What are the most interesting non-D&D systems you've yet to play?
- Thread starter Afrodyte
- Start date
Systems: Sorcerer; Dogs in the Vineyard; HeroQuest Revised; The Dying Earth
Excitement factor: The first two are foundational systems for a whole style of RPGing (Vincent Baker describes DitV as barely more than a Sorcerer supplement, but I think he's being overly modest). HeroWars and HQ are systems that I've read and re-read a lot, and they've influenced my GMing a lot, but I've never actually played either. The Dying Earth seems pretty amusing.
Mechanics: I don't know much about Sorcerer other than its use of kickers - which it pioneered. DitV has a resolution mechanic that looks like it would be very intense in play (both sides roll dice; in turn, each puts forward dice from their pool which the other has to match or else concede the stakes; and depending how many dice it takes to match you can gain buffs, or suffer debuffs at the end of the conflict; escalating - from word to deeds to fists to guns - yields new dice but ups the stakes and also potential post-conflict debuffs). HeroWars/Quest is the most flexible free-descriptor system I know of, which should make it play like Cortex+ Heroic but even more free-flowing. The Dying Earth has a potentially very amusing "tagline" system as the focus of play (ie as a player, you're trying to set up situations which let you say your tagline for the session in a way that generates maximum amusement at the table).
Why not? I don't have a copy of Sorcerer. I have copies of the others, but my group is already busy enough playing the systems/campaigns we have going at the moment.
Excitement factor: The first two are foundational systems for a whole style of RPGing (Vincent Baker describes DitV as barely more than a Sorcerer supplement, but I think he's being overly modest). HeroWars and HQ are systems that I've read and re-read a lot, and they've influenced my GMing a lot, but I've never actually played either. The Dying Earth seems pretty amusing.
Mechanics: I don't know much about Sorcerer other than its use of kickers - which it pioneered. DitV has a resolution mechanic that looks like it would be very intense in play (both sides roll dice; in turn, each puts forward dice from their pool which the other has to match or else concede the stakes; and depending how many dice it takes to match you can gain buffs, or suffer debuffs at the end of the conflict; escalating - from word to deeds to fists to guns - yields new dice but ups the stakes and also potential post-conflict debuffs). HeroWars/Quest is the most flexible free-descriptor system I know of, which should make it play like Cortex+ Heroic but even more free-flowing. The Dying Earth has a potentially very amusing "tagline" system as the focus of play (ie as a player, you're trying to set up situations which let you say your tagline for the session in a way that generates maximum amusement at the table).
Why not? I don't have a copy of Sorcerer. I have copies of the others, but my group is already busy enough playing the systems/campaigns we have going at the moment.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Some games I'd like to play for an campaign to get the feel:
I'm really interested in playing anything Powered by the Apocalypse. The focus on relationships, the changes to GM style with Fronts, the codification of Moves - all of it seems like a very different take that I'd love to experience firsthand.
Blades in the Dark. Specialized rules for a specific niche. Downtime activities that matter.
Is FAE - Fate: Accelerated Edition - different enough I can put it as "not tried yet"? Maybe. Anyway, try Fate.
Hmm, a Cortex game. If Blades in the Dark wouldn't happen, then Leverage to try game specific around heists, but Marvel Heroic Roleplay brings a lot to me. Doom dice, different power levels, XP not for power advancement, etc.
Dogs in the Vineyard. The focus that differs from "winning" as "character success". The escalation of scenes as they move naturally through different types of interaction.
Unknown Armies, because of the setting, not the mechanics. Fiction author Tim Powers really turned me onto this mythic-underpinings type of setting.
Some games I'd like to try just to get some first hand experience with what they bring, but could be a one-shot or few session:
My Life with Master - just because of how much of a classic it is.
Over the Edge - a granddaddy of so much, but the setting doesn't seem to jive with my personal interests.
Riddle of Steel - just a one-shot to try the combat system
I'm really interested in playing anything Powered by the Apocalypse. The focus on relationships, the changes to GM style with Fronts, the codification of Moves - all of it seems like a very different take that I'd love to experience firsthand.
Blades in the Dark. Specialized rules for a specific niche. Downtime activities that matter.
Is FAE - Fate: Accelerated Edition - different enough I can put it as "not tried yet"? Maybe. Anyway, try Fate.
Hmm, a Cortex game. If Blades in the Dark wouldn't happen, then Leverage to try game specific around heists, but Marvel Heroic Roleplay brings a lot to me. Doom dice, different power levels, XP not for power advancement, etc.
Dogs in the Vineyard. The focus that differs from "winning" as "character success". The escalation of scenes as they move naturally through different types of interaction.
Unknown Armies, because of the setting, not the mechanics. Fiction author Tim Powers really turned me onto this mythic-underpinings type of setting.
Some games I'd like to try just to get some first hand experience with what they bring, but could be a one-shot or few session:
My Life with Master - just because of how much of a classic it is.
Over the Edge - a granddaddy of so much, but the setting doesn't seem to jive with my personal interests.
Riddle of Steel - just a one-shot to try the combat system
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TheSword
Legend
I’m very excited to see what Cubicle 7 do with WFRP 4e. Particularly if they go down the back to basics route they seem to be advocating by publishing 1st ed materials.
Highlights
- low magic setting with potential for high magic elements
- gritty, but with a British sense of humor
- awesome body of lore and back catalogue to draw upon
- careers not classes
- armour as damage reduction mechanic
-lower combat greater exploration and roleplay.
