Alternative to WoTC D&D

[Treebore]

If you essentially want to stick with 3E then PAthfinder is likely your best bet. Still, check out other games. Even those that have nothing to do with 3E or D20. True20 is pretty dang cool, and has a large degree of similarity to 3E d20.

If you want streamlined flexibility then check out Savage Worlds, C&C, Microlite20, etc...

 

[Wolfspider]

And the same could be said for 4e...Do you really think it will be the penultimate in game design?

Actually, I do think that 4th edition will be the penultimate in game design...

Right behind v3.5.

 

[JoeGKushner]

If you're worried about the changeover stick with 3.5.

Conan has has multiple printings editions.

Iron Heroes even had a revision.

Ditto for Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved.

True 20 which sprang from Blue Rose is getting a revision.

Things change.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I totally disagree with you here. The key to running an enjoyable science fiction game is to make things more cinematic. If you take a hit, does it represent a scorched hole in your chest, or is it a near miss, a bit of exhaustion, or a flesh wound. Besides, when was it any easier to take a claymore hit to the head than a bullet? I don't buy into the notion that swords and sorcery are any less lethal than plasma rifles.

I think it is a great deal more plausible at the table to explain how someone survived a sword and is able to keep fighting than it is to explain how someone who just took a full auto blast from an assault rifle to do the same. But since you disagree, how about an analogy...

Are you familiar with the term 'The Uncanny Valley'? It is a theory that explains how a person reacts to something that is meant to be human. Consider C-3PO, he is shaped like a human with 2 arms, 2 legs, eyes and a mouth. But he looks nothing like a human. We can find him easy to relate to. He seems non threatening. Now consider attempts at photo realistic CG animation of human faces. They look a whole lot more human, but the longer you watch them, the more they just seem wrong.

The Uncanny Valley refers to what happens when you draw a graph of how people react to representations of people. As you make a robot or CG animation look more like a person, people react better to it, up until a point. Then the graph takes a sudden dive as people are just disturbed by it, often because it looks more like a corpse than a human, before returning back to acceptable as it becomes more life like.

My point?

I think that suspension of disbelief has its own sort of Uncanny Valley. Details that you could gloss over in a fantasy game start to bother you more in a modern game. And for a future game, while you can hand wave some details as 'Technology solves that', there are still some things you cannot just ignore.

Fantasy settings are just much more forgiving with respect to suspension of disbelief than future settings.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Khairn]

If you're worried about the changeover stick with 3.5.

Conan has has multiple printings editions.

Iron Heroes even had a revision.

Ditto for Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved.

True 20 which sprang from Blue Rose is getting a revision.

Things change.

Actually AU and AE didn't have a revision. AE includes everything that was in AU, and then Monte added a little more. Nothing that had been printed in AU had been deleted or changed. It was more like a Director's Cut of the original. I don't call that a revision as much as an expansion.

But you're right on target with the others.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Let me add my voice to the Pathfinder chorus. Free PDFs of the alpha and beta tests. OGL. System so close to 3.5 that you can eye ball Pathfinder compatable modules to use with 3.5 and vice versa.

Other systems you might want to check out (and yes some have been mentioned before)
True20 (designed to be a rules lighter d20),
Runequest (for a grittier combat, and ducks)

 

[Crothian]

I'd stick with 3.5 it's not like the third party support is completely going away. As you say everyone knows the game and you have the books. Play that till 09 and see what the gaming enviroment lookjs like at that point.

 

[Sunderstone]

so far the OP has been called.... Short sighted, not rational, possibly a troll, and that his group is being extremely, unjustifiably prejudicial. etc.
All because hes not looking to enter into 4E. Sigh.


Ill echo the Pathfinder alternative. Besides this you can pick up a multitude of 3.5 modules from Paizo, Goodman, Necromancer, etc and build entire campaign on these alone.
If you want a premade mega campaign, grab Rise of the Runelords from Paizo or Castle Whiterock from Goodman Games. Both are unbelievably awesome.
Theres also some older Adventure Paths from Dungeon magazine like The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and the Savage Tide.

If you stick with 3.5 youll probably be busy for many years to come. For new supported material 3.5 compatible, you cant go wrong with Paizo's Pathfinder.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

One of the groups I play with just wrestled with this decision and for many of the same reasons you list. Ultimately we decided Pathfinder RPG offered the best solution for what the majority of the players wanted (now, this may change in a year when the final rules come out-our decision was obviously based on the Alpha playtest.)

 

[Dinkeldog]

Deciding not to switch because of how heavily your invested in the current system is perfectly valid. As Eric Noah said, there has never been a better time NOT to switch.

*snip*

If your looking for a more significant departure from what you usually play, then look into Gurps or Shadowrun, or Paranoia, or Exalted. Just step into your local gameing shop and take a look around. There are alternatives out there.

END COMMUNICATION

One of the issues there is that Gurps, Shadowrun, and Exalted seem to be moving to newer versions even faster than D&D.

If the issue is that D&D is changing editions after only 8 years, and since 1975 has had 4 versions already in the intervening 33 years (this will be the 5th--I'm counting OD&D here,which may or may not really be a valid count but does give the "worst-case" estimate--giving a little more than 6.5 years/version), then supported gaming lines may not be what you want.