New System

OP, what you want is exactly not this. This is bait, and pasta so stale it's like someone threw a rotten egg at a pile of wormy flour and called it noodles.

The Powered By The Apocalypse set of games are, in and of themselves, fine enough games, with the exception of Dungeon World.

The Apocalypse Games are designed to work really well under freeform, where the GM does very little other than arbitrate rules and throw enemies and twists at the party to see how they react. The games can make for some very interesting roleplay experiences, and I highly recommend trying the Apocalypse World system sometime when you need a couple of filler sessions.

Dungeon World, however, fails at doing this by throwing OSR Sacred Cows into the mix, which results in a freeform role-playing system with Railroading built into the mechanics. It fails utterly at what it's trying to do, both in being an interesting Fantasy RP system and a Rules-lite Dungeon Crawler.

The rules aren't the reason your games are dying.

...

>with the exception of Dungeon World.
DW is only the 3rd worst PbtA.

Play something with predefined characters that your players must choose from. ii know that sounds cancer but honestly give it a try, it helps things along more than you'd think!

I like the MnM 3e system, honestly has great rules for "lesser, multiple enemies" which has them go down in a fast paced manner while still staying themselves with Team Attacks.

GUPRS Lite is best

GURPS Ultralite is better.

what kind of game do you want to play?

FATAL

You have no idea what you are talking about.

GM with 22 years experience here. (22 of GMing, more of playing).

Use Dungeon World system, but use it in your own setting. Just steal the core of the rules, if you're a regular dm/gm I'm sure you know how to do that.

It's 2d6+appropriate mod, 6- = fail with consequences 7-9 = success but with consequences, 10+ = pure success.

Only players roll.

It is one of THE greatest systems I have ever played. The entire dw book is like a manual on how to be a great gm. The only bad advice I found in there was to split up your players as a 'move' you can make. That's always a terrible idea, unless its VERY temporary, like split them up but in the same room, to solve a trap puzzle.

Other than that, no warnings

The system is built to make amazing narrative with very even pacing and lots of interaction.

Let your players make up as much or as little as you like while still having as much control as GM as you want - but if you're stuck for an idea or etc. you can actually ask a player 'what is here?' or 'why is that?' and have what they say become reality.

I know what I'm saying isn't going to make complete sense without having read the rule book but trust me - its worth your time.

The rule book reads pretty bland and unappealing, that's VERY deceptive. I wasn't impressed by the actual book itself -- until I actually TRIED the system.

Blew me away.

jesus christ guys quit trolling OP this is cruel

I dont know what to think anymore

you need to determine what you didn't like about these games. it might not be the system per se.

the only thing you mentioned is lengthy combat. was this a niggling point?

yeah , the entire group is fairly new so none of us have any real preferences but the point at which interest seems to die is when the combat's been going on for a bit

They're actually right if you've literally never played anything other than 3.pf

Mythras' Classic Fantasy supplement is fantastic and fills the heroic fantasy role well
It's geared toward OSR-style dungeoneering but it takes after 2e more than it does 1e/BX

well, is the fact that you're new elongating combat itself (choosing what you're going to do, unfamiliarity with rules/options etc)? because that's going to persist in nearly every system until you get comfortable

Yeah I know that a fair bit of it is me being inexperienced as a GM , but I also feel like learning a new system before stockholm syndrome for pathfinder kicks in might be a good idea.

True20 is fairly breezy and flexible, and uses a damage save system instead of HP. It does some interesting things with the standard D&D formula.

FantasyCraft *would* be a slog if it wasn't for the "standard" and "special" character differences meaning that all but dramatic or important fights have you up against much more disposable and easy to trounce enemies, plus more interesting per-scene/per-encounter mechanics on both sides of the screen.
It looks *much* chunkier than it is in actual execution because it's rulebook is a bit of a mess.

To compliment some of these OSR suggestions, there's this sci-fi/fantasy RPG called Open Adventure that aims to inject some different flavor into a Basic D&D sort of system repackaged to use a "d6-d6" mechanic. I literally know nothing about how well it actually works, but in skimming it I noticed there are a few Dragonball references in its magic system, which is interesting.

I mean, s advice isn't necessarily bad--the core resolution mechanic isn't what makes DW a bad game. HP and damage dice make the Moves system mean less in general, and most of the player Moves are boring or ineffectual or both.

Just leaning on the core 2d6+Mod stuff is fine so long as you have the confidence to keep the plates spinning.

the irony here is that rules light systems require a bit more GM intervention/fiat to keep things interesting

why cling to the shoehorned in OSR "tradition" shit then? just go with GURPS ultralite or FATE or something if you're looking to simplify.

