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It's Not D&D - My Experiences
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<blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 8948155" data-attributes="member: 42040"><p>In response to Matt Colville's "reimagining" of RPGs to scrub the D&D from it, I wanted to reflect on some of the games I've played/ran/read that aren't D&D.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.enworld.org/threads/mcdm-officially-announces-their-rpg.695954/page-2#post-8947892[/URL]</p><p></p><p>Here's a list of some of my experiences with systems unlike “traditional” D&D (e.g.: OD&D, BECMI, AD&D 1 & 2, D&D 3.x/PF, D&D 5e, and PF2). Feel free to ask questions, comment, or add your own takes.</p><p></p><p>Palladium (TMNT)</p><p>Extent of Experience: My first TTRPG. Ran a few one-shots in middle school, played a short campaign in high school, revisited a one-shot in college.</p><p>Status: Occasionally flip through the books for nostalgia. The system is very dated and confusing.</p><p>Verdict: Would not run again.</p><p></p><p>GURPS</p><p>Extent of Experience: Ran a couple short adventures 20 years ago when I was falling off 3.x/PF.</p><p>Status: Very complex character creation and difficult to balance. A nightmare to GM because of all the options.</p><p>Verdict: Would not run again.</p><p></p><p>The Fantasy Trip</p><p>Extent of Experience: Got the big legacy box based on good reviews online. Was overwhelmed. Followed the guidance to start with Melee mini-game. Ran several battles and found that it was terribly imbalanced and completely possible to “win” almost every battle with a specific build. Verdict: Would not bring it to a table to try with a group.</p><p></p><p>D&D 4e</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought into it pretty deep. Ran loads of OP at the local comic shop with 1-2 hour D&D Encounters. Home campaigns got very tiring.</p><p>Status: Fun for quick sessions, tactical fights. Overstays its welcome in lengthy campaigns. Verdict: Would play games at a convention.</p><p></p><p>Gamma World (D&D 4e era)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought all supplements and card packs. Ran a short campaign. Fun and quick compared to D&D 4e.</p><p>Verdict: Would run a short campaign again.</p><p></p><p>WFRP 3e (Fantasy Flight)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought the boxed set. Made sample characters and tried out the combat system. When a beginning slayer character could solo defeat a dragon, I boxed it up and returned it to the store.</p><p>Verdict: Would not try again.</p><p></p><p>WFRP 4e (Cubicle 7)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought the core books, complete Enemy Within set and expanded books, a few other supplements. Played an enjoyable Con game. Ran a few sessions of Enemy Within in person before the group fell apart. Ran on Foundry later and got through the first book of Enemy Within.</p><p>Status: Rules are needlessly complex. Gritty power level is a hard sell. Would love to adapt the campaign to another system.</p><p>Verdict: It would take the right group to try this system again.</p><p></p><p>Zweihander</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played an enjoyable con game, backed the new starter set. Read through new starter set. Got discouraged about the system because of similarities to WFRP and industry stuff (publisher canceling the line, etc.)</p><p>Verdict: Like WFRP, would take the right group. Unlike WFRP, I don’t have the extent of the library for Zweihander, and don’t see a compelling reason to switch over.</p><p></p><p>40K: Rogue Trader</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played a short campaign about 6 years ago. Very tongue-in-cheek.</p><p>Status: Had a good time, but I can’t imagine it going long term. Don’t own the books anyway. Verdict: Would not try to run a game.</p><p></p><p>Traveller</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played a short adventure and a short campaign recently.</p><p>Status: Was too cerebral to hold my interest. Characters had to be highly specialized to have a chance to succeed. High specialization requirements made certain builds completely inadequate in many scenarios.</p><p>Verdict: Wouldn’t try to run a game.</p><p></p><p>Savage Worlds (Pathfinder, Rifts, Generic Fantasy)</p><p>Extent of Experience: GMed short adventures in several different Savage Settings, but nothing long term.</p><p>Status: It’s “okay.” The hyper-inflated numbers in Rifts confuse me. The swingy nature of combat makes it seem inappropriate for more than short adventures or one-shots.