Top of the list, I think, is... just some old-school D&D. Technically, probably Old-Shool Essentials or Dolmenwood, both of which are retroclones of B/X D&D.
I just got into watching Dungeon Meshi and playing Caves of Qud, both of which are just dripping with old-school D&D influence. Plus I've never actually ran a full dungeon or hex crawl.
Honorable mention to Burning Wheel, 16-time annual winner of My Favorite Game I've Never Played. :P
Technically not entirely new, but I'm hoping to introduce my group to Changeling: the Dreaming. It's a personal favourite system, and I think it's probably going to work better than D&D for what I personally want to run.
...invisible sun, so i guess sort-of-cypher?..
Savage Worlds. They call their fortunate hero inspiration point analogue 'bennies,' hehehe.
I imagine Benny from F:NV spinning around and saying "what in the goddamn" every time it comes up
It's great! I'm running a campaign at the moment (or trying to, hosting Foundry behind a CGNAT is a pain and I'm 4-for-4 on services that haven't worked for me) and it's been a breeze to run. We ran 5e before, and the transition has been buttery smooth.
Their main gripes about 5e was how slow combat was IRL, even with digital tools for dice rolling and calculations (mostly due to 5e's HP bloat and action economy). My main gripe about 5e is that homebrewing feels like balancing a jenga tower of oddly shaped blocks. SW fixes both through sheer simplicity.
We're running a low-fantasy western themed campaign set in the british isles circa 1900 atm, and I've already got a cyberpunk+vtm campaign planned, a star wars campaign planned, a concept of a witcher campaign (want to nail the themes and storytelling logic of the books), and a ragnarök campaign planned.
I was window shopping other systems when I got tired of trying to nail a cyberpunk red homebrew for 5e, and starting designing my own system, only to discover it already existed in the form of Savage Worlds, even down to how feats and antifeats work in it (edges and hindrances). As if it was tailor made for what I want to run.
Well that just gave me a flashback damn
Patroling the Mojave makes you wish for-
-a nuclear winter!
(i am shook that nobody else swept in to finish the line)
Slugblaster: Kickflip Over a Quantum Centipede
Blades in the Dark
FATE Core
Triangle Agency
In no particular order those are top of my list.
I feel like I'm going to have to play in a Blades in the Dark game before I run one, but not sure how. But that would definitely be on my list.
I got the Avatar rpg forever ago and haven't had a chance to play it yet, either.
And Pathfinder 2E is definitely on the list.
Not sure if DnD 5e 2024 is different enough to count but if I can't get a game of that going in the new year, I probably have no chance of any of these other ones happening either, so I'll also say that one. Haven't even delved into the differences between that and the 2014 version yet, though.
My group is starting a Traveller campaign
Ooo blades is my favourite game system. It was my longest running campaign and we actually finished it. They ended up accidentally summoning a demon which burned half the city before containing it and using that to threaten the government into giving the poor more rights.
I've got a few waiting in the wings to play at some point. The main one I want to try is the Wildsea. I've got to finish Spire and possibly Heart before moving into a new system first though. Depending on how many demons my players end up summoning the spire game could end quite quickly.
Mothership RPG (OSR style), got myself the deluxe box as christmas gift.
Would also love to try out Microscope (fractal wordlbuilding) but that's not RPG, not all of my players are interested in something like that.
If you get around to Microscope and enjoy it, it recommend both The Quiet Year and For the Queen.
When I played Microscope, I found that the game was a little too unconstrained and it was very hard to keep things from becoming totally silly, then in the close up scenes, everyone would basically want to default to playing a super rules-light generic TTRPG, and two or three of those scenes would dominate the session. I feel that it may get better with frequent play, but that's not really what it's designed for. Ben Robbins, the creator is a very talented game designer and is also famous for the West Marches style of D&D play, and has made numerous GMless TTRPGs since, and I've only ever heard great things about them.
The Quiet Year is a game with a more constrained setting, that basically uses a map you fill in as you please and a bunch of prompts tied to playing cards to play out the 4 seasons of a small settlement moving from it's founding to a final point where either the settlement is implied to die out, or is a fantastic springboard for a traditional TTRPG to take over. There are plenty of hacks online that move the tone from a post apocalypse feeling survival focused game to basically anything that charts a settlement for a year, including one by the creators called The deep forest which I understand to be a decolonising focused and a bit more cottagecore / cottagecore. I preferred this to Microscope mostly because of the fact that it's prompts constrain the tone from becoming all out silly.
