Epic/High fantasy game for a one-shot introductory game

[RolRàpid]

Anyone can suggest me an Epic/High fantasy game to run a one-shot for new players?

For reasons I've already discarded D&D, The One-Ring, Pathfinder, Against the Dark Master, Burning Wheel, Unity, Palladium Fantasy. Please refer other games than that.

By now I'm considering Fantasy Age, Index Card RPG, Soulbound, Barbarians of Lemurian (I know, not much High Fantasy), Savage Worlds. Any prons and cons on these games.

I'm open to any other suggestion.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Lord Shark]

If you think they'd be comfortable with the PBTA style, and with contributing to the worldbuilding, how about Fellowship? Or Fabula Ultima, if you like the JRPG style. If you prefer something more trad, there's 13th Age or Godbound.

 

[TheHand]

Another recommendation for Fabula Ultima. If they’re brand new to rpgs, you might consider trimming out some of the mechanics concerning bonds, particularly for a 1-shot (depends on how comfortable they are with rp’ing).

Savage Worlds could work, but I’ve found the system is a little hard for brand new players to wrap their heads around. Things like Raises, calculating Toughness and Armor confused the newbie players I played SW with.

I’m not that familiar with the others in your list, but having seen a game of Fantasy Age played that one looked like a good choice too.

Cheers, hope the game goes well and you hook some new people into the hobby!

 

[Theory of Games]

You can't run high fantasy with BoL? I did. The system allows for the creation of fantasy heroes, sometimes superhuman heroes. Initially I thought BoL was more for sword & sorcery tales, but the characters the players made and the way they ran them turned the adventure into something closer to classic mythology.

You CAN use BoL for high fantasy, if you like, and the rules-liteness of the system is IME very satisfying. It plays fast and allows for a strong degree of in creativity. I really like everything about it and suggest using the Mythic edition over Legendary.

 

[RolRàpid]

You can't run high fantasy with BoL? I did. The system allows for the creation of fantasy heroes, sometimes superhuman heroes. Initially I thought BoL was more for sword & sorcery tales, but the characters the players made and the way they ran them turned the adventure into something closer to classic mythology.

You CAN use BoL for high fantasy, if you like, and the rules-liteness of the system is IME very satisfying. It plays fast and allows for a strong degree of in creativity. I really like everything about it and suggest using the Mythic edition over Legendary.

Cool! Unfortunately I only own the Legendary edition. What differences are between the two?

 

[RolRàpid]

Savage Worlds could work, but I’ve found the system is a little hard for brand new players to wrap their heads around. Things like Raises, calculating Toughness and Armor confused the newbie players I played SW with.

I’m not that familiar with the others in your list, but having seen a game of Fantasy Age played that one looked like a good choice too.

Cheers, hope the game goes well and you hook some new people into the hobby!

Agreed with your views on SW. Discarded!

Thanks! I hope so!

 

[innerdude]

If PBTA style is okay, there's a neat Forged in the Dark take on D&D-style fantasy called Grimwild that was released just a few weeks ago. You can get the main player-facing content for free on DriveThruRPG. There's a $20 PDF for GMs that adds an additional chapter of content for running the game, adds two additional classes.

I've only in the last month really gotten into Forged in the Dark (2 sessions in), but I downloaded the free player-side PDF, and it looks pretty fun.

The way it handles "clocks" using a dice-countdown mechanic is frankly brilliant.

 

[Theory of Games]

Cool! Unfortunately I only own the Legendary edition. What differences are between the two?

Mythic:

• "Brawl" is replaced with "Initiative"
• Rules for mass combat/war
• More setting material (locations and monsters)
• More "polished"

Legendary is fine, though.

 

[RolRàpid]

What about Dragonbane? Do you consider it fine for new beginners?

 

[stormwriter]

What about Dragonbane? Do you consider it fine for new beginners?

It’s a good game, and very easy for beginners, but I wouldn’t consider it epic/high fantasy. Unless you tweak some things, give some extra abilities for the players from the start, it could be pretty lethal.

From the other ones listed I really love Age of Sigmar Soulbound. The system is great and easy to pick up, it’s easy to create characters (but there are pre-made ones), and it’s pretty epic/high fantasy. Only caveat is that it’s tied to the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe, so you have all this lore baggage you would need to tackle and explain part of it to your players, whereas in something like Dragonbane you can just start playing without explaining anything.