looking for a new system

[Mallus]

Another vote for Mutants and Masterminds 2nd ed., especially if you want to run something even remotely as magic heavy as baseline D&D.

The ironic things is, in some ways the characters would end up less superheroic than in regular D&D, thanks to M&M's Damage Save mechanic...

 

[mhensley]

BFRPG is all I ever wanted D&D to be.

 

[seskis281]

Not to seem to be following Tree around, but gotta keep voting for Castles & Crusades!

John Maddog Wright

 

[Treebore]

Seskis,

Whats even worse is you chose the same avatar as I did! What part of the world are you from? Who are you on the C&C messageboards?

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

While I recommend Castles & Crusades, it's cool to see BFRPG get some love in this thread. There are a lot of really good game options, these days.

 

[arscott]

Thats OK, Castles and Crusades will fulfill his needs better than True20 and Savage Worlds too.

I disagree. He's said he wants something flexible and multi-genre supporting. C&C really only emulates 1e d&d.

You can argue that C&C is flexible, but the argument really boils down to "Well, you have to re-write most of the rules, but that's not a problem because there aren't that many rules to begin with."

 

[Treebore]

The similarities I see between Basic Fantasy and C&C are rather incredible. BF just did more of a nod towars 1E. Very similiar to OSRIC too, just because of the nod.

 

[riprock]

FATE is free, but I think it's very difficult. It's mechanically simple but requires a lot of judgement.

The Riddle of Steel is very simple, very fast. The combat is based on real historical combat, so there are hit locations and wound levels. The magic is freeform, like a very small version of Ars Magica --- there are just three realms, "Temporal" -- i.e. physical stuff, Mental, and Spiritual.

I haven't played The Riddle of Steel, but IMHO it looks like your best bet. There is a free sample for download at:
http://www.theriddleofsteel.net/


GURPS can be very simple if you don't add ten thousand supplements. You could easily do everything with the 4th edition corebooks. Optionally, you could add the Fantasy supplement or the Magic supplement.

 

[seskis281]

Seskis,

Whats even worse is you chose the same avatar as I did! What part of the world are you from? Who are you on the C&C messageboards?

Lol - What can I say about the Avatar... I likes my cool looking wizards. I live in Wisconsin now after living in Louisiana. Who am I? Just a theatre professor who loves old school fantasy gaming - was into it as a youth in the early 80's then came back to it in 2000 and ran lots of good games with a core group while doing my PhD. Haven't had time or luck in putting a new group together up here yet, but have a lot of plans and ideas.

I've been seriously working on a World Setting called Ilshara for C&C (but easily adaptable to any system) that I'm pitching around but will probably end up publishing for free myself on web - it's written in the spirit of original Greyhawk with a couple of twists - "What if humans really are the source of evil and imbalance in the world?" - Gods and religion waning, the discovery of psionics (which is my own system, non-class based so that any human, elf, half-elf characters with enough intelligence, constitution and experience can begin exploring mind powers - just making it darn long and hard to do so), and a group known as the Sythgar which emmulate the Sith of Star Wars but in a medieval fantasy setting. (LONG PLUG for my forthcoming work here lol).

Anyway, that's who I am.

On the thread note - I have no issue with True20 or some of the other fine simplified systems being recommended. My sense was the OP was looking for a mainly archetypal fantasy system that could be multi-genre adapted. If he is heavily medieval fantasy base with the option to adapt, I still recommend C&C, especially with the "genre" info. Trolls are promising in the upcoming supplemental Castle Keepers Guide. If the OP actually is going to have a more even spread or even more heavily sci-fi etc., then certainly he wants to look at True20 as well. But I am a devotee now of C&C and I will passionately recommend it to all!

John Maddog Wright

"In the immortal words of Socrates.... I drank what!?"

 

[Karl Green]

Variety is the spice of life my friend… I play LOTS of different games and love a lot of different systems… for lighter, flexible games well I personally think True20 and Savage World might fit your needs better then C&C, which is lighter and cool but is not all the flexible (IMO).

BUT games that you should maybe check out…

Warhammer Fantasy Role-playing 2nd ed
Mutants and Masterminds
Runequest (out sometime VERY soon, and I have love many of the previous editions and this looks VERY good. Sort of BRP system but a bit different)