Other D&D Variant Let’s list the 5E variants

[Bae'zel]

I'll ditto Adventures in Middle Earth. Even though it's a variation of D&D 5e to better support a specific fantasy setting, it makes significant changes - very low magic restricted to specific cultures, complete reworking of the rest system, a Shadow play-mechanic, journeying system. Those can be used for other fantasy settings - the journeying system in particular tends to get mentioned in threads here and on other forums.

We liked it so much it was our go-to for "low magic" D&D frameworks. Not a single class with spells (some minor "abilities" but no Vancian system at all.

It was fantastic, really.

 

[Belen]

• Crooked Moon
• Symbaroum 5e
• Doctors & Daleks
• LOTR 5e
• Blue Rose 5e
• Plangea
• Heroes of Tara
• Everyday Heroes
• Mass Effect 5e
• Star Wars 5e (SW5e)
• Exodus
• Arcana of the Ancients (Numenera 5e)
• Tanares
• Brokenweave
• Midnight 5e
• Adventures on Rokugan
• Auroborous
• Diamond Throne

 

[DammitVictor]

Phantasy Star and Esper Genesis.

 

[Jahydin]

• Odyssey of the Dragonlords - Greek Setting/Rules/Adventure by two ex-Bioware directors.
• Inferno - Setting/Rules/Adventure set in Dante's Inferno.

 

[jian]

I know there’s a few out there these days, especially since the OGL crisis, but I haven’t really kept up with them all.

Obviously I know Level Up: Advanxed 5th Edition and Tales of the Valiant. There’s a bunch more though!

What else is out there, what is it, and by who?

(I’m talking standalone 5E games designed as a ‘replacement/variant’ of D&D 5E)

I think it depends a little bit what you mean. There are quite a few lighter versions of 5E that have been doing the rounds that I’m interested in, but they might not meet your criteria, such as:

• Bugbears and Borderlands: A lighter simpler version with some idiosyncratic choices and additions based on Izegrim Creations’ other games such as GEAS.
• Nimble 5E: More a set of house rules for 5e (such as no AC, roll weapon damage dice to hit, 1 is a miss, dice explode) but now of course its own game, Nimble. Available on the Nimble website.
• Shadowdark: A OSR themed version, with PCs generally less powerful and with fewer character generation choices, some nice touches (such as halflings turning invisible).
• Five Torches Deep: Pretty similar to Shadowdark in some ways, aiming for the same sort of gameplay and aesthetic.
• D&D Story Mode: A nice fun little system with streamlined skills and a point-based spell system which you can adjust on the fly. Only on itch, I think.

There are also variants that have mostly mentioned such as Esper Genesis (space opera), Hyperlanes (ditto), Vault 5E (steampunk), Doctors & Daleks, Capes & Crooks (supers), Lasers & Liches, and Anime 5E.

 

[Thraic Ogmund]

Amazing Adventures by Troll Lord (adapting 5e to mid 20th century setting)
Iskandar by M.T. Black (I haven't delved super far into this one yet, but I know he provides the SRD material)

 

[Chaltab]

Plangea

Can't speak for all the others since I don't have them but Planegea is really just a setting, not a separate game. You need some version of the 5E core rules to run it.

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

Tales of Argosa.

Surprised this isn’t being talked about more. It does Conan better than the Conan systems. Easy to run and loaded with options to bring to any 5E like system.

Has anyone run anything long term with it?

 

[Fenris-77]

Shadowdark really isn't a 5E variant at all, but I can see why people put it on the list.

 

[Mannahnin]

Tales of Argosa.

Surprised this isn’t being talked about more. It does Conan better than the Conan systems. Easy to run and loaded with options to bring to any 5E like system.

Has anyone run anything long term with it?

Is ToA actually based off 5E? I remember when I first read its predecessor, Low Fantasy Gaming, it seemed more a mix of 3E and TSR D&D.

ToA uses roll-under attributes instead of the unified D20 mechanic of WotC D&D. It uses a flatter ability score bonus/penalty curve partway between WotC D&D & B/X. It DOES use Advantage and Disadvantage, but a lot of games have adopted those. It doesn't have Proficiency Bonus, instead every class has an Attack Bonus progression like 3E. Non-proficiency with a weapon instead means you have disadvantage to attack with it. Short Rest is only a few minutes (like 4E) rather than an hour (5E), though the recovery benefits are stingier and more variable than either.

Doesn't look like a 5E variant to me.