For Fantasy RPG GMs

flashbackjuice · Post by **flashbackjuice** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:54 am

Not quite the place for this kind of question, but I'd still like to ask:

I have been using DnD4E for almost a year now, and am finally wrapping up my first campaign as a GM. I have come to find DnD4 to be a little... overbearing, especially in combat. So, I'd like to switch over to a different system, one that doesn't rely on miniatures and maps, and involves more roleplaying. I love CoC, but I'd also like to run some different RPGs, like Unknown Armies and fantasy games. For those of you who run all kinds of games, which fantasy system can you recommend? Or should I just stick to BRP?

Thanks for your input!

Benjamin.wenham · Post by **Benjamin.wenham** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:39 am

Fate...oh my god fate. Play fate. Seriously, fate for the win. Did i mention fate.

Sent from Carcosa

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:22 pm

How about a loving dose of old school "Appendix N" fantasy roleplaying? Then Dungeon Crawl Classics is what you need.

EddyPo · Post by **EddyPo** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:30 pm

DCC is looks awesome but I haven't played it yet. I like Basic D&D or 1st ed and I'm interested in seeing how 5th ed. pans out.

fallingtower · Post by **fallingtower** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:26 pm

I'm an old school fan of Basic D&D (I started playing in 1981) and am going to run a game for my 10 year old son soon. He's grounded from Xbox and I am going to show him alternative things to do...including making his own dungeons.

I had over a year of brilliant fun until we moved up to AD&D. I still prefer Basic though.

As far as BRP, I've run both Cthulhu Invictus and Dark Ages and had a lot of 'realistic' fantasy fun. The non-power-gamey-ness of it makes for more thrilling adventuring. I've found 3.0 (which is the last D&D I've played) very overpowered with little fear for your character's survival. I find a Conan/Sinbad sword and sandal type game more to my tastes rather than 'modern' D&D fare these days.

caddy1071 · Post by **caddy1071** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:44 am

Hiya! Yeah, I've been rapidly tiring of the rigidity and impossible to extract wargame involvement of 3.x and 4.x D&D and it's offshoots. A few things I've heard in the grape vine, but unfortunately don't have a bunch of experience in:

1. Basic D&D makes me giddy whenever I think about it - actually was inspired to pick up copies of Holmes and Moldvay D&D after listening to Dead Games Society's podcast on them to get 'em back in my library. :p You can get just the manual on Ebay for 10-12 bucks, I'd suspect.
2. A retro clone a gaming company I've been playing with (Lesser Gnome and their Whisper and Venom line) has been suggesting Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid games. They have a basic and advanced clone available and the books are pretty sweet.

Haven't played with them much, but it definitely is a nice clone.
3. In talking about a post on Google Plus about the annoyance of D&D being too involved with the tactical system, somebody suggested Dungeonworld addresses exactly that.

Sounds like my kind of game, but I have not personally checked it out yet - might be a good one to check out.
4. Dungeon Crawl Classics - I've heard nothing but good about it, as brutal and murderous as it is. :p I have the extraordinary most recent release of it and it is gorgeous. Think the brutality of the game would appeal to Cthulhu-loving audiences. :p Jon, could you give a little more background on how it plays? From what I understand, it's brutal at lower levels - does it scale up to a good campaign game after you put your characters through the gauntlet and get past dweezil level?
5. I have not played D&D Next, but have heard great things from those who have. (however, he's a Pathfinder addict, so I'll take that with a grain of salt.

)

Good luck on finding the right system for your game!

tty!
Cory

Shannon Mac · Post by **Shannon Mac** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 10:03 pm

If I want a gritty fantasy setting I use 2E Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay which has a lot of similarities to BRP. The main book is by Green Ronin.

If I want epic high powered fantasy I gravitate towards Dragon Age RPG b/c a lot of my regulars have played the video game and we can make inside jokes.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 12:39 am

The new Hackmaster has a crunchy combat system wrapped in a low-magic setting. There's always 2e D&D.

Keeper Jon · Post by **Keeper Jon** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 12:58 am

caddy1071 wrote: 4. Dungeon Crawl Classics - I've heard nothing but good about it, as brutal and murderous as it is. :p I have the extraordinary most recent release of it and it is gorgeous. Think the brutality of the game would appeal to Cthulhu-loving audiences. :p Jon, could you give a little more background on how it plays? From what I understand, it's brutal at lower levels - does it scale up to a good campaign game after you put your characters through the gauntlet and get past dweezil level?

Oh man! DCC is brutal and super fun! The core rules are light and flexible that supports role-playing over roll playing. The game also uses the funky Zocci dice, but you can easily use regular dice on the occasions when you need to generate a strange number range. It is a "level" game, but 5th level is near god-like. So it's tons of fun in the low low levels.

I dare anyone to read a DCC module that was published for the DCC ruleset, and not be completely swept up into the game. I make the distinction about a module published for the DCC rules, because before Goodman Games created the actual Dungeon Crawl Classics rules, Goodman Games published DCC modules for other editions of Dungeons and Dragons. So, starting with module #66.5 and on... all of those modules are for their own game.

Naps · Post by **Naps** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:19 am

Holy Jones! The cover art on those puppies... Unambiguous. Boy. I am sold.