The right system for me

I'm looking to start up a tabletop campaign that strays from magic and focuses more on medieval-type combat. I didn't want to strip a system (like pathfinder) of its magic because it would feel kind of empty since it was supposed to be in the system. Got any good ideas?

Song of Swords, nigga.

RuneQuest 6 has outstanding combat and magic is designed to be modular.

The Burning Wheel is all about Middle Ages fantasy with good combat free of magic.

First off, what sort of game do you want? Gritty and realistic medieval combat where battlefield wounds can get infected? Cinematic chivalrous mounted knights lancing dragons? I'll toss out some suggestions anyway.

Despite being a meme response, GURPS actually does do low tech levels really well, and has fairly detailed rules for both individual and mass combat, and the Low Tech book and Companions have detailed information on medieval life and society.

If you want something more pulpy out of the box, you can use Fantasy Craft and just not use the magic systems, It's a toolkit like GURPS, so it's designed with customization in mind.

Rolemaster, including the old War Law and Sea Law supplements. Run everything from small combats to huge battles, on land and sea. Simply don't allow players to spend skill points on Spell Lists. Even has improved items that are non-magical. Black steel swords with manganese and vanadium for improved stats down to crappy bronze blades. Combat that allows you to kill in one lucky hit or take forever if the battle is well fought. Not for the small of mind.

If you're willing to go full autism, riddle of steel is a game made by a hema guy to model combat as closely as possible while still being playable.

I want the gritty type of combat. I'll be sure to check it out.

If you mean small of mind as in it takes some time to learn, then I'm fine with that. I just don't want magic to always be the go to thing for my players.

I haven't played Riddle of Steel or any of the other games in the thread, so I can't speak for them, but GURPS can get really gritty.

Depending on how deep you go, you could just track bleeding and wound infection, or you could use "harsh realism" rules (Martial Arts has most of these) so that getting hit in the skull can give you brain damage, or a direct hit to the vitals can make you more susceptible to disease, or a neck would can destroy your vocal cords.

GURPS will take time to learn, though, especially if your players are coming from Pathfinder. I suggest just getting a feel for the system with GURPS Lite before diving headfirst into ultra autism territory.

You could try out O.R.E. Reign. It's fast, relatively simple, combat is brutal, and magic can easily be taken out or altered to suit your needs.

It takes a LONG time to learn. Even experienced players will take hours to make a character that can die in 10 minutes if you are either VERY unlucky or even a slightest bit foolish. Parry is your friend. Parry EVERYTHING. Throw attacks with the absolute minimum of attack bonus, and keep all the rest of your skill bonus to parry attacks that come at you. Get a good shield. Don't try two hander or two weapon style. You die. If you are going to allow some magic, get good defense bonus adding magic armor. It will save your life. Oh and don't fight without friend to cover your flanks. Something gets behind you, you die. You can't parry to the rear and no shield covers back there.

Even with all that, you can easily end up with a person that has to retire do to massive negatives thanks to nerve damage and missing appendages.

Now, with magic, that becomes less of a danger, but only with dedicated healers. When healing a critical hit could require spells from 3 or more different lists to fix, you really appreciate a good healer. But there are also herbs and such that can heal some of the damage. IF you have the skills to find them, purchase or prepare them and then use them. Smart healers bring them as well, as the power points to cast spells can be limited. Especially since as you use them, you become more and more tired and take penalties to all rolls including casting rolls.

Savage worlds is decent, and simple as fuck.
Could just go warhammer, since messing with magic is somewhere between stupid and death

Pendragon

I've never played it outside of the default Arthurian setting, though.

Take it for a old fart. If you want to keep your players, and get rid of magic healing. Hand wave healing between fights. Rolemaster and GRUPS can be great but if the player has to write up a new PC every game due to a lost arm or leg. They well leave for anther game or undermine the no magic one.

Riddle of Steel

You should check Rolemaster.

Dungeon World

It's pretty much objectively one of the best currently out there. It has fast easy to use mechsnics and is perfect for beginners, it's a lot cheaper than most of these other rules bloated systems that cost fifty dollars. There is no reason for extra rules when it is he role playing that matters. Dungeon World is fast and innovative and still feels exactly like the spirit of ADND before DnD 3.5 destroyed the hobby and ruined a generation of role players.

