I was really into TTRPGs in college, but it’s been about ten years since I’ve had a stable group to play with. I’ve run a bunch of one-shots since then, mostly using systems I was already familiar with, and I’ve also played a D&D 5e campaign through Discord, but playing online just isn’t my jam.
Now my wife says a couple of people from her work would like to try the whole RPG thing. The safe bet would probably be a 5e one-shot, but I don’t like D&D or D&D-clones all that much. My usual go-to is Chronicles of Darkness, but I enjoy getting into new games, so I decided to ask what the new hot stuff is that everyone is talking about.
About ten years ago, people wouldn’t stop talking about Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark, but that stuff didn’t really gel with my group at the time. Maybe I should give those games another try, though I’m not sure they’d work all that well with new players. I generally prefer urban fantasy or weirdo high-concept stuff.
Do you have any suggestions?
I like weird old school influence stuff.
Whitehack is extremely interesting with the right group, the way magic works is a collaboration between players and the DM where the cost is influenced by how closely what you are/what the spell is called aligns with what you want to do. Also you pay HP which balances the power.
It really lets you delve into the whole vibe of terribly powerful magic with steep costs vs little cantrips. Like “fire” will be hard to use but flexible whereas “minor rend flesh” will do what it says on the tin. Then you get creative and come up with spells like “Stonewhispering” and so on.
Dolmenwood is a new one we’re trying to get to the table. Suuuuuper playable out of the box with beautiful worldbuilding and a keyed hexcrawl, town maps, encounter tables and shit. Absolutely gorgeous if you want The King of Elfland’s Daughter style adventuring with a weird fiction twist.
Worlds without number is something closer to modern DnD with the best homebrew toolkit and advice for GMs I’ve seen, too systems heavy for me though.
Edit: of course best till last is mausritter. You’re mice, inventory management is easy and meaningful, casting spells generates quests. Any setting you like, cats are basically dragons.
Loads of fun, like 2 pages of rules, instantly evocative.