James D’Amato is an precise play podcaster, sport designer, and creator of the Ultimate RPG Guide collection printed by Adams Media. For 10 years he has recorded periods of a whole bunch of various RPGs for the One Shot podcast.
Should you love Dungeons & Dragons, however you’re curious in regards to the many 1000’s of different tabletop role-playing video games available on the market, it may be troublesome to know the place to begin. Particularly for those who get pleasure from a extremely crunchy, technically demanding guidelines system, selecting up a brand new sport is an enormous dedication — particularly for those who get pleasure from fight. That’s why we’re exploring alternate options that cater to totally different tastes!
In my first piece for Polygon, I addressed the wants of those that need extra role-play — storytelling and narrative design — of their TTRPG. However one other one of many largest attracts for the D&D participant base is its fight system. For a lot of, it’s simply not value selecting up one other sport until they know their characters can kick ass. Whereas these video games additionally present good role-playing experiences, they pay particular consideration to the motion. Should you like to roll for initiative, you would possibly discover a new love on this listing.
Stats
To make issues extra digestible, we assigned stats to the video games on this listing.
Common session: The common size of a single session.
Problem: This tells you the way laborious it could be to choose up this sport for the primary time when you have solely ever performed D&D.
Crunch: This tells you the way mechanically advanced a sport is. For reference, D&D 5e can be a ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪ on this listing.
XP: Studying some RPGs will truly make it simpler to study others. A sport with a excessive XP stat is usually a gateway to mastering dozens or a whole bunch of others.
Wushu: The Historical Artwork of Motion Roleplaying
![The cover of Wushu: The Ancient Art of Action Roleplaying has a white background. A black and white yin/yang motif is formed by two pistoleers, circling each other with one gun in each hand.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YMT_l_7RCIDTVe_UNfIn6JwA3v8=/0x0:582x711/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:582x711):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24585295/wushu_cov4er.png)
Picture: Daniel Bayn
Designed by Daniel Bayn
Common session: 1-2 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪
XP: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Impressed by martial arts movies, Wushu: The Ancient Art of Action Roleplaying is about detailed motion. It has a quite simple premise: The extra element you add to an outline, the extra highly effective your motion turns into. All rolls are performed with d6 die swimming pools, which means that the extra particulars you add to the outline of how your character is attempting to land a blow, the extra cube you get to roll.
Whereas Wushu lacks the mechanical depth and character customization of most RPGs on this listing, it nonetheless joyfully encourages creativity by way of its motion scenes. It stays a little bit of a unicorn, nonetheless, since this sport received’t assist you choose up every other methods, however you would possibly study a number of new narrative expertise you may apply to different video games.
Feng Shui 2: Motion Film Roleplaying
![A martial artist in monastic robes stands on top of a speeding Dodge Charger — white with flames on the side. They are holding a samurai sword. Inside the card, a tattooed woman with red hair is leaning out the driver’s side. Another woman holds two pistols akimbo and is firing out the passenger side. A third woman is leaning out of an open rear door, casting a spell. The car is jumping off a bridge at speed.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MMYzAdNfW9yTtZsrEltLcVyPvbk=/0x0:3400x1618/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x1618):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24585320/feng_shui_2_image.jpg)
Picture: Atlas Video games
Designed by Robin D. Laws, printed by Atlas Games
Common session: 2-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
XP: ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪
Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is a love letter to Hong Kong-style martial arts and motion movies. Its mechanics encourage style emulation, guiding gamers to mimic movies like Supercop, Drunken Grasp, and Sure, Madam. The result’s a fast-moving sport that teaches you find out how to assume like an motion hero.
Gamers select from dozens of “character archetypes” like The Karate Cop, The Everyman Hero, or The Scrappy Child and customise them with an extended listing of “shticks.” These skills are what information the gamers to honor the style and make their video games memorable. For instance, “improvised weapon mastery” grants bonuses each time a personality makes use of an on a regular basis object as a weapon, however just for a couple of assaults. To maintain getting the bonus gamers should continuously discover new objects within the setting. What was initially a one-off gag turns into the operating joke able to protecting scenes feeling contemporary and enjoyable session after session.
The core ebook of Feng Shui 2 is filled with participant choices. Like Wushu above, studying this technique received’t open many doorways to different video games, however taking part in it even as soon as will make you have a look at fight in an entire new approach.
Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Recreation
Designed by Christopher Badell, Dave Chalker, Cam Banks, Philippe-Antoine Ménard; printed by Greater Than Games
Common session: 2-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
XP: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game offers gamers the factor they completely want in a superhero RPG: deep customization. That begins with the superpowers themselves, which vary out of your run-of-the mill enhanced velocity and flight to weird ones like the flexibility to remodel precipitation into spiders. Talents on this sport are designed to be personalized and reskinned to suit a participant’s imaginative and prescient. The precise mechanics are offered with easy meta tags; when you perceive them, you can also make them match any idea.
Sentinel additionally controls the tempo and pleasure of fight by way of the “scene tracker” system. As initiative advances, the strain steadily will increase — unlocking stronger character skills and attention-grabbing twists. This ensures that issues are at all times getting extra thrilling as every battle approaches its climax.