>objectively
Only 6 words in, the opinion can already be discarded.

Nope.

Dungeon World is better than any edition of DnD. For one thing, it's got varying levels of success, as opposed to the binary pass fail garbage that DnD has been limiting itself to for years.

I don't like D&D. I barely know what Dungeon World is. But when you starting throwing around words like "better than any" or "garbage" or "destroyed the hobby" or "ruined a generation" or most tellingly "objectively", it shows you're either an asshole or a moron.

So tell me, what makes this system objectively superior, not based off your subjective opinion but hard, preferably numerical, evidence. Oh wait. You can't. And as for all these people who have been "ruined" - have you not considered they simply enjoy something different to you?

No one system is objectively the best. If Dungeon World works for your group, that's great, but it doesn't work for everyone, not even most.

Be considerate of other people and how they want to play. I, for instance, like a lot of crunch in my games. I gave narrativist systems like PbtA and Fate a fair shake, and it's not for me.

As an aside, what other systems have you played besides D&D and Dungeon World?

No, Dungeon World works for every group that wants to play high fantasy. It's just that most groups are close minded DnD addicts unwilling to try anything that requires them to roleplay (not rollplay)

>No, Dungeon World works for every group that wants to play high fantasy.
Sure it does. And I'm the queen of England.

Man, I can't tell if this is some false-flagging shit or if some Dungeon World fans are really this obnoxious. No wonder there's so much backlash.

thing is, what with DW fans being what they are, I'm not even sure it is.

The only numerical evidence I need are the dozens of players I have weaned off of the cancer that is Duengiens and Dragons and brought to Dungeon World. I caused my FLGS to start carrying the dungeon world book and now it outsells 5e because people are realizing that Dungeon World is a MUCH better system and can do everything DnD can do except better because you aren't weighed down by rules.

>dozens
Oooooh, wow, big numbers. I'm so impressed. Meanwhile, 5e has made thousands turn away from the vile cancer of 3.pf.

A N E C D O T E

But what about all the people I convinced to play first edition VtM? Does that make it the best system ever?

> gave narrativist systems like PbtA and Fate a fair shake, and it's not for me.

Then you played it incorrectly,and you need to try it again before you go around spreading an uninformed opinion.

Holy shit, newsflash, trying to tell people there is a better system than DnD out there, is obnoxious. Grow up. Your game is a forty year old war game. dungeon world is an improvement in that in all areas.

GURPS is good for that kind of combat.

Of course then you'll be playing GURPS and have to deal with the fact you're now a GURPS GM and everything that means (get ready to do some work).

You didn't answer my question about what systems you've played besides D&D and Dungeon World, so right now you're just being a D&Dfag, but for DW. You're doing the exact same thing people who swear by D&D do, which is extremely closed-minded and toxic to the RPG community as a whole.

There's a pretty good chance that whatever RPG you next picked up would be better than D&D, because D&D (barring 4e) sets the bar low for game design. Believe it or not, there are many good RPG systems out there, and each has their place.

>Then you played it incorrectly
:^)

Because it has thousands of times more advertising power. simple truth, if Dungeon world had that power it would blow DnD out the water because DunegonWorld has rules that appeal to a wider audience who doesn't want to buy books chock full of autistic rules. It appeals to a larger audience which is vital to the future of RPGs.

Wow you really do lack all self awareness, don't you?

>Holy shit, newsflash, trying to tell people there is a better system than DnD out there, is obnoxious. Grow up. Your game is a forty year old war game. dungeon world is an improvement in that in all areas.
user, when you say shit like that, it only convinces people that your system is shit. Everyone and their mother knows that 3.pf was and still is a blight on the hobby, but things are getting better. D&D has moved on from those days; give 5e a look over if you don't believe me.

I've played dozens of systems and none of them even come close to the genius work that is Dungeon world, except for maybe mouse guard. Nothing else even comes close. We are talking about REAL roleplaying games here, not 3.5 baby shit.

5e is the same kind of limiting, rollplay oriented, power gaming crap that DnD always has been and always will be.

Dungeon World allows ultiple levels of success that encourage a stronger narrative as well as allowing all characters to contribute ins system set up for an easy streamlined narrative that focuses on the story, not the numbers like DnD does.

