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The Top 10 Fantasy Games That Are NOT D&D (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-08 13:13:03
Imported:
2026-06
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PDM opines. 

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Top 10 Fantasy RPGs

Comments

Bagel-Man

Love the output of content this week PDM!

John

I'm guessing it's because it is NOT rules light by any stretch, but I am somewhat surprised Hero System/Fantasy Hero didn't get any mention. It's the most flexible system I have actually played even if it is a lot more work doing character creation. Different stat system, including directive stats for things like resistance to damage and endurance. Not set abilities but you can build any ability you want very specifically and work in into the game. It's certainly worth a look. Up to it's 6th edition now, somebody must like it given the staying power.

Ray Case

Any thoughts about Chivalry & Sorcery? We played 1&2E and once we added enough additional rules for combat to make sense, it really hit the right notes. Basically only two characters were magick users. EVER. in 20+ years of play, but...

Graham Kane

I'm surprised you left out ICRPG and Shadowdark. Any particular reason? Is it because they are derivatives of D&D?

Adam

My favorite games are GURPS. yeah I am that guy in the comments. :P My theme is anything and everything settings I guess. I love in depth character creation, but simplicity in play. GURPS is front loaded. You take the time crafting a character after that its pretty simple and if you wanna run a Space Game with Mechs using Orcs as the bad guys you can. Want to drop a drug dealer, an elf lord from middle earth, Mad Max , and Jane from Fly into a campaign that Mimics "Heroes in Hell" get the right books, assign a character creation amount and say make anything from anywhere and send them all to Hell. Done. Grim Dark is in your description. And how you react to character failed dice rolls. I love character crafting. 5e is good for that, I prefer to run a smooth game, OSE is good for that. But only GURPS combines both. Rules light meh, no thanks I prefer a game. The only rules light game I love is Amber Diceless RPG. But that I think is again the character creation, and the setting. Corwin is the ultimate anti-hero. :D

Adam
>>112484424

Well maybe Elric is more badass, its really hard to choose between them.

MrGunn

PDM I hope you are well. Great video, lots of great selections. I would like to see a Sci-Fi list.

Chuck Thorin

All good games and have most of them.. Sooo. I know it's not officially out yet but anybody got thoughts on Dragonbane?

Jon Rennick

Also would like the see more Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk. Definitely an underrepresented genre!

Kevin Beck

I would include Barbarians of Lemuria in my list. Just found it. The basic mechanic is roll 2d6 and beat 9 to succeed. You can create a character in about five minutes. Its a career based system not unlike Warhammer Fantasy but much simpler in scope. A career can provide bonuses to tasks that generally relate to that career. If you Google it you'll find reviews pretty easily. Its probably the only game that actually reminds me of the old Heavy Metal movie based on the comic. You can totally do Conan with this and its far simpler and faster, in my view, than the 2d20 Conan game Modiphius just shelved. I'm not mentioning a lot here. Like the mass battles system for land and sea battles and other stuff but other people have already reviewed those aspects in other videos. Google is your friend...at least I think it is.

Firstspear

"This is a game about Elves not air disaster reconstruction" - Love it

Z Bird
>>112512242

Love it! I’ve ran a couple one shots. Hero Points were super fun for players to pull off a crazy maneuver or cut through a dozen mooks in a single round, and I really like the magic system that’s free form but with a cost structure.

Z Bird

Symbaroum is great! I’m running a campaign in its 3rd year (about 70 sessions).The primary reason to buy it is the setting and the art work. While I do like the mechanics, there are rough edges. For example, the core rules span only several pages, but there are dozens of individual abilities with 3 levels each that contain dense and sometimes unclear or conflicting text. The authors expect the GM and their table to be comfortable with making a lot of rulings. We’ve house ruled extensively to clarify and streamline.

Lars Grabowski

i would have guessed you rank Shadowdark among those games

Jay
>>112469664

Absolutely, all SWADE products have been killing it on Kickstarter for the last few years to include Pathfinder for Savage Worlds who took home the award for best graphic design at Origins. The latest 20th Anniversary Edition of Savage Worlds Core Rules and Players Books has exceeded its goal of $6,000 and currently at $132,000.00 today 9 July 2023 breaking every stretch goal set so far since they opened up for backers 12 days ago and there are still 18 days to go. I really like this game system but for me it only comes in second to the rules light games like EZD6.

Jay

PDM, it goes without saying I'm a big fan of independent games and will be checking out these to either play or borrow ideas from for homebrew. Thanks for taking the time to give us a snapshot of what they have to offer.

Jay
>>112472669

It is a great book with lots of useful advice. I'm still trying to remember the article I saw in late 80's early 90's from Hickman explaining the scalability problem with increasing levels and HP including the groundbreaking idea that the DM can just set the target number on the D20 without looking up all the monster Armor Classes. If I can find it I will share it but that was a long time ago. Likely in a Dragon or Dungeon Magazine.

Jay
>>112524226

Also, Yes! Once you are afraid of offending people you are no longer funny and are cudgeled into silence by people who hate opposing views. I couldn't agree more. Obviously you need to know your audience and there is a time and place for everything. However, the perpetually offended snowflakes can be insufferable and like to virtue signal typically on behalf of others who often don't care about the joke in the first place. They are ingenuine joy killers. Seinfeld was hilarious. I saw him in Vegas a while back.

Chuck Thorin
>>112485912

Yep. Got the free Quickstart. I can see the DNA of other RPG's in it. Cards for initiative like Savage Worlds. A roll under skill system (like CofC/Runequest) but with d20. Sort of Feats that cost Willpower points to use. It may be pretty good.

ViggenCA

I have 9 of the top 10 ... time to make up for being slack and get Mazes.

Jason O'Dell

Ever play Deadlands? Not Savage Worlds DL, the original Deadlands? That was the main campaign at my table for a long time. I know it's not fantasy but it was still awesome.

Brent Norton

Kids… This a fantasy list that doesn’t have Str,Int,Wis,Dex,Con, or Chr. Cause I would have said CoC, Paranoia, and Palladium games.

Jay
>>112563791

I still like Palladium quite a bit but yeah. This one isn't including any D&Dish type games.

Frederic Schmitt

May we please have a review of Deathbringers favorite RPG? 😁

Timothy J. Mallory

There's a lot of issues with Torchbearer that may not suit people. I substantially rewrote much of the class and combat stuff when I ran it. So I don't know that I would recommend the game per se. But it really does do resource management in a way that's fun and interesting rather than tedious. Much better than D&D ever did. Most games are so awful about resource management that when you even talk about that, it makes folks ill.

Kevin Beck
>>112521287

I'm pretty sure that he didn't include Shadowdark because it is a game based on D&D. Its just a "cleaned" up version of it which includes the six stats D&D made famous, AC, hit points and the like.

Kevin Beck
>>112512242

I think you'll like the system, my guess is you won't like some of the themes but I could be completely wrong. EDIT: Scratch that, I just watched the first two episoded of reviled society. :)

Kevin Beck
>>112731966

Resource management? What's that? Just kidding. I can't think of any game I've ever played or GMed that we even considered it. That said I haven't run any extended campaigns where it may have mattered.

Timothy J. Mallory
>>112731966

It doesn't feature in most of my campaigns either. Most games either don't touch it at all or they think it should be the tabletop equivalent of Campaign for North Africa. The only games I've played where it is done well enough to be fun are Blades in the Dark and Torchbearer, both of which make it central but in very different ways.