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See title. I always like looking over new systems, seeing what ideas I can crib or even running them outright. But I just had to get some car maintenance done, so cheap is good, free is better.
Anyone got any good recommendations?
For what it's worth, systems I own:
-D&D 5E
-Mutants and Masterminds 3rd
-Stars Without Number
-Overlight
Eclipse Phase, if you are into Transhumanism.
Its very special, but does what its core is about, well.
https://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/
FATE Core. If you have a moderate skill with system tinkering, it can do pretty much everything.
Can you explain it a bit more than just "Transhumanism"? Because it looks interesting, but also weighty.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrayDeath
I've definitely touched on FATE before, but thanks for the reminder!Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Greywolf
Mythras Imperative
http://thedesignmechanism.com/downloads.php
A simplified version of Mythras.
Ironsworn (solo/co-op pbta, inclusive viking-vibes)
Mausritter (Into the Odd with mice)
Mothership (sci-fi horror d100 OSR)
The unofficial Final Fantasy d6 system is unironically one of my favorite RPGs of all time.
I also think you can still get the core rulebook of Savage Worlds for free.
GURPS Lite
Is a good introduction to GURPS, the 3d6 mechanic, and skills-based character building and conflict resolution.
Risus: The Anything RPG
Super rules light implementation of a game system and an interesting look at the minimum required elements of a TTRPG.
Okay, to amend my earlier request: Can I also get a brief explanation of what makes the game(s) you're recommending good? Don't need a total breakdown (that's what the book is for) but a brief "Here's what's cool!" would be neat.
But still, thanks a ton for the recommendations!
Laser feelings: it is a system that fits in a single page and is easy to understand so it helps actually starting to roleplay with non initiated people.
I wish I knew it when I started playing rpgs.
OK, Eclipse Phase plays in a future where all humans (TM) left dont have one body, they have multiples.
if you`re popor its a simple, basic organic and your Work body, if youre a spacer its adapted, its core is really transhumanism in setting and characters.
Regarding what you actually do, its quite open, but tows the line between Transhumanism in its Glory and its Dystopian version.
The 2 longer running games I palyed were a "you are elite Interceptors/hitmen of X" style, which was great fun and also allowed us to unveil some ... less ssavoury things in the setting, which ended in us rebelling and sadly dying permanently (or being black Boxed as its called most of the time^^).
The second was more or less Shadowrun in Space without Magic.
The Setting itself is a weigthy one, yes, but the System itself is of medium complexity at most.
Sorry, the alst game was 2.x years ago, that about as detailed as I can get without reading into it again myself.
overall I loved the setup and kinda liked the System.
And its Free.
Edit: See it as a more SPace/big Picture focussed Altered Carbon RPG with a better Setting, and you`re not far off.
You can get basic rules for Lamentations of the Flame Princess free, along with a couple of adventures and supplements.
Pros:
- the basic system is a Basic D&D retroclone, so it will be both similar to and simpler than 5th edition D&D.
- the referee booklet is ranty, but it's good advice for running Old School games and horror in D&D, even if you opt not to use LotFP rules.
- the adventures are unlike those that you'd get elsewhere.
- the supplementary spells are unlike those you'd get elsewhere.
- both the adventures and spells are easily portable to 5th edition D&D if you feel like it.
- beyond the free stuff, LotFP has a large catalogue of additional material.
Cons:
- beyond the basic rules, it's all about giving the finger to mainstream ideas of good taste and what D&D is for. It's to mainstream D&D what gnarly Scandinavian Black Metal is to Imagine Dragons.
Dread. you will need a Jenga tower but it's good.
Mythras
Mythras Core rules
Mythras is the new name for an older game, but while the name might have changed, the system remains the same, but presented in an updated format with new interior artwork and layout design, along with some new content (Special Effects, small tweaks to the rules, and Spirit Combat Effects). In fact, we've managed to pack more into a smaller space, and reduced the price accordingly.
For those new to the game, Mythras is a percentile system. In Mythras your characters are defined by their culture, career, community, background, comrades, skills, magic and cults. Progression is through skill advancement – not levels or similarly abstract concepts. As your characters adventure and quest, their capabilities improve and their relationships deepen and strengthen. Players and Games Masters have complete flexibility over what can be achieved, and the way characters develop is entirely dependent on choices players make, depending on their characters’ aspirations and motivations.
Games Masters receive a huge amount of support through the Mythras rules. All the concepts and game mechanics are explained clearly with options and considerations explored and presented for ease of use. You need only this rulebook for many years of exciting and imaginative play.
What’s in this book?