>5e is the same kind of limiting, rollplay oriented, power gaming crap that DnD always has been and always will be.
>quote from manchild who knows nothing of 5e

Alright, what other systems have you played? What were your problems with them? Be specific, and you can't talk about PF or D&D.

I've never been a fan of DnD, but this guy is starting to convince me that virt was right and that DW is awful.

GURPS doesn't take too much for players to learn, it's more of the GM that has to do a lot of learning.

being a GURPS player is easy, being a GURPS GM is literally hell

The only autist here is you, friend.

Yeah I know, I'm a GURPS GM.

>
I've played dozens of systems and none of them even come close to the genius work that is Dungeon world, except for maybe mouse guard.
My sides

Worst part about GURPS is that it really wants you to have the rules down to pat that you can run a whole round in a minute or less, given that each round is one second of time, and that means shit like a heavy weapon or a bow takes one or multiple ready actions to use again. If your group is needing to look shit up every round and takes ten minutes to run everyone through their action, the combat is the most glacial and awful combat this side of Exalted 2E. If you can shave it down to a minute or less per player, it's fun and snappy with loads of depth.

That guy probably is virt

I have played 5e at an AL game at my FLGS. It's the same kind of war gaming shit with mechsnics that do not relate for the story.

You would know this if you had actually read Dungeon World and seen what kind of amazing roleplaying is possible when you mature past DnD, but since you haven't you do not know what you are talking about and thus you do not get to participate in this conversation.

Virt isn't clever enough to false-flag like that. And he doesn't write like him, as far as I can tell.

Warhammer work I guess.

I'm working on a home made system for what you want, with input from archeologists, HEMA experts on weapons and armor and an historian, master of the inner working of noble houses. Mostly because these are people I randomly know from stuff and it isn't really difficult to get an expert to talk about their field (usually harder to get them to shut up).
I aim to have the system as close to realism as possible, which means that it's a bit bulky. I'm working on reducing the bulk.

I've only done this off and on as a small hobby project.
Is this a thing that could be useful. Should I give it more effort?

On a scale of 1-10, how much fun do you find running GURPS to be right now, and how fun do you think running GURPS would be if you installed a computer chip in your brain that handled the rules for you?

The base mechanics of GURPS are easy enough to learn, and GCS makes building sheets dead simple, but I still recommend starting with GURPS Lite, or the basic combat section at the end of Characters, because I've seen new players get overwhelmed with the choices available. is what I'm talking about - the combat is (arguably) the most important part of any system, and GURPS can have very in-depth combat, with a lot of options and edge cases, which Martial Arts devotes quite a bit of time to.


I will agree that GURPS GMing can be a pain in the ass before you know the system inside and out, or at least enough to just handwave most edge cases.

>You do not get to participate in this conversation

Woah guys, DWfag thinks he's hot shit, as opposed to a whiny hipster with a superiority complex

Yes. Shit is awesome

GMing GURPS either requires a great deal of experience as a player or serious autism and a fetish for rules.

>first edition VtM
>good
I love oWoD, and VtM especially. The setting is interesting and complex. The system is widely agreed to be complete trash, for good reason, even after they fixed it.

> resorting to ad hominem

DnD fans, everyone! Too insecure in their own garbage description that all they can do is make boundless insults that have nothing to do with they system they are defend.

You can leave now.

>I have played 5e at an AL game at my FLGS. It's the same kind of war gaming shit with mechsnics that do not relate for the story.
Let's assume for a minute that you're not lying. Now, why on earth did you think that you'd get anything else from an AL game? This is like picking up chicks at the bar and expecting them to be your soulmates.

If nothing else it's virt inspired, he's talking about DMing loads of AL and getting people to choose DW.

If you swap DW for early virt's Savage Worlds love it's basically the same.

Nah, you first.

Actually I did pick up a girl at the AL and we slept together, but that was the only enjoyable part of the experience. I was confronted by the same crap that permeated the hobby since 3e in 2000; absolute shit, combat focused garbage, lack of game balance, and no narrative mechsnics that are vital for allowing the rules to actually relate to the story, instead of being s mere inconvenience like the DnD 5e rules are.

>Actually I did pick up a girl at the AL and we slept together
Okay, so you are lying.

