BitD Fantasy or best FitD game to play fantasy? Tell me about it!

[innerdude]

Are you familiar at all with Ironsworn and its dungeon-crawling companion, Ironsworn: Delve?

Ironsworn isn't BitD, per se, it's more of a hybrid of Apocalypse World / Dungeon World and Blades in the Dark.

The resolution mechanic is different, and player traits are structured differently than BitD, but man oh man is it awesome.

The core Ironsworn PDF is also free. https://www.ironswornrpg.com/downloads

 

[Reynard]

Are you familiar at all with Ironsworn and its dungeon-crawling companion, Ironsworn: Delve?

Ironsworn isn't BitD, per se, it's more of a hybrid of Apocalypse World / Dungeon World and Blades in the Dark.

The resolution mechanic is different, and player traits are structured differently than BitD, but man oh man is it awesome.

The core Ironsworn PDF is also free. https://www.ironswornrpg.com/downloads

Ironsworn has one of my absolute favorite core mechanics ever. It's really great.

 

[Eilathen]

Yes, i know Ironsworn. Followed its creator way back when he was developing it over on rpg.net (or that's where i saw him do it...maybe it's not the only place he did so).
It's read only knowledge so far.

I did play some PbtA games and I also played BitD. So i do know the design space.

I guess another contender for what i am looking for would be City of Mist (if we open up to more then FitD and allow stuff close to it and/or PbtA). It even gets a fantasy version sometime soon (i guess in 2024, after Son of Oak finished the Cyberpunk thingy they're working on atm).

 

[Reynard]

Yes, i know Ironsworn. Followed its creator way back when he was developing it over on rpg.net (or that's where i saw him do it...maybe it's not the only place he did so).
It's read only knowledge so far.

Excellent Ironsworn solo play series here:

 

[Breaking Star Games]

Not Forged in the Dark, but Root: The RPG is has much of Blades in the Dark DNA like playing highly competent Rogues with Load, Flashbacks, Stress and a Skill List. But it has traditional PbtA Basic Moves and GM Moves and not as fixed of a play structure. In Root, Downtime isn't a separate phase with unique mechanics, it plays out more like Apocalypse World. I actually prefer BitD's phases to really help GMs with how much to zoom in and out.

The other core difference is that its set in a low fantasy world. Its base setting is woodland with a lot of support for the powerful factions from the boardgame. I would say its a lot like old school D&D except no magic users and the PCs start as BitD-level of competent action heroes.

Root Playbooks are like suites of abilities more like BitD than Masks, which are more narratively focused than BitD. The game has Drives and Natures - not unlike Burning Wheel's Beliefs and Instincts but made simpler. But the biggest aspect I love about this is that is not up to the players to invent their own trouble from their vice or trauma like BitD. To me, that XP trigger really pulls me out of my character, the Actor Stance. John Harper even described play as acting like a GM for your individual character.

Overall, I found it to be highly flexible - more so than a normal game of D&D 5e because no class is especially more competent. It hits on how I like fantasy run - don't try to balance Mages and Martials - just play the Martials in one game and Mages in the other. Or else magic is awkwardly limited or overshadows the Martials. And again, I want to stay in that Actor Stance, so its my preferred game to play. As for GMing, I find Basic Moves and GM Moves provide tons of GM support lacking in BitD, so its easily what I prefer to run.

Root has several weaknesses though. Its very wordy, several of its Natures and Drives are pretty uninteresting. Its layout with key information like how armor and recovery work don't make it clear - there are internet threads with these explained better. Its equipment section is pretty confusing and looks like an excuse to sell their deck of equipment cards.