Hello everyone!
I’ve had some issues with D&D 5E lately and would like to try something else. I’ve thought a bit about what I actually want from a new system and came up with this:
The RPG should
- be universal a.k.a. adaptable to different settings
- be able to include magic of some kind, preferably already offering that option by its default rules
- be balanced between different character archetypes/classes (if such exist)
- guarantee smooth and fast combat (specifically less complicated than D&D 5E)
- guarantee smooth play in general, no constant looking up rules
- encourage role-playing (not necessarily via rules, but IMO D&D 5E neglects RP by its rules being overly focused on combat)
- still offer as much customization options as possible
- be easy to modify if needed and easy to create homebrew content for (e.g. items, monsters)
- be suitable for one-shots as well as longer campaigns
- have an online tool or a clearly structured index to look up rules/other stuff
- already have some homebrew content available on the internet, as well as a platform to discuss rulings
Using the criteria above, I put together a list of potential candidates:
- Adventurers!
- AGE
- Apotheosis
- Cortex Prime
- Cypher
- Dungeonslayers
- Fate (Core, Accelerated and/or Condensed)
- Freeform Universal
- Fudge
- Genesys
- Hero System
- HeroQuest
- Ironsworn
- Low Fantasy Gaming
- Mini Six
- Old School Essentials
- PbtA (and/or more specifically Dungeon World)
- Prose Descriptive Qualities
- Risus
- Savage Worlds
- The Black Hack
- World of Dungeons
- Worlds Without Number
- Whitehack
However, I only read about each RPG briefly… and as you can see, the list is still very long. Do any of the systems named don’t fit what I’m actually looking for or meet the requirements listed above especially well? My goal is to bring the list down to 2-3 RPGs, ultimately choosing from them. Oh, and if you think there is another RPG that I haven’t named, but fits my needs better than all the others: Recommend away!
Many thanks for all your help!
EDIT: added suitability for longer campaigns as a desirable quality
I haven’t tried a whole lot of the systems on your list but i HAVE tried Cypher System and it for sure ticks all of those boxes. Tons of character options, online character builder, but at its core a system that’s meant to get out of your way.
Players roll to attack and defend (GM almost never rolls), using skills and assets to reduce the difficulty rather than adding modifiers to their roll.
Damage is standardized dependent on what grade of weapon you use, and if you roll a 17-20 you deal extra damage. This helps to speed things up because you always know how much damage you’re dealing and you don’t have to roll more dice.
Distance is broken up into near, far, and very far, so you’re not as tied up in the minutiae of 5ft grids or hexes.
Magic is included in the core rules, and more from the genre guidebooks is included in the free CSRD.
(There are a few really well implemented online instances of the aforementioned Cypher System Reference Document, one of particular note is arranged and maintained by Old Gus: https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/
homebrewing new monsters takes like a couple minutes
Players are rewarded xp for exploring and engaging with the world, as well as having story complications thrust upon them by the GM, and they can spend xp on either leveling up their character, affecting the world narratively, or to refuse the “GM Intrusion”.
There’s a large active enthusiastic and very friendly Discord community over at Cypher Unlimited. Both one shots and long campaigns work very nicely.
Online Cypher Tools include a character builder, creature index, and setting finder.
There’s plenty of 3rd party content as well on Drivethrurpg.
I hope this helps and i hope you choose Cypher cause it’s friggin cool!
i run a SWADE game, and the book indexes are great. Nothing online, but various VTT systems can be used as a database if you buy the content.
The SWADE rules are considerably simpler than D&D, and they have optional rules that you can mix-and-match to fit the mechanics better to your setting. For example, expanded fear and insanity rules for horror campaigns, or armor ranks for a sci-fi settings with mechs and spaceships, etc. It’s especially fast in the combat department, I recently had a boss fight that lasted 2 rounds (took about 20 min IRL) because two players rolled well.
Cypher is great too, perhaps even better, but Cypher really requires an experienced GM. The rules are so general that you as the GM really need to decide for each roll what the modifiers should be, there’s guidance but no specific systems for grappling, chases, overland travel, searching, nothing. So it can be really good and fluid and creative if you can pull it off as a GM (and the GM never rolls anything, giving you more time & energy to focus on your GM role), but an inexperienced GM will suffer.
Also consider games powered by the following system:
<edit> Ah I see you have it in the list, I’m referring to PbtA.
They are VERY rules-light, very roleplay-heavy, but fun. I’ve been a player in a *Monster of the Week" game for years, and it has been a blast.
I can say that I played in a fantasy setting that used champions but the guy who did it wrote a program to go through the things. Its universalness means complication. Like he did spell casting by using the variable power pool rules with the limitation of having to use specific spells that can have verbal, somatic, or material requirements. One interesting effect is you could make the same spell without an obvious accessible focus and had rules for how much more limited it would be. You would just have less points to work with. I also wanted to mention that pathfinder/starfinder second editions are compatible with each other and very tight. might work and you could check everything out on archives of nethys.
