Other Game Systems

[Retreater]

Now that I've been playing d20 exclusively for around 7 years, I'm starting to get a little burned out. Back in the day, my group and I would play a variety of systems with numerous genres, from sci-fi to horror to comedy to superheroes. I think that having a fling with another system could be fun.

So what are some other, non-d20 (probably even non-OGL) systems that are out there? What are they basically about? And which are the best?

Retreater

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Cue "play C&C!" post in 3... 2... 1...

 

[maddman75]

Now that I've been playing d20 exclusively for around 7 years, I'm starting to get a little burned out. Back in the day, my group and I would play a variety of systems with numerous genres, from sci-fi to horror to comedy to superheroes. I think that having a fling with another system could be fun.

So what are some other, non-d20 (probably even non-OGL) systems that are out there? What are they basically about? And which are the best?

Retreater

- Exalted. Seriously, everyone should play Exalted at least once. Its sort of an over the top kitchen sink fantasy game, with wild kung-fu, 8 foot long swords, giant robots, flying machines, and all sorts of weirdness. Where D&D is fantasy informed by Tolkien, Leiber, and Moorcock this is fantasy from Greek legends, anime, and hong kong martial arts movies. The PCs are demigods, reborn heroes of a lost age of wonder and are the last hope for all Creation. THe game system uses HUGE dice pools - having to roll a handful of 20d10 for an attack is not unheard of. It provides a sort of visceral feedback. Holding all those dice you think "This is how much ass I kick!" Add to that the stunting rules, which mean the cooler you describe your actions the better bonus you get. Great game.

- All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Ever seen Dawn of the Dead? Its like that. The PCs are regular folks doing regular things when the world ends. The dead rise and begin to feast on the living. The core book provides several 'deadworlds' - different ways the zombies have risen. The zombie creation rules are excellent, allowing you to make just the flesh-eater your heart desires. The suppliments take the game to other genres - by getting Enter the Zombie, Fistful of Zombies, or Dungeons & Zombies you can take the undead fighting to martial arts action, western, or fantasy games.

- Hollow Earth Expedition. I've not gotten a chance to play this one, but it looks really cool. A pulp game, set in the early 30s, it features the Hollow World. By going through certain passages the characters wind up in the interior of earth, encountering all sorts of wonders like dinosaurs, Nazis, and lost Atlanteans. A pulp adventure game that really impressed me.

- Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. If I could only play one RPG the rest of my life, it would be Buffy. You're a teenager at a normal high school, only your town is secretly a magnet for vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. You, or maybe one of your classmates is the Chosen One, the one girl in all the world with the power and strength to fight back. It takes the pop culture gamer humor that invades every game and makes it in character. The system is slick and fast, the books are top quality. They are no longer being produced as Eden let the licence go, but are still widely available. If the whole high school thing doesn't do it for you, the related Angel game works well as a generic modern horror.

Those are some of my favorites.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Hey! I resemble that remark

C&C aside (which always gets my vote), I'd toss my recommendations in the following directions:

Lejendary Adventures. This is the game I desperately want to run one day. The level system takes a bit of getting used to - you kind-of level in reverse, so that a lower level is better. I think it would lend itself very well to a folkloric / quasi-historical campaign.

Warhammer 2e: While Warhammer prided itself on only having one edition for the longest time, this is a really bang-up system, with the dark fantasy milieu deeply ingrained in it.

Cue "play C&C!" post in 3... 2... 1...

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Cue "play C&C!" post in 3... 2... 1...

Normally, I'd chime in with that, but since he said "non-OGL," I'll recommend:

Call of Cthulhu (BRP) - classic horror game based on works of H.P. Lovecraft

Delta Green - a sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu for modern-day play. The new printing includes d20 material, but also has the original BRP stats. Besides, it's mostly fluff. And really GOOD fluff.

Lejendary Adventure - Gary Gygax's latest FRPG. Mechanically very different from D&D. Uses % dice, skill bundles, a spell-point system, et cetera. (Troll Lord Games is publishing a boxed set, and will soon be publishing hardcover rulebooks -- the older rulebooks are out-of-print, currently.)

OD&D(1974). Give it a whirl. Try it out as its own thing. You might be surprised. If you can't find the rulebooks, the Holmes Basic Rules are available on PDF, and they're pretty close.

Classic D&D. Either B/X (Moldvay/Cook/Marsh) or BECM/RC (Menter) will serve you well.

AD&D. I prefer 1E over 2E.

Dying Earth. Try this for something very well-done and really different.

HARP. Kind of "RoleMaster Light."

(edit) Savage Worlds -- can't believe I forgot to list this one

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Unfortunately a lot of the other, non-D20 systems are out of print these days. The major ones that I know of that are still in print...

GURPS - Currently in its 4th Edition, by Steve Jackson Games. Been around almost as long as D&D. I flirted with GURPS briefly back in the 90s but never really played it, so I can't tell you much more about it. For those who espouse its merits, it is a truly universal system that can tackle any genre. That's what they tell me anyway.

Storyteller - The game system behind the "new" World of Darkness and its various setting/character books: Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, and Promethean: The Created. Made by White Wolf, who also make Exalted, mentioned above. They have something new called Scion: Hero coming out soon, though I don't know much about it. I played a decent amount of the "old" World of Darkness, again back in the 90s. I don't know much about the new stuff and frankly what I've seen so far doesn't strike my fancy that much.

