How Do I Escape D&D?

Although I’ve been writing games (and about them) for over 20 years, I haven’t done much for the Big One. I’ve done a few OGL bits here and there, a Dungeon article for 4e, and a run on the dual statted line for 7th Sea. I talk a lot about the other games that are out there on the panels and podcasts I get to be on and there’s always one inevitable question:

"I love this new game that I bought but I can’t get my group to try it. How do I escape D&D?"

That question has come up a lot on social media since the OGL 1.1 leak. Here are some of the options I’ve seen work well when I’ve suggested them to friends. Different tactics work well on different people so don’t be afraid to keep trying even if you strike out at first. I also hope folks will post their success stories in the comment to offer additional advice.

Don’t Trash The Mothership​

In trying to sell a new game, a lot of people make the mistake of comparing everything to D&D. Usually in a negative way where D&D does it badly and the new game does it well. True as that may be, remember that people have feelings about D&D and those feelings are often complicated. It’s better to focus on the positive stuff that a new game does without needing trash talk. Players are already making those comparisons when considering a new game.

Learn To Love The One Shot​

The true villain of any D&D game is logistics. There will almost always be someone unable to make it or nights where the current DM is unavailable. These nights can be opportunities to try out a different game to see if it vibes with a group. There are a lot of great starter sets out there that make this sort of game easy complete with ready made characters and a story that plays out in a session or two. There are also games built for this mode of play like Fiasco.

Check Out An Actual Play Of The New Game​

Critical Role gets a lot of press in this space but there are a few crews who play games other than D&D. Showing one of these games to a group will help them learn the rules and see what you like about the game. Of course, I would love it if you check out my crew Theatre of the Mind Players but there are some other great shows in this space like The Glass Cannon Network and One Shot Podcast Network among others.

Find The Right Fandom​

While there are a lot of fans of D&D, those fans are also fans of other things. Licensed games are your friend here. If you have a member of the group that’s based their current character on Aang or Spock, they are more likely to try Avatar Legends or Star Trek Adventures. Players into a genre will do the work on learning new rules because they want to experience their favorite world.

Switch Either Genre or System But Not Both​

Some people prefer to ease into the pool rather than jump in. For those folks, switching one element of an RPG might help with the change. Play fantasy with a different system like Savage Worlds or Shadow of the Demon Lord. Or choose another 5e game in a different genre. There are some excellent conversions out there like Doctors & Daleks or works like Everyday Heroes.

Build To A Season Finale​

Jumping out of an ongoing campaign can be frustrating to players who have invested into the story and their characters. Take a page from how TV networks run serial stories. Build to a season finale in the story: a big battle, a dramatic trial, a wedding full of intrigue. Give some storylines closure, hint at some new ones to come, but helping the storyline come to an end for not makes it easier to move to a different one. And, if nobody likes the new game, there’s always room for another season.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

The term “mothership” is painfully apt in regard to the attemped ‘resource extraction’ by the Leader$hip. Mothership

This is no criticism of the game itself, which brought a lot o’ fun for my group over a couple years.

We moved on to my own drastically homebaked versions: Freeform D&D and Sixfold D&D. And now we’ve been trying out A5E.

 

[darjr]

Go to a local Free RPG day event and run or play in several games.

These usually have very different games than D&D but also D&D a likes.
They are also attract people also interested in other games, so you can meet folks who are potentially playing and running other games.

 

[aramis erak]

Simply put, the best way to escape D&D is to pick a non-D&D game, and read it, then run it. Even if you totally «bleep» the «bleep» out of the rules and/or setting, you will have tried. You'll never get a game's rules right first try, and that really does not «bleep»ing matter. As you run, you'll gain more and more function as a GM.

Some of the most fun one-shots I've run have been rules light games, most notably My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria. Some others of similar (lack of) complexity that I've read but not run include Hero Kids, and Magical Kitties Save the Day, and other ones I have run include Teenagers from Outer Space, John Wick's Cat, and Toon. Toon working is entirely player dependent. TFOS is more rules-reinforcing the tropes.
MKStD is you're a cat, protecting you human from their problems. Cat is essentially the same setting trope, but a slightly more Grimm's level fairy tales rather than the more positive MKStD.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah. New tool for the same job or new job with the same tool are both not good ways to get a fun game.

New tool for a new job.

Eh. That's only true if you were satisfied with the tool for the job in the first place. That's not a given.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wonder how many people try new games. I see several options above for trying another game other than D&D, but my problem is that I do not have the time to play D&D as much as I would like and if I get the chance to play- I would play D&D over another system. Maybe not quite what the thread is talking about, but might be part of the problem in trying new games.

I got my group to try a new game just last weekend, with the pitch that "I did not have time to set up a full D&D adventure the way I'd like" (I prefer to do a polished five-room dungeon model, which takes me about two hours of focused work the way I do it), and Grizzled Adventurers is advertised as no-prep (beyond reading the 50-something page rulebook) game where one can go from rolling up characters to completing the created-on-the-fly adventure in three hours. (Something the game did indeed deliver.)

If you're playing with friends (and if not, consider doing so), they should understand when stuff comes up and a quickie one shot makes more sense than you getting the equivalent of your campaign's Winds of Winter together for the regular game session. Nearly every system has one shots available for the express purpose of letting people try out the game as easily as possible.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Some others of similar (lack of) complexity that I've read but not run include Hero Kids, and Magical Kitties Save the Day, and other ones I have run include Teenagers from Outer Space, John Wick's Cat, and Toon.

Oh, man. I haven't thought about Cat in years. I bet my youngest would love a one-shot of that.

 

[EthanSental]

My local gaming group had a mini rpg day a couple years ago…3 3-4 hour adventures from Star Wars, dragon age rpg and a AD&D 2e adventure…fun stuff. We did it 2 years in a row with different game systems, whatever game the gm wanted to run. I think the main thing is when it’s with a group of friends, any game can be fun to sit around the table to play, dnd is where most of us started and feel comfortable with so we play it 95% time outside the gaming weekend.

Nothing like that game day, starting with cooking breakfast, 3 hours of gaming, lunch break cookout, another 3-4 hour game, dinner break cook out and the final session.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Nothing like that game day, starting with cooking breakfast, 3 hours of gaming, lunch break cookout, another 3-4 hour game, dinner break cook out and the final session.

Damn, you are hardcore. It sounds great, though.

 

[MGibster]

In trying to sell a new game, a lot of people make the mistake of comparing everything to D&D. Usually in a negative way where D&D does it badly and the new game does it well. True as that may be, remember that people have feelings about D&D and those feelings are often complicated. It’s better to focus on the positive stuff that a new game does without needing trash talk. Players are already making those comparisons when considering a new game.

This is pretty important. When telling people about the rules for a new game, I almost always comapare it to D&D because it's the lingua franca of the gaming world, but I make sure to specifically say something like, "I'm only comparing it to D&D because you're familiar with it, not because I'm trying to trash it." Plus I genuinely like D&D and I don't want to trash it.

 

[MNblockhead]

Who knows, maybe one day, someone will create a subscription service that allows access to a variety of rules, supplements, etc, for a monthly fee. While you would never own anything, at least you could try out many more games than you normally would

Check out Demiplane. It is kinda like a D&D Beyond for multiple game systems with a find-a-game system built in. Currently has content for Pathfinder, Avatar, Marvel Multiverse, Vampire the Masquerade, Hunter the Reckoning, Alien, and Mutant Year Zero. It is still very early in its development.

https://app.demiplane.com/