleplaying?
I would like to know if there is any charitable soul here willing to share a copy of Fantasy Age 2nd Edition for a Brazilian without an international card.
Its in the newvola. You wont find it in the normal sharethread archives.
>You wont find it in the normal sharethread archives.
Sharethread has instructions for IRC
I had a great time with ICE's MERP (early 90s i guess?).
Also, RP experience doesn't have anything to do with rulebooks. It's mostly an autism/no autism thing.
I learned how to use irc.
which server do you recommend?
I use dejatoons. search for rpg-books
I entered the server.
But I can't perform searches.
Thank you very much.
I achieved. Now translate it into my language and bring it to the table with the rest of the AGE system.
>DUDE IM SO LE HECKIN COOL AND A REAL GAMER FOR REALS IM JUST TO SMART FOR D&D AND GAMES WORKSHOP DO I FIT IN YET MY FELLOW ELITE HIPSTERBROS?
do we really need this thread for the 10000th time? Seriously, do you trannies ever stop seething?
I just want a medieval high fantasy version of legend of the five rings or worlds of darkness. Its not my fault morons came to the thread and tried to gaslight me that roleplaying games dont exist and 5e is fine.
No one's gaslighting you, waterhead. You didn't come in and ask "hey /tg/, I'm interested in meta-mechanics like the one in l5r, are there any more generic fantasy games like that?"
You came in an claimed that it is impossible to roleplay in the or PF. That you tried, even, and the system somehow fought you every step of the way. That's such a fricking bonkers statement that I'm kind of convinced you're trolling.
Is gaslighting when you light a fire with your farts?
100 percent yes.
That does sound like a problem
Read the OP again
So long as I dilate, I must also seethe
and cope
Ars Magica. It's literally set in medieval Europe, with magic. It is simulationist-narrativist. Characters, in order to get Virtues (feats), must take Flaws. These include story flaws (which can be Boons with a catch, or just hellish like Curse of Venus). Your metacurrency, confidence points, are rewarded by advancing the plot and acting in character. Stories have mechanical consequences. Got stabbed with a sword and need to coalesce because you chose violence? Now you won't be able to study/learn/advance ANYTHING until you recover to at least being mobile, which will likely not be until Autumn. Building the Covenant (metacharacter) is literally you all going "what sort of stories do we want the DM to spring on us?" and getting things like resources, Allies, and other sorts of things. One of the results when you muck around with Magic in the lab causes a story/adventure to happen. Twilight, every part of it!
Yea I have this one and want to try it. It is restricted to playing as wizard’s though?
Dice pool(with results having multiple meanings) and unified resolution mechanics are important. With one group my players are stuck in the rut of i swing my sword pass turn. With another group we have the opposite problem and want to have more freedom to do more things in an action.
With l5r you can roll opportunities which dont count as a success but grant the pc extra abilities or the chance to direct the narrative. In fantasy age you roll 3d6 and one of the dice determines the rank of stunt you can do in addition to your action.
Unified mechanics are important because combat turning into a mini wargame can be immersion breaking. Thing’s flow better when Theres less of a jump cut from talking to fighting. When the rolls for both are the same it helps keep the story moving.
Im not familiar with all of these systems listed but the ones im familiar with are very d20 adjacent with binary results on the die roll.
Something like 7th sea seems good just without the setting. 13th age is another one but im waiting on the second edition.
Got it. Personally I like when the dice is limited to success and degree of success. But you might enjoy Genesys. Perhaps REIGN as well. I know I enjoyed playing Edge of the Empire a decade ago.
The brief description on reign seems exactly the kind of system I am looking for. I’ve never heard of it thanks
Happy to Help.
No, but obviously the system is biased towards Hermetic Magi. You can permit people to make Fae, Magical Creatures, and Mythic Companions in place of a Magus. Mythic Companions are a certain category of individuals, typically reserved for individuals that are more than a standard person but lacking the Gift (and thus being a wizard). The examples in the books are a nephilm, the child of a demon, a Faerie doctor (that is, someone who maintains the good vibes between humans and the fae), various varieties of children of Magical creatures, ect. But, for a broad overview, these have three things in common: 1) Larger than life/more than normal, 2) A free Minor virtue+free social virtue describing the companion, 3) Getting two 'points' of Virtues for every point of Flaws (so, up to 20 points of virtues with 10 points of Flaws, not including ). Everything else works perfectly well without wizards, save the main magic system because of obvious reasons. You can even use the Covenant system to instead describe another sort of institution if you want with modifications of course.