Highlights
- low magic setting with potential for high magic elements
- gritty, but with a British sense of humor
- awesome body of lore and back catalogue to draw upon
- careers not classes
- armour as damage reduction mechanic
-lower combat greater exploration and roleplay.
innerdude
Legend
*Burning Wheel -- I've owned Burning Wheel for three or four years now, and would love to try it . . . . but I know for a fact that my group would never, EVER go for it. I'm pretty sure this one will be relegated to the long list of "purchased, never played".
*Night's Black Agents -- This is one that we'll get around to at some point, if I pitch it to the group properly.
*Genesys -- This one's more likely than not, at some point. I like the concept and "feel" of the rules, but am leery of springing something new on the group after we started Dungeon World but then aborted it a few months ago. I'll give this one some time to "simmer."
The big thing for our group now is that we all have a lot of experience with Savage Worlds, and it's so easy to switch genres/settings with SW, that sometimes it almost seems more work than it's worth to try a new system. The actual in-play experience has to have enough of a twist, or unique hook built into the rules to make it worth it.
The other interesting thing for me is, there's not a single d20-based system anywhere on the radar. Pathfinder/PF2 Playtest/D&D 5e simply don't interest me in the least. I've had a copy of Fantasy Craft on my shelf for six or seven years now, but once again have realized that it's just one of those games I'm never actually going to play. If I wanted to go super-old-school, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia or Adventurer/Conqueror/King sound interesting, but Savage Worlds is already fantastic at emulating low-level BECMI/Basic-slash-Expert D&D style play. I've said it before on these forums that Savage Worlds was the first system that actually delivered on the experience I was promised in the pages of the 1983 Red Box.
Plus, truthfully, everything in the d20 category feels like a step backwards in game mechanics now. Once you break free from class/level based systems, going back to one feels like an unnecessary compromise.
Oddly enough---and I'd NEVER in a million years have thought I'd say this---the one D&D game that I might actually consider trying would be 4e, because it would at least be a different kind of D&D game from all the others. My tastes have changed enough now that "bog standard" D&D-style systems just don't hold much appeal anymore.
Edit: Just thought of one more --- Novus. I picked up the free beta on DriveThruRPG a while back. It seems like an interesting mash of D&D concepts with a unique dice component. Not sure the dice component in and of itself makes it worth it alone to try, but it's at least on my radar.
*Night's Black Agents -- This is one that we'll get around to at some point, if I pitch it to the group properly.
*Genesys -- This one's more likely than not, at some point. I like the concept and "feel" of the rules, but am leery of springing something new on the group after we started Dungeon World but then aborted it a few months ago. I'll give this one some time to "simmer."
The big thing for our group now is that we all have a lot of experience with Savage Worlds, and it's so easy to switch genres/settings with SW, that sometimes it almost seems more work than it's worth to try a new system. The actual in-play experience has to have enough of a twist, or unique hook built into the rules to make it worth it.
The other interesting thing for me is, there's not a single d20-based system anywhere on the radar. Pathfinder/PF2 Playtest/D&D 5e simply don't interest me in the least. I've had a copy of Fantasy Craft on my shelf for six or seven years now, but once again have realized that it's just one of those games I'm never actually going to play. If I wanted to go super-old-school, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia or Adventurer/Conqueror/King sound interesting, but Savage Worlds is already fantastic at emulating low-level BECMI/Basic-slash-Expert D&D style play. I've said it before on these forums that Savage Worlds was the first system that actually delivered on the experience I was promised in the pages of the 1983 Red Box.
Plus, truthfully, everything in the d20 category feels like a step backwards in game mechanics now. Once you break free from class/level based systems, going back to one feels like an unnecessary compromise.
Oddly enough---and I'd NEVER in a million years have thought I'd say this---the one D&D game that I might actually consider trying would be 4e, because it would at least be a different kind of D&D game from all the others. My tastes have changed enough now that "bog standard" D&D-style systems just don't hold much appeal anymore.
Edit: Just thought of one more --- Novus. I picked up the free beta on DriveThruRPG a while back. It seems like an interesting mash of D&D concepts with a unique dice component. Not sure the dice component in and of itself makes it worth it alone to try, but it's at least on my radar.
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Gradine
The Elephant in the Room (she/they)
That I've already played? Definitely Dread. The Jenga Tower mechanic works exactly as it's intended to in ramping up the tension (and allowing for moments of respite). I haven't been able to get a ton of mileage out of it; it's been mostly for one-shots and off-nights than for anything sustained, which is the biggest reason our Jenga tower usually stays in the closet.
That I really want to play? That would be Blades in the Dark, already mentioned above, and I haven't played it yet for the exact same reason; I just hit Chapter 4 of HotDQ in my current 5e Eberron campaign and I don't see that ending soon, but I really want to play this in a weird, non-canonical version of the Lhazaar Principalities. I've already been dropping hints about it in my current campaign. Heists are great fun, the ticking clock mechanics look like fun, the ability to narrate "this is exactly what I planned for!" flashbacks mid-heist sounds like a recipe for some amazing scenes. I wish that its mechanics were more setting-neutral, but I've been working on that. Definitely going to be my next campaign, if and when I ever get to it.
That I really want to play? That would be Blades in the Dark, already mentioned above, and I haven't played it yet for the exact same reason; I just hit Chapter 4 of HotDQ in my current 5e Eberron campaign and I don't see that ending soon, but I really want to play this in a weird, non-canonical version of the Lhazaar Principalities. I've already been dropping hints about it in my current campaign. Heists are great fun, the ticking clock mechanics look like fun, the ability to narrate "this is exactly what I planned for!" flashbacks mid-heist sounds like a recipe for some amazing scenes. I wish that its mechanics were more setting-neutral, but I've been working on that. Definitely going to be my next campaign, if and when I ever get to it.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Wow, Blades has quite the "I wanna play but haven't yet" vibe going on.
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