Can you name a good fantasy TTRPG that's not D&D?

[pemerton]

You may be interested in Against the Darkmaster, a love letter to MERP/Rolemaster.

Against the Darkmaster – The Classic Tabletop RPG Game of Fantasy Adventure

www.vsdarkmaster.com

I hadn't heard of that - thanks for the heads-up.

For anyone interested, there's a good discussion on RPG.net here: Thoughts on Against the Darkmaster?

There's an earlier thread too - Who's "Against the Darkmaster"? - but I haven't read it.

 

[Piratecat]

Hardback of Swords of the Serpentine is expected to be back from the printers next month. GUMSHOE fantasy by @multiplexer and myself; it's Lankhmar meets Camorr meets Ankh-Morpork, and includes both social combat and political manipulation. I feel really spoiled, and grateful, by the reviews we're getting so far.

Swords of the Serpentine

A GUMSHOE roleplaying game of swords & sorcery! by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner When it’s summer, you smell her before you see her. As you come around the curve of the Serpentine river the scent of the open sea is replaced by the stench of low tide, of boat tar, of rare spices spilled from a...

pelgranepress.com

 

[aramis erak]

AH! Dungeon Crawl Classics! How did I forget DCC?

It;s D&D derived.

And I forgot Talisman. This is a really fun game. I'll admit it surprised me.

Talisman Adventures, to be precise. Talisman (no second word) is the board game, and Talisman: Legendary Tales is the better, newer boardgame.

 

[aramis erak]

• Pirates of the Spanish Main (Pinnacle Entertainment) requires Savage Worlds. Has rules for magic

The version I have is a standalone; yes, it's powered by SW, but you don't need the SW core. It's also the edition currently available on DTRPG. The included "magic" is almost entirely explainable as tech. THe exceptions:

• Lucky Charm and Blesssed figurehead: 1 benny each
• Mariner's Lantern: that it continues to work underwater is magical, or the refilling process requires pressurizing an air tank...
• Figurehead of Neptune: +2 during storms? It can be chalked up to the placebo effect
• Cursed Treasure: again, placebo effect.
  

 

[Greg K]

The version I have is a standalone; yes, it's powered by SW, but you don't need the SW core. It's also the edition currently available on DTRPG. The included "magic" is almost entirely explainable as tech. THe exceptions:

• Lucky Charm and Blesssed figurehead: 1 benny each
• Mariner's Lantern: that it continues to work underwater is magical, or the refilling process requires pressurizing an air tank...
• Figurehead of Neptune: +2 during storms? It can be chalked up to the placebo effect
• Cursed Treasure: again, placebo effect.
  

thanks. Someone had told me that it had magic, but didn't clarify it as the above.

 

[Yoh-01]

I'm adding my voice for Swords of the Serpentine, my new go-to game to scratch my fantasy itch.

My main - and totally personnal - issue with D&D and F20 games are that they're way too heavily combat oriented. So okay, from time to time, I enjoy running a good 13th Age game, but I know that the main focus of our adventures would mainly revolve around fights.

With Swords of the Serpentine, there's first and foremost investigation scenes, as it's what the GUMSHOE system is mainly about, and there can be combat scenes too. The system was tweaked quite well to run nice fights.

Cherry on the cake, this game works wonderfully well with a 1 GM - 1 player table. The game I'm currently running with my player has even a nice Cadfael / The Name of the Rose feel, something which I'm not sure we could have properly experienced with an F20 game.

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm adding my voice for Swords of the Serpentine, my new go-to game to scratch my fantasy itch.

My main - and totally personnal - issue with D&D and F20 games are that they're way too heavily combat oriented. So okay, from time to time, I enjoy running a good 13th Age game, but I know that the main focus of our adventures would mainly revolve around fights.

With Swords of the Serpentine, there's first and foremost investigation scenes, as it's what the GUMSHOE system is mainly about, and there can be combat scenes too. The system was tweaked quite well to run nice fights.

Cherry on the cake, this game works wonderfully well with a 1 GM - 1 player table. The game I'm currently running with my player has even a nice Cadfael / The Name of the Rose feel, something which I'm not sure we could have properly experienced with an F20 game.

Wacky. I clicked to talk about SotS. Its fantastic and I couldn't be more enthusiastic about recommending it. Probably my favorite Char Gen, and the setting and rules are enormously awesome. I don't gush much, but I'll gush about SotS.

 

[Fenris-77]

To elaborate a little, theres a couple of ideas in Char Gen for SotS that I'll be using in most of games, system regardless.

 

[aramis erak]

thanks. Someone had told me that it had magic, but didn't clarify it as the above.

Savage worlds does have magic in the SW core, so, one could use SW core rules magic system in PotSM, but that's off label use..

This is one of those cases where the standalone is a subset of the core rules, limited to genre appropriatem, but otherwise stock mechanics. Similar examples exist for GURPS (GPD, GWWII, Vorkosigan RPG) and Hero System 3 (Star Hero)... I'm not aware of any in the fantasy genre other than PotSM done that way.

 

[Piratecat]

To elaborate a little, theres a couple of ideas in Char Gen for SotS that I'll be using in most of games, system regardless.

Woot, I did my job right!

Swords of the Serpentine was me creating a game that focused on precisely what I love best about gaming: tricky politics, cinematic combat, a good mystery hook, clashing social conflict, bad-ass PCs, creepy sorcery, and a city that is FULL of adventure. I am super happy by how it turned out. If you ever read and had fun with Piratecat's story hour here on ENW back in the day, I suspect this may be right up your alley.

EDIT: in addition to the amazing work done by @Multiplexer (Emily Dresner, who wrote the setting), it is impossible to understate how influential @Hypersmurf was and is on this game. If something is good, it's probably because I ran it past hyp first.