10 great RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons
10 great RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is, unsurprisingly, the biggest tabletop RPG in the world. But what if you want to try something else? Here are 10 great RPGs that aren’t Dungeons and Dragons.
No Heroes System? does require GM control, if you are trying to play a gritty game, the fact you can build super heroes can cause players to go a bit too far 🙂
Hey DB team! Have y’all checked out Shadow of the Demon Lord? I recently stumbled across it and it looks metal as shit.
Games mentioned that use a universal gaming system
06:19 _Deadlands: Reloaded_ (Savage Worlds)
21:18 _The Expanse_ (Modern AGE; AGE system)
24:40 _Call of Cthulhu_ (Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition; Chaosium’s Basic System)
27:11 _Night Witches_ (Apocalypse Engine)
I wish more people played some of these tabletops because finding others to play anything other than DnD is so hard
Deadlands was an enjoyable game I guess, but Stone is an absolutely moronic character and he honestly ruins the entire experience for me merely by existing.
You sold me on 10 candles 🕯 thank you!! I’ll look more into that game
know any groupes who play dead lands
Symbaroum is just fantastic lore and visualwise
Leverage is a good rpg and also has a flashback mechanic
I actually like planning… almost as mush as gaming. D&D 3.5 its a minigame in itself… thats part of why I love that game! And can spend hours alone just planning things!
Blades and Night Witches use modified versions of a system called Powered By The Apocalypse, which is the engine of play used by Apocalypse World. If you like games with with focus on narrative and character dynamics over crunchy combat, both Apocalypse World and the bevvy of games Powered By The Apocalypse should appeal.
Wow… I LOVE Shadowrun books and was a huge fan of the Xbox game as a kid… I cannot believe I never knew there was rpg. I feel SO dumb.
No superhero ttrpg? Kinda 😥.
Good vid! I will rewatch. You’ve put 10 Candles on my list for sure. Let me recommend Dread. Super cool. Demands good storytelling from the GM, but with a HUGE boost from its central test/combat mechanic – Jenga! Yup, Jenga. Check it out!
Love this video but while driving that quacking noise between each entry was jarring as shit.
I’m playing my first game of DnD but a lot of these sound cooler and more unique than DnD
Ok it’s 2021 now; when will you guys play Symbaroum together? 🙂
Please review, The Forever system 1D6
It’s like five bucks on Amazon
My 10 favorite RPGs that are not D&D.
1. Pocket Fantasy. SUPER rules lite RPG that is just 4 pages. But it does fantasy just fine using just a single 1D6 dice rolls. Its also 100% free. I’m currently playing it solo, and it works great.
2. Basic Fantasy. Its technically not D&D, but it actually is based on D&D 1st edition, but fixed up. If you want to actually play D&D, ironically I say to play this copy-cat game instead. Like Pocket Fantasy it is 100% free. Even physical copy only cost the price of the printing. $5 for the main rulebook.
3. Palladium Books Rifts. It is a gonzo setting of future ruined Earth that was destroyed by the return of magic. So now people in power armor with laser rifles are just as common as magicians and dragons. One notable feature is the rules are a bit of a universal system. Palladium also makes Fantasy, Super Heroes, zombie apocalypse, supernatural investigations, and even had RoboTech for a while (not anymore, but the rulebooks are still out there 2nd hand). They all use the same basic set of rules. FYI, RoboTech was my first RPG we ever played.
4. West End Games D6 Star Wars 30th Anniversary. WEG put out a few editions of their game, but its notable that many think the 1st one is still the best one. It also only uses six-sided dice, so no need to buy RPG game dice. The 30th Anniversary edition just came out a few years ago, so you can get it without having to pay for 2nd hand used books that are getting scarcer to find.
5. The Anime Hack. Another rules light RPG. This one is for classic Japanese arch types, from Magical girls with powers and a sailor outfit, to mecha pilots, to ninjas, ect. It is essentially an RPG for playing Anime styled super heroes of all types. I’ve played this a bit with my wife, a non-gamer. It has just enough rules to get the job done.
