Not Interested In D&D 2024? Here Are 10 BETTER Fantasy RPG Alternatives!

[Music] I just finished up my ad and second edition game with my boys and I thought what better time than now to talk about the alternatives to watsy D and for those of you that are familiar with my channel you will know that I'm not a huge fan of Wizards of the Coast probably equally as obvious uh when I looked into the changes that have been added into the newest edition I was not enthusiastic about D and d24 from the even more superh heroic Heroes of the already deity level characters from the standard fifth edition to the idea that a halfling and a half orc are equally strong as one another I've not found any changes to the core rules that really make it a good option for me but that's okay because I have numerous better options that I'm going to share with you today so if you don't think players should be queing 8 O potions as a bonus action while fighting off enemies you get up enemies that can no longer be considered monsters because it could offend any actual Orcs goblins or dragons that might be listening then join me as I discuss 10 better fantasy alternatives to watsy D and keep in mind that this list is in no particular order as the variation between systems is wide enough that the majority of players will disagree on where to place them so that's just why we're going to focus on why they are great option I did limit this list to in print and available options so if you wonder why I didn't add some of my out of print favorites that would be the reason so without any further Ado Dragon Bane Dragon Bane is a free League publishing remake of an earlier Swedish RPG translated as dragons and demons Dragon Bane uses familiar terms and statistics while turning expectations on their head with a simple roll under resolution mechanic what sets Dragon band apart from D and D number one simple but deep gameplay Dragon ban combines simple character creation easy roll under mechanics and familiar terminology with a plethora of heroic abilities skill and gear to give a great total package they can all be taught in less than 30 minutes number two great solo and Co-op if you get the starter box which why wouldn't you the game comes with a fully realized solo and Co-op game system with content generation tools and a simple but effective Oracle I've played several sessions and have found this solo game to be tough but engaging and have never had a session which wasn't fun number three the best starting package full stop Dragon Bane seems to have forgotten that it is no longer 1985 because they provided a starter box that really made me feel like I was getting an old TSR product in a good way this box is crammed full with full rules an adventure a solo Play Guide Maps standies dice cards and more at this price point I don't think I'm being hyperbolic to call this the best starter set in gaming today Shadow dark ah Shadow dark everything about this game was begging me to dislike it it was its appeal to 5 players the swell of community buildup was impossibly high and it was part of an ambitious crowdfunding campaign to top that off it hit it just the right time when people were so eager to find the next big thing to get away from wanty so I waited I skulked and I observed from a distance the more I found out the more I wanted to know once the arcade library and their head sorceress Kelsey Deon put the pre-order option on the website I had to have my own copy [Applause] precious what's more once I read and played my copy I ended up ordering everything else that she had on the website what sets Shadow dark apart from DND number one familiar Innovation this is not a DND clone but the use of a familiar class names attributes game terms and monsters will make players of any addition of D and D feel right at home the game takes familiar Concepts and Spins them just enough to make them Fresh classes as an example are limited to the four traditional fighter priest thief and wizard while you may think that seems short on options consider that the class talents and other choices like weapon Mastery for the fighter for example will ensure that there is a wide range within each category RI for roleplay the game is full of little twists on the unexpected like this and it makes for a very enjoyable learning experience number two streamlined gameplay the game itself plays like a combination of Mor Borg and Dungeon Crawl Classics with a pit stop at the white box D and D with flat math low hit points and gritty death mechanics you might think that the game lacked depth but it manages to fit in tons of great flavorful elements like spell mishaps luck mechanics intuitive dungeon delving mechanics and an extremely innovative take on the torch mechanic of my garycon experience my OB session of Shadow dark was easily the high point number three fast play speaking of that session at garycon I played in a group of six of which I was the only one aside from the GM to have read the full rules despite that we were able to jam a meaningful and entertaining game session into under an hour with enough room for witty banter in between if a game is judged by the reaction of its players then this was a resign founding endorsement Nave second edition Ben Milton's owed to the osr this book only recently shipped to backers but boy did they get a treat when they crack these Pages at an affordable price point Nave second edition offers that rare blend of game system and system neutral resource toolkit for every GM but what sits it apart from DND number one rules light where Shadow dark Mor Borg and others are decidedly streamlined I would Place Nave in an entire other category being rules light the full book is around 80 Pages you could honestly play the system with just the end Pages four pages would cover enough to run a full session there are plenty of games that attempt to go rules light but Nave really succeeds where most fail number two compatibility Ben cleverly created a largely new system while utilizing an existing and hugely supported set of Statistics the effect of this ambitious design choice is that while the game plays differently than those early editions of D and you can still use anything from the resources therein monsters Adventures traps and magical items are all easily ported into Nave with only a cursory evaluation that makes this game the rules light equivalent of a gaming Rosetta Stone number three the GM's best friend this book is chalk full of generation tools if one were to tear out the pages related to the actual game system and leave what was remaining for purchase you'd probably still have the single greatest Boon to game masters of the last decade if you have a need there is a generation tool in this book what's more many of the tools are nested into the other tools creating some incredibly unique and weird results I just can't say enough here old school Essentials Gavin Norman and the folks at necrotic gnome took what was once a niche product with their