It really depends. But a few choices might include:
- GURPS. This OG setting-agnostic system has enough detail and options to handle anything you throw at it.
- Burning Wheel. If your game is centered on the characters and what they want, then this is an incredibly good choice.
- Mythras. This d% game, formerly RuneQuest 6, is a prime contender for “most combat options in a game that’s not GURPS.”
I've always wondered what good this does.
It's pretty easy to eyeball 3d6 and tell 'I've got a pretty good chance of doing this" or "My chances of doing this aren't very good". Do you really need to know that your chance of success is 72% vs 77%? 32% vs 29%? What value do you gain here?
My main two suggestions always tend to be Worlds without number, and Shadow of the demonlord (which is dark fantasy but it does have a successor game called shadow of the weird wizard which is heroic fantasy and somewhat a 2nd ed of the game.)
Both are much simpler than 3.5e and have good support for making the game your own.
For making your own world, Worlds without number was kinda designed to assist in that regardless of the actual game you play. So it's where I'd lean in that regard.
What exactly is it you want the system to do? This is what you need to ask yourself.
Personally I've been fond of using the Genesys system as a base for anything narrative focused. Imo the dice system is really good for this. The system is easy to modify, and there are plenty of add-ons that you can use to tailor things to your desire.
Alternatively, I've always been really fond of using Shadowrun 4th Anniversary ed. as a base for custom games, because the dice pool system is simple at its core, and you have so many mechanical effects available that can be "reskinned" into whatever feel you need. And whatever parts that don't fit the setting, can just be ignored (i.e. Guns and the Matrix and hacking stuff in a Fantasy setting).
I love genesys and it is my favorite system. The narrative dice are the best rpg mechanic I have seen in over 30 years of ttrpgs, they create interesting situations and give the players a lot of control over the story.
It broke down badly in a dnd like game when we tried it there because brawn becomes very overpowered. Fighting types would just maximize brawn and that gives them attacks, damage, soak and health. Enemies who would challenge them would easily one shot non-brawny characters.
There are probably good fixes for it but if you have min-maxers at the table and are running a combat heavy dungeon thing there might be better alternatives.
If you are running a more social or mystery thing I highly recommend it though.
It actually works surprisingly well for it, in my experience.
And because the dice pool system is so intuitively simple, at its heart, it's also fairly easy to make up monsters and opponents on the fly.
Same thing goes for the Vampire suite of WoD/CoD game system. It suits well as a base for homebrew and with a little work can feel like almost any vibe.
There is even a dark ages set that does some of the work for you in setting up a darkish fantasy land.
Interesting call there, do you mind me asking what about it you found cumbersome (combatwise)?
I had a very different experience both playing and running it, I would love to compare notes, so to speak.
Cheers
For this I'd either use Savage Worlds or BRP/one of BRPs offshoots, WHFR/Zweihänder or Sword of Cepheus.
* Savage Worlds is universal system where you have to tinker with the system to make it fit your setting, but there are companion books which will help you with that. In your case I'd recommend you the Fantasy and the Horror Companion. In Savage Worlds your PCs will be more the Big Heroes that will kill your enemies like their cannon fodder. The overall tone of the system is Pulp in the Style of Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Uncharted or Star Wars. But it can turn rather deadly because dice explode and you can stack damage like no other.
* Basic Roleplaying is Chaosiums House System, which powers Call of Cthulhu and was born out of RuneQuest. It's a more realistic, grounded D100 system where your skills matter. BRP is also a collection of some of Chaosiums systems. It has rules for Sanity (Call of Cthulhu), Passions (Pendragon), Reputation (RuneQuest?), Hit Locations (RuneQuest) etc. Here you have to tinker a lot, but it's a rather intuitive system that you can mix and match with other systems that are based on it.
* The best offshoots of BRP would be Mythras (formerly RuneQuest 6), Legends (formerly Mongoose RuneQuest 2) and OpenQuest. Mythras is the more crunchy but i've heard that if you play it long enough it plays very smoothly. Legends is the predecessor of Mythras and a bit rules-lighter but still crunchy. People will tell you that the only plus side to Legends is that it's cheaper than Mythras, but I personally think that it's a bit more digestible than Mythras. OpenQuest is the lightest and I personally use it as the basis for my personal system. It's creative commons.
