So you're done with D&D but still want to play D&Dish fantasy...

[Thomas Shey]

IME, Mutant: Year Zero and games based on that engine are more swingy than most dice pool systems because you only succeed on a 6 on a d6. This compresses the results a lot. To use Gorgon Zee's example with 8 dice vs 2, that gives you about a 27% chance of a tie and about 8% of a win for the 2 dice (barring rerolls). If you instead had successes on 5-6 (like Shadowrun), that would instead be 12% and 4%.

Oh, that explains a lot. Yeah, with that low a probability of success per die, you're going to need a very large number of dice before you have any stability. My experiences have all been with die pools that were between 30-50% chance of a success per die.

 

[Neonchameleon]

You wish your game was a lot more like the dramatic character focused games of groups like Critical Role and Dimension 20? And that the game was lighter with fewer numbers and easier to run and play but still somehow managed to have more customisability on both sides of the screen? Daggerheart

 

[aramis erak]

Based upon the Alpha 1.1 rules,Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age is for those who want a traditional feel, with someon a dice pool with a few modernizations. The piles of Dice older editions have are much reduced, but my players were throwing 2 to 7 dice, routinely (much the same range as T&T 5th); also, it's using count successes on 4+. The Blessed and Cursed modifers adjust the TN per die (3+, 5+), rather than number of dice. It's robust as a core mechanic, and it plays well enough.

 

[ART!]

I realise I'm quite late to this but recently I had the notion of a category referred to as "5E spin-off." I would define this as a system that has the basic skeleton of 5E but the muscles around it are different.
Off the top of my head, some games I would put in this category are:

• Nimble
• Shadowdark
• Index Card RPG
• 5 Torches Deep

They have their nuances and differences, but all four can trace their DNA to 5E in particular.

I'm familiar with Nimble and Shadowdark, and they are both very smartly done.

What would you say are the strengths of Index Card RPG and 5 Torches Deep? I've heard of them, but have no experience with them.