Fantasy RPGs that do things... different?

[pawsplay]

To be clear where I'm coming from: I consider any game where you roll a flat distribution and try to beat a target number to be "just like D&D" - whether it's a d20 and you're trying to roll higher, or a percentile and you're trying to roll lower, it's the same basic type of roll.

That's an interesting definition. I don't understand it, but it sure is interesting. So what else is there, bell curve, dice pools, and cards, right?

Designing around a bell curve is tricky, but it does have its advantages. Dice pool games are fun, but the math is almost always bad. Cards are definitely a cool mechanic, but probably aren't for everything.

In general, I think flat distributions make for better designs and better play.

 

[dm4hire]

Desolation for post apocolyptic fantasy (and I mean fantasy, not Gamma World style, but D&D fantasy). The magic system is interesting as it has burn where every spell you cast causes damage to the caster at the same time.

 

[Sir Robilar]

Wow, thanks a lot for your responses EnWorlders!

I thought about what I would like for a bit longer, so here are some things that interest me:

- A system that encourages the development of strong stories, in which the characters and their motivations and convictions actually matter mechanically (Im rather fond of how you can tag someone's aspect in Fate)
- Dice Pool etc welcome but not a must
- Doesn't have to have an inherent Campaign setting as I may want to use my own

Reading some reviews I think Burning wheel might be a nice fit for myself, but the jump will be too far for my D&D group.

And I don't like the idea of playing as mice...

 

[maddman75]

Wow, thanks a lot for your responses EnWorlders!

I thought about what I would like for a bit longer, so here are some things that interest me:

- A system that encourages the development of strong stories, in which the characters and their motivations and convictions actually matter mechanically (Im rather fond of how you can tag someone's aspect in Fate)
- Dice Pool etc welcome but not a must
- Doesn't have to have an inherent Campaign setting as I may want to use my own

Reading some reviews I think Burning wheel might be a nice fit for myself, but the jump will be too far for my D&D group.

Edit - to be clear, its only the simplified BW Mouse Guard RPG where you play mice. Regular Burning Wheel is more or less traditional fantasy.

And I don't like the idea of playing as mice...

Burning Wheel hits all of your requirements to a T. So does Exalted except for the last one. The mechanics are pretty heavily tied into the setting. But Creation is a BIG place. Like, traveling from one city to the next on the big map takes weeks, if not months. There are kingdoms and empires everywhere, there's plenty of room in Creation to make your own stuff.

That's actually one thing you'll find, that apart from D&D and out-and-out generic games like GURPS and HERO, most games come with a setting. I prefer it that way, so that the mechanics and settings are built for each other.

 

[ArghMark]

Fantasy? If you really want something different, I'd try another genre personally. But as you like.

1. Ars Magica.

1220. The legends are true. Faeries dance in forests, magical spirits live in ancient forests, demons tempt and angels save.

If you truly want to 'medieval' it up, I find Ars is the best, with the current 5th edition at the top of the list. The magical system is very interesting, and is probably the best I have seen. Basically you play a bunch of young wizards who live in a place together and have adventures. They need to sort out noble feuds, get themselves magical power, avoid annoying powerful people and things.

The other interesting thing is that you actually get rewarded for sitting around reading magical books for years at a time. In play it happens like this - Wizards are in their labs, reading or making magic items or whatever.

2. Warhammer 2e.

A dwarven scholar, a human con artist and a halfling ratcatcher find themselves in a coaching house when a bunch of cultists attack, looking for sacrifices to their blood god. After a horrendous (yet game wise, short) fight, a character loses an eye permanently. Recovering, the characters want blood and track down the cultists. Killing them all using intelligent tactics and surprise, despite the horrid mutations below, the PC's find a magical tome of power, and when burning it doesn't work they bury it and swear never to speak of it again. They do realize that the front for the cult was a tailors shop, and take all of the clothes and trade them on the black market making a pittance. They come off a few silver pieces richer and realize that adventuring can be rewarding.

Warhammer is gritty fantasy with mutations, evil gods, cultists, dark magics, and the like. It can be played depressingly, but I personally find its a lot of fun.

 

[the Jester]

Amber Diceless Roleplaying is very different, and very cool.

No randomization at all...

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Riddle of Steel (if you can find it) The Riddle of Steel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

White Wolf's Dark Ages line. Though if I were to play Dark Ages Mage, I would convert the stuff to...