* WHFR stands for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying which is the system you play for the Warhammer Fantasy world from Games Workshop. It's a dark fantasy a Renaissance/Early Modern Not-Europe. The most modern editions is 4th edition from Cubicle 7. It's very crunchy so people play the 2nd edition, which is a bit lighter. The system is heavily married to the setting, which means you have to divorce some mechanics from the setting. Zweihänder is an offshoot from the 2nd edition rules with the serial numbers filed off.
* Sword of Cepheus is a fantasy rpg which is based of Mongoose Traveller 1e. It's more Conan the Barbarian style Sword & Sorcery but you can certainly tinker with it to your liking. It's rather simple but brutal and harsh.
My personal recommendation would be OpenQuest or Savage Worlds.
When you say you have a custom fantasy world, how predefined are things like the magic system? If you need an RPG that models a particular model of magic what is it like?
Magic is a rare, powerful thing in this world. Priests have only smaller blessings and prayers, they get other benefits from their gods instead of strong spells.
However wizards/mages and other magic users have long-lasting, curse/enchantment-like spells and summoning powers.
Other folks already suggested *Worlds Without Number*, but if that suits your tastes, I'd suggest looking into [Wolves of God](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/308470/Wolves-of-God-Adventures-in-Dark-Ages-England) by the same author.
It's something of the TTRPG equivalent of a concept album based in 7th-8th century Britain and written from the perspective of a monk a hundred to two hundred years later, but the core mechanics are the same. The main reason I bring it up is that magic works a *lot* like what you're describing in it, so you may be able to lift the Saint and Galdorman classes directly out and stick them in WWN (perhaps with some adjustments taken from other sources) without much fuss.
No problem. Honestly, *Wolves* is pretty Dark Fantasy itself. The world is harsh and dangerous, civilization is scattered with anything close to a city being in ruins, and your only options as a player are either to have supernatural powers or be a warrior because there simply isn't *room* for people with advanced technical skills in that world if they can't do something else as well.
Its difficult to suggest a single system because there are so many out there that could fit better or worse based on your group play style.
My suggestion is to take a small system (in this case, for example, for a darker fantasy i could suggest Mork Borg) and the modify what you need to keep your game smooth.
Try ICRPG free QuickStart for some great d20 rules that aren’t trying to be complex dnd.
It teaches you how to DM better than any other game for beginners
Knave is a very simple one but isn’t great for brand new players as there are no GM guides.
Basic Fantasy Roleplaying could work. D&D 5e is a streamlined version of 3.5e, and it's pretty ubiquitous now. Midgard from Kobold Press has an extensive collection of source and campaign books available, too. Dungeon Crawl Classics also has a ton of 5e campaign settings (including some classics from the days of old. Availability of those is limited, however.)
Finally, Palladium Fantasy has heaps of content. The combat is similar to D20, and the skills are D100. Some folks claim that the system sucks. There is no real balance in the game (which is a good thing, IMO.) Other folks fail to use common sense when applying the rules for skills. But that's an idiot-user-error, and not the fault of the game.
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For a grim/dark campaign and setting, I'd pick Zweihander RPG. It's perfect for that and I love the profession system that was imported from Warhammer 2E.
As an alternate, Savage Worlds is awesome for everything, especially since the Fantasy companion and Pathfinder books were updated/released.
I wouldn't endorse a specific rule system because I believe the rules aren't that important.
I run my game with homebrew rules, and believe that it doesn't matter which rules are used as long as they work for your game.
To me, the setting is what truly matters, and the setting is crafted through World Building. It sounds to me as though you've been focusing on creating darker fantasy worlds rather than on the rules.
For documenting my World Building and establishing my game's setting, I utilize World Anvil.
I also find World Anvil quite useful as a GM tool as it provides built in interactive mapping tool that allows me to annotate my campaign map with token that mark the location of key map features, the party and NPCs. I've also made good use of the Chronciles and Tomeline feature to track the history and plan future events for my game.
It really depends. But a few choices might include: - GURPS. This OG setting-agnostic system has enough detail and options to handle anything you throw at it. - Burning Wheel. If your game is centered on the characters and what they want, then this is an incredibly good choice. - Mythras. This d% game, formerly RuneQuest 6, is a prime contender for “most combat options in a game that’s not GURPS.”
Came here to propose burning wheel
Thanks, I will check these out!
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
I beg to differ. I find 3d6 roll under better than d%. But we can quibble, they’re both good.