</p><p>Verdict: Would run again with the expectations of “beer and pretzels” gaming - not epic storytelling. </p><p></p><p>Numenera</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played in a home game, several convention games run by Monte Cook Games</p><p>Status: Didn’t like it. No matter the game, my character had one or two abilities that had to be spammed. The enemy DR was frequently too high to surmount. I’ve rarely felt as utterly powerless in a game - not like in Cthulhu - but in a game where the intent is to feel epic and awesome but the mechanics don’t support it.</p><p>Verdict: Won’t play again.</p><p></p><p>Star Wars (FFG)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Ran a short campaign</p><p>Status: I never really understood the rules and how to translate the dice pool results. I had to have a co-GM basically handle the rules issues for me. Easy for characters to get so powerful that they were unstoppable except to be challenged by “story moments” (“this whole Star Destroyer is going to blow up in two rounds and there’s nothing you can do about it.”)</p><p>Verdict: Won’t run again</p><p></p><p>Star Wars (WEG)</p><p>Extent of Experience: One of my first “not D&D” games. Ran some short adventures in high school and then played at a Con recently.</p><p>Status: Honestly, not that bad.</p><p>Verdict: Would give it a try, but a little burned out on Star Wars.</p><p></p><p>PBtA (Dungeon World, Monster of the Week)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Ran two short campaigns in Dungeon World and one of Monster of the Week</p><p>Status: Fun for a side trek or diversion, but the mechanics don’t support a lengthy campaign.</p><p>Verdict: Would happily run a one-shot.</p><p></p><p>City of Mists</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played an adventure</p><p>Status: Like Monster of the Week, good for a diversion for a few weeks.</p><p>Verdict: Would play again</p><p></p><p>Shadowrun</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played a short campaign</p><p>Status: More complicated than most of my college classes</p><p>Verdict: Would rather clean my bathrooms</p><p></p><p>Call of Cthulhu</p><p>Extent of Experience: Have run several short adventures over the year as well as completing the legendary Masks of Nyarlahotep, played numerous Con games</p><p>Status: Loved the newest edition of the system, but the challenge level is still too high to be able to use most of the material. Longterm campaigns require the right group and the alignment of the stars.</p><p>Verdict: Honestly, it’s a tired trope anymore for me. Cthulhu is not scary and everything feels fake. Also, well, I’ve distanced myself from the inspiration of Lovecraft because of … issues. I just don’t feel compelled to play or run it anymore.</p><p></p><p>Runequest</p><p>Extent of Experience: Picked up the Starter Set on PDF for $1. Bought the boxed set and flipped through it.</p><p>Status: Was initially impressed that it could be a sort of hybrid of the rules for Cthulhu and WFRP. Beautiful products and great setting lore. Unfortunately, the presentation of rules is bad, character creation and gameplay is needlessly complex.</p><p>Verdict: Can’t even read the books for enjoyment. But keeping them on my shelf because they’re pretty.</p><p></p><p>Dungeon Crawl Classics</p><p>Extent of Experience: Got the “New Fan” deal on Goodman with dice, rulebook, adventures, etc. Also got a big Humble Bundle PDF of many adventures. Read the book. Played a funnel adventure at a con recently.</p><p>Status: The funnel adventure at the con was terrible. I had one of the worst TTRPG experiences in recent memory. While I think the GM bungled the game, I think the overall theme is something I don’t like in games: everything is incredibly chaotic and random, tables and charts make you dependant to always stopping to look up anything that happens in any situation for an overall boring experience that goes against the very design goals of the system.</p><p>Verdict: Would try again, but never a Character Funnel (which is oddly enough, the main selling point of the system - to get LOLZ watching characters die violently to silly stuff).</p><p></p><p>Hollow Earth Expedition (Ubiquity)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Had a great con experience and bought the system and Ubiquity dice. Ran a lengthy adventure at the same time I was tiring of 4E.</p><p>Status: It was a good time for the one specific adventure I ran, but it quickly showed that the system was not designed well enough to not be completely power-gamed.</p><p>Verdict: I’m fine not playing it again.