Mythras contains everything needed for play:
Character Creation – building your character through the familiar characteristics, through developing culture and community relationships, choosing a career, and gaining basic equipment according to social class. Skills – What they do, how they work, and how to handle many different circumstances (degrees of difficulty, critical and fumbled rolls, opposed skills, group skills, and so on). Economics and Equipment – Arms and armour, tools, clothing, accommodation... everything your character needs as he or she begins on their life of adventure. Combat – Mythras's combat system is unique, dynamic and geared towards adventurous realism. Gaining success over an opponent generates Special Effects that can rapidly turn the course of a fight. Copious advice is presented on balancing combat skills and styles, through to handling rabble and underlings. Magic – No less than five very different forms of magic are presented and explored, with complete lists of spells and effects. How magic is defined and used in different fantasy settings and campaign worlds is examined in detail. Cults and Brotherhoods – Religious, magical and secular organisations, as well as other kinds of societies are detailed the Cults and Brotherhoods rules. Cults are an important part of Mythras, and they are covered in significant detail along with templates for many different kinds of cult, order, school and so on for Games Masters and Players to build upon for their own campaigns. Creatures - Over 50 creatures are fully detailed, including several non-human player character races. This chapter also offers complete guidance on how to use creatures effectively in Mythras games, and notes on how to design your own. Games Mastery – Copious notes, thoughts and guidance on how to Games Master Mythras games. Areas for consideration are summarised, options explored, and different ways of using the rules offered. An invaluable chapter for new and old RuneQuest Games Masters alike… Anathaym’s Saga – Numerous examples of play and how the rules are used are provided through Anathaym’s Saga. Follow Anathaym, her sister Kara, Mju the Mystic and Kratos the Sorcerer as the Mythras rules are illustrated and explained.
Mythras Imperative
Mythras Imperative is a 32 page introduction to the Mythras system, designed for both newcomers and old hands. It gives you a pared-down, simplified version of Mythras but still with enough options and depth to be a playable game. The rules cover character creation, skills, the core mechanics of the game, spot rules for different circumstances, combat mechanics, and several creatures from fantasy, real life and science fiction.
Is this a fantasy game?
We’ve made Mythras Imperative generic. Skills cover the ancient, modern and futuristic settings, and the weapons include firearms. So Mythras Imperative gives you the starting point for adventuring in any time period you want. Other supplements, and the core Mythras rules themselves, expand on things like magic, vehicles, psionic powers and so on.
What else can I do with it?
Mythras Imperative can be used by third party publishers to develop their own, Mythras-powered games, in conjunction with the Mythras Gateway License. This simple agreement extends our permission for the Imperative rules to be used wholesale in new systems people want to create. Contact us for more details.
Actually those systems are pretty good. Was there something specific that is different than those? A genre?Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Here are my suggestions:
Basic Role Playing is a d100 skill-based classless system. Mythras is based on it. BRP however is easier to get into in terms of rules crunch.
Open d6 (they have space, fantasy subsets). Again skill-based and classless though it does have ‘professions’ that focus on specific skill group. Star Wars d6 (West End Games) is the original system.
DND 3.5 and Pathfinder 1E have about 90% as open source, if you prefer d20.
Several hacks of Apocalypse World (powered by the apocalypse or PBTA) are free. Story/narrative based system. Extremely easy to get into. BUT you need a group of storytellers that wish to collaborate.
FATE is good but again, even more than PBTA it requires a group of active story-tellers.
Sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Savage Worlds is great because it's an incredibly flexible pick-up-and-go system. It has enough character options to keep you occupied, but not enough to bog the game down, and makes for an excellent crunchier narrative system, since conflict resolution is so easy. You always know what your target number is (4), and anything that would change that is applied as +/- modifiers to your roll rather than a change to the DC of a check. It works in any setting (there's a campaign or splatbook for any kind of game you'd like, from gritty cyberpunk to high fantasy), and works well to make your characters feel like heroes without removing the danger from combat; you're stronger (can take more Wounds), better (usually have a higher die type), and luckier (you have Bennies, i.e. rerolls) than your average NPC counterpart, but you don't feel invincible since the Wounds system lends itself to "death spiraling" (in a good way).
Final Fantasy d6 is great for some of the same reasons, primarily the flexible character design. you can make whatever you want, however you want, within fairly broad bounds due to a liberal multiclassing paradigm that should be familiar to Final Fantasy veterans (Job change system). It lets you be the big damn heroes, and keeps tension in combat for the big fights, while allowing you to feel powerful and "invincible" in minor fights; enemies can bring the party to 0 HP, but only Bosses and Notorious (read: minibosses) enemies can actually KILL a PC, so a character death will by definition always happen in a meaningful conflict.
The rules light-medium nature of both systems lends them to extremely strong character driven RP and narratives, but this is PARTICULARLY the case with FFd6, where the rules encourage the GM and empower the player to be flexible and creative,a nd reward you for having goals outside the main plot (completing minor and major character goals reward you with Destiny, which can be used to do a number of things, from simply adding to a roll, enabling a Job change, or even allowing your character to go out in a Blaze of Glory; unavoidably dying but automatically accomplishing some great achievement).
One of my favorite features is the incidental magic system, meaning that if you have an appropriate combat spell, you are empowered to do non-combat things with them freely. Eg a character who knows Fire can always light a fire, without using MP. This allows a player to do fun things with their magic which would otherwise be a waste (such as using an Aero spell to bring yourself a cool breeze on a hot day), or even affect the world freely without worrying about reducing their combat effectiveness (using Thunder to power an electrical device for some benefit).