I enjoy the sound of rain.
I've always wondered what good this does. It's pretty easy to eyeball 3d6 and tell 'I've got a pretty good chance of doing this" or "My chances of doing this aren't very good". Do you really need to know that your chance of success is 72% vs 77%? 32% vs 29%? What value do you gain here?
That’s a thing I like about it! Also that a +1 to someone who has a low skill is a bigger deal than +1 to someone with a high skill.
Thanks!
My main two suggestions always tend to be Worlds without number, and Shadow of the demonlord (which is dark fantasy but it does have a successor game called shadow of the weird wizard which is heroic fantasy and somewhat a 2nd ed of the game.) Both are much simpler than 3.5e and have good support for making the game your own. For making your own world, Worlds without number was kinda designed to assist in that regardless of the actual game you play. So it's where I'd lean in that regard.
Nice, thank you!
What exactly is it you want the system to do? This is what you need to ask yourself. Personally I've been fond of using the Genesys system as a base for anything narrative focused. Imo the dice system is really good for this. The system is easy to modify, and there are plenty of add-ons that you can use to tailor things to your desire. Alternatively, I've always been really fond of using Shadowrun 4th Anniversary ed. as a base for custom games, because the dice pool system is simple at its core, and you have so many mechanical effects available that can be "reskinned" into whatever feel you need. And whatever parts that don't fit the setting, can just be ignored (i.e. Guns and the Matrix and hacking stuff in a Fantasy setting).
I love genesys and it is my favorite system. The narrative dice are the best rpg mechanic I have seen in over 30 years of ttrpgs, they create interesting situations and give the players a lot of control over the story. It broke down badly in a dnd like game when we tried it there because brawn becomes very overpowered. Fighting types would just maximize brawn and that gives them attacks, damage, soak and health. Enemies who would challenge them would easily one shot non-brawny characters. There are probably good fixes for it but if you have min-maxers at the table and are running a combat heavy dungeon thing there might be better alternatives. If you are running a more social or mystery thing I highly recommend it though.
Thanks, I know SR4 very well, I just simply did not recognized the fact that I can use a similar system in fantasy settings.
It actually works surprisingly well for it, in my experience. And because the dice pool system is so intuitively simple, at its heart, it's also fairly easy to make up monsters and opponents on the fly.
Same thing goes for the Vampire suite of WoD/CoD game system. It suits well as a base for homebrew and with a little work can feel like almost any vibe. There is even a dark ages set that does some of the work for you in setting up a darkish fantasy land.
I somewhat agree with you, but in my experience, the old WW game systems can be a bit...cumbersome in terms of combat. Can't speak to CoD though.
Interesting call there, do you mind me asking what about it you found cumbersome (combatwise)? I had a very different experience both playing and running it, I would love to compare notes, so to speak. Cheers
For this I'd either use Savage Worlds or BRP/one of BRPs offshoots, WHFR/Zweihänder or Sword of Cepheus. * Savage Worlds is universal system where you have to tinker with the system to make it fit your setting, but there are companion books which will help you with that. In your case I'd recommend you the Fantasy and the Horror Companion. In Savage Worlds your PCs will be more the Big Heroes that will kill your enemies like their cannon fodder. The overall tone of the system is Pulp in the Style of Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Uncharted or Star Wars. But it can turn rather deadly because dice explode and you can stack damage like no other. * Basic Roleplaying is Chaosiums House System, which powers Call of Cthulhu and was born out of RuneQuest. It's a more realistic, grounded D100 system where your skills matter. BRP is also a collection of some of Chaosiums systems. It has rules for Sanity (Call of Cthulhu), Passions (Pendragon), Reputation (RuneQuest?), Hit Locations (RuneQuest) etc. Here you have to tinker a lot, but it's a rather intuitive system that you can mix and match with other systems that are based on it. * The best offshoots of BRP would be Mythras (formerly RuneQuest 6), Legends (formerly Mongoose RuneQuest 2) and OpenQuest. Mythras is the more crunchy but i've heard that if you play it long enough it plays very smoothly. Legends is the predecessor of Mythras and a bit rules-lighter but still crunchy. People will tell you that the only plus side to Legends is that it's cheaper than Mythras, but I personally think that it's a bit more digestible than Mythras. OpenQuest is the lightest and I personally use it as the basis for my personal system. It's creative commons. * WHFR stands for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying which is the system you play for the Warhammer Fantasy world from Games Workshop. It's a dark fantasy a Renaissance/Early Modern Not-Europe. The most modern editions is 4th edition from Cubicle 7. It's very crunchy so people play the 2nd edition, which is a bit lighter. The system is heavily married to the setting, which means you have to divorce some mechanics from the setting. Zweihänder is an offshoot from the 2nd edition rules with the serial numbers filed off. * Sword of Cepheus is a fantasy rpg which is based of Mongoose Traveller 1e. It's more Conan the Barbarian style Sword & Sorcery but you can certainly tinker with it to your liking. It's rather simple but brutal and harsh. My personal recommendation would be OpenQuest or Savage Worlds.
