Even though by the time this goes live we’ll be a little bit removed from the kerfuffle, at the time of writing this article you couldn’t poke your head into a TTRPG space without still seeing the fallout of the recent OGL debacle settling.
And while Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast backed down on this bull-headed attempt at deauthorizing the OGL 1.0a and promised to leave it alone (at least until it’s contract runs out in 2035), many gamers have taken it as a sign that it’s time to move on from the familiar pages of Dungeons and Dragons and try out something new.
This article isn’t here to judge you if you choose to continue to run or play Dungeons and Dragons. If that’s what you and your group are comfortable with and have fun with, so be it. I myself still have a very special place in my heart for the edition and will continue to run it (at least in the immediate future) for my Wednesday night group. That said – there are a wealth of other great games out there that I love that I would be remiss in not telling you about if you understandably wish to move on from the game.
Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds is the game that bills itself as “fast, furious, and fun” and the most recent edition of the game has firmly pushed that acceleration pedal to the ground and placed a cinder block on it. It’s a time trusted and robust system that can take many different genres and settings and do them justice. Low target numbers, limited wounds instead of hit point pools for plot important characters, and a binary “in combat/taken out” system for less important NPCs, combats rarely seem to last more than a handful of rounds (though a lot can happen in those rounds). I’ve been playing a lot of Savage Pathfinder lately and have been impressed with how the system takes the feeling of a more traditional d20 system with structured classes and makes it more open ended without feeling completely prescribed.
Green Ronin’s Adventure Game Engine
The Adventure Game Engine or AGE system is the engine that powers many of Green Ronin’s products including Dragon Age, Fantasy AGE, Modern AGE, and The Expanse. That alone tells you how robust the system is with the fact that it can support all of these different games. At its core, it’s a love letter to old school gaming. Character progression is simple and dice rolls are straight forward. But there is a lot of detail underneath the surface – dozens of talents and specializations exist to make your character stand out from the others at the table and the game’s real claim to fame, the stunt system, keeps the simple dice rolls feeling fresh and unexpected. And what’s more – this is the perfect time to get into the game considering that Green Ronin is set to release preorders for the second edition of Fantasy AGE this month. In fact, by the time this article goes live, there’s a non-zero chance they might already be live with this.
Greg Stolze’s Reign
One thing that Dungeons and Dragons has always struggled with is the macro game. It’s focus is on a small group of heroes doing great things at an individual level. But what happens when they get put in charge of the frontiers they helped to save and tame, developing them into baronies of their own? While there have been a number of experiments over the years, they’ve all been met with various levels of success. But what if there was a game designed around this concept? Greg Stolze has you covered. An adaptation of his one roll engine, Reign marries the micro scale and macro scale by assuming that the characters are already the movers and shakers of the campaign world (or at least soon will be). While each character has their own strengths and weaknesses and have their own stories to tell, their contributions towards “the company” is the real focus of the game. The game leverages the dice pool mechanics to allow for these companies to almost act as a character of their own and roll their own dice pools to decide big actions like large scale warfare, both internal and external politicking, and treasury management in a way that doesn’t bog down the game with ridiculous amounts of bookkeeping and let’s the players focus on how their individual characters contribute to this.
And as above, you can get into this game at a good time as well – the Kickstarter for the second edition of the game fulfilled it’s PDFs at the end of the year and you can now pick up your own copies at DriveThruRPG.
Castles and Crusades
Troll Lord Games has a special game with Castles and Crusades. It captures the feeling of old school roleplaying from the days of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and applies several decades of lessons learned in the realm of game design to it. Powered by their in house SIEGE Engine, players choose a number of primary attributes for their characters at creation, making tasks using those attributes easier throughout the game. Couple this with recognizable fantasy character archetypes and you have a recipe to play an old school TTRPG without wading through lots of byzantine and contradictory rules and tables. And if pulp adventures are more your speed, check out Amazing Adventures, also from Troll Lord Games, utilizing the same system.
Genesys
If you’re a long time reader of this blog or member of this site, this recommendation should come as no surprise to you. Edge Studios’ Genesys is one of the darlings of the community, and for very good reason. It’s blend of deep character options coupled with emergent storytelling through interpreting dice pool results is a beautiful thing. Multiple axes of success instead of a binary pass/fail mechanic makes for more interesting actions at the table where each roll is likely to help push the narrative along in unique and unexpected ways. And while interpreting the symbols on the dice may seem daunting to you at first, don’t let it scare you away from at least trying it out – you might surprise yourself.
Sentinel Comics Roleplaying
Long time readers of my articles will also find this suggestion no surprise. Sentinel Comics Roleplaying by Greater Than Games has been one of my darlings ever since it released. It’s an incredibly robust storytelling system where every action matters and helps push the story along. The characters all feel like they’re working together as a team to help overcome the forces of evil and the emphasis on narrative means that even characters with similar mechanics will feel different at the table and in play. I was so impressed with it that I’ve also (slowly) been working on a hack of the system for fantasy roleplaying that I hope to be able to test soon.
And that’s barely scratching the surface of the variety of games out there for you to sink your teeth into if the situation with Dungeons and Dragons has left a bad taste in your mouth. Or even if it hasn’t! There’s a lot that can be gained by dipping your toe into a new game even if you find out that it’s ultimately not for you! There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a plate of your favorite comfort food at the buffet that is the realm of TTRPGs after all. But why limit yourself!
Ben Erickson
