Looking for new RPG

[Agamon]

Hackmaster is a good game, but not rules light. Savage Worlds might fit that better (AmerigoV goes into it pretty well), Hellfrost is a good fantasy setting for the game.

 

[griffonwing]

You are right in that there are a lot of rules, but most of the rules are optional. 95% of the combat rules are optional.

Character creation, while at the beginning might take some time to get used to, you can create a full character in 10 minutes, 20 if you use the optional background charts, which garners you more (or less) building points, but fleshes out your character.

There are rules for Honor and Reputation. Those are also optional.

Yeah, lots of crunch, if you want crunch. If you dont, bare-bones it.

The only downside is the price. the PDF will be $40 , the hardback $60. But pre-order the HB in the next couple day and you can get the PDF for free.

 

[nedjer]

Easy OSR clone, free, lots of adventure and campaign building support - Renegade

 

[Piratecat]

You can't go wrong with Savage Worlds, or Old School Hack (which is free.) I highly recommend both.

 

[dm4hire]

Myth & Magic is a retro clone of 2e that just had the final version of the starter books released in PDF that covers the for basic classes up to level 10.

Legend which is a re-skin of Mongoose's version of Runequest II after they lost the license. You can buy the PDFs for the main book and monster book on RPGNow or Drivethrurpg for $1 each. The prints cost only $19.99 each.

John Kim's Free RPGs list has tons of links that will lead you down the rabbit hole of madness that comes with discovering a multitude of new games.

Microlite20 is the new home for M20 and has a few quality PDFs done by them showing what it might look like in final form.

There are more I could list, but don't want to overload you too much. Hope you find something you like.

 

[grodog]

This is likely going to sound dumb, but what's OSR?

OSR = Old School Renaissance, which is a returning to the roots of D&D, in spirit, tone, and simplicity of the rules. The main 3 retro-clones (based on the OGL, Open Gaming License) are:

- OSRIC (the original retro-clone; it emulates AD&D 1e; a free version is available a the link above, a very nice $26 hardcover via Black Blade Publishing [link in my .sig])
- Labyrinth Lord (the main B/X retro-clone)
- Swords & Wizardry (the main 0e/OD&D clone)

There are quite a number of additional clones, however, too, including those replicating Gamma World, etc.

 

[scourger]

Savage Worlds fits the bill for me, and I think it would for you, too. It reduced my prep time about 90%. Now, I can focus on the story and adapting it to the actions of the heroes. I believe it is good for any kind of game, but we've had the best luck with military & modern settings.

Since you are already familiar with 4e, I'll also recommend Gamma World. It has a streamlined version of the rules and is very plug & play, fire & forget. My mistake was running it as more of a war game where the player characters simply advanced from one encounter to the next in a module. A more organic story probably would have been more engaging to my players. Also, there are limited options for character choices & building; so another change I would make is to let them pick their backgrounds & skills.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

TSR D&D (my favorites are Original D&D and AD&D, but for your purpose, I'd probably recommend the 1981 Basic/Expert sets). Or a clone (Swords & Wizardy, OSRIC, or Labyrinth Lord).

Tunnels & Trolls

Basic Roleplaying (leaving out some of the more advanced options like hit locations)

Any thoughts on the Savage Worlds system?

I tried Savage Worlds when I had grown dissatisfied with 3e D&D. It didn't do it, for me. A lot of people seem to like it, though.

 

[Piratecat]

I tried Savage Worlds when I had grown dissatisfied with 3e D&D. It didn't do it, for me. A lot of people seem to like it, though.

I don't have the mad love affair with it that my friends do, but I am assured by many people whose opinion I trust that there's a learning curve in the rhythm of play. I just haven't figured it out. One thing I can attest to: I recently ran a Savage Worlds pulp game that several players said was their favorite game ever. I'm more critical of how it went, as I was covering up a glaring lack of rules knowledge with roleplaying and zeppelins, but for my first game with the system I have no complaints.

 

[almeidafreak]

Does Savage World have a module for modern setting? I wanted to run a modern-horror-investigation type of game and I don't like CoC very much...

To the OP: I recommend Tri-Stat dX, which you can find for free somewhere on the internet (the company that made it went bankrupt :\ ), probably on some yahoo groups out there. It's fast, clean and VERY fun to play. Support any kind of scenario and there are many adaptations, like cyberpunk genre and urban fantasy.