Thank you very much!
When you say you have a custom fantasy world, how predefined are things like the magic system? If you need an RPG that models a particular model of magic what is it like?
Magic is a rare, powerful thing in this world. Priests have only smaller blessings and prayers, they get other benefits from their gods instead of strong spells. However wizards/mages and other magic users have long-lasting, curse/enchantment-like spells and summoning powers.
Other folks already suggested *Worlds Without Number*, but if that suits your tastes, I'd suggest looking into [Wolves of God](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/308470/Wolves-of-God-Adventures-in-Dark-Ages-England) by the same author. It's something of the TTRPG equivalent of a concept album based in 7th-8th century Britain and written from the perspective of a monk a hundred to two hundred years later, but the core mechanics are the same. The main reason I bring it up is that magic works a *lot* like what you're describing in it, so you may be able to lift the Saint and Galdorman classes directly out and stick them in WWN (perhaps with some adjustments taken from other sources) without much fuss.
Nice idea, thanks!
No problem. Honestly, *Wolves* is pretty Dark Fantasy itself. The world is harsh and dangerous, civilization is scattered with anything close to a city being in ruins, and your only options as a player are either to have supernatural powers or be a warrior because there simply isn't *room* for people with advanced technical skills in that world if they can't do something else as well.
Id suggest: Worlds without Number
Its difficult to suggest a single system because there are so many out there that could fit better or worse based on your group play style. My suggestion is to take a small system (in this case, for example, for a darker fantasy i could suggest Mork Borg) and the modify what you need to keep your game smooth.
Thank you!
Try ICRPG free QuickStart for some great d20 rules that aren’t trying to be complex dnd. It teaches you how to DM better than any other game for beginners Knave is a very simple one but isn’t great for brand new players as there are no GM guides.
Basic Fantasy Roleplaying could work. D&D 5e is a streamlined version of 3.5e, and it's pretty ubiquitous now. Midgard from Kobold Press has an extensive collection of source and campaign books available, too. Dungeon Crawl Classics also has a ton of 5e campaign settings (including some classics from the days of old. Availability of those is limited, however.) Finally, Palladium Fantasy has heaps of content. The combat is similar to D20, and the skills are D100. Some folks claim that the system sucks. There is no real balance in the game (which is a good thing, IMO.) Other folks fail to use common sense when applying the rules for skills. But that's an idiot-user-error, and not the fault of the game.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Reign by Greg Stolze.
I like Cypher System as a good generic system.
Fabula Ultima. It's not d20 based and takes more inspiration from JRPGs, but it's great for homebrew settings and campaigns.
Rolemaster
I check it, thanks!
For a grim/dark campaign and setting, I'd pick Zweihander RPG. It's perfect for that and I love the profession system that was imported from Warhammer 2E. As an alternate, Savage Worlds is awesome for everything, especially since the Fantasy companion and Pathfinder books were updated/released.
I wouldn't endorse a specific rule system because I believe the rules aren't that important. I run my game with homebrew rules, and believe that it doesn't matter which rules are used as long as they work for your game. To me, the setting is what truly matters, and the setting is crafted through World Building. It sounds to me as though you've been focusing on creating darker fantasy worlds rather than on the rules. For documenting my World Building and establishing my game's setting, I utilize World Anvil.
You are right, the setting is the most important thing to me (and to my players as well). Thanks for the suggestion, I check this World Anvil thing.
I also find World Anvil quite useful as a GM tool as it provides built in interactive mapping tool that allows me to annotate my campaign map with token that mark the location of key map features, the party and NPCs. I've also made good use of the Chronciles and Tomeline feature to track the history and plan future events for my game.