How do you find the right system to run?

I am a newish GM, and I am in want of a system.

I have a story I've been working on, and I want a system that fits the setting. It's standard fantasy, but I don't like the options I know about.

I don't want to use DnD (3.5/4/5), because I feel like there is too much material I would have to rework from the books. Like spell lists, and classes, and shit.

I looked at some White Wolf Dark Ages shit, but it seems like the extreme opposite of the issue I have with DnD. I would have to make spell lists, classes, feats, and shit.

Options?
Or systems general, I guess.

Fantasy Craft.

Maybe it would help if you were more specific?
Especially if you dont like the storytelling systems of white wolf and the materials from dnd books.

If you want a system where you can pick and choose what you want in your system/world then i would say gurps. It will give you the rules for the parts that you want.

Your cart is before your horse: you don't know any systems well but you're trying to build one. You're better off to play a lot of different systems and then you'll know what will work and what won't.

you'd want more malleable universal systems

Why wouldn't you just use a generic system instead?

I love mini six, the book art is so good

Lots of reading, reviews, and trial and error, sadly.

Tried a few dozen at this point, and most are in the "I never want to play this again" category.

For the specific problems you mention in your OP, unless you know exactly what you're looking for, I'd consider GURPS, where you can cherry pick mechanics to make the game you want to play.

Savage Worlds is a generic system with a really nice weight, user

fpbp

Counterpoint: the Benny economy runs the entire game, and serves as the majority of the characters' hitpoints. If you're not happy with how wonky that makes game balance, it's a Clusterfuck to try to fix it.

>Tried a few dozen at this point, and most are in the "I never want to play this again"

Word.

Honestly don't bother learning other systems, OP. Just adopt a generic system and make stuff up as you go along.

I like CRAM because the necessary rules fit on one page, and you'll end up customizing all the other shit anyway.

www.onepagerpg.com/

How is your game different from D&D? How is it different from White Wolf?

What do you want out of a system? It's best to start there. High Fantasy? Low Fantasy? Realism? Cinematic rules? High Magic? Detailed melee combat? Horror elements? Heroic? What do you want?

>I don't want to use DnD (3.5/4/5), because I feel like there is too much material I would have to rework from the books.
I'd recommend Moldvay's Basic/Expert (B/X) D&D. It's very solid and perhaps the best iteration of D&D.

>I would have to make spell lists, classes, feats, and shit.
Why do you HAVE to make all that stuff? Plenty of games get along without spell lists or classes and D&D survived 25 years without feats.

It'd help if you were a bit more specific it what you need/want.

Thirding this, Mini Six is great. You can import stuff piecemeal from the OpenD6 games with minimal fuss.

I have found the easiest way with the least amount of thought or effort to help rememdy that is to half adopt the FFG Star Wars force die system in that every time a player uses a Bennie it goes to the GM and every time he uses one it goes to the player with the least Bennies.

>I have a story I've been working on, and I want a system that fits the setting. It's standard fantasy, but I don't like the options I know about.

Mini6 or Fantasy craft are ideal. I don't know how freeform you're looking to go, but FATE or Risus may also work.

If you want something that has interchangeable parts already made look into GURPS. I didn't like GURPS because it's a bit more complex than I'd want, but it might be exactly what you're looking for. You just have to list what you want your players to have access to.

When I'm looking for a system I want to use to run a game I try and find a rules system that fits my genre.

Sci-fi - Stars Without Numbers although I might dabble with some traveler soon.
Fantasy - DND 5E
Deities/Demigods - Godbound
Modern Horror - Vampire the Masquerade and related books
Cyberpunk - Shadowrun

I've never had an interest in Modern or steampunk, but maybe someday I'll have an interest in those genres and have to find a rules system for them. All I can really say is dig through > to find different systems that are out there.

If any of the DND systems aren't working for you, no matter which system you choose it's going to be a lot of work to fit what you want I think It's a pick your poison and make things work for you. The more customized things you tweak on a given system it's more rules your players will need to read. That is... if you're fortunate enough to have players that read the fucking rulebook.

Definitely not by asking Veeky Forums

>Fantasy
>Suitable for new GMs
>Rules-light

I see no recommendations of Ryuutama in this thread.

Time to fix this.

Wait, why is Veeky Forums shilling Mini Six now?

Is this a new tabletop RPG?

Mini Six if you want something very lite, Fantasy Craft if you want to be able to root around in its guts to make characters/creatures, and Open Legend if you want something that's more or less in between.
The three of them are flexible enough that you should be able to throw any sort of fantasy setting at them.

I have a few go-to systems, depending on how crunchy I'm feeling. I usually end up preferring generic systems because they don't really have anything set in stone, so everything can be fit to your setting/game. In exchange, the setup time may be a bit longer.

M&M for statting everything out. Savage Worlds works as a lighter alternative to that. Risus/Mini Six for even lighter. Fate or FAE for narrative, or occasionally look around for a PbtA clone.

For fantasy stuff, I really like Barbarians of Lemuria, and wouldn't mind giving Rule of Cool's Legend a go.

And of course, since this is a system thread, I may as well shill a bit about Strike!.

GURPS is the only system you really need.

>Now
There's a few people on Veeky Forums who recommend this system a lot and have recommended it in threads for years, but I rarely ever hear any play reports or discussion about it. It seems its biggest strength is being a generic toolbox system that is both rules-light and is lacking in meta-narrative mechanics like Fate has.
Personally I'd be interested in using it but it'd be nice to hear anons actually talk about any mini six games they've run or played in.

I recently started a weekly group with some people from my class. We started off with 5e because they wanted DnD. But I've noticed they're more interested in the setting and cool stuff they can do (like using mold earth for problem solving and intimidate/persuasion to get out of situations) than the nitty gritty numbers.

Can anyone recommend me a system that does well with the fluff stuff but cuts down on the numbers and bookkeeping?

I wish I could. This is something I'd like too, but the closest I can think of is Dungeon World or one of it's siblings that is both simple and has a mechanic I like.

I guess there is to consider but I haven't read it enough to decide about it personally.

I just looked it over, it certainly seems a lot simpler than what we've got going on right now. Though I can't help but feel it's just going to end up as DnD, only slightly less cumbersome.

Maybe I should try out some narrative focused games, but those have their own sets of problems.

B/X

is free stuff shill-able?

It's okay to let the players guide you to the type of game they want to be in. 5e is a very flexible system and will adapt itself to different playstyles simply by changing what you're closely tracking, loosely tracking, and handwaving. Just make it clear what's being tracked so people don't get ambushed by it.

This looks great. Do you know where can I find a free english pdf of this?

Honestly, it's a matter of what the players and you want to do. You can do nothing but talk in D&D but the rules don't support it much. It's a matter of how stuff is presented.

RPGs need drama to be interesting, the easiest form of drama is physically fighting. It's a matter of finding alternate forms of drama.

Check the PDF share threads?

Warhammer for Dark fantasy, The One Ring for a more narrative system. Dragon Age is a rather simple option too.