D&D 4E 4e Competition/Alternatives?

[Pour]

I suppose my question breaks down to
a) Is anyone else coming out with a new system/game to in any way compete with 4e?
b) What are the popular or well-done alternatives to 4e available in the coming year? (as I've played 3.5 to the point I want to try something beyond d20 should 4e be a bust)

Apologies if this is a newbie question, just trying to expand my horizons of the roleplaying game genre.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

I hear FATAL is good.

Maybe World of Synnibar.

(In seriousness, the closest to what you are asking is Book of Experimental Might by Monte Cook.)

 

[Cadfan]

What exactly are you looking for? Generic fantasy?

D&D is probably the strongest competitor in that category, but if you like specific settings or other genres, there are a lot of options available.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Green Ronin is releasing the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG this summer, based on George R.R. Martin's novels. They also have True20 Adventure Roleplaying as a viable alternative to D&D. If you are looking for something more retro, there's Castles and Crusades from Troll Lord. Pinnacle has Savage Worlds, which is pretty fun. Paradigm is supposed to be releasing a new game for their Arcanis setting, though I'm not sure when. There are many more alternatives, depending on what you like.

 

[Pour]

*takes notes*

Thanks for the input so far, guys. You've already given me a lot to explore.

Generic Fantasy, sure, I like that, though I'm of a mind to try anything. There is just so many options out there that it's somewhat intimidating for a guy only exposed to D&D to sort of doggy paddle out into deeper waters, where games that may not have Brand Managers and PR Directors behind them await.

Again, thanks. I'll research your recommendations.

 

[breschau]

If you're interested in pulp gaming at all, Hollow Earth Expedition is glorious. Not d20.

Mutants and Masterminds is perfect for superheroes, but it's d20.

 

[tuffnoogies]

I suppose my question breaks down to
a) Is anyone else coming out with a new system/game to in any way compete with 4e?
b) What are the popular or well-done alternatives to 4e available in the coming year? (as I've played 3.5 to the point I want to try something beyond d20 should 4e be a bust)

Apologies if this is a newbie question, just trying to expand my horizons of the roleplaying game genre.

There's always World Of Darkness. I also love Dream Pod 9's Silhouette system, but I've only read it, not played it. It's not real popular in my area.

 

[CinnamonPixie]

Castles & Crusades

If you don't want to do "D&D" by title anymore (though you could stay with 3.5 as I think there's a ton of stuff available and there's a lot of people that will still make stuff for it since the bulk of the system mechanics are truly open OGL license material (opposed to the "less open" model for 4e that's being discussed - and only released by WotC to certain "applicants" who pay handsomely for the privilege of being accepted and allowed to have the license - that's NOT "open" at all) and WotC CAN NOT go back on the OGL for 3.5 now that its out there and been established (there'd be serious lawsuits and a massive breach of contract with the general public for doing that)).

But if you don't want to stay on WotC's D&D at 3.5 look at "Castles and Crusades" by Troll Lord Games. Gary Gygax himself worked with the guys at Troll Lord Games and was very fond of the system and the work that they did. In fact a lot of the stuff that was coming out of Troll Lord had his name on it - and he put an entire line of stuff out through them in that title.

I've heard some game reviewers saying that since D&D is no longer really Dungeons & Dragons (like it felt and was in 3.0-3.5) that Castles & Crusades (which in some ways is more like AD&D than 3.0 and 3.5 were) is the best thing to take up the mantle of being the true "D&D" game out there - at least in spirit since the title is now Hasbro's coveted World of Warcraft [hopeful] killer trademark possession.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I suppose my question breaks down to
a) Is anyone else coming out with a new system/game to in any way compete with 4e?
b) What are the popular or well-done alternatives to 4e available in the coming year? (as I've played 3.5 to the point I want to try something beyond d20 should 4e be a bust)

Apologies if this is a newbie question, just trying to expand my horizons of the roleplaying game genre.

I think there is nothing that can directly compete with D&D, except a different edition of D&D.

I think there are also no direct competing games coming out at this moment. (They might be in a design & development state, though.)

That said, there are naturally other successful games out there.
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I like the new edition, and there should be a lot of useful material out there (even stuff from the previous edition should be useable - at least the adventures.) This might be one of your best bet for playing Fantasy, though it's a lot grittier then D&D. The atmosphere is dark, nobody trusts anyone, and anyone that seems trustworthy probably is actually consorting with demons. And everybody dies.

- Das Schwarze Auge / The Dark Eye: The German equivalent to D&D. Is a little more "naive", I'd like to say. In atmosphere probably the opposite of Warhammer. The setting is well detailed and is interesting to explore.
Getting material in English though will be hard (as far as I know, the core books are available, but additional material seems sparse to non-existing.)

- Shadowrun: If you want some fantasy in your modern-to-cyberpunk game, that's your game. It has an interesting setting, and the mechanics seem pretty solid in the newest (4th) edition. But since I haven't run more then one or two sessions of it, I can't really tell you how well this impression holds over time. Oh, and one advice (and pardon my clatchian): "It's not a Shadowrun if Johnson doesn't frack you twice."

- White Wolfs Storyteller system and its associated games (Vampire, Mage and so on) are pretty successful.

- Gurps. Never played it, but you can basically get supplements to have it do anything, from gritty fantasy to over-the-top superheroes.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Mongoose RuneQuest appears to be quite well supported, and the Gloranthan sourcebooks by Robin Laws have gotten good reviews.

Conan is still out there, is a great system, and has a lot of sourcebooks.

Ken