D&D 4E 4e Competition/Alternatives?

[dm4hire]

Prepare for mental meltdown as I try to recall every game I know that is a decent opposition to D&D.

Fantasy Craft is a new system based on modified d20 rules created for SpyCraft (originally created by AEG and now published by Crafty Games through Mongoose), releasing around May.

Conan RPG which is d20 OGL from Mongoose.

Grimm RPG from Fantasy Flight Games where you play kids trapped in the twisted world of Grimm Fairy Tales. Released late last year.

Anima RPG - Epic Anime Fantasy originally released in France, but being converted to English and distributed by Fantasy Flight Games. Due out sometime in the near future hopefully.

Tunnels & Trolls if you want to go old school and it can also be played solo with lots of stuff created for it by fans.

Legend of the Five Rings by AEG if you like Asian themed Fantasy with Samurai and courtly intrigue.

d20 Modern by WotC if you want modern fantasy or at least modern rules similar to D&D. Rumor has it they might be doing a 2nd ed in 2009.

Serenity RPG & Battlestar Galactica RPG, both by Margaret Weis Productions using their game system providing rules for playing games similar to the shows.

Also TV related you can find games for Buffy, Angel, Stargate, Farscape, Star Trek, and of course Star Wars. All but Star Wars have been done by different companies other than WotC, though first version of Star Wars was done by West End Games. Star Wars Saga Edition is a forerunner to D&D 4e.

Midnight RPG by Fantasy Flight Games is a d20 OGL game where characters live in a Tolkien world where the evil god like being wins out and now good struggles to survive.

Qin RPG is another Asian themed RPG.

Blue Rose is a romantic fantasy RPG which is also a forerunner to Green Ronin's True20 system.

Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and Iron Heroes are both RPGs which are d20 OGL products offering variant rules for D&D fans.

White Wolf's new game in April "World of Darkness: Innocents" you will play kids living in the World of Darkness and is billed as a stand alone without need of the other rule books.

HARP (High Adventure Role Playing) by ICE is another fantasy themed RPG. It is similar to another game they made by have long since forgotten the title of (kicking myself for forgetting it as it is classic RPG). You can get the quick play here http://www.harphq.com/free_downloads/3000L_HarpLite.pdf

Call of Cthulhu if you want a decent horror RPG based on H.P. Lovecraft and want to drive your players, or at least their characters, crazy while doing it. Chaosium has also made the base system for it separate and usable on its own however you want to use it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles if you can find a copy somewhere. It has been out of print for a long time.

Rune RPG based on the videogame and offers a coop gamemaster theme, focusing heavy on hack and slash as you play a viking warrior.

7Seas RPG by AEG uses a d10 system similar to Legend of the Five Rings, but focuses on Pirates and Privateers. It is out of print but still available. They did a d20 spin for D&D called Swashbuckling Adventures which is out of print also but books are still available.

Okay, my brain is starting to hurt. I could go on and on, but I'll stop. As was mentioned before there is nothing wrong with discovering new RPGs and most players who have played for any long period of time has at least two or three different games under their belt they can tell you about. Best thing to do is just visit your local game shop and start looking things over. You might never come back to D&D, that's okay don't let that stop you, but you will definitely pick up a few good ideas at least to help make you a better DM or Player.

 

[Acid_crash]

This July Wild Talents 2nd edition is coming out and if you haven't played anything with the One Roll Engine (ORE) then you are truly missing out on one of the more innovative dice systems designed.

 

[Tao]

Lots of good suggestions (especially Grimms).

Also, I just thought I should mention that I have been gradually developing a game for the last couple of years that I had originally planned on publishing sometime next spring. Unfortunately, the announcement of 4e has effectively taken the wind out of my sales as far as using this system as a commercial venture, and I am instead going to be polishing off some of the rough edges and releasing it for free over the internet sometime this summer (I figure if its for free, I don't need to go through as arduous a playtesting phase and can kind of let the chips fall where they may).

The system itself was originally designed for play on the go, so there are very few required materials to play, and the system is really flexible as far as character actions are concerned while still being fairly complex. Overall, I enjoy playing it, so I figured other people might too.

I'll post back here when I have a better idea of my timeline (though the website is registered at tao-simulations.com, so feel free to bookmark it... there's nothing currently there).

 

[Aus_Snow]

I heard there will be a new Hunter this year, too. For the New World of Darkness, I mean. Hopefully it is better (subjectively) than the old one. Not that I'll likely buy it anyway, but it would be nice to see it done well this time (IMO.)

Hero 5th ed. is another 'universal' game I don't think anyone's mentioned in this thread, so far. Seems to have a solid following, and plenty of supplements + fan material. Not my cuppa, but it is plenty of others'.

 

[Pour]

This thread has turned into exactly what I was hoping for. I cannot wait to start investigating these games further. I think each of them sounds like they warrant at least a few sessions of play and I think my game group is up for it. My only concern is if the game can be played online, as that's how I DM (I think I'm a better writer of descriptions and dialogue and stuff when I type it, versus live speaking, plus online the player pool spans the world).

Thank you all so much for your input and please continue to suggest. This thread can also help people like me looking to try something different.



And side note, I met GRRM and have read all that's out for SoIF. He was very personable, but the only thing that bothers me about him has very little to do with his writing and a lot to do with his work ethic. I know it takes a lot of time to write a book, but supposedly Dance of Dragons was half-finished 3 years ago. So where is the novel? He has a lot of side projects that seem to be taking his attention away from his main claim. Also, he tends to "gush" on his blogs which can be irritating. All in all, I can't think of many who really spin a tale as intricate and fascinating as him in the current day, though.

 

[Flynn]

Savage Worlds has a lot going for it. I've started running it about four months ago, and I'm finding it to be a great game that makes life very easy for the busy GM. And when you can buy a complete Savage Worlds rulebook for less than $10, it just makes sense to pick one up and give the system a try if you are going to be looking at new systems. You won't be disappointed.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[I'm A Banana]

If you hold out for Modern 2e, I think that it will be able to be a more "generic" set than current D&D and should be able to be reverse-engineered.

I'm actually looking MORE forward to the Modern release, as I believe the GSL for that will be a lot more open than the one for D&D, and thus have a lot more interesting games built around it.

But that doesn't help you now.

 

[olshanski]

I'd like to throw a vote out there for Dunjon.

Imagine your typical D&D session... with a twist. If someone rolls a success on a search for a secret door, they find a door. Depending on how successful they were, they can also state one or more facts about what's behind the door.

If a player listens successully at a door, they hear something, and depending on the degree of success they get to say what they hear.

It is a game that puts a little more narrative control in the hands of the PCs... definately interesting.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7496.html

 

[mhensley]

There's also RoleMaster Classic and WEG is rumored to be working on a new fantasy rpg based on the D6 engine. Also, Kenzer will probably have HackMaster 5 out sometime in the next 2-3 years.

 

[Piratecat]

Yeah, stupid books for the masses usually go on for 1000's of pages and are acclaimed as the best fantasy books written since LOTR. < i cannot roll my eyes enough > Perhaps you just weren't smart enough to follow the story.

Why in the world are you suddenly under the impression that it's okay to insult people? Next time you're tempted to do this, just walk away from the keyboard instead or report the post.

Meanwhile, KarinsDad, please work on phrasing your opinion so that you aren't trolling. Your response was guaranteed to anger people. If that wasn't already obvious to you, it should have been.