Non-D&D Fantasy Games - the best and why?

There's been a few non-D&D/non-Pathfinder fantasy games that have come out in last few years and I'm the type whose keen to collect them. So I'm curious to know more about some of them and why others think so highly of them. I'm trying to steer away from universal systems (such as GURPS) and concentrate on those that are primarily rooted in being a fantasy game.

Here's a few I know of to get started. I own a few of these (those with a "*" beside them), but haven't really gotten to play them much. If folks could expound what the like from each, I'd appreciate it.

Castles & Crusades *
OSRIC *
Labyrinth Lord *
Dragon Age *
13th Age *
Conan RPG * (I think there's also another Conanesque game out...Hyboria something?)
Hackmaster, 4th edition
Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) Classics
Lamentations of the Flame Princess

13th Age is easily my number one choice. But I would also recommend FantasyCraft or the new Iron Kingdoms RPG.

13th Age is my favorite. The classes are mechanically rich and interesting, but its gridless and focused on narrative and story. It feels like AD&D but if AD&D had been designed with modern 3e/4e style mechanics. It also feels loose, and free, like old school games do. I'm planning a sandbox campaign using it as soon as the core book comes out.

FantasyCraft is good, but definitely crunchy. Where Pathfinder took 3e and went right, FantasyCraft took 3e and went left. And I don't mean that as a political analogy. I mean it started from the same foundation, but went its own path. In some respects, it seems to share some of the same design sensibilities that have informed 13th Age, but brought with it a lot more of the rules crunch that 13th Age didn't, making it more similar to Pathfinder in that respect.

The new IK RPG is not a d20 game (the old one was d20 based). It is d6 based, but the system is remarkably similar to d20 at its core. The setting and artwork are amazing and the rules and setting are tightly integrated. It has some old school grit to it, but at the same time, the pervasive steampunk gear and magic make it feel more high powered. Its cool. I'm a fan.

I'll also throw in the old Palladium Fantasy RPG. Setting-wise, I think the Palladium Fantasy RPG has a certain old school charm to it. But the ruleset is definitely stuck in the 80's. Still, its similar enough to d20 that you could convert the setting over to any of the afore-mentioned games and it would work. Except maybe IK. The mechanics are too closely tied to the setting for easy conversion, IMO.

I would say 13th age as well if we are talking pretty recent. I really liked it more than I thought I would.

I'm actually enjoying FantasyCraft and is a great alternative even to Pathfinder!

I know you said no toolbox games...but I have to say Fantasy HERO. (Fanboi!)

Of the D20 derived games not named above:

1) Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved
2) Midnight 2Ed
3) True20
4) Mutants & Masterminds with Warlocks & Warriors and The Book of Spells supplements.
5) Swashbuckling Adventures
6) Slaine
7) Thieves' World
8) The Black Company

Others I like:
1) Earthdawn
2) Talisantha
3) Harn
4) Stormbringer
5) Hawkmoon
6) Corum
7) The Fantasy Trip/In the Labyrinth
8) Everway
9) WoD

Midnight is amazing, but it really is pretty much a D&D 3.5e setting book. It has additional races, classes, and feats but most are just straight out of the SRD and not even reprinted in the book. Preparing spells works different, but they are still the same spells.

Stormonu said:

There's been a few non-D&D/non-Pathfinder fantasy games that have come out in last few years and I'm the type whose keen to collect them. So I'm curious to know more about some of them and why others think so highly of them. I'm trying to steer away from universal systems (such as GURPS) and concentrate on those that are primarily rooted in being a fantasy game.

Here's a few I know of to get started. I own a few of these (those with a "*" beside them), but haven't really gotten to play them much. If folks could expound what the like from each, I'd appreciate it.

Castles & Crusades *
OSRIC *
Labyrinth Lord *
Dragon Age *
13th Age *
Conan RPG * (I think there's also another Conanesque game out...Hyboria something?)
Hackmaster, 4th edition
Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) Classics
Lamentations of the Flame Princess

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Bear in mind, OSRIC almost literally is AD&D, being a very strict retro clone of it, and so is LL only for Basic and Expert D&D by Moldvay & Marsh. A few differences, but you'd have to look hard to find them.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess is 95% old school D&D, so is that other Conanesque game you mean (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea).

The only non D&D based fantasy game I've liked was the original Stormbringer game from Chaosium. It used the BRP rules, so almost really a variant of D&D, but d100% skill based for everything, not just thief skills.

I think it's a little bit stretching to call most of those non-D&D fantasy games. Sure, they may not say D&D on the cover, but neither does Pathfinder. That doesn't mean that they aren't as much D&D as Pathfinder is, particularly games like OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, or Hackmaster, which are all specifically designed as D&D retroclones or parodies using essentially the exact same mechanics. The same is true (mostly) for Lamentations of the Flame Princes, and Castles & Crusades is meant to be (mechanically) a hyrbid of 1e and 3e.

A few that I didn't see mentioned, that are actually not D&D; the Game of Thrones RPG got a lot of attention a couple of years ago when it came out. RuneQuest has recently been revised and released in a 6th edition. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying has had two new editions in the last few years, and is quite different mechanically from D&D. And although it's a bit old news now, among the biggest non-D&D fantasy games of the last ten years or so has got to be Exalted.

Hobo said:

I think it's a little bit stretching to call most of those non-D&D fantasy games.

A few that I didn't see mentioned, that are actually not D&D; the Game of Thrones RPG got a lot of attention a couple of years ago when it came out. RuneQuest has recently been revised and released in a 6th edition. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying has had two new editions in the last few years, and is quite different mechanically from D&D. And although it's a bit old news now, among the biggest non-D&D fantasy games of the last ten years or so has got to be Exalted.

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Well, I'm using this thread for scouting out games to buy/play - other than true D&D and Pathfinder, which I'm already familiar with. Some of the games I noted above I do own, but haven't had a chance to play so I was curious what others thought of them

Of the games you mentioned, I have Warhammer 2 & 3, Runequest (2E) and Exalted (2E). Have you had a chance to play any of the above games and if so, what was your opinion of them?

You might be interested in Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS), as it's another of the retro-clones like the others on your list. In this case, of BD&D with a heavy emphasis on the transition from adventurer to "ruler/guildmaster". It caps at 14th level; adds a few options to basic, two different elf and dwarf classes; makes higher level spells into rituals; does a few interesting things with clerics; adds more "End-Game" material. I like it more than the other BD&D clones.