Forums » RP Discussion » Alternative RP systems

For the most part, when people say Role Play, most people think D&D.

But what other RP systems have you seen or played? No, not Pathfinder. That's just D&D 3.5 with the kinks worked out.


For me there was BESM. Big Eyes Small Mouth, an anime based D10 Tri-Stat system.
Also S.A.S., Silver Age Sentinels, a D20 Tri-Stat system.

There is also The Iron Kingdoms RP system, as well as Warhammer 40k's various RP systems.

And finally, an RP system based on Dragon Age.


So what have you got?

Shadowrun was always my favourite. Rifts for a while. Call of Cthulhu's d100-based system. Mutants and Masterminds, for a hot minute.

Rifts was the first tabletop game I played. It was an interesting mess. I've also played a little bit of D&D, and a brief night of White Wolf.

My experience has been super limited, but I think I favor tabletop with it's still run in a play-by-post environment. I have a much easier time following along.

So, currently in storage (our house is TIIIIIIIINY), we have BESM, All base World of Darkness, base of all the specific types (werewolf, vampire, mage, etc), Little Fears, Bubblegum Shoe, Fear Itself, Dark Heresy, Dresden Files, Serenity, Houses of the Blooded, All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Owned:
- New World of Darkness (Base, Mage, Werewolf, Hunter)
- Mythender (You are a demigod on a quest to kill your family)

Have Played:
- Dark Heresy
- Feng Sui

Now of the games that I don't own or haven't played but WANT TO... oh boy that's a long list, so lemme just go off of memory...

- Shadowrun (Liked the game Returns but I have no idea which edition to start with)
- Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine (Recommended by someone on Tumblr that I really enjoy. I've also heard it's very good for play-by-post, which is my method of choice.)
- Rouge Trader (Made by the same people as Dark Heresy, but focusing on the non-Imperium bits of the world)
- GURPS (Literally the most flexible RPG system ever... but oh boy are there are a lot of books.)

I've played Pathfinder exactly once, haha. However, I've also played and know of a few fandom-based systems, and have been meaning to try some of the other systems that have already been mentioned, like World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu!

My favorite aside from D&D itself is the Unofficial Elder Scrolls RPG, or UESRPG for short. Not only am I in love with the Elder Scrolls in general, but I really like the dice and stat system in UESRPG. True to form, it's more skill-based than level- and attribute-based. In fact, it doesn't have levels at all, just experience that you use to buy skill and attribute increases, talents, and expansions of your combat style. The dice system is built around the d100 instead of the d20, and instead of trying to roll above a certain number, you have to roll below a target number that gets higher as your skills increase. It's a really fun system, but sadly I don't have anyone to play it with any more...

I also know of Pokémon Tabletop Adventures, an unofficial system for Pokémon-based campaigns, and Pokéthulu, a Pokémon parody system, but I've never played either.

We own a bunch, but the ones that 'stand out' for me:

• Fate
• Agon - greek heros
• Castles & Crusades - retro D&D clone
• Burning Wheel
• GURPS
• My Little Pony, Tales of Equestria - geared for kids with an older GM
• Dungeon Crawl Classics

I own the Dr. Who RPG too, though have never actually played it. One of these days!

I have not played most of these yet, but I own the materials and am planning campaigns for each of them:

Upwind - Advertised as "Studio Ghibli meets Treasure Planet". Players are Explorer Knights, trained sailors and elementalists. Players get to name their own abilities, and encounters are resolved by setting stakes and bidding using a deck of cards. Character backstories are made up as you play during flashbacks before or after critical story beats.

Spell - The RPG - Players are "speakers", able to speak little bits of the universal language. Stats are determined by personality traits, and magic spells have to be spelled out via scrabble-like tiles.

Ryuutama - A Japanese storytelling game that focuses on travel. Player character classes are your basic RPG npc townsfolk: healer, farmer, merchant, etc.

Tenra Bansho Zero - Another Japanese storytelling game, but this one is the child of kubuki theatre and over the top action anime. Players reward each other good roleplay with points used to level up abilities or burn for extra dice, but using too many without resolving your character's ties to the world will turn your character into an evil NPC.

Shadowrun - This might have been suggested as it's pretty popular. In an alternate future of Earth, magic has resurfaced and many humans suddenly have transformed into elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls. Flash forward some more and huge corporations known as the big 10 rule the world and oppress the sheeple working for them. Shadowrunners work under the radar and sell their hacking, shooting, and subterfuge skills to the highest bidder.



I might run a group for one of these for some RPR people sometime, but only after I am more experienced. It stinks sometimes being the only the GM for your favorite systems, though.