What TTRPGs Excel At Not Having Combat?

[Parmandur]

It was then bought by Direwolf who have done very little with it, unfortunately (understatement). So it's kind of in limbo insofar as new material or official games built with it other than Tales of Xadia. :/

How is Tales of Xadia? I have...thoughts...about how the show ended, but mostly I really enjoyed the Dragon Prince and the Setting was interesting.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

Your list strongly suggests that I was not clear in my question, because neither Deadlands nor L5R should be viable answers to pretty much anyone had i explained myself correctly.

I am looking for a game that does not have combat, or combat is an inherent failure condition to the point of being effectively impossible without ending the game.

Yeah, your OP didn't competently say that at all.... like not even close

But if squint hard, my answers still satisfy your entirely new request =

L5R = if you draw steel, you could lose honor, lose too much honor and be outcast or executed.

Deadlands = create social characters, there are pure social rules (and spells too!). One bad cheat at cards or bad comment gets you shot, and well.... it's deadlands. It can be the only shot it takes to kill you. I would suggest Deadlands Classic in this case, for better deadly and social performance.

They do require the players to make characters with these intentions and the GM to run plots with your intentions. As you request, this games would give very much a "combat is an inherent failure condition to the point of being effectively impossible without ending the game."

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, your OP didn't competently say that at all.... like not even close

Fair enough.

 

[Reynard]

I think I am leaning toward Fate, mostly because I already know it pretty well (even if I will still have to wipe the cobwebs off, since it has been a while). I like the way "create an advantage" can be used in lieu of punching things in a pretty broad set of story types. I have to decies between Core, Condensed and Accelerated, depending on what I decide to do specifically. I do like Two Column Fate a lot, also.

 

[pemerton]

Burning Wheel has rules for fighting. But I've found out of all the games I've played, it can satisfyingly go on the longest without any combat and still be captivating.

Currently running a 11th century anglo-saxon/viking campaign and we have yet to have a fight.

And if you want to stretch those GM muscles, oh boy will Burning Wheel make you work. It's a whole different philosophy I still having issues grasping.

Yeah, second for Burning Wheel. Definitely a system I could see running an entire campaign without a single combat encounter and it not being even remotely a problem.

Yeah, this was my first thought for a non-combat, non-adventure RPG. But then I had a second thought:

I was trying to get a friend of mine to try Daggerheart, and he said "If a manager for a Punch and Judy puppet show can't be a viable PC in the game, I probably won't last long." and "I don't want to be forced to be a tactician in a role-playing game" in the ensuring discussion. Now, I don't necessarily want to run Punch and Judy: Behind the Scenes, but it did get me thinking about running something more dramatic. Not cozy, and with real stakes, but where choices and interactions are the driving force rather than action and violence.

I think he wants a game that doesn't have combat at all, and if it exists, it is a quickly resolved non-tactical experience.

I don't really have a adventure in mind yet, so what is a game that really leans into the dramatic or tension aspects without the combat? That isn't regency romance.

Maybe if I try and dream up an example scenario it will help.

Titanic. Like the movie. Maybe on a steampunk airship or a space cruiser or a spelljammer. Whatever, that's all set dressing. But play is how that movie goes. Sure, there is a "fight" but not in the sense that my friend wants to avoid.

What system would you use to play Titanic? Why that one? What specifically does it bring to the table for the conflicts, drama and consequences seen in that film?

Wuthering Heights. The rules are pretty short, and pretty simple, and free here <wuthering heights> or here <https://www.oocities.org/soner_du/files/wuther.pdf>.

In my experience, a good non-combat RPG doesn't just have skills and rules for setting DCs. It needs to have a way of making the game "go" - of suggesting situations, and stakes, and their resolution. Wuthering Heights has this, which is why I think it fits the bill. Here's an actual play example: Played some Wuthering Heights today

 

[Aldarc]

Wuthering Heights. The rules are pretty short, and pretty simple, and free here <wuthering heights> or here <https://www.oocities.org/soner_du/files/wuther.pdf>.

In my experience, a good non-combat RPG doesn't just have skills and rules for setting DCs. It needs to have a way of making the game "go" - of suggesting situations, and stakes, and their resolution. Wuthering Heights has this, which is why I think it fits the bill. Here's an actual play example: Played some Wuthering Heights today

 

[Alas]

How is Tales of Xadia? I have...thoughts...about how the show ended, but mostly I really enjoyed the Dragon Prince and the Setting was interesting.

I have it, but haven't had a chance to play it. It's a pretty slick looking Cortex-based rule set. Characters' three main dice sources are abilities (agility, awareness, influence, intellect, spirit, strength), values (devotion, glory, justice, liberty, mastery, truth), and the standard distinctions (which is where human/elf shows up). These are supplemented by specialties (focused skills) and assets (like Rayla's hook knives). While the majority of the example player characters are adventuring types with signature weapons, there's at least one scholar with zero direct combat skills. Overcoming challenges includes fighting, but is just as or more likely to be impassioned arguments and heroic acts of derring-do. The tools provided steer sessions towards navigating culture clashes, encountering Xadia's weird-ass flora and fauna, and surviving interactions with dragons and similar large beasts (like a kraken with geo-political ambitions).

It definitely looks like the sort of rule set in which "traveling puppeteer who wants to put on shows" is 1) viable and 2) as capable of achieving party goals as the knight errant.