Besides D&D, what are you playing?

[Aldarc]

It's still pretty aggressively informal at this point, since I'm not anticipating being able to start until 2021 (and who knows how much more delay there will be due to coronavirus). But, basically

-Make characters and design the village using the playbooks.
-Convert characters to broadly use 5e rules. 6 classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, W/R, W/M, R/M). The playbook gained features provide an extended background that guides skill choices and special class features. I have a bunch of rules modifying the 5e core, probably beyond the scope of this post.

I know you say that you are using 5e rules, but would it still be d20 roll under attribute or d20 roll high against a DC? But whatever the case, color me deeply intrigued by your project.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.

You may want to check Five Torches Deep. It’s a simplified version of 5E, designed to be grittier and to place the emphasis on exploration.

 

[PabloM]

I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.

I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.

 

[Nebulous]

I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.

Shadow of the Demon Lord looks very, very interesting, grim dark fantasy.

 

[Mark Sabalauskas]

I have a Damn the Man Save the Music one shot scheduled for Wednesday, and a Fate game a little bit later.

Both should be light enough to play with voice channel on a Discord, with a Google doc for notes.

 

[Reynard]

Shadow of the Demon Lord looks very, very interesting, grim dark fantasy.

Isn't that a Diablo style dungeon crawler on tabletop, including fast leveling and contained environments?

 

[Nebulous]

Isn't that a Diablo style dungeon crawler on tabletop, including fast leveling and contained environments?

I don't think so. It caps at level 10, I know that. It has some similarities to 5e but I haven't actually played it, just read over a few rules. It's a roleplaying game, not a monster churner. Combat can be quite deadly actually.

 

[Nebulous]

I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.

I took a look at that, it looks pretty cool too

 

[PabloM]

I took a look at that, it looks pretty cool too

It's really amazing. I read Forbidden Lands and Symbaroum at the same time, and finally decided on Symbaroum because it seemed to fit more with what I was looking for, but I will definitely try to run at least a one-shot in Forbidden Lands someday.

 

[Reynard]

I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.

I watched a review of it. It looks similar to the exploration system of Mutant: Year Zero. My only hang up is that it doesn't seem to be easily portable to an original campaign setting.