Finally For the Queen has been one of the best games I've ever discovered. I've played the first edition but there is a second created by the same creator, Alex Roberts, produced by Critical Role's Darrington Press. If you're Critical Role averse for some reason, the first edition was not tied to them at all. This game is by far the easiest to teach new players, and is the first game I'd bring to play with absolute TTRPG newbies. In my opinion it generates the best story, although rather than being solely worldbuilding, it places a primary interest on your characters and relationships to a queen figure. I find that despite this, the world's that comes out of it are far more evocative and exciting to develop than other GMless TTRPGs, and a large part of that is the hard to hack reality that it's just got good prompts. Despite that it's got the most hacks of the original of anything here, as the original game is so streamlined and well playtested, which really shows while playing it.
Thanks for the recommendation, will check it out!
The box set is great. I'm currently running another bug hunt and absolutely loving it. The mechanics are brilliant, everything runs super smoothly with the mechanics giving enough threat and stress to keep it interesting but otherwise getting out of the way and allowing lots of role play. It's a real easy one to teach as well because everything is so simple and intuitive. Plus the companion app seems quite usable (though we have done everything on paper).
I've played in one microscope session. Could be a good one to keep in the back pocket if you have some sickness one session as you need no prep.
Thanks for the info! Haven't really delved into the story books yet (just read the warden manual), guess Another Bug Hunt will be the first:)
Ad microscope, great idea!
Of those included it's designed to be the first module you play and it's definitely the easiest to just pick up and play.
I'd love to hear how your game goes.
I still want to play Fate. I just don't have a group and don't feel like doing the whole lfg+ interview people thing.
I will start DMing City of Mist next year. Really exited about it. Narrative systems always interested me and now i can finally play!
I just looked that up. Sounds super cool!. I have always liked the noir / hard bitten investigative types of characters.
If you're looking for an extra player for a play test or something give me a shout!
Well its an RL Group so i think it would be difficult. But i really recommend it. The system itself got streamlined and is now available as a Cyberpunk System called :Otherscape. Also there is a kickstarter finished for a fantasy variant called Legends in the Mist.
Hahahaha fair enough. I've gotten so used to playing online I kinda forgot that is a thing people do in the physical realm.
Yeah! I really love playing with friends around a table. Handing out prepared props and increasing the immersion is so cool.
Honestly, too much. I'm going to be running a Pathfinder 2e campaign for the first time, so that'll be something.
But I received Into The Odd and The Yellow King RPG for Christmas, so I'd love to run some one-shots in those next year!
Oof man, same on BitD, I read the book ages ago and loved the Haunted City actual play. Haven't run it yet but maybe this year.
I've also just finished reading the delta green campaign Impossible Landscapes, as I was waiting for the Glass Cannon play through to finish up. I've run a fair few one shots of DG but hoping to find a group I can run this campaign for next year.
Otherwise I might run some more death in space which is kinda like Mörk Borg but sci fi. Great for a one shot
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness is being rereleased soon (hopefully), it was one of the first RPGs I played at great length. I am excited to run it again.
I also am looking to give the new Werewolf the Apocalypse game a go. The old one is one of my most played games.
And one day I will finally play Pathfinder. Even with owning an FLGS I have been unable to find a group (all of the groups in town are either in multi year campaigns or play online).
I just started running Call of Cthulhu games which is super fun, but the goal is to find players who want to play more narrative games and try out Spire: The City Must Fall and Heart.
Wildsea looks awesome but I want to play rather than GM it.
I also bought the Free League Publishing super pack on Humble Bundle so probably any of those. Coriolis and Forbidden Lands are currently the most attractive to me and look super fun to run.
I hear that Mutant: Year Zero is a great engine also.
So, y'know, just most games. I'm excited to play most of the games this year.
BitD or PbtA. Catch up to the hottest trends of 2013...
Lol same
"New to me" it may technically be but I'm going to start up something with Ironsworn: Starforged: Sundered Isles (yes I'm calling it that, fight me). Have used both Ironsworn and Starforged before but not Sundered Isles.
What actually would be new to me is Fey Borg as I've yet to run anything Borg. Barely anything OSR at all.
DC20 hasn't even come out yet, but I am looking forward to it!
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