6. Tiny Frontiers. A rules lite space sci-fi. It can do Star Wars as well, but is a bit more generic and needs some house rules to pull that off. It is also nice in that a spin-off game based on mecha fighting giant monsters that is literally called Tiny D6, Mecha and Monsters.
7. White Star Galaxy Edition. This is another copycat game of 1st edition D&D, but this time the game is set in a Star Wars style universe, complete with energy sword religious people with super powers. But it also has other elements such as character classes you can play as based on being a Transformer, or a pulp stories style action hero in space, or even a sidekick. I would also suggest getting Between Star and Void. It has much more detailed rules or even an optional way to play the super powers of that fit better with the Star Wars setting instead of D&D’s style of "spells per day". rules.
8. Savage Worlds. A generic set of rules. Great for playing anything at all with just the core rulebook, but if you want details the game has tons of setting specific books. It even has RoboTech, and Rifts as official settings. However, while the rules are actually fairly simple to get used to, the game rules are also a bit inconsistent.
9. The Mecha Hack. This game is a bit related to The Anime Hack by way of the same basic rules, but different authors and settings). It is all about playing robot pilots, so much so that rules for playing battles outside the mechs are found in an expansion book. There is also a rules expansion that mostly has adds more options and pilot types to play that I highly recommend.
10. Any rules I find that are short and neat
I fiercely love me Mage: the awakening. Your own Imagination is your biggest weapon and also your biggest hindrance. Anything is possible and even on low powerlevels you are able to do great things because the magic-system is so open and modifiable for whatever. Only downside: after 5 years of playing we are on powerlevels so abstract, that it is nearly impossible for new players to join. They just dont comprehend what would be possible for them to do.
Drakensang
ASOIAF is one of the games I love to run, but not nearly enough other players run. Thought it would be immensely popular during the time that GOT was popular.
This channel has gone zero days without a "H.P. Lovecraft was a racist" statement.
Games mentioned that use a unique system
00:45 _Blades in the Dark_
05:11 _Symbaroum_
08:17 _A Song of Ice and Fire_
11:27 _Hot War_ – Their other major game _Cold City_ might use the same system. (It’s set in an alternate 1950s Berlin in which the Allied garrisons of the British, American, French and Soviet Zones deal with the products of Nazi supernatural rituals and fringe science experiments. The factions have to work together to survive, but then must potentially betray each other to please their superiors. And the edge that recovered or reverse-engineered Nazi technologies would give their country over the others would be immeasurable…)
14:04 _Cyberpunk RED_ (Cyberpunk, 4th Edition [2019]) / _Shadowrun_ (Shadowrun, 6th Edition [2019])
16:34 _Ten Candles_ – A narrative RPG.
This is quite old video, but maybe somebody still reads… So how about these:
– Stalker RPG (<- check it out!)
– Ars Magica
– Rune Quest
– Stormbringer/Elric
– Mechwarrior RPG (Battletech)
And two of the older ones that I have fond memories are Boot Hill and Twilight 2020, but I think you cannot get them anymore :/
5e is rubbish compared to most of this games
Blah blah hp Lovecraft rascist blah blah yawn…………
Nightwitches kind of reminds me of a darker (if it can get any darker) Saga Of Tanya The Evil anime.
The One Ring RPG could be on this list now by Free League (previous C7)
Who does all the apologetics for Disney why are we not hating and boycotting everything Disney but we even make up lies to make Lovecraft look even worse than he was. Also we never allow Lovecraft to admit fault as he did some growing up and exposing himself to other people in his short life. Given a little more time he might have grown even more. I remember hearing some awful things out of the mouths of some of my grandparents and they are all born after HPL. I don’t think his views are all that uncommon for a man during the 60s let alone one during the 20s. I would also say the same is true of Disney. I just hate the double standards and how it is okay to hate on those we other, like Lovecraft. The man understood what it was like to be disadvantaged and distrusted by the world and not fit in. So instead of actually reading what he wrote and trying to understand him we just criticize him. He was a product of his time and environment and we need to learn from that or we are just going to become the same crusaders and inquisitors that we pretend to fight to this day.
