Interested in checking out non-D&D fantasy "old school" ttrpgs

[Voadam]

GURPS is another 80s one that has fantasy as a core option. Point buy instead of class and level system, stats cut down to four (str, dex, health (con) and int), lots of granular skills, 3d6 instead of d20 for rolls gives a bell curve result, hp are like D&D but generally start and stay around 10, parrying and dodging mechanics, default magic system is much lower power with spells working as skills with prerequisites and along fairly tight spell college themes.

The 4th edition redoes some point costs to address balance issues from earlier editions. 1e-3e is pretty much the same, 3e has the fantastic genre books.

System is a good option for a low powered, more realistic baseline.

 

[Voadam]

Another vote for WFRP. Start off with street level classes like rat catcher or (non magical) scholar. Advance specific abilities in the classes or to more powerful classes like witch hunter, lawyer, mercenary captain, various mages, giant slayer, etc. without turning into fantasy superheros. Fantastic world lore with a bunch of dark fantasy and a skullduggery edge where you might get jumped for your bootlaces. A critical hit system that can be very fun. An early adventure path that was highly lauded.

1e and 2e are fairly straightforward with percentile rolling for attacks and skills. 1e has the adventure path, 2e has a ton of cool sourcebooks. The later editions get very different mechanically, some with weird dice systems and the same lore.

 

[Voadam]

Ars Magica has lots of neat aspects, I like a lot of the flavor of the magic and the sourcebooks. The magic system has both a verb and noun power system for on the fly casting and a bunch of predetermined "rote" spells. system wise think D&D stat bonuses but no middleman stats, so Strength could be +2 or whatever. Three types of characters, powerful mages, decently strong "grog" warriors, and specialized skilled companions with a default troop style play everyone has multiple characters and you rotate who you are playing.

 

[Tonguez]

Advanced Fighting Fantasy also has an RPG based on the Fighting Fantasy books (Warlock of Firetop Mountain, City of Thieves etc). It had a Port Blacksand source book and an Adventure Path too.

 

[jdrakeh]

Advanced Fighting Fantasy also has an RPG based on the Fighting Fantasy books (Warlock of Firetop Mountain, City of Thieves etc). It had a Port Blacksand source book and an Adventure Path too.

The adventure path (The Riddling Reaver) was for the original Introductory Fighting Fantasy game, not AFF. The original AFF line was officially composed of only three books: Dungeoneer, Blacksand, and Allansia. The new AFF (2011) published by Arion Games, however, has a significantly larger number of books published for it.

 

[Libertad]

I appreciate the responses from everyone in this thread so far! At the moment I'm leaning towards checking out Warhammer Fantasy and Dragonbane, but haven't ruled out the other options. I'm just better off sampling things one book at a time than going all-in all at once.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Fantasy Trip/In the Labyrinth grew out of the Melee and Wizard boardgames. It was kind of a precursor to GURPS. ChaGen is simple- 5-10 minutes tops- and play is simpler. It’s one of the first real “beer & pretzels”/rules light FRPGs out there.

Chaosium used its system to create games based on several of Michael Moorcock’s Etermal Champion settings. Stormbringer, Corum and Hawkmoon all offer different takes on the fantasy gaming experience than D&D.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Advanced Fighting Fantasy also has an RPG based on the Fighting Fantasy books (Warlock of Firetop Mountain, City of Thieves etc). It had a Port Blacksand source book and an Adventure Path too.

AFF has been back in print for a few years. I love Fighting Fantasy -- I still have the original paperback RPG that came out for it, complete with two dungeons I want to convert to Shadowdark -- but I don't think the system necessarily has much to suggest it today, unless you are a Fighting Fantasy superfan. And even then, I'd just grab the AFF 2E monster books, modules and sourcebooks and convert them. (I've done Firetop Mountain that way, and it worked well.)

 

[Voadam]

Rolemaster, really intense multiroll deep crit charts. Decent flavor magic classes in the spell law series. MERP (Middle Earth roleplaying) provided a simplified system.

 

[jian]

Just to mention Dragon Warriors - not as big as WFRP or Pendragon, but still interesting and still around. I didn’t play it back in the day but I do still have the books (in storage).

As for Tunnels & Trolls I quite like the Japanese rules, a slightly lighter version released in Japan (and not, to be clear, rules for playing samurai and ninja). It’s a fascinating historical artifact if nothing else.