BX Essentials pamphlets and turned it into an old school Powerhouse with some of the finest production values and product support in the gaming industry well most of what is here is rehashing of old material it is the execution where OS really shines what sets old school Essentials apart from DND number one layout Gavin Norman should honestly teach lessons in game layout I have been playing bxd and D since the mid 80s and I had no idea that such an elegant game was lying beneath the Clutter typos and general overhead to learning and playing from the original books with the rules tone Norman created the definitive version of bxd and D without adding or changing the rules in any meaningful way number two Nostalgia due to the Fidelity to the original game osc will instantly have a Nostalgia reaction from grognard's coming back from a long gaming Hiatus they will instantly feel like this is the game that they were playing as a child and be right at home but truthfully it is in reality better than what they remember as it had been tidied up and presented to a different and more experienced audience number three library osc has the benefit of the single largest collection of RPG materials of any modern system any TSR era D and products can easily be used with osse virtually just the same as they would have been 40 years ago on top of that the folks in necrotic gnome have been creating m of new material which cover everything from B exify the content from ad and and unar Arcana to exploring new worlds via their excellent modules you will never run out of options with osc Pathfinder for Savage worlds I just finished up my two and a half year Journey Through the Abomination vaults in Pathfinder second edition with my players and it left me with one feeling exhaustion well I like the Aesthetics of Pathfinder mechanically it is bloated to the point that anything beyond fifth level becomes a sure for the game master to manage in my humble opinion luckily the folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group heard my call out in the darkness and gave me a dream team of the Savage World mechanics with the options and Aesthetics from Pathfinder if it means anything about how highly I think of this game our group upon completing the Pathfinder second edition campaign immediately transitioned to a Savage Pathfinder game for the foreseeable future but what sets Savage Pathfinder apart from DND number one flexibility number one flexibility when I fumbled through my suede and Savage Pathfinder books I have been able to create literally any concept I have dreamed up all within the confines of the existing rule set without the need for home brew house rules with a thorough understanding of these rules and how powers and trappings work you can essentially run any game in this system number two this game has Stakes this won't be for everyone but in my mind the lack of hit points and the mostly bounded wound threshold of three leaves you with a deliciously high stakes gain with exploding Dice and the possibility of death on a crit fail of the injury table your player should always think twice before waiting into a group of 100 enemies no matter how many advancements they've taken number three toolkit Savage worlds has such a great toolkit of optional setting rules gear races and edges across its product line that you might think that it would be a nightmare to GM but you'd be wrong the game has a certain theory behind all of its mechanics and once you get used to it remembering how the various different mechanics interact as a breeze when you throw in the numerous different play raids available online you have a game that plays very smoothly at the table worlds without number the balance between options and simplicity is a constant push and pull in any game design often the games with creation tools we love end up being the games that are frustratingly complicated to adjudicate at the table Kevin Crawford of c nom has really hadit a sweet spot with his without number Series this book takes the BX core as a Nuance character creation design process and then streamlines the monsters for a beautiful package what sets worlds without number apart from DN well for starters number one it's free there are other free RPGs with versions of Labyrinth Lord Lamentations of The Flame Princess and basic fantasy all being popular examples where worlds without number sets itself apart is in its vastness and completeness the free versions of Crawford's game have all of the good bits that the premium versions have and that says a lot because there's a lot there number two World building speaking of the mountains of material and worlds without number the World building tools are a great place to start as they Encompass every aspect of a campaign that a burgeoning GM would need to explore from settlements to enemies to ecologies in the inner workings of factions across the realm Crawford provides the tools to do it yourself absolute best in class number three skill system lots of games have a skill system built in but not many have the strength of the one used in Worlds Without number opting to ditch the expected D20 roll mechanic Kevin uses a 2d6 method lifted from traveler which provides a parabolic curve rather than the straight giving the math a shot in the arm that makes small bonuses extremely relevant to being successful at execution of skill roles Brown and skull ah hanker and fairell you've gone into your lab and brought me so many great and Innovative Concepts to introduce to my own games but for me this is your best crown and skull ditches the tropes of traditional RPG design opting for an attrition system that pairs beautifully with the Grim and mysterious setting that was included with the game but what sits crown and fell apart from DND number one unusual design as I mentioned before the attrition system allows you to use resources from items to skills as your hit points which weaves A Narrative of its own as you lose said resources during combat other Innovations include no to hit rolls just rolling damage as well as having all roles player facing you'll find yourself scratching your head as you read the rules but trust me they work number two mechanical roleplaying cues as I mentioned as a result of some of the interesting mechanical choices narratives will naturally emerge from results like when our Warrior lost their Helm during a fight with a beasti the player described the scene as throwing the helmet to the ground to be able to get a better look at the angle that it was approaching from the whole system subtly drags players into deeper role playing Waters than they're accustom and it's great number three gritty because every wound is also another resource that you won't have have access to the Outlook can get Grim quickly when you couple that with the fact that there really isn't an expectation of a base role and you know that you are literally running out of options as you get beaten and battered during a game the game can feel