Looking for a more narrative, less combat-centric alternative to D&D

[Magean]

13th Age solves the 5e combat problem by amping up the combat - with HP damage scaling up over the levels (and other mechanics) to make sure combat doesn't bog down. But it will feel like JRPGs in the way that damage and hit points inflate enormously over 10 levels.

The assumptions (class, race etc) are very compatible with your default D&D campaign so converting will be easy. I converted from a 4e campaign to 13th Age with ease. However, some of the narrative rules (Icon system) need some interpretation and work by GM and players to make them work well.

Swords of the Serpentine will probably defocus combat a lot - the resource point-spend mechanics (which I experienced in Night's Black Agents) will make recon, planning, and dirty tricks a lot more powerful, so that often a cunning party can avoid a lot of combat. But the magic system and world assumptions are uniquely Serpentine, and there will be a lot more work to adapt to your existing campaign.

Those are the two top recommendations I have.

Fellowship is also good but may not fit your particular campaign and play group. Read and see.

Savage Worlds is a great toolkit for fantasy adventure, but also needs a lot of work to adapt.

Thanks. Actually, there's an Eberron in Savage Worlds conversion book, so that may be worth checking out.

 

[Fenris-77]

Swords does a better job of combat than you might think, although it isn't a 'focus' the way it is in D&D. Cunning plans are certainly easier to run though, that's true. It's something I see as a feature really. One of my complaints about D&D is the lack of mechanical support for that sort of thing. Combat in Swords is probably more deadly than D&D, but that's mitigated by the enormous latitude provided by the investigative spends, much of which can be spent in combat if that's what you need. I also love that you can use words and morale in combat just as effectively as a sword.

The adaptation thing for SW is quite valid, but in the case of Eberron the work is already done.

 

[pemerton]

Blades works as beautifully as it does because it leverages the tensions and relationships between factions against PC tensions and relationships to drive new fiction. Blades is finely tuned by having everything constantly be in tension. If you don't recreate that, by, saying trying to use the rest of the Blades ruleset to run an stock Eberron setting, it's going to fizzle like a damp match.

Isn't Eberron a faction-based world?

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Swords does a better job of combat than you might think, although it isn't a 'focus' the way it is in D&D. Cunning plans are certainly easier to run though, that's true. It's something I see as a feature really. One of my complaints about D&D is the lack of mechanical support for that sort of thing. Combat in Swords is probably more deadly than D&D, but that's mitigated by the enormous latitude provided by the investigative spends, much of which can be spent in combat if that's what you need. I also love that you can use words and morale in combat just as effectively as a sword.

The adaptation thing for SW is quite valid, but in the case of Eberron the work is already done.

The thing I love about GUMSHOE (and Blades and Leverage to some degree) is that you can work out flashbacks with your GM in the middle of an action scene that will retroactively impact your situation. Whether it's having a flashback to hack Barcelona's traffic light system in order to gain an edge in a car chase in Night's Black Agents, or deciding that you stole a gondola last night and parked it under the docks where your team is being attacked so that you can make a quick getaway in Blades.

Or in the case of Kevin Kulp's Timewatch, you have a flashforward to say that you're going to go back in time and put that gondola there later from your perspective.

 

[Fenris-77]

Isn't Eberron a faction-based world?

Yeah, and you could certainly run some sorts of Eberron game very well with the Blades rules set. Urban stuff in Sharn for example. Intrigue generally. Eberron has more of that than other D&D settings.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Isn't Eberron a faction-based world?

Having factions isn't sufficient. Lots of games have factions. It's the structure and interaction of factions that feed the Blades engine. Eberron is closer than Firgitten Realms, and both have factions, but both are far too loosely integrated to matter.

Plus, Blades requires that the PCs can't just leave and let things blow over. That's not a feature of the Eberron setting (which I love, btw).

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Having factions isn't sufficient. Lots of games have factions. It's the structure and interaction of factions that feed the Blades engine. Eberron is closer than Firgitten Realms, and both have factions, but both are far too loosely integrated to matter.

Plus, Blades requires that the PCs can't just leave and let things blow over. That's not a feature of the Eberron setting (which I love, btw).

Well, you can do the Scum and Villainy approach where you can affect your Heat by moving to another jurisdiction...provided you have transport.

 

[Fenris-77]

Sharn would work fine for Blades. The faction integration is tight and there are lots of them. I'd probably rank the wards by heat, some hotter than others. Law and order is unevenly applied, which is perfect for a Blades game.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Sharn would work fine for Blades. The faction integration is tight and there are lots of them. I'd probably rank the wards by heat, some hotter than others. Law and order is unevenly applied, which is perfect for a Blades game.

As I said, it would take a good bit of work, even for Sharn. Or you're going to have a flat Blades game that doesn't work very well. Blades is so tightly integrated across all play phases that letting the pressure off in one will cascade and cause a lot of the engine to falter.

 

[Fenris-77]

As I said, it would take a good bit of work, even for Sharn.

Like I said, I disagree, but life would be boring if everyone agreed about everything. When the genre and moving parts are close I don't find it that hard to port. I turned Scum and Villainy into straight Star Wars without much trouble, and I expect Sharn would be in the same boat because it has so much in common with Doskvol. If you want high fidelity to the Vancian magic system and that sort of thing it would be a lot more work, of course. Blades would do a decent job of sketching relatively low-magic, even the Eberron sort, without too much fuss though, IMO.