Crunchy Tactical RPG like 4e/pf2e but for Urban Fantasy?

[John Dallman]

Please tell me there's an actual Florida Man setting for GURPS. That would be amazing.

Sadly not, but here's the page for the campaign we played.

 

[thullgrim]

GURPS and HERO will indeed give you everything you want and more.

I’d also recommend Savage Worlds. Good character build options, plenty of material to draw from, and can be tactically inclined.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’m a HEROphile- my favorite system bar none. I’ve also enjoyed M&M and GURPS. Any of them can do urban fantasy quite well.

But ever since I saw it, I’ve thought D&D 4Ed’s mechanics would make for a damn good classless toolbox system. I wish someone would do the heavy lifting on that. I’d buy it yesterday.

Most supers games have the potential to do urban fantasy, as do the bulk of most horror RPGs.

Beyond that? I’d probably also look at WW’s WoD titles (especially Mage: the Ascension), the Scion series, Godlike, Cypher System, and Monster of the Week.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I’m a HEROphile- my favorite system bar none. I’ve also enjoyed M&M and GURPS. Any of them can do urban fantasy quite well.

But ever since I saw it, I’ve thought D&D 4Ed’s mechanics would make for a damn good classless toolbox system. I wish someone would do the heavy lifting on that. I’d buy it yesterday.

Most supers games have the potential to do urban fantasy, as do the bulk of most horror RPGs.

Beyond that? I’d probably also look at WW’s WoD titles (especially Mage: the Ascension), the Scion series, Godlike, Cypher System, and Monster of the Week.

I'm not sure I'd call WoD or PBtA titles crunchy or tactical, though. They can definitely do urban fantasy -- and there's a new urban fantasy book coming any second for the Cypher System -- but I don't think any of those would scratch the itch for someone looking for something comparable to 4E or PF2E, like the OP is.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm not sure I'd call WoD or PBtA titles crunchy or tactical, though.

Yeah but we're grading on a curve in this thread, when people are naming stuff like d20 Modern and GURPS, both of which are mildly crunchy, but d20 Modern in no way whatsoever tactical and GURPS very weakly so* (compared to 4E/PF2). A lot of WoD stuff and several PtbA games are more "tactical" than d20 Modern, for example.

HERO is tactical and is probably not a terrible option here. Savage Worlds I think is, at least in my experience, very mildly tactical - I'd put it a bit ahead of GURPS for this.

Sadly the only actually-tactical RPGs I can think of aside from PF2 and 4E are 4E-inspired ones, Lancer, Gubat Banwa, and err whatever the fantasy one by the Lancer guy is called (it has an unfortunately generic name).

However there is 4E-inspired urban fantasy game, I learn - Wyrdwood Wand by Candy Hammer Games

I don't know anything else about it, but it might be what the OP wants.

* = I haven't played the latest GURPS I admit, but I played the previous edition, which people claimed was "tactical" - it wasn't. Not even with stuff added to supposedly make it be. So my unless they've made huge changes...

 

[RenleyRenfield]

So some of my favorite rpgs(on paper) are those with a lot of character options and builds like DND 4e Pf2e and even Mutants and Masterminds and one of my favorite genres is Urban Fantasy so I'm wondering if anyone has found a game that combines those elements.

I suggest Achtung! Cthulhu (link)

• Modern setting stuff (cars, guns, phones, etc)
• Urban setting (rules for fighting in close quarters, battlefields)
• Tactical play (uses battle maps, figurine placement, special moves tactics)
• Lots of spells (themed a bit horror, but that can be tweaked if you need four color heroics)

 

[Thomas Shey]

Radiance RPG is a steampunk love child of D&D 4e and 3e. Core rules PDF can be had for the price of free.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I was a backer for the Kickstarter on that, but I have to say the final product skimmed off my brain like a skipped stone.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not sure I'd call WoD or PBtA titles crunchy or tactical, though. They can definitely do urban fantasy -- and there's a new urban fantasy book coming any second for the Cypher System -- but I don't think any of those would scratch the itch for someone looking for something comparable to 4E or PF2E, like the OP is.

There were incarnations of the first version of the WoD which leaned in that direction, but there may not have been quite enough individual specialization. I'd have to think about it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah but we're grading on a curve in this thread, when people are naming stuff like d20 Modern and GURPS, both of which are mildly crunchy, but d20 Modern in no way whatsoever tactical and GURPS very weakly so* (compared to 4E/PF2). A lot of WoD stuff and several PtbA games are more "tactical" than d20 Modern, for example.

I was, in my case, thinking of some of the add on material for GURPS not just the core, in my case.

HERO is tactical and is probably not a terrible option here. Savage Worlds I think is, at least in my experience, very mildly tactical - I'd put it a bit ahead of GURPS for this.

It does have the advantage there's a lot of potential combat customization in the character gen and advancement at least, and that seemed to be some of what the OP was interested in.

* = I haven't played the latest GURPS I admit, but I played the previous edition, which people claimed was "tactical" - it wasn't. Not even with stuff added to supposedly make it be. So my unless they've made huge changes...

Huh. Seemed so with the add-ons to me back in the day. I admittedly didn't run it as much as Hero (I probably haven't run anything other than RuneQuest as much as Hero...) but it at least gave that impression.

 

[aramis erak]

So some of my favorite rpgs(on paper) are those with a lot of character options and builds like DND 4e Pf2e and even Mutants and Masterminds and one of my favorite genres is Urban Fantasy so I'm wondering if anyone has found a game that combines those elements.

if you can find it, Streetfighter: the Storytelling Game is WWG's Storyteller at its crunchiest. The WoD: Combat (tail end of oWoD's product line) is the same combat mechanics moved to support the standard oWoD character types; it needs a WoD core to work with, tho'.

While not the crunchiest, but still fairly crunchy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer supports more tactical play that it initially seems, having a lot of special maneuvers and such. And you can't get much more Urban Fantasy than it. Still available on DTRPG in PDF. Also has a companion game, Angel. Two other Urban Fantasy RPGs in the same engine: Ghosts of Albion and Army of Darkness: The Roleplaying Game. Both those also on DTRPG. Eden seems to have shut down, but their PDFs are still available.

If you want super-crunchy, 10x10 cm hit locations, look for Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic, by Tri-Tac. I don't normally recommend it, as the detail level is WAY too high... I'll note that the novels are decent fun, and the game can do all the weird «bleep»ery the first novel has... Probably out of print.