My 9 Favorite RPGs That Aren't D&D!

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Chris McDowall's Into the Odd:

Cairn by Yochai Gal:

Mausritter by Isaac Williams:

Mothership by Sean McCoy:

Tiny D6 Series by Alan Bahr:

Star Wars RPG by West End Publishing:

Burning Wheel by Luke Crane:

Vampire: The Masquerade:

Index Card RPG by Runehammer:

Five Torches Deep by Stone Sigil Publishing:

[michaelhockman]

I would love more videos focused on these individual rpgs, even if the videos were much shorter. One of the barriers to entry that I find is that there is such a small online community for anything other than 5e.

[Belemrys]

If you like sitting at a table with friends and telling stories, there is a game for you in this list! Into the Odd, Cairn and Mausritter are my jam for sure!

[killhippies]

Ran Mausritter this Halloween with a group of 8 adults(4 sets of 2 players controlling a character each) where all but 1 player have never played any RPG and it went extremely well, players engaged easily into the mechanics and the mindset despite having no clue about the the fundamentals of OSR play. They were using the tools at their disposal and thinking like a mouse with a bare minimum introduction.

Now making this into a regular group that is excited to play. If that isn't a hallmark of a well designed RPG then I don't know what is.

[ardentdrops]

💫 Mage: the Ascension is my favorite game of all time. Your spellcasting ability is so heavily tied to your Paradigm that it's your imagination that limits you rather than your character sheet. Each character must explain how magic works from their own perspective, and coming up with your own metaphysics and helping them grow as you play is so satisfying and intellectually stimulating.

[SidneyBroadshead]

*9 Favorite RPG Games (...and FATE)*
00:48 *_Into the Odd_* [Fantasy]
("Oddlikes": *_Cairn_* [Dungeon Crawling], *_Liminal_* [Investigative Horror], & *_Running Out of Time_* [Cyberpunk])
02:01 *_Mausritter_* [Anthropomorphic Animal Fantasy] / "Oddlike" system
03:02 *_Mothership_* [Cyberpunk / Splatterpunk Horror] / Percentile Dice system
05:20 *_FATE_* system / FUDGE dice system
07:02 *_Tiny D6_* system (Tiny Dungeon [Dungeon Crawling], Tiny Wastelands [Post Apocalyptic / Survival], Tiny Frontiers [Science Fiction]) / "D&D-like" d6-base system.
08:27 [West End Games] *_Star Wars_* RPG / *_WEG D6_* system
08:54 *_Burning Wheel_* / narrative play and d6-base dice pool system
09:21 *_Vampire the Masquerade_* RPG / _World of Darkness_ d10-base dice pool system
09:36 *_Index Card RPG_* system / "D&D-like" d20-base system.
(Comes with *_Alfheim_* [High Dark Fantasy] and *_WarpShell_* ["GrimDark" Space Fantasy]. *_Blood and Snow_* ["Blood and Thunder" Low Dark Fantasy game set in the Primeval era] is a separate worldbook.)
10:12 *_Five Torches Deep_* RPG [Dungeon Crawling] / "D&D-like" OSR system

[artistpoet]

Of the ones you noted, 5 Torches Deep and Cairn are my go to but one you haven't mentioned in this list, Ironsworn, really pushes the mechanics for story telling and action resolution. There's even a way to montage combat so players don't slog for minutes rolling through mechanics.

[LawrenceDomkowski]

Our 3 alternative RPGs we played when we needed a break from DnD are: 1) Rune Quest; 2) Traveler; and 3) Call Of Cthulhu. Fun times.

[coryhorton]

You turned me onto Mausritter and it’s my new system for my kids and nieces and nephews.

Not that it’s not great for adults, but the younger crowd loves it.

[Scohui]

Mausritter is an absolute blast to play AND to run. I definitely recommend the official adventure The Estate for it!

[lightmind]

Mausritter is a masterpiece game. I am happy to see it get the recognition it deserves

[ChainsawXIV]

If you haven't, you should really take one of the Gumshoe system games for a spin (Nights Black Agents is my favorite, but there are options). If you've ever waded through an exposition dump, hand-waved mechanics to ensure the plot goes on, or had your party stand around watching one character do all the interesting stuff, I think you'll find the way Gumeshoe handles investigation and discovery elevates it every bit as much as some of the games mentioned in this video are elevated by their handling of characters or world creation.

[syzygyeolith]

This video is really helpful, and like other comments here I’d really like to see longer videos on the nuances, strengths, and weaknesses of other systems.
I’ve really fallen out of love with 5e after DMing in it for 3 years now, and am excited at the idea of feeling energised by a ruleset that doesn’t feel like a struggle to keep together.

[chrishousenick]

The one you should look into and play is Blades in the Dark by John Harper and Evil Hat Productions. It is essential reading for any one wanting to get better at running heists in any RPG system.

[collabswithoutpermission]

Eyyy! :D Thanks for linking my Mothership review, Baron! I love videos like this, but especially when it's based in actually playing the darn things. Time for me to go re-watch your FATE video... 👀 Also, that was the smoothest imaginable transition into an ad read, hahaha. Very nice.

[Sebbaasdungeon]

Nice selection here!
You mentioned, that you use Ciarn for corporate team building. Do you have any insights on that in general? It's something I have been thinking about offering.

[davidelrizzo]

Surprised you didn't include any of the Apocalypse World games. I'm pretty sure you've mentioned them before. I definitely feel Vincent Baker's additions to role playing have greatly impacted the industry. They certainly left a huge mark on me

[sanjeevshah]

Brennan Lee Mulligan and Burning Wheel! Huzzah!

[seanfsmith]

Mausritter faction rules are the single best I've read — and I've even written some!

[therocketboost]

Really glad I backed Mothership. There's been some delays on it coming to backers but when it does arrive I'll be cracking it open like a kid on Christmas.

[canis]

My favorite is the Hero System (aka the Champions System). I used to try a new system about once a year and tried the Hero System to play some super heroes but me and my group loved it so much that we found we were unable to play anything else. We would still try a new system once a year but shorty after we would get started we generally would have an irresistible call to convert it to the Hero System and just kept the lore and setting of the other system. We've played superheroes, horror, high and low fantasy, urban fantasy, scifi, gritty modern combat and even wargaming tabletop systems. Maybe me and my group are a bit odd but I never understood why it wasn't more popular, maybe its the weak lore, we would always use other systems for the setting. Or maybe its because it seems scary to learn but it really isn't much harder than several other systems we tried. But its great when anyone finds any system they love, 5e or other.