There is Life beyond D&D
I was on Twitter when @GreenRoninPub retweeted a post by geektyrant.com. Looks like they are doing a series about RPG's that aren't D&D. Well that got me thinking about this and so these are my thoughts about it.
For the record when I say D&D, I refer to 5th Edition and I am not anti-D&D, I play in a regular Sun group. I consider it quite friendly regarding new players. Personally I prefer other games. but anyway, here's why you might try another game
The setting/world/universe
There are plenty of settings out there, based on books for example that have their own system(s). I read the Lord of the Rings when I young and so, fell in love with Middle-Earth. I have bought all the RPG's based on it and the current one is The One Ring by Cubicle 7. The system has been built, from the ground up, to have the Tolkien feel and is widely regarded to have succeeded. I ran it for guys that had only played one other rpg before so I would say it is newbie friendly. If you are not prepared to make the jump to a new system but still want to roleplay in Middle Earth, Cubicle 7 also produce adventures in Middle earth where they port their The One Ring content to 5th Ed.
Green Ronin have the licence for The Expanse RPG, the very popular sci-fi book series and indeed TV series as well. Well there will be a dedicated RPG for that. (Yep waiting for this one)
Star Wars fan? Fantasy Flight Games have got you covered with 3 separate games. Each also have a starter set geared for those new to the system which guide you through the system basics. These games use specific dice (which you get in the Starter sets and can be bought on their own in blister packs)
Love Lovecraft? It is a no brainer then to embrace Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium who have been producing Cthulhu Mythos material since the 80's. This is a percentile based system so again easy to understand. You have a 30% chance to hit, you need to role under 30, it's not difficult. Fair disclosure this is my favourite RPG
Are you eagerly awaiting the new series of Game of Thrones? Green Ronin produce the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG where you play members of one of the minor houses who are one of the bannermen to one of the great Houses like Stark and Lannister.
I could go on there are many more, Flash Gordon and Solomon Kane (Savage Worlds by Pinnacle Ent), John Carter of Mars (Momentum system by Modiphius) are notable mentions.
Starter Sets, Jumpstarts and Quickstarts
I already mentioned Starter Sets with the Star Wars games. Chaosium have just launched a Starter Set for Call of Cthulhu, Modiphius are releasing one for their Star Trek game. Paizo have one for their Pathfinder game and are releasing one for their Starfinder game, Starter sets are generally around £20 ($25-30) and are boxed sets containing basic rules, dice, floor plans/maps, pre-made characters and at least one adventure.
Quickstarts are generally free and are in the form of PDF (sometimes there are print on demand options as well vis DrivethruRPG or Lulu.com.) Generally anything from 30ish to 70ish pages, these are generally free as PDF, They will contain basic rules, pre-made characters and a short adventure. Loads of games have these now as the companies try to woo you into looking at their game. Often released as a company goes to Kickstarter so potential backers can get an idea of what they might be pledging for.
Jumpstarts are again normally in PDF format and cost a few dollars (they are generally offered on Drivethrurpg). Basically they are bigger versions of quickstarts.
Look to Europe
Hey there are great games in the US, all I am saying is that Europe is kicking out some great stuff at the moment (special nod to Sweden as there is some crazy good stuff coming out of there, I come back to that)
Germany - The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) first released in 1984. It only has one game world Adventuria and the history of the world has progressed as the game has aged and gone through it's edtions (also up to 5th ed). It also has (at least to German players) a feedback system so player actions can have an impact on the future of the world in the official canon of the world. Currently published in English by Ulisses North America
France - Polaris. A futuristic setting where mankind now lives in underwater cities with different factions vying for control. A very evocative setting
UK - Two companies fly the flag for the UK and i have already mentioned them -
Cubicle 7 - The One Ring, Adventures in Middle earth, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Lone Wolf, Doctor Who and more
Modiphius - They have their own house system 2d20 which powers Mutant Chronicles, Conan, Star Trek, Infinity and will be releasing Dune using this system. John Carter of Mars Momentum system is a modofication of 2d20. They produce Vampire the Masquerade under licence and also have distribution deal with several companies helping them get their games out to wider distribution, City of Mist, Mindjammer, Space 1899, Kult, Cold and Dark and others incl some Swedish games.
Sweden Fria Ligan Mutant Series, Tales from the Loop, Coriolis, Forbidden Lands and, since their merger with Jaringen, Symbaroum
Also from Sweden but not distributed by Modiphius are Riotminds who have Trudvang Chronicles and LexOccultum. Honestly the games from Sweden at the moment are smoking hot. Fria Ligan won Ennie Awards for Tales from the Loop and Coriolis and Trudvang Chronicles was the most anticipated game on EN World for 2017..
Drivethrurpg
Whilst the do the aforementioned quickstarts, in January they also running their New year New Game sale (currently, at time of typing, running for another five days. New games on the cheap!
New Gamemaster Month
Also in January is the New Gamemaster Month program. This year there is four games to choose from, from four publishers. This just launched yesterday and the options are
Numenera by Monte Cook Games, Unknown Armies by Atlas Games, Trail of Cthulhu by Pelgrane Press and Runequest by Chaosium. Check the link below
The beauty of trying something different is that it may also lead to something else eg you play a percentile game and you might try a variant like Rolemaster or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. A game may catch you by surprise. In our D&D group, we had a session where a couple of the players were missing so the GM ran a oneshot of Numenera. Previously, this held no interest for me but we had a cracking game and we hopefully at some point continue the story. Another time I ran a Call of Cthulhu oneshot, again the guys really enjoyed and want to play again. Bottom line is it is about enjoyment and fun, there is a lot of great games out there.
Links to companies I mentioned
Green Ronin - https://greenronin.com/
Cubicle 7 - http://cubicle7.co.uk/
Fantasy Flight Games - https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/index/
Chaosium - https://www.chaosium.com/
Pinnacle Entertainment Group - https://www.peginc.com/
Modiphius - https://www.modiphius.net/
Paizo - https://paizo.com/
Ulisses North America - https://www.ulisses-us.com/
Polaris Rpg page - http://www.polaris-rpg.com/
Riotminds - https://www.riotminds.se/
Monte Cook Games - https://www.montecookgames.com/
Atlas Games - http://blog.atlas-games.com/
Pelgrane Press - http://site.pelgranepress.com/