wonderfully Grim Dungeon Crawl Classics what can I say about DCC that hasn't been said heck what can I even say about DCC that I haven't already said on this channel well probably not much so I'm just going to to cover some of the high points of this appendix n inspired take on trim down 3.0 shell and tell you what sets DCC apart from DND number one the funnel okay if you've never played or ran a funnel you will be hardpressed to understand this concept but bear with me you take 15 to 20 random peasants and vagrants and throw them into an old school Adventure meat grinder and anything that comes out alive on the other end is the little sausage that will be a level one hero in your next DCC game the players will typically lose 80% or more of their characters of which they will each run four to five and they'll learn quickly that the world is cruel and not balanced they will also become Adept at making wise decisions that don't rely on character sheets with great stats number two weird dice when Gary and Dave decided that six sides weren't enough they were pleasantly surprised to find their Solutions in a teacher supply catalog leading to our standard six polyhedral mix Mr Goodman over at Goodman games decided we needed more and it was a fantastic decision adding The Stranger zoki dice like the D14 D16 and d24 and others creates that same sense of wonder that we had the first time we saw D20 at the table it also adds some granularity leading to the dice chain whereby dice can be upgraded or downgraded along the path from D3 to D30 it's every bit of game changer as the advantage disadvantage mechanic number three magical magic the standard spell write up for most D and clones is a paragraph or so with a small block of particulars DCC spell write ups on the other hand have huge two-page spreads with different results for every possible role throw in that you can sacrifice physical attributes to improve a role and you end up with some truly epic results we'll put it this way in how many games could a single well-cast first level Spell result in the destruction of an entire town well that's DCC for you and I love it hyperboria when I first heard about hyperboria or as it was then known the astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of hyperboria I was listening to old man grognard discussed the old box set my how that one video changed my gaming life Jeff tienan and his company Northwind games has taken the very best parts of AD and bxd and in his own home tabled brewed class Innovations to create the most playable version of AD and system today it is familiar enough to be compatible but different enough to see the improvements every session but what sets hyperboria apart from DND number one the setting the world itself is a combination of Howard Lovecraft and Smith with elements of civilization from our own history and fiction dropped onto a flat world with danger lurking around every corner the modules do a lot of the fleshing out of the world though the new referee manual has a great Gaz a tier as well since many of the modules are directly based upon the Conan or cthulu stories you will find plenty of familiar fantasy and sci-fi tropes throughout hyperboria number two the classes with 26 total classes between the four core and all of their subclasses the variety here is vast many of the character classes clearly are amalgamations of other classes but several are also obvious ODS to tropes of fiction the greatest compliment that I can pay to the system that Jeff has developed here is that even with all of the options available the core classes remain imminently playable in their own right best class options of any core rule set number three weird monsters with all the love crafty and that you would want along with all of the old favorites you might think that pretty much sums up the hyperb in beastiary but there is still some great Nuance in the margins a lot of the classics have a very different take from your standard fantasy with Orcs for example being a picked demon Half Breed or dwarves being evil worms of the earth there are plenty of surprises throughout whether you need the Lost World style dinos or the enith fishmen this system has more weird beasties than you can shake a shog off at Mor board oh Mor board how my LoveHate relationship with you has developed over time this is the only game on this list that I've not done a complete separate dedicated Deep dive review of and even then I did reviews of not one but two of it variant versions with pirate Borg and more recently Frontier scum while I still don't feel completely comfortable with some of the imagery chosen for the game there is no denying that this is a brilliantly crafted and designed product but what sets Mor Borg apart from DN D number one deadly Mor Borg isn't Just Deadly for the players the entire world is a ticking time bomb with a mechanically driven endpoint that sees the end of the world the players aren't going to be looking to become Epic Level adventurers or spend their later years building keep castles the players are going to be looking to eek out another day or two in the miserable existence of a Dying World and deal with the other desperate Souls trying to do the same so basically similar to Chicago if you've ever been there number two chaotic there is a great Randomness to Mor Borg that permeates the whole game while the gam playay itself is a simple D20 Target number system with bounded math character creation dungeon creation monster generators and everything else about the game is so wildly unpredictable that it just encourages players in GMS to like to sit back and enjoy the short ride that will always end in a gruesome demise number three expandable between the many different variant versions of the game which span the Realms of sci-fi cyberpunk old west Pirates and more and the numerous pamphlet Style game expansions morgborg rival's second edition D and for the volume of product release in a short time frame I have several different releases for the game including the nearly obligatory fatory but by far my favorite release is solitary defile which turns Mor Borg into a nightmarish solo playing RPG with inspiration clearly taken from Shan Tomkins irons sworn system whatever you want to do with Mor board chances are there is a release for it there you have it 10 Amazing Fantasy RPG Alternatives that aren't watsy DND for you and your table now even though these don't have the DND logo they're going to play a lot more like the DND you remember most likely so if you've enjoyed these different games that I've talked about today and you want to hear more about them go check out my channel there's a lot more videos related to almost all of these on the channel so until next time happy Independence Day good gaming and God bless thanks for watching

Channel: Books, Bricks and Boards

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Length: 22min 19sec (1339 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 06 2024