Pivot your D&D group to a different system built with role-play — not 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 .
After the roller coaster ride of Dungeons & Dragons’ recent OGL fiasco, many fans of tabletop role-playing games are looking to try something different. Many don’t know that other TTRPGs exist, and those that do realize there are thousands of alternatives big and small on the market. Either way, it’s hard for players and game masters alike to know where to start. If your only experience with TTRPGs is D&D, the idea of learning a new system is pretty daunting. When you pick up something new, you want to be sure you’ll like it.
Let’s consider that D&D is a layered and complex game that appeals to fans on different levels. Some like the crunch of a dense list of spells or a block of statistics, and this story isn’t necessarily for them. Instead this list was created for folks who come to the table specifically for role-play. If you like creating characters and backstories, finding dramatic hooks, thrilling dialogue, and satisfying character arcs — then there is something here for you!
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
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