If you need hard and fast rules for everything you roleplay outside of combat, you're a shitty roleplayer

What are you talking about? I didn't DM the AL adventure, I played in it, did you even read my post. And I have played Savage Worlds, it is the same war games crap as DnD. It is also based off of s war game like DnD is, and it is entirely combat focused. All utter crap.

I think running GURPS would be negatively impacted from the computer chip, because I tend to wave my hands and go 'Close enough'. Then, when I refer to the rules later, I was either wildly off base and it would've been a pain in the ass to use, or I was close enough and all is well. If the chip doesn't prevent me from houseruling and is more of an instant reference, it'd only be marginally improved because the rules I don't know either don't come up often, or they're ones I don't use because I don't like them.

Yeah, that's one of GURPS' biggest, most serious drawbacks. You can't just buy the basic set and dive right into running a game next week, it's a slow (and somewhat painful) process to teach the system to yourself to the point that you can run it well. Makes finding a GURPS game a pain in the ass.

Oh, I know. Leave me to my being silly okay :(

Iron Heroes is also a thing, but it doesn't seem to get very much credit around these parts

This. I've managed to get some good roleplaying done while playing 3.5 of all systems.

> getting laid like literally everyone does makes me a liar

Go back to r9k. Maybe you'd attract some girls if you stopped obsessing over he most powerful build in a children's board game.

Then why have rules at all? We can certainly role play without them. dungeon world rules actually enhance the story by allowing the characters to affect the narrative directly. DnD rules just get in the way, and the only power the players have is the same muderhoboing COMBAT COMBAT COMBAT crap that has permeated DnD since its inception.

I am sorry you are unwilling to try a game that doesn't limit you and betray you at every turn, I really do feel sorry for you.

I am literally rolling my eyes reading this.

>I totally got laid you guys
You're only fooling yourself, kiddo.

>Then why have rules at all?
For the things that aren't roleplay, of course.

Like a 7-8, with a computer chip probably 9-10. Despite how much work it takes once you get into it's not too bad and I absolutely adore the system. I can run any setting without having to worry about learning a bunch of different systems, the chargen is really amazing a lets people make fun characters and I enjoy the amount of weight combat has to it. Hell I love GURPS so much I'm working on making a civilization building game in GURPS somewhat similar to what civ threads do where each player has their own race they create and they start with a small band of them with almost nothing and they have to work to survive and build up a civilization over time.

I'm sorry that you think DW is actually any good.

D&D rules don't limit people to MURDERMURDERMURDER. They just don't feel the need to have rules for every bit of roleplay because they assume the average player isn't an autist and knows how things work in the world without a book telling them what happens when a player does something. Apparently DW didn't assume any such thing, and decided you need rules for how you talk to people

So you just want more COMBAT COMBAT COMBAT then. Typical DnD player, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Congratulations, you've successfully derailed this thread with your Dungeon World wankfest. Now that you've managed to put several people off even going near the game, could you perhaps leave this thread so we can discuss something other than the system you love to shill so much?
I've always been vaguely interested in GURPS but never really tried to get over the initial hurdle. Is it worth it? And what's the best way in?

Or....we're good at roleplaying without rules. because we understand social interaction and don't need a book to tell us how to do it

Seriously I love GMing GURPS but I never get a chance to play, all my friends who are interested in GMing want to run stuff like DnD 5e although one of my friends is gonna be running Mousegaurd so I'm interested in trying that.

>implying that banter isn't my favourite part of the game
I'm sorry to hear that you need hardcoded rules about roleplaying to get any roleplaying done.

You're an autist. Dungeon World doesn't have rules for how to talk to people. You are a child who thinks that rules for roleplaying means the limiting specific crap that DnD has. Dungeon World offers a simple framework for handling all actions, and as a result you don't need to waste hours poring through rule books. Combat is simple and fast because it's not limited by rules and other crap that limits what your character can do. It also does not have crap like to limit you even more. Try actually reading the book before commenting further, because until then you are actually wring about what Dungeon World does and thus your opinion is literally invalid because you aren't even talking about the correct thing.

>Implying your opinion hasn't been invalid since you brought up Dungeon World.

You don't need a framework for every interaction. Believe it or not, you can actually do your own thing and have roleplaying happen organically.

