Alternatives to 5E (I ask for no particular reason...)

[HawaiiSteveO]

Anyway, aside from Pathfinder and Level Up, what are some other top dog alternatives to WOTC? I know there's a lot, but what are some of the big players?

Came across Necrotic Gnome - read free stuff looks pretty good. Also generally familiar with Castles & Crusades.

Looking for stuff with lots of support, material available etc.

 

[Umbran]

I mean, in a basic sense every other game ever is an alternative, so...

Could you be a bit more specific about what you want out of the game?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Anyway, aside from Pathfinder and Level Up, what are some other top dog alternatives to WOTC? I know there's a lot, but what are some of the big players?

Came across Necrotic Gnome - read free stuff looks pretty good. Also generally familiar with Castles & Crusades.

Looking for stuff with lots of support, material available etc.

What Umbran said.

Do you want something that is Fantasy? Are you looking for something that is "crunchy" (lots of rules)? Do you want something that is more heavy DM authority or looking for something more player-driven (such as a more story now style of game)? Is OSR and past editions something you've considered as an alternative?

Anything?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

I mean, in a basic sense every other game ever is an alternative, so...

Could you be a bit more specific about what you want out of the game?

As tradition dictates (with it being so close to the end of the year and all) what are the Top 10 fantasy favorite / popular / well established alternatives to 5E (not counting PF & LU)?

 

[DarkCrisis]

I plan to give The One Ring 2E a shot when it's released soon.

 

[DemoMonkey]

Have you considered sports?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

I plan to give The One Ring 2E a shot when it's released soon.

I bought / read the AIME books a few years back but had hard time selling it to my players. Great books though.

 

[5atbu]

Anyway, aside from Pathfinder and Level Up, what are some other top dog alternatives to WOTC? I know there's a lot, but what are some of the big players?

Came across Necrotic Gnome - read free stuff looks pretty good. Also generally familiar with Castles & Crusades.

Looking for stuff with lots of support, material available etc.

If you like the idea of OSR adjacent, then OSE from Necrotic Gnome gets great reviews and I adore their Dolmenwood setting. More BECMI than AD&D but can be taken that way as well. All BECMI stuff available on DMs Guild will run as is.

Similarly Castles & Crusades is OSR adjacent, maybe more like AD&D but much more it's own thing. Very well supported with their own product range. I've run their stuff using other systems.

If you want to try something really quite different, RuneQuest is very well supported, and has a very high fantasy, mythologically deep setting based in a kind of Bronze Age world.

Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing game is very dark and yet sardonically funny in a very British way, and massively supported.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

If you like the idea of OSR adjacent, then OSE from Necrotic Gnome gets great reviews and I adore their Dolmenwood setting. More BECMI than AD&D but can be taken that way as well. All BECMI stuff available on DMs Guild will run as is.

Similarly Castles & Crusades is OSR adjacent, maybe more like AD&D but much more it's own thing. Very well supported with their own product range. I've run their stuff using other systems.

If you want to try something really quite different, RuneQuest is very well supported, and has a very high fantasy, mythologically deep setting based in a kind of Bronze Age world.

Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing game is very dark and yet sardonically funny in a very British way, and massively supported.

Curious about Warhammer . . . heard about it but not much more than that.

 

[CleverNickName]

Let's see here...

The subject of the thread asks for "alternatives to 5E," and the original post asks for "alternatives to Wizards of the Coast," so I'm going to assume you are looking for a third-party fantasy RPG. Now, WotC is the largest publisher and D&D is the gold-standard for tabletop RPGs, but they are far from being the only game in town. You are going to get lots of recommendations.

I'm no exception. If you want to play something D&D-adjacent that isn't published by Wizards of the Coast, give The One Ring a look. You might also like Legend of the Five Rings RPG for more of a samurai-fantasy mashup vibe. The 13th Age is pretty good, I hear, but I haven't played it. And I never miss an opportunity to plug Numenera, probably one of the most underrated RPGs ever written.

But...

...and I hate to write this, but I've experienced it firsthand on more than one occasion...

...be prepared for disappointment. For better or worse, there isn't really a substitute for D&D. If you are looking for something that looks exactly like D&D, and plays exactly like D&D, and has just as many published works as D&D, and has just as many players as D&D, etc., you won't find it. There isn't a such thing as "Just Like D&D, but not D&D" on the game shelf--the best you can hope for is "Not D&D, But Close Enough For Me." I hope you find it!