Palladium - The game system (and the company) behind Rifts, Ninjas & Superspies, Nightbane, Beyond the Supernatural, Heroes Unlimited, and several others. Rifts is the most famous and popular of the bunch, featuring a post-apocalyptic earth filled with fantasy monsters, sci-fi aliens, giant robots, pseudo-Nazis, and just about everything else you could imagine. The game system gets heavily criticized for being "klunky", "unwieldy" or just downright broken, but the worlds are certainly imaginative. I played a lot of Rifts in the 90s and had fun with it, mainly for the kitchen sink, anything goes flavor to it. When you get to pit an anime style mech against an egyptian god, with a D&D-esque dragon thrown in for the heck of it, it just tingles my inner munchkin. And giving the inner munchkin a tingle every so often isn't a bad thing.

Those are the ones I know of that are still in print. There's more RPGs than you can shake a stick at that are out of print and hard to find. One of these days I'm going to buy up all the PDF versions of the old World of Darkness stuff. Someday...when I'm rich.

 

[Imaro]

Are you looking for a generic system or systems for a particular genre.

Let me throw a second vote for C&C...cause it does rock.

If you have any interest in Wuxia type roleplaying let me highly recommend Qin:The Warring States. It's a game based on the time period of the movie Hero w/demons,ghosts, monsters etc. also included but kept to a relatively low level.. Your characters are on the power level of such movies as Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. The rules are easily groked and flow very well in play. Complexity wise it's less than Exalted or D&D, is a point based system, and has a fair amount of crunchy bits(gifts, weaknesses, combat techniques, Taos, skills, and 3 kinds of magic) for characters to sink their teeth into. The book itself is beautiful and the background information is written to be readily accesible and an all around interesting read. It's published by a french company, but the english version is available on Amazon.

 

[SavageRobby]

I throw my hat in the ring for Savage Worlds. Our group switched from d20 to SW a few years ago, and haven't looked back since. Its rules-lean (not light; its a very complete rules set), very fast, very fun. Its a multi-genre game that handles most genres well, although it leans to be a tad pulpy. It you ever saw something in a movie and went "Wow, I want to be able to do that in my game" (something that usually couldn't be said about d20) then SW might be a game you want to check out.

One very nice thing about SW is the "2 book" philosophy. To play in any setting (they have published multiple settings, of multiple genres), you just need the core rulebook and the setting book, nothing else. Deadlands is an exception; it has a core setting book and they're going to release other books in the line as well.

 

[Technomancer]

Unfortunately a lot of the other, non-D20 systems are out of print these days.

What do you mean? There are dozens if not hundreds of different RPG systems out there currently in print. A few off the top of my head:

Unisystem (All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Buffy)
HARP
Warhammer
D6
Runequest (the new Mongoose edition)
Burning Wheel
Savage Worlds
FATE
Iron Gauntlets
Weapons of the Gods
Unknown Armies
Ars Magica
Shadowrun
The Riddle of Steel
Lord of the Rings (this one is out of print, but just barely)
Serenity
Chronicles of Ramlar
HERO
Arrowflight
Pendragon

My favorite non-D20 game is D6 (actually my favorite game period). Typical attribute + skill character creation, each skill has a die code which is the number of dice you roll when using that skill. Roll the dice and try to beat a difficulty number. That's it, that's 90% of the rules. Every action in the game is resolved like that. Simple to play, simple to create a character (takes less than 5 minutes-and that's with a smoke break), very cinematic and fast-moving.

 

[Professor Phobos]

This is the list of "games I like", with some notes on why.

1. The Unisystem Family. There are two primary variants- "Cinematic" and "Classic", both are basically the same (Cinematic is a stripped down version of Classic). Used in: All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Conspiracy X, Witchcraft, Armageddon, Terra Primate, Buffy, Angel and Army of Darkness. The Unisystem is a fast, simple and extremely flexible system. It is extremely bland. It fades into the background immediately, never gets in the way, does exactly what it needs to do without asking for anything more. I love it dearly. I have to actively talk myself out of using it to try another game system. The only downside is that no generic book exists for it- AFMBE is the closest, being kind of like GURPS, only with zombies.

2. GURPS. Not really my cup of tea, but the new edition is very good and consistent. SJGames pays more attention to quality editing and playtesting than virtually all other game companies, GURPS books are usually very well written, useful and comprehensive. Definitely worth checking out if you don't mind lots and lots of crunch.

3. The World of Darkness: The nWoD is infinitely better than the old. Mage: The Awakening has some flaws, but the new Vampire, Werewolf, mortals game and Promethean are all fantastic. Lots of flavor. The Storytelling system is decent, especially if you like dice pools. Any line producing stuff like "Intruders" or "Mysterious Places" is deserving of praise. If you are at all interested in horror, this is the place to go.

4. Warhammer FRP 2nd Edition: I'll let others speak to this one in more detail; I haven't played it yet.

5. Spirit of the Century: Do you like fun? This is the finest pulp game ever made- even the guy who wrote Adventure! the previous title holder, says so!

Lots and lots of games exist these days. Old classics like Call of Cthulhu, kooky indie games like Dogs in the Vineyard and the long awaited, long delayed but incredibly cool Wild Talents are all gracing the non-D20 gamer's scene.