Of course, you don't have to do Mythic Companions, you can do all Companions, or even all Grogs. But do keep in mind that, save characters that have a Might Score, the characters may be particularly weak to magic if you yourself don't do some homebrewing because, RAW, a character with no magical resistance is just affected by a spell. So that Pilum of Fire (Scorching Ray) will just do its +20 damage to the target since it won't have to penetrate. Also magic=/=wizard in Ars Magica. The folk witch with her familiar, the demon summoner, the Hermetic magus, the holy mystic, and even the humble dowser all do magic just with different sources, power, and methods. A 'mundane' character may have the gift of second sight or have prophetic visions from the Divine.
You could grab Buffy / Angel / CJ Carella's Witchcraft, or the fanmade LotR Unisystem game, and bolt on Dungeons and Zombies. Unisystem is reasonably close to WoD mechanically.
Alternately, you may find you like Stormbringer; Mythras; Mongoose' Legend, Mythras Classic Fantasy; or Deus Vult.
GURPS Fantasy or GURPS Dungeon Fantasy RPG may be what you're looking for.
You could run The Dark Eye or Trudvang Chronicles.
And then there are Rolemaster and Harnmaster.
Or something AD&D-inspired like ACKS. or AD&D with the more historical setting books.
If you want a different take on d20 fantasy; you may find FantasyCraft or True20 fit what you're looking for, they're both pretty big departures from typical 3e.
If you want more human-centric, low magic fantasy and don't mind 3e d20-esque combat, d20 Conan may fit what you're looking for.
I have not tried Fantasy AGE, but it looked pretty d20-ish from what I've heard explained.
I think Cypher (The Numenera system); and the generic FFG Star Wars RPG system both do fantasy. I haven't tried Cypher, but I did read Numenera when it came out. Not build-focused.
If you want 'rules-lite 5e with really swingy math and tiny bonuses' ICRPG may fit your tastes.
You may also like the unusual rolling mechanics of REIGN. I read it and it seemed cool, but I've never had a chance to try it.
7th Sea is also always an option, but it's more age of sail.
My personal preferences are for Rolemaster and GURPS Fantasy and TDE; or if I want to try something d20ish, Eclipse. I don't know what you like beyond what little information is in your OP; so I just tried to give a reasonably comprehensive summary of the many many many options.
What exactly are you looking for, anon?
Try O.L.D. (W.O.I.N.)
I had fun with Shadow of the Demon Lord. But it's also a d20 system, although the world, classes and mechanics of corruption make it much more fun for me and for what I'm running it as. It's also dark fantasy that dies let itself be silly sometimes which I always appreciate.
>Shadow of the Demon Lord. But it's also a d20 system.
It's not. Using the d20 as the main resolution die does not make a system a d20 system. Same as using d6s doesn't make a system a (WEG)D6 game.
I worded it poorly, that's my bad. I meant to say that it uses d20+mods so it can feel similar to D&D and systems like that, so if you want to fully escape d&d feel it's not ideal.
You didn't word it badly. It's a d20 system. It's just in the d20 System.
>completely burnt out
Simple Solution, for every 3 months of weekly or bi-weekly sessions of a fantasy setting and a d20 system, play 2 to 4 full sessions of Chaosium Call of Cthulhu (with its system that is not d20 and in an era with rifles and trains etc). This prevented saturation and burn out. And get back to your fantasy setting.
Or a similar solution, this worked for me and my friends. Simple and effective fully. Surprisingly so. You do it even when not bored, so before any saturation, you do it like clockwork and its all refreshed.
>Systems
So from time to time, change the system and the setting genre, not just one or the other.
we also tried Werewolf the Apocalypse, the 1990s version, and some other stuff but CoC worked better.
So any fantasy setting (any, not just D&D) with its system (d20 or d6 whatever) 3 months and then 1 month of technological setting (rifles to ray guns) with its own system (the more different from the fantasy system the better, and being sort of elaborate makes it better) and you have the solution.
this works even when reversed. Call of Cthulhu for a long time and a some fantasy, and go back to it. Its great.
Just fricking play Pendragon. I don't know why nobody has recommended it yet. It is an early medieval Arthurian legends game all about knights and honour. And yes you can definitely play an entire game without having combat.