It is, all in all, the best mix of narrative freedom and rules crunchiness I have ever been able to find. The only real drawback is that it is somewhat limited in the settings you can use, as every aspect of the game is, of course, intensely Final Fantasy flavored.
I can recommend Low Fantasy Gaming.
https://lowfantasygaming.com/freepdf/
What would be the most recommended PbtA systems?
Barbarians of Lemuria
Robert E. Howard era Conan setting and abilities. Simple, easy to learn, fun to play avoids book keeping. Requires a DM with flexibility because there aren’t a squillion tables and pre-generated difficulty modifiers and items. For example at the end of an adventure the DM goes “you won a dragon hoard’s worth of treasure - After squandering most of it on wine women and song there’s still enough to buy a magic sword. Tell me what type of magic sword you want and I’ll tell you if it’s available”.
The current version is pay to use, but the old editions are free to download.
https://barbariansoflemuria.webs.com/earlier-editions
Most of the PbtA I've looked at or played have been hacked to deliver a very specific genre experience, so I think what you're looking for there would be a major factor. Like, Monsterhearts is great if you want to play an angsty, sexy teenage monster, but not so good if you want to do... not that.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Hackmaster has a free Basic version with a few races and classes.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Dungeon World, maybe?Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
You could always check out my system, STaRS . It's designed to be a fairly rules light system, on a similar level to Fate, but without relying too much on narrative-based mechanics. It's also designed to be lightning fast. Resolution is "roll 1d10 and get under your stat," so players don't have to wait for the GM to know if they succeeded. the GM, meanwhile, doesn't even HAVE stats for their NPCs in a traditional sense-- just a health bar, whatever level of "he's got earth magic" you're comfortable with, and notes on what sort of opposed rolls against them are easier or harder than normal.
The coolest thing (in my completely unbiased opinion) is that there isn't really a combat engine--instead, there are general "conflict" rules that you can use to zoom in on any sort of activity where you want there to be a dramatic back-and-forth. (Fate Core sort of does this too, but not as well-- my rules are the best I've seen for fitting environmental hazards and skill challenges into an exciting framework).
There's a pay-what-you-want light version, but if you pick up the full ($10) book there's also an entire chapter about how to extend the rules for different sorts of games and subsystems.
That is a very fitting description in several ways, the game was made by people who had previously been working on Shadowrun and it shows (converting the EP1 rules into SR4 mechanics doesn't require much more than dividing most numbers by either 5 or 20 and rolling pooled d6 instead of a d100), and "without magic" isn't even true since psi in EP works very similarly to magic in SR4.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrayDeath
Here are 3 I found (I haven't played any of them personally, but I've heard they're solid).
Freeform/Universal Generic RPG that mixes concepts from games such as Savage Worlds, OpenD6 and FATE. And it's only 23 pages long. https://img.fireden.net/tg/image/144...7353770099.pdf
OpenD6 http://opend6project.org/
Wushu by Daniel Bayn - high octane action TTRPG. http://danielbayn.com/wushu/
I don't know if you already know of him, but if you do not, allow me to introduce you to Grant Howitt.
Grant Howitt writes one-shot RPGs, mostly one-page, one-shot RPGs. He does this as part of his Patreon, and then most of those RPGs he releases absolutely free. Some of my favorites of his are:
- Honey Heist, a story about bear criminals holding a heist during a major honey convention.
- Nice Marines, in which you play very powerful Space Marines trying to solve problems that are not violence-based, ideally without accidentally killing everyone.
- Crash Pandas, in which you play a group of drag-racing raccoons trying to drive a car. Not anthropomorphic raccoons, mind you. Just normal raccoons, in a normal car.
- Jason Statham's Big Vacation, in which you play a group of people trying to make sure that Jason Statham has a good vacation and doesn't get arrested, sad, or killed by evil sniper Wesley Snipes.
Masks: A New Generation is probably one of the ones you're going to hear a lot. Monsterhearts and Monster of the Week are two others that are generally considered well made PbtA hacks. Wanderhome has been getting a lot of attention. I like it personally but with all PbtA Hacks they're all only really good at doing what they're designed to do and not very well designed to do what you might want to do if that isn't what they're made for. PbtA is a universal system, the Hacks are not because so much of the PbtA rules are dependent on the themes you want to explore.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Unlikely. Dungeon World is pretty widely considered one of the least recommended PbtA Hack due to a lot of design problems. It was a solid PbtA game when the system was newer but a lot of time has been spent with the PbtA design philosophy and Dungeon World...doesn't pan out. There is a hack of Dungeon World that fixes a lot of these problems however called World of Dungeon which is far better received in the PbtA community.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant
It's very niche and is most definitely not the "most recommended" one, but if I may pitch a curveball, I had a total blast running World Wide Wrestling RPG for a while in my local gaming meetup with a cast of changing players. The PbtA system fits the mechanics of professional wrestling perfectly, but of course there should at least be a moderate level of interest in the topic otherwise it will fall flat.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
(and of course, considering the thread title, it is unfortunately not free, so there is that to consider)
I'll vouch for this. It totally is niche but it's a total blast. I can't think of any PbtA game that is 100% free though Masks: A New Generation does have enough posted online for free to run games.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delta