Ars Magica. Creo Imaginem level 90

Of course, Earthdawn. Which actually has logical explanations for the stuff D&D players take for granted and some refreshingly new races (Windlings, T'skrang, Obsidianmen).

Alternity, it had conversion rules for 2nd Edition D&D and I know at least one gaming group who used the rules for far future Shadowrun and there are resources for using it in a fantasy game: Alternity fantasy resources & downloads submitted by members

Dark Ages Cthulhu

Runequest (MRQ RuneQuest Wiki) in all its versions as well as its close brothers Pendragon and Elfquest

Palladium Fantasy

Powers and Perils (Powers and Perils - Index)

And everytime EPT is mentioned I have to be self-serving and add a link to my work (a d20 conversion): Tékumel :: The World of the Petal Throne

 

[Aus_Snow]

I thought about what I would like for a bit longer, so here are some things that interest me:

- A system that encourages the development of strong stories, in which the characters and their motivations and convictions actually matter mechanically (Im rather fond of how you can tag someone's aspect in Fate)

FATE, yes, as well as Burning Wheel, Pendragon and Reign spring to mind. But most of all, if you want to go 'hard left', so to speak, and really ditch D&D for a while, HeroQuest might seem the obvious answer. In that game, a PC's qualities as written (distilled into 'Keywords') are his or her game mechanics. Burning Wheel and Reign both feature lifepath systems, if that means anything - for good or ill - to you.

- Dice Pool etc welcome but not a must

Reign features a rather unusual dice pool mechanic. Quite clever and neat - height and breadth of numbers are what matter. That is, each is considered discretely.

- Doesn't have to have an inherent Campaign setting as I may want to use my own

You'll have a hard time finding many RPGs that don't have at least some kind of implied setting. HeroQuest (2.0) might be the closest thing here, though any of the above (particularly the fourth edition of Pendragon, in that instance) wouldn't suffer overly much for the removal of what setting material might be contained, suggested or implied.

You could, of course, import aspects (haha) of one system into another. Traits, Passions and Glory from Pendragon, Aspects from FATE, Keywords from HeroQuest, Beliefs and Instincts from Burning Wheel, or whatever else you like the sound of - adjust stat references and maths if necessary, and done. I bothered mentioning this because, well, I've tried it and it worked for us. Perhaps it could for your group.

 

[pawsplay]

Wow, thanks a lot for your responses EnWorlders!

I thought about what I would like for a bit longer, so here are some things that interest me:

- A system that encourages the development of strong stories, in which the characters and their motivations and convictions actually matter mechanically (Im rather fond of how you can tag someone's aspect in Fate)
- Dice Pool etc welcome but not a must
- Doesn't have to have an inherent Campaign setting as I may want to use my own

Hm, World of Darkness actually fulfills all three categories. To get it to do fantasy, you could use Second Sight for spells. If you wanted to give your heroes a little oomph, you could open up Hunters as, essentially, paladins. It's less fiddly than Exalted, for the most part. Willpower and Morality are important traits, and your Vice, Virtue, and other aspects are important to characterization. The use of background dots empowers players, tied them to your world, and gives characters areas of vulnerability (so-and-so is attacking your castle, and so forth). I haven't used this idea myself, but I have heard of it being done for a swords-and-sorcery campaign.

 

[buzz]

Reading some reviews I think Burning wheel might be a nice fit for myself, but the jump will be too far for my D&D group.

If you think they can be persuaded, try. Burning Wheel is, IMO, one of the best FRPGs ever. And the other BW-based games—Burning Empires and Mouse Guard—are amazing (and both Origins winners).

I'd head over to their forums and poke around: The Burning Wheel - Powered by vBulletin

Otherwise, I would suggest FATE. Of the few indie RPGs I could get my D&D group to try, it was FATE they had the most fun with. You can check out the main FATE site: FateRPG.Com: Fate: Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment (TM)

There are currently three RPGs in print based on FATE:

Spirit of the Century
Starblazer Adventures
Diaspora

The upcoming Dresden Files RPG will also use FATE.

None of these is straight-up fantasy, but lots of people have used FATE for such. You can read about the Sons of Kryos using FATE to play a game set in Eberron.

These would be my top two recommendations. Beyond that, I would take a look at HeroQuest and The Shadow of Yesterday.

Oh, BTW... both FATE and Shadow of Yesterday are available for free.