Alternative to WoTC D&D

[Fighter1]

Hi,

My gaming group has played v3.5 since it came out (and 3.0 before that). We all have hundreds of dollars worth of books. Now that v4.0 has come out we have universally and unanimously chosen to never, ever partake in it for the following reasons:

A. That they do not think v3.5 needs to be replaced anytime soon - it ain't broken.

B. Financially; we all spent a lot of cash over the past few years building up v3.5 libraries and the like. Not that we can't afford the switch (my group is all 30 something professionals with good careers); it’s the point of it along with reason A.

C. Even if we did will WoTC pull another ".5 conversion" on us in a year or so? Probably.

D. Everyone knows v3.5 these days (those that don't never will at this point). Why flip systems then not be able to get new players or DM's if you need them?

E. The principle of the thing: v2.0 NEEDED to be changed - the v3.0/v3.5 system certainly does not. Sure there are issues - but no gaming system is perfect. In v3.5 you can work around these with ease.

F. What does v4.0 offer me that I can't get in v3.5? It seems that v4.0 offers me some out of game advantages and fewer in game. In v3.5 I can do almost anything with a character; feats, skills, multi-classing.

G. Finally: 4.0 seems like a total change - which means that everything I have right now is useless in 4.0. This includes ideas, thoughts, PC's including the aforementioned materials

However the question has arisen (which I am sure it has for so many others); do we even want to stay with the D&D system over the long haul.

Thus my question is: what are the better D20 gaming systems out there that people have played? Especially ones that are “closest” to the WoTC D&D universe? As well as others like Iron Heroes?

 

[theskyfullofdust]

You could just stick with 3.5. With all the books and the like you have, then you'll be able to play for ages. And even if you didn't want to make your own adventures etc, there's plenty of adventure paths still out there.

Otherwise, you could try the Pathfinder rpg that'll be out (in it's alpha test stage), which is meant to be compatible with 3.5.

There's Iron Heroes, the Arcana Evolved stuff, and I imagine others can shed a light on many, many more.

Personally, I'm giving 4th ed a go, but then I don't have loads of 3.0 or 3.5 books (skipped most of 3.5 due to life getting in the way, only just recently started playing again).

Hope that helps.

 

[mmadsen]

If your group likes 3.5E and thinks "it ain't broke," why are you looking for alternatives?

 

[Remus Lupin]

Conan d20 is a very cool system. Different enough from D&D to give a different flavor, but close enough that it won't require a complete relearning of the rules.

 

[Fighter1]

If your group likes 3.5E and thinks "it ain't broke," why are you looking for alternatives?

We don't think its broke as I said - the advent of v4.0 sort of made everyone start thinking about alternatives. We had all looked at WoTC D&D as the only real option of everything in gaming - we might browse some alternatives but never really considered them. But when we look around we see that with OGL there are so many other options.

Thus its not that we might flip to get rid of a bad system we'd flip to try out a new one which is something that really never crossed our minds in the many years we've all been playing together on and off.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

...

 

[maggot]

I'd say sticking with 3.5 satisfies the most of your concerns.

 

[smootrk]

My latest fascination is Savage Worlds. Over time I had realized that even the 3.x editions were very bloated, and I wanted something a tad more fast and furious for gaming. SW gives me that and a degree of setting flexibility that is really not present anywhere else... only the littlest of tweaks are necessary to change between Modern/Fantasy/Hard Science/Steampunk/Gritty Puritans/Conanesque/Pirates/etc.

True20 and a couple others promise this, but IMHO fail to deliver on the easy-scale.
Good Luck on your search.

 

[Turanil]

If I understand well, you like 3.5 but are not happy with the line being terminated, not supported anymore. Well, my guess is that PathFinder by paizo (already mentioned above) is the way to go. It is in design stages right now, with alpha releases available for download and criticism.

Myself I abandoned 3.5, and turned to C&C, True20, and Savage Worlds, but I guess these won't fit your bill.

 

[jmucchiello]

I'd say you can support 3.5 with existing books you don't own through ebay. How many of the hundreds of adventures have you used? How many of the WotC hardbacks do you own? Mongoose's? Green Ronin's? Etc. Converting future Pathfinder stuff should be trivial. And then you could also supplement your game with tens of thousands of PDFs. And there are 2 magazines still printing 3.5 material, aren't there? DM-Rocco's and Wolfgang Bauer's (the names of which escape me and I'm too lazy to google).

Unsupported? I don't think so.