</p><p></p><p>Vampire (WoD)</p><p>Extent of Experience: Made a character in high school so I could hang out with the cool kids who were playing it. A couple years ago, I made a character (I think in Prometheus) that never took off.</p><p>Status: The culture around the game and the feel of the theme just don’t appeal to me.</p><p>Verdict: It’s not for me - and that’s alright.</p><p></p><p>Shadow of the Demon Lord</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought the book on a whim at a con because I liked the look of it. Flipped through it, but never really read it. Didn’t feel connected to the world building. (Something about playing robots, goblins, and undead just don’t feel heroic enough for me.) Too gloomy for me to have fun with.</p><p>Verdict: Pass.</p><p></p><p>13th Age</p><p>Extent of Experience: Ran a complete campaign as we were coming off 3.x/PF1 but not into 4E. It held us over until we started 5e.</p><p>Status: It was okay. If there were better online tools and more support (published adventures, etc.), I’d consider it more. The massive pools of dice and inability to support good tactical play do hurt my opinions.</p><p>Verdict: Again, it’s just okay. Would not be my first choice. </p><p></p><p>Forbidden Lands</p><p>Extent of Experience: Bought based on the design.Played at a con and ended up enjoying the game. Ran several sessions from the boxed set.</p><p>Status: Don’t know if I’ll ever get back to it. The survival element, random charts, etc., just don’t appeal to most of my players. Would like to try a short campaign with the right group.</p><p>Verdict: Like WFRP it’s a very niche audience who would appreciate this.</p><p></p><p>Vaesen/Coriolis/Twilight 2000</p><p>Extent of Experience: (Lumping these together because they’re all basically the same experience.) Bought based on the design.Have never really played them (except for one Con game of Vaesen)</p><p>Status: Don’t know if I’ll ever play these.</p><p>Verdict: The most niche games I own. Can’t imagine playing more than a one-off of any of these.</p><p></p><p>Alien</p><p>Extent of Experience: Unlike the other Free League Games, I haven’t purchased Alien, but played a one-shot adventure.</p><p>Status: Didn’t like the traitor mechanics and hopeless nature.</p><p>Verdict: Just play a board game next time.</p><p></p><p>Mothership</p><p>Extent of Experience: Played an excellent con game and purchased everything I could find. Still haven’t run my own game.</p><p>Status: It’s like you took the good parts of Alien and Traveller and put it in a simple, straightforward game.</p><p>Verdict: I’d run it, with the right group.</p><p></p><p>Mork Borg/Vast Grimm</p><p>Extent of Experience: Had a good con game of Mork Borg and have a friend who loves the system. The art and layout is a curiosity.</p><p>Status: Have the books on my shelf, but probably not going to buy anymore.</p><p>Verdict: Again, might be fun for a one-shot. It would be exhausting after a</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Retreater, post: 8948155, member: 42040"] In response to Matt Colville's "reimagining" of RPGs to scrub the D&D from it, I wanted to reflect on some of the games I've played/ran/read that aren't D&D. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.enworld.org/threads/mcdm-officially-announces-their-rpg.695954/page-2#post-8947892[/URL] Here's a list of some of my experiences with systems unlike “traditional” D&D (e.g.: OD&D, BECMI, AD&D 1 & 2, D&D 3.x/PF, D&D 5e, and PF2). Feel free to ask questions, comment, or add your own takes. Palladium (TMNT) Extent of Experience: My first TTRPG. Ran a few one-shots in middle school, played a short campaign in high school, revisited a one-shot in college. Status: Occasionally flip through the books for nostalgia. The system is very dated and confusing. Verdict: Would not run again. GURPS Extent of Experience: Ran a couple short adventures 20 years ago when I was falling off 3.x/PF. Status: Very complex character creation and difficult to balance. A nightmare to GM because of all the options. Verdict: Would not run again. The Fantasy Trip Extent of Experience: Got the big legacy box based on good reviews online. Was overwhelmed. Followed the guidance to start with Melee mini-game. Ran several battles and found that it was terribly imbalanced and completely possible to “win” almost every battle with a specific build. Verdict: Would not bring it to a table to try with a group. D&D 4e Extent of Experience: Bought into it pretty deep. Ran loads of OP at the local comic shop with 1-2 hour D&D Encounters. Home campaigns got very tiring. Status: Fun for quick