Cool systems: Cypher (Numenera, the Strange [the best imo], Predation), Iron Kingdoms (the more recent one), Savage Worlds (Deadlands, Rippers, Sundered Skies are all good settings)

Honestly, and plenty of people will disagree with me, RIFTS is a pretty fun system. Oh, it has some flaws, big ones, but overall it's damn fun.

Lots of classes which admit to being unbalanced but in ways that still allow them to contribute within their specialties.

Magic and the mundane/technology feel pretty well balanced.

Combat tends to be quick. Armor is there to soak up damage, not cause misses, so as long as you're hitting relatively easy numbers you can expect to be dealing damage and most weapons deal plenty of it.

The GM can adjust the game pretty easily between Mad Max, Fallout and totally gonzo "Bane teamed up with a dragon, a wizard and a cyborg to fight off an interdimensional invasion of psychic locust demons while Future!Nazis attack both sides"

As for issues... it's very old school, d20 combat, % skills, random stats (but you can modify them with skills) and every book that swimming comes up in prints different rules for drowning.

Also you should allow Physical Prowess to add to ranged attacks. No idea why, but the author thinks that people with surgical precision and combat training shouldn't be any more accurate than Shaky Hands McGee.

Speaking of the author, he's an asshole who you can likely find plenty of stories about by googling. Kevin Siembada. Pretty sure his whole company is just waiting on him to die at this point.

Why not just GURPS?

I mostly agree--the Megaversal System isn't *necessarily* bad, it just requires an understanding of how it expects you to use it. With the right GM and a bit of patience it can be a lot of fun.

And unlike most other systems with skewed combat abilities it's pretty open with the fact that character capabilities are going to vary a lot, with the GM having the explicit duty of making all the PCs relevant in spite of that. In that respect it's like Mutants & Masterminds. Or, I suppose, earlier D&D in general.

Indeed, that expectation/permission for the GM to adjust things honestly helps it flow better, having a lot less "lemme look up that rule" and more "okay, so this happens and then..."

Plus by not declaring classes as "balanced" as some other systems, you can more easily tell which are better left to NPCs or at least "I really want this concept even if it's not as strong". And hell, I've enjoyed playing a Rogue Scholar in a party with a Juicer, Ley-Line Walker, Dog Boy and a Glitter Boy. Everyone else was a superpowered badass, but I knew so much more about the world, had so many applicable skills to every situation and hey at least I could always grab a weapon and fire back at enemies.

ORE based systems like Monsters & Other Childish Things, Reign and Wild Talents are all pretty sweet.
I still haven't had a chance to play Wild Talents, but I have the Core rulebook and the Magic/Faction add-on Grim Wars.
From Wikipedia:
>While most dice pool systems count the number of dice which roll above a certain number to determine success, the O.R.E. system instead depends on matching dice, such as a pair of dice showing 8 or three dice showing 2. Matching dice are called a "set"; the number of matching dice in a set is called the "Width", while the face up number on the dice is the set's "Height". Shorthand notation for writing results is Width x Height, so a pair of 8s would be written 2x8 and three 2s would be written 3x2.

>A roll may have more than one set; the player can usually choose which one to use. If there are no matches, then the player may select a single die to act as a set with a Width of 1. In general, a set's Width determines the speed of an action, while the Height determines how successful the action was. In combat, Width and Height also determine the damage and hit location.

>Powers, such as those possessed by superhuman Talents in Godlike, are modeled with special dice. "Hard Dice" are considered to always have a value of 10, while "Wiggle Dice" have a value assigned by the player after the rest of the pool is rolled. The shorthand notation for Hard Dice is hd and Wiggle Dice is wd, so a Dice pool of six regular dice, two Hard Dice and one Wiggle Die would be noted 6d+2hd+1wd.

Because HERO.

Strike! is pretty cool.

I just want to second this, the mechanics set has nothing to do with your player's lack of interest.

>With the right GM and a bit of patience it can be a lot of fun.
This is true of 99% of games.

top 2?

Symbaroum

I don't know about top 2, but the bottom 2 are "Monster of the Week" and "Tremulus"

Pick a system where combat can be resolved with a single dice roll if necessary, like Burning Wheel.

Cypher system. does anything, real easy, can add whatever you lack just as easily.
>also the latest setting book, Predation, is basically dino riders.
i'm in love with it.

>The Cypher System in theory is good, but in practice the rules hardly hold up.
>can't into it
pic related

Burning Wheel sounds like the best option if the problem is lenghty combat/loss of interest.