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Does an rpg exist that doesn't trace it's mechanical core back to the OSR/Old School D&D, but still has a strong or single focus on dungeon crawling? I'm wrapping up running Hyperborea for 3.5 years, and most of my players and I are starting to become burned out on the whole OSR gameplay loop. What I'm looking for would be a game that either has strong support for dungeon crawling, or is designed from the ground up with dungeon crawling in mind.

Here are some things I'd like to avoid:

• Gold for xp: I like this in concept, but what I find in practice is that it makes the PCs to wealthy too fast. I like to keep the PCs poor so buying equipment becomes a much bigger deal. It's also a huge pain in the ass having to account for the vast sums of coin that a party of 3-5 PCs require in order to level up. It also slows the game to a crawl when the party gets back to civilization with all of their loot and then they have to divide it up and spend it.
• Vancian Magic: My players all unanimously agree that they dislike Vancian magic. After having played an OSR