sessions, tactical fights. Overstays its welcome in lengthy campaigns. Verdict: Would play games at a convention. Gamma World (D&D 4e era) Extent of Experience: Bought all supplements and card packs. Ran a short campaign. Fun and quick compared to D&D 4e. Verdict: Would run a short campaign again. WFRP 3e (Fantasy Flight) Extent of Experience: Bought the boxed set. Made sample characters and tried out the combat system. When a beginning slayer character could solo defeat a dragon, I boxed it up and returned it to the store. Verdict: Would not try again. WFRP 4e (Cubicle 7) Extent of Experience: Bought the core books, complete Enemy Within set and expanded books, a few other supplements. Played an enjoyable Con game. Ran a few sessions of Enemy Within in person before the group fell apart. Ran on Foundry later and got through the first book of Enemy Within. Status: Rules are needlessly complex. Gritty power level is a hard sell. Would love to adapt the campaign to another system. Verdict: It would take the right group to try this system again. Zweihander Extent of Experience: Played an enjoyable con game, backed the new starter set. Read through new starter set. Got discouraged about the system because of similarities to WFRP and industry stuff (publisher canceling the line, etc.) Verdict: Like WFRP, would take the right group. Unlike WFRP, I don’t have the extent of the library for Zweihander, and don’t see a compelling reason to switch over. 40K: Rogue Trader Extent of Experience: Played a short campaign about 6 years ago. Very tongue-in-cheek. Status: Had a good time, but I can’t imagine it going long term. Don’t own the books anyway. Verdict: Would not try to run a game. Traveller Extent of Experience: Played a short adventure and a short campaign recently. Status: Was too cerebral to hold my interest. Characters had to be highly specialized to have a chance to succeed. High specialization requirements made certain builds completely inadequate in many scenarios. Verdict: Wouldn’t try to run a game. Savage Worlds (Pathfinder, Rifts, Generic Fantasy) Extent of Experience: GMed short adventures in several different Savage Settings, but nothing long term. Status: It’s “okay.” The hyper-inflated numbers in Rifts confuse me. The swingy nature of combat makes it seem inappropriate for more than short adventures or one-shots. Verdict: Would run again with the expectations of “beer and pretzels” gaming - not epic storytelling. Numenera Extent of Experience: Played in a home game, several convention games run by Monte Cook Games Status: Didn’t like it. No matter the game, my character had one or two abilities that had to be spammed. The enemy DR was frequently too high to surmount. I’ve rarely felt as utterly powerless in a game - not like in Cthulhu - but in a game where the intent is to feel epic and awesome but the mechanics don’t support it. Verdict: Won’t play again. Star Wars (FFG) Extent of Experience: Ran a short campaign Status: I never really understood the rules and how to translate the dice pool results. I had to have a co-GM basically handle the rules issues for me. Easy for characters to get so powerful that they were unstoppable except to be challenged by “story moments” (“this whole Star Destroyer is going to blow up in two rounds and there’s nothing you can do about it.”) Verdict: Won’t run again Star Wars (WEG) Extent of Experience: One of my first “not D&D” games. Ran some short adventures in high school and then played at a Con recently. Status: Honestly, not that bad. Verdict: Would give it a try, but a little burned out on Star Wars. PBtA (Dungeon World, Monster of the Week) Extent of Experience: Ran two short campaigns in Dungeon World and one of Monster of the Week Status: Fun for a side trek or diversion, but the mechanics don’t support a lengthy campaign. Verdict: Would happily run a one-shot. City of Mists Extent of Experience: Played an adventure Status: Like Monster of the Week, good for a diversion for a few weeks. Verdict: Would play again Shadowrun Extent of Experience: Played a short campaign Status: More complicated than most of my college classes Verdict: Would rather clean my bathrooms Call of Cthulhu Extent of Experience: Have run several short adventures over the year as well as completing the legendary Masks of Nyarlahotep, played numerous Con games Status: Loved the newest edition of the system, but the challenge level is still too high to be able to use most of the material. Longterm campaigns require the right group and the alignment of the stars. Verdict: Honestly, it’s a tired trope anymore for me. Cthulhu is not scary and everything