Looking for new fantasy RPG - story & roleplay oriented !

[King_Stannis]

If you want to play something not so combat intensive you might want to try Chaosium's Elric!/Stormbringer game. My group has played it a little bit and has had a very good time with it. The combats are a bit more realistic and deadly, and there's plenty of room for improvisation - especially with magic and demons, etc.

Alternatively, I know there are several members here, including myself, who use a carrot & stick approach to D&D via an "Award System". Basically, whenever a player does something you as the GM like - via roleplaying, doing something heroic, etc - you reward them with a "marker". The marker can be anything from a poker chip ( I spray mine silver in keeping with the D&D atmosphere) to those colored stones.

What can the players do with those markers? I allow mine to do a whole slew of things, including:

1 chip can be turned in for (25) * (current PC level) in XP's

2 chips can gain a +2 on any roll

2 chips can also buy you one of those fancy swashbuckling cards that folks were putting on these boards a little while back (I highly recommend you include these)

6 chips can turn any normal hit into a critical hit

8 chips can allow you a reroll

12 chips can make me (DM) reroll any of my (open) rolls

I've found that this system of rewards actually does make a difference in roleplaying. The other night I gave a group award because they avoided a perfect opportunity for hacking & slashing by roleplaying and using their heads instead. I try to award the chips liberally and we also have a nightly award where the players vote for that session's "MVP", who gets 2 chips.

 

[Pramas]

I recommend Pendragon. It's a great game, the core book is very complete, and it captures the Arthurian feel beautifully. If you only get one supplement, try to find the Boy King. This book lays out an 80 year timeline, chronicling all the important events in the backstory and giving you lots of ways to involve PCs. You can run a truly epic campaign, over multiple generations of knights. Good stuff.

 

[Ron]

Shadowlord, your post is screaming for Pendragon. The game have an elegant design that incentives roleplaying and character building, and good combat rules. There aren't many supplements and you can use the main book exclusively. In the down side, there isn't much magic, as it is an Arthurian game. Still, it can be very rewarding and will provide a very different gaming experience for D&D players.

Pendragon was designed by Chaosium and it is still in print, being currently published by Green Knight.

 

[Umbran]

You're the one who catched my thoughts the best. Now I have to know WHAT other RPGs I could play (for a while).

Gotcha.

Or so I thought. After two years of "more prestige classes, more feats, more silly monsters and more stuff I never needed", d20 (and D&D) failed me. It became munchkins paradise.
[...snip...]
All these options don't make the game (or setting) more believable; to the contrary! I don't need all this! So let's get back to the basics!

Okay, this brings me to my first suggestion.

It seems to me that you've bought into a fallacy - that one must play D&D with all the options. You seem to have forgotten that the majority of options are optional.

D&D is perfectly playable using only the core rules. If the dizzying number of options bug you, don't allow the splatbooks, or third party products. Play core rules only. Prestige classes are optional, so get rid of them too. Slow down XP awards, keep some control on what magic items you allow, and you're set to go.

My second suggestion may earn a couple of laughs.

Tunnels and Trolls - the entire game is contained in one rulebook about 100 pages long. No supplements, no complicated skill system, no feats, nothing. Three basic classes (warrior, wizard, rogue, no multiclassing), a handful of races. That's all. No complicated combat options or rules to speak of. If you want bare bones, seat of the pants gaming, this is it. Mind you, the GM is going to have to make up pretty much everything on his own. There's no Monster Manual, no pre-made detailed game world. There's a page or two of monster stats to give you an idea, and for the rest you are on your own.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, you do realize you are posting your question on a D&D message board, with what is essentially a complaint about D&D, so I'm not sure exactly what kinds of responses you expected.

I'd agree with ColonelHardisson though and recommend Decipher's Lord of the Ring's game. It's a great system for any fantasy that has a feel even remotely like Lord of the Rings, so it could easily be divorced from the setting.

 

[Sam Witt]

Sorcerer and Sword

Go buy Sorcerer and Sorcerer and Sword and give it a shot.

If nothing else, both books are packed full of cool bits and pieces that you can bring back to your d20 game to add some spark that your games are currently missing.

Sam

edit: because spelling is hard

 

[roytheodd]

Despite of D&D's popularity, it isn't the best RPG. D&D has become, or always has been, a game with lots of combat that often takes place in dungeons.

For me, RPG is more than that, much more. Thus I'm looking for an old-school RPG that emphasizes roleplay and is story centered instead of filled with numbers & stats and combat oriented.
Combat is fine, but it's only a small part of an RPG to me, and rules should be short, easy and flexible. The "holy rule balance" shouldn't restrict good stories and unforgettable game moments. As long as it's believable.

I'm not looking for a drama game without any dice rolls, but I need something else than "level based free attack bonuses & HP" etc. The world where the (epic) stories take place should be more important than micro-rules for accomplishing things.

IMPORTANT: I'm not interested in any manga/anime, oriental, gothic or sci-fi RPGs; I want a classic medieval fantasy RPG. Can you help me find it?
It should preferably come in only one or two corebooks, with moderate support, not the zillion of books as in D&D or GURPS.

Seeing as how you're asking this on a d20 message board I will give you a d20 answer. Pick up "Requiem for a God" and/or "When the Sky Falls" from Malhavoc Press and rename your campaign so players don't just call it D&D. The stimga of the name will change a player's conception of the game, so if you remove it and shake things up a lot (these books do that) you'll find yourself playing something new.

If you want a new system all told, then consider 7th Sea by Alderac (the Roll and Keep system) or Ars Magica by Atlas Games.

 

[Psion]

That is, a deep story and some fun character play. This basic element seems to be undermined today in those limitless d20 products.

To echo Mark and Joshua, yoiu aren't necessarily going to find deep story and fun character play in a product. Probably not in a new game, either. Those spring from the GM and players.

 

[Angcuru]

You might want to try Exalted of you haven't already.

There's no level system, you get EXP points to up your abilities, having to spend more as you get more powerful. The characters will want to avoid combat whenever possible, since anything you run into can potentially kill you in a single hit, no matter how strong you are. A very realistic system, damage-wise. An example: My first-session character rolled high enough on his accuracy and damage rolls that he was able to decapitate a big-ass T-Rex sorta thing in a single swipe. Same thing goes for everything else. Even if all the thugs going after PC's have is a tiny little dagger, if they roll correctly, they can take out the PCs easy.

Because of this, the game tends to focus more on Role-Play than on combat, since combat is not PC-friendly.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

*shakes head*

I'm firmly with Mark, alsih20, and the others on this: Style of play is not resident in a rules system; it's in the hands of the GM and players. D&D/d20 can do a great job with a very wide range on playing styles. I pride myself on running an old-school style game with a current edition rules set and it works great.

That said, since you've expressed your bias, I'll give you a rules-lite suggestion (surprised diaglo hasn't already done this):

OD&D white box

Or failing that,

B/ED&D (or the Cyclopedia if you can find it)

Especially the latter will give you a good, cheap, flexible set of medieval fantasy rules that will do what you're asking.