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A lesson so many need to learn
(lemmy.world)
Modern iterations? Daggerheart. Full stop. 🤷🏼♂️
I think part of the problem is that 5e is so pervasive and baked into the "people who play TTRPGs" population that you need to sell them on why 5e isn't good before you can get them to consider why your alternative is good.
Frankly, I'm a White Wolf die-hard. I love Exalted. I love Werewolf. I love Mage. I tolerate Vampire. But as soon as I show someone a set of d10s and try to talk them out of the idea of "Leveling" they get scared and run back to the system they're familiar with. I also have a special place in my heart for Rollmaster/Hackmaster/Palladium and the endless reams of % charts for every conceivable thing. And then there's Mechwarrior... who doesn't love DMing a game where each model on the board has to track it's heat exhaust per round? But by god! The setting is so fucking cool! (Yes, I know about Lancer).
I will freely admit that these systems aren't necessarily "better" than 5e (or the d20 super-system generally speaking). But they all have their own charms. The trick is that selling some fresh new face on that glorious story climax in which three different Traditions of Magi harmonize their foci and thereby metaphorically harmonize fundamental concepts of society is hard to do on its face. By contrast, complaining about the generic grind of a dice-rolling dungeon crawl is pretty straightforward and easy.
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The dungeon master can do whatever the fuck they feel like. It's their game. These systems are suggestions, inspiration, not law. I don't get why people get so hung up on the particular rules of some edition
in general, i agree. it's just a game and more often than not the system encourages you to tweak it to fit your group. however, i feel like there are times when people fight against the system by trying to hack it apart and rebuild it in their image. while i don't directly discourage this, sometimes this is done at a detriment and without consideration for balance or fun. if you like the changes you've made to your favorite system, and it works well at the table, then keep doing that. but if you're looking for ways to trim the fat, or like the ideas but not the mechanics, then there are so many more options to choose from than monolithic popular game.
i think it's okay to point out to people that there are systems that already exist that solves their specific problems. that's more than likely why they exist in the first place. and this goes especially for those who are new to ttrpgs in general, as there are lots of fantastic options for introducing people to the scene. i readily encourage people to try new things and experience how different systems make changes to the formula to fit their purpose.
speaking purely as a gm, and this is my personal preference, i don't want to fight a system to make it do what i want. if it doesn't, and that's a detriment to my personal playstyle, then it's likely not the system for me. i'm not married to any one set of rules, nor do i want more work to make any one system solve all my problems. if someone else wants to do that, finds enjoyment in that, and does it well, then more power to them.
the games i like allow the players to have collaboration in storytelling and worldbuilding as part of the game mechanics (e.g. fabula points in Fabula Ultima)
We're RPG player, we have a long tradition of trolling each others, AD&D player will tell that Vampire is the opposite of a RPG while WOD player will reply that AD&D is a boardgames and that it misses the role play element to be called RPG.
But all this trolling tend to be all fun, and not many people would straight up refuse D&D game (even I, play it like once a decade, there is so many other game out there and so few time)
I know I straight up refuse to play pathfinder because until this thread I've never seen anyone ever recommend Pathfinder without actively shitting on dnd. If I did then maybe I'd have tried it some point in the past few years. Taken up the many offers to play in a pathfinder game. But I hard refuse everytime. If they just said how pathfinder does stuff better, that'd be fine. But it always devolves into what dnd does worse and the endless nitpicking and complaints. No longer is pathfinder the focus. The focus becomes bitching about everyone under the sun that dnd does to the point pathfinder doesn't even get mentioned anymore. It's not what it does better. Every convo I've seen isn't about how good pathfinder is but how bad dnd is and that level of negativity being focused on constantly just to recommend you play their game instead has always made my skin crawl. Should stand on its merits, not its competitions failures. If you can't do that then I'm not sure what the point of it is other than "HAHA DND GET FUCKED"
Classic Deadlands! Do you want a system that grinds to a halt in combat if you have more than like 3 players? This system is for you! Wait, that's the bad part.
Do you want a really flavorful world of spaghetti western meets supernatural meets call of cthulhu? Great!
Maybe, like me, you really love playing with a deck of playing cards for everything! You get to do that! Initative? Deck of cards. Stats at creation? Deck of cards. Slinging spells? Deck of cards. Building a fucked up mad science gizmo (my favorite)? Deck of cards!
Did you know Pinnacle, the creators, made an official deck? With all cards plus the two jokers you need. Did you know those cards feel amazing to my little stupid hands??? I love them.
Do you want to do mad science, explode things, and invent completely new shit? Be a mad scientist! Want to gunsling? Throw probably evil magics? Maybe have the power of God on your side (but not anime, that doesn't exist yet) all set during a sort of longer term civil war? Wheeeee!
It's my favorite setting and system. I don't like Reloaded, I hate the Savage Worlds system. It feels so fucking generic. But! I'm glad people enjoy it and have made so many things for it!
I never got a campaign off the ground, but Palladium had, I thought, a great system.
I loved the approach to alignment (good, selfish, evil) and awarding xp for roleplaying, clever ideas, and problem solving, rather than simply killing an enemy.
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No no no ... 5e 2024 sucks.
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I was recently introduced to Death in Space.
Things that I like about it:
- it's a simple system
- it's got cool lore (the universe is dying, aberrations are infiltrating the local solar system, all ships and technology is scavenged)
- it's got some overlapping mechanics with 5e, which makes introducing it simple (advantage, d20 checks, etc)
- it's got some nice rules for ship combat, space walks, etc
- combat turns are basically just go next if you have something, then the enemies do their thing, and players coordinate on whatever works best for them
My fiancé was running it, but lost the time to continue running it. I might take over with my own group soon.
The thing is that if you don’t like it, you can modify it. If it’s better, the people you play with will be cool too.
I never understood people who hate on the RAW. Like, it's an open concept. Make it your own. Any changes can be done at the first session, and if you have an adjustment that's better, everyone will agree and it will catch on.
I'm actually planning a twoshot of DC20 next week. So hopefully I will be able to do just that.
From everything I've been reading I've liked quite a bit, hopefully it works just as well in practice.
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
438 points (91.5% liked)
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