How do you not mention white wolf’s world of darkness?
Wraith
Vampire the Masquerade
Werewolf the Apocalypse
Changeling the Dreaming
Mage the Ascension
Hunter the Reckoning
Demon the Fallen
Mummy the Resurrection
Orpheus
There’s even Scion and Exalted
I got a copy of the original deadlands rulebook from the 90s. Never had more fun
FATE should be on that list. With it, you can play all of those scenarios.
are there ways to play rpg games without having any friends? i really ever wanna try these type of ganes but i dont have any friends to play with.
Hold up, H.P. Lovecraft was racist? How?
Great video! Can I recommend keeping the name of the game onscreen during the commentary? It’d be nice to not have to scroll back to see/hear it again after one sounded good.
I love Dungeons and Dragons, and have for many decades…STILL love that other games exist.
These games are all "Drama" for the sake of drama. They arent roleplaying games, they rely to heavily on the players knowing the storyworld, and bickering, rather than taking action. Very rarely do you ever Roll any Dice, if so, it is for a social situation that can easily be talked out of. And combat is always a long forgotten, last minute addition to the system.
Not a good shirt to wear if you want to convince anyone that RPGs aren’t satanic.
For roleplaying, especially in systems not tied to an existing franchise like Star Wars, it is hard to beat a skill based system compared to a class based system. Again we are talking about role playing, not combat or progression. In this circumstance, I believe GURPS rules with the flexibility of the character creation capability. Compared to DnD, it is like going from finger painting to oils. There are other solid aspects to the game system and some annoying ones. The amount of material support for 3rd edition was epic.
27:11 *Night Witches*
The planes they flew (Polikarpov Po-2 ) were actually a recent design, first flown in 1928 and used in military service until 1953 (and in Warsaw Pact training and reserve units until 1959). It was a double open cockpit design that was designed as a trainer (much like the similar British Tiger Moth 2). It was also used as a liaison, casualty evacuation, and supply aircraft .
They were modified with bomb racks and flown by light bomber squadrons from 1941, but the Night Witches were the only all female squadron. Most had been trained by the Komsomol youth organization to fly gliders and planes before the war. They were used as pilots because they could be used to free up male pilots to fly front-line aircraft. Like other Soviet military personnel they were not treated as prisoners of war when captured and were often executed (if they were lucky).
There is an excellent graphic novel ( _Night Witches_ ) by Garth Ennis that may have inspired the game.
Everyone please play Blades in the Dark. It’s insanely good, a masterwork of modern game design. Easy to learn, easy to run, and so much damn fun.
I miss rpgs. Bunkers and bada$$3$ comes out soon woohoo
Appreciate you giving more attention to TTRPGs other than D&D. Even though it was my first TTRPG, D&D has ended up becoming my least favorite the more I’ve played other systems.
Since you invited other recommendations, I just have a few:
1) Mothership – A sci-fi horror d100 system by Tuesday Knight Games which is heavily inspired by the Alien universe. The design of the rulebook and modules alone are incredibly well done and should be referenced by other major rulesystem designers.
2) Cogent Roleplay – A FREE d6 dice-pool system created by Shad from Shadiversity and his brother Jazza. It’s setting-agnostic, which I don’t normally go for, but it really grew on me and I highly recommend folks check it out. It’s very versatile and hackable.
3) Basic Fantasy – A FREE OSR (Old School Renaissance) reimagining of D&D. It’s way easier to teach to people and doesn’t have a lot of the finicky problems that many D&D editions have.
would love to have you speak on Gamer’s Den…It is at Noon EST on Thursdays …No that is late for you but if you are interested let me know and I will send you the link….
Heresy! Get the torches and the forks! They shall burn at the pyre!
who cares if lovecraft was a racist? tolkien was too but know what, their books are great
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I need a sequel to this video I need more rpgs in my life!!!!!!!
ROLEMASTER by Iron Crown Enterprises is an AMAZING system