Pivot your D&D group to a different system — something built with combat in mind
James D’Amato is an actual play podcaster, game designer, and author of the Ultimate RPG Guide series published by Adams Media. For 10 years he has recorded sessions of hundreds of different RPGs for the One Shotpodcast .
If you love Dungeons & Dragons, but you’re curious about the many thousands of other tabletop role-playing games on the market, it can be difficult to know where to start. Especially if you enjoy a really crunchy, technically demanding rules system, picking up a new game is a big commitment — especially if you enjoy combat. That’s why we’re exploring alternatives that cater to different tastes!
In my first piece for Polygon, I addressed the needs of those who want more role-play — storytelling and narrative design — in their TTRPG. But another one of the biggest draws for the D&D player base is its combat system. For many, it’s just not worth picking up another game unless they know their characters can kick ass. While these games also provide good role-playing experiences, they pay special attention to the action. If you love to roll for initiative, you might find a new love on this list.
To make things more digestible, we assigned stats to the games on this list.
Average session: The average length of a single session.
Difficulty: This tells you how hard it might be to pick up this game for the first time if you have only ever played D&D.
Crunch: This tells you how mechanically complex a game is. For reference, D&D 5e would be a ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪ on this list.
XP: Learning some RPGs will actually make it easier to learn others. A game with a high XP stat can be a gateway to mastering dozens or hundreds of others.
Designed by Daniel Bayn
Average session: 1-2 hours
Difficulty: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪
Crunch:
Read more on polygon.com