You're an embarrassment to an already embarrassing game. Congratulations

See

You are literally wrong. Dungeon world doesn't have rules for roleplaying, it has mechanics that help enhance th story, not hold it back like DnDs crappy combat mechsnics and crappy limit ing social rules.

GURPS is worth it, IMO (not that user). It handles a lot of games really well, gritty or cinematic or somewhere in between. Cave men, middle ages, renaissance, industrial revolution, modern age, early future, low fantasy, high fantasy, street-level and city-level supers, cyberpunk, you name it and it can basically do it. Some things are more of a kludge to work than others, and I have no experience with space opera or hard high TL scifi, but in my experience, it's taken everything thrown at it like a champ.

I feel your pain. I've just taken to having all NPCs be GMPCs and co-opting the PC's adventure with them. Shame they almost never get the spotlight.

>it has mechanics that help enhance th story
Must be a pretty shitty story if it needs to use mechanics as a crutch.

The way I got in was I bashed my head against it until I figured out what I should be doing, I don't exactly recommend that as it takes a while and you'll run some really shitty campaigns that will leave your friends with a bad disposition to GURPS. I've heard How to be a GURPS GM is a great supplement but I haven't actually read it yet. The best advice I can give is don't be afraid to wing it if you don't have a rule 100% memorized and don't worry about using every last special rule.

>Mechanics that help advance the story
>M-M-Muh storah!

You don't need rules to advance the story. You need players and a DM who can actually roleplay. The quality of roleplaying isn't in the system, it's in the roleplay

Believe it or not you are literally wrong because that's not how dungeon world works. "Rules" is not the limiting framework crap you are used to with DnD. It is based off of s simple, core mechanic that handles all rolls rather than DnD crap that needs a whole bunch of subsystems for everything including the COMBAT COMBAT CONBAT mentality that the entire system is based off of.

Dungeon World is better then DnD. your inability to comprehend mechsnics beyond the limiting crap of DnD that makes everything more complicated, is just further proof of this.

>Bunch of subsystems

isn't it cute how "Roll a d20 and add stuff" is too hard for DWfags?

>whole bunch of subsystems
Yeah, you haven't looked at 5e yet.

GURPS is the same overly complex mess that DnD is, with situational rules that are overly specific, waste time, and crap up what really matters ( which is the story)

Don't worry too much, I'm pretty sure I'm a horrendous rules-lawyer as one of my favourite feelings is when I discover the system I'm in a game in has supplements, which I then go and read. All of them. My favourite game is SR, specifically 4e. Although I have a feeling going about it in my usual fashion for GURPS is an impossible task.

>M-Mu-Muh storah!

Yeah because a d20 is binary pass fail which is utter garbage. Dungeon World has different levels of success that make the game more interesting.

Yeah, I have. Combat is a subsystem, deal with it. So are rules for skill checks. Dungeon world handles all of this with one core mechanic that handles far more than DnD and its COMBAT CONBAT COMBAT attitude ever could or ever could hope to.

>Yeah because a d20 is binary pass fail which is utter garbage.
That's just your opinion.

Because it's not like it suggests in the DMG to have degrees of success or failure depending on the roll.

Oh wait, fuck me sideways, it does. Hallefuckinglujah, can you shut up now?

You are aware many games have levels of success right? DW didn't invent this. Now can you tell us all what makes DW "objectively" superior to these other games?

GURPS is a toolkit. Add and remove rules at your leisure. Don't like the bleeding rules? Don't use them. Don't like wounding modifiers? Hit locations? Don't use them. GURPS still works even when you scale down the autism, and it still works when you scale up on it. Not that you would know, never having played it.

If you don't care about story, you are playing a war game, which is not a roleplaying game. GURPS and DnD are war games, not roleplaying games. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're old enough to know the truth now.

But we do care about the story. We just don't feel that we need story-telling rules to make a good story.

You do know you can have story without the rules pushing their cock down your throat to tell it, right? It's called actual roleplaying, you might want to try it sometime.

No because Dungeon World works it into its CORE MECHANIC rather than half asses suggestion in the back of the Dungeon masters guide.

The Dw rule also refer to it over and over thus integrating the mechanic into the core gameplay. Unlike DnD.

>I want to a mindless drone who does nothing but what the rules beat into me over and over again.