Of word is the truth that this sport just about solely has guidelines for preventing. Most the rest that takes place outdoors of fight is barely supported in any respect. But when all of your group actually cares about is preventing, then you may anticipate Sentinel Comics will likely be an ideal match. It’s loosely primarily based on the Cortex System, so studying it would assist you department out to different Cortex-powered video games.
Phoenix Daybreak Command
![](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XS5LXUcAQhlN487KNdhm_6ba5wY=/0x0:2120x1192/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2120x1192):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24585355/Phoenix_Dawn_Command.jpg)
Designed by Keith Baker, printed by TwoGether Studios
Common session: 3-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
XP: ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪
Should you used the Eberron setting for D&D, you already know and doubtless love Keith Baker’s work. Phoenix Dawn Command is one in every of his underappreciated tasks, but when combining creativity and technique in your role-play sounds good, then it would simply be the hidden gem for you.
Characters in PDC are warriors referred to as Phoenixes who can die, then be reborn stronger, as much as seven occasions. In truth, that demise mechanic is so integral to the lore of the sport that it’s the one approach to stage up. It’s not a query of if your character will die, however when they’ll kick the bucket and what that sacrifice will imply.
PDC’s different main departure from conventional D&D tropes is that it makes use of customized decks of playing cards to signify characters, permitting gamers to decide on the place and find out how to make their largest strikes. Leaping from polyhedral cube to playing cards is sort of the leap for some gamers, and PDC hasn’t had any main expansions or imitators so that you can construct off of the expertise. Nonetheless, the boxed starter set has all the things you should start an unbelievable marketing campaign. Should you like video games the place you’re employed as a workforce to make powerful strategic selections, PDC suits your group like a clenched fist inside a well-worn glove.
Lancer
![A lancer pilot in an Eastwood-inspired cape stands in front of a towering mech. The mech’s hand is raised, with a giant revolver in it firing away.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/01s4xl-kun4sKxWb_jMBcwT27Qc=/0x0:1600x811/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1600x811):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24585405/75.jpg)
Picture: Massif Press
Designed by Tom Parkinson-Morgan and Miguel Lopez, printed by Massif Press
Common session: 3-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪
XP: ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪
Lancer is maybe probably the most mechanically wealthy mecha RPGs ever printed, and in my view it stands out because the gold customary for the subgenre right this moment. It empowers gamers with a jaw-dropping stage of customization, permitting them to make actually distinctive battle machines with distinct skills. The fight system itself is wealthy, with many various layers for gamers to maneuver and battle precisely how they like.
Lancer splits itself between ultra-crunchy fight and narrative-focused downtime mechanics. So even teams with a mixture of “roll gamers” and role-players will discover there’s something right here for everybody. It additionally gives character creation and marketing campaign help by way of an app on the Lancer web site.
At present, there may be nothing on the market fairly like Lancer. Will probably be an enormous adjustment coming from D&D. It’s a comparatively new and in style sport, although, so there’s a good likelihood that you simply’ll see many new video games underneath the Powered by Lancer license within the coming years. You may get began with the free edition, which is accessible for obtain proper now.
Pathfinder Second Version
Picture: Paizo Publishing
Designed by Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter; printed by Paizo
Common session: 3-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
XP: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪
The unique Pathfinder was actually primarily based on D&D. Pathfinder’s second version, launched in 2019, updates the core idea with mechanical improvements, but it surely’s nonetheless fantasy heroes battling monsters for treasure. It affords a staggering variety of character choices and rewarding mechanical depth.
If you would like one thing totally different sufficient to really feel contemporary, however not too totally different from what you’re used to, Pathfinder Second Version is a good choose. You may as well simply department out to different Paizo merchandise, like Starfinder.
Gubat Banwa
![](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DoWQ4pn83j520Q2z8sZ-Wr54ZxE=/0x0:1800x750/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1800x750):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24585559/Gubat_Banwa_2.png)
Designed by Joaquin Kyle “Makapatag” Saavedra
Common session: 3-4 hours
Problem: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Crunch: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
XP: ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪
If you would like a much bigger change, Gubat Banwa is it. This sport is described as a “tactical martial arts battle drama” RPG impressed by the tradition and mythology of the Philippines. Consequently, it seems and feels completely distinctive whereas nonetheless specializing in heroic and dramatic characters kicking ass.
When making a Kadungganan, the heroes gamers management on this sport, you’ll discover choices on par with the wealthy and rewarding mechanics of D&D. Nonetheless, Gubat Banwa has mechanics to emphasise the “battle drama” a part of the pitch, grounding characters with Convictions, Conjectures, and Issues to esure motion scenes are dripping with pathos. Merely put, the sport hits laborious each bodily and emotionally by design.
Gubat Banwa is constructed for grid-based fight with guidelines for motion, terrain, and areas of impact. Gamers have entry to over 25 martial disciplines when making a Kadungganan and so they all reap the benefits of that tactical system. This can be a sport that prospers with a bunch that fights thoughtfully. If in case you have ever been pleased with a well-placed fireball, you’ll discover an ideal deal to like right here.
Lastly, GMs, or Umalagads, will discover the system gives nice help for the function, offering slick, numerous, and easy-to-reference enemy statblocks. With a number of primary enemy sorts every that includes a spread of subtypes, you might have loads of choices to problem your band of Kadungganan. There’s a lot to study, but it surely’s all offered in a approach that’s simple to choose up.