feels fake. Also, well, I’ve distanced myself from the inspiration of Lovecraft because of … issues. I just don’t feel compelled to play or run it anymore. Runequest Extent of Experience: Picked up the Starter Set on PDF for $1. Bought the boxed set and flipped through it. Status: Was initially impressed that it could be a sort of hybrid of the rules for Cthulhu and WFRP. Beautiful products and great setting lore. Unfortunately, the presentation of rules is bad, character creation and gameplay is needlessly complex. Verdict: Can’t even read the books for enjoyment. But keeping them on my shelf because they’re pretty. Dungeon Crawl Classics Extent of Experience: Got the “New Fan” deal on Goodman with dice, rulebook, adventures, etc. Also got a big Humble Bundle PDF of many adventures. Read the book. Played a funnel adventure at a con recently. Status: The funnel adventure at the con was terrible. I had one of the worst TTRPG experiences in recent memory. While I think the GM bungled the game, I think the overall theme is something I don’t like in games: everything is incredibly chaotic and random, tables and charts make you dependant to always stopping to look up anything that happens in any situation for an overall boring experience that goes against the very design goals of the system. Verdict: Would try again, but never a Character Funnel (which is oddly enough, the main selling point of the system - to get LOLZ watching characters die violently to silly stuff). Hollow Earth Expedition (Ubiquity) Extent of Experience: Had a great con experience and bought the system and Ubiquity dice. Ran a lengthy adventure at the same time I was tiring of 4E. Status: It was a good time for the one specific adventure I ran, but it quickly showed that the system was not designed well enough to not be completely power-gamed. Verdict: I’m fine not playing it again. Vampire (WoD) Extent of Experience: Made a character in high school so I could hang out with the cool kids who were playing it. A couple years ago, I made a character (I think in Prometheus) that never took off. Status: The culture around the game and the feel of the theme just don’t appeal to me. Verdict: It’s not for me - and that’s alright. Shadow of the Demon Lord Extent of Experience: Bought the book on a whim at a con because I liked the look of it. Flipped through it, but never really read it. Didn’t feel connected to the world building. (Something about playing robots, goblins, and undead just don’t feel heroic enough for me.) Too gloomy for me to have fun with. Verdict: Pass. 13th Age Extent of Experience: Ran a complete campaign as we were coming off 3.x/PF1 but not into 4E. It held us over until we started 5e. Status: It was okay. If there were better online tools and more support (published adventures, etc.), I’d consider it more. The massive pools of dice and inability to support good tactical play do hurt my opinions. Verdict: Again, it’s just okay. Would not be my first choice. Forbidden Lands Extent of Experience: Bought based on the design.Played at a con and ended up enjoying the game. Ran several sessions from the boxed set. Status: Don’t know if I’ll ever get back to it. The survival element, random charts, etc., just don’t appeal to most of my players. Would like to try a short campaign with the right group. Verdict: Like WFRP it’s a very niche audience who would appreciate this. Vaesen/Coriolis/Twilight 2000 Extent of Experience: (Lumping these together because they’re all basically the same experience.) Bought based on the design.Have never really played them (except for one Con game of Vaesen) Status: Don’t know if I’ll ever play these. Verdict: The most niche games I own. Can’t imagine playing more than a one-off of any of these. Alien Extent of Experience: Unlike the other Free League Games, I haven’t purchased Alien, but played a one-shot adventure. Status: Didn’t like the traitor mechanics and hopeless nature. Verdict: Just play a board game next time. Mothership Extent of Experience: Played an excellent con game and purchased everything I could find. Still haven’t run my own game. Status: It’s like you took the good parts of Alien and Traveller and put it in a simple, straightforward game. Verdict: I’d run it, with the right group. Mork Borg/Vast Grimm Extent of Experience: Had a good con game of Mork Borg and have a friend who loves the system. The art and layout is a curiosity. Status: Have the books on my shelf, but probably not going to buy anymore. Verdict: Again, might be fun for a one-shot. It would be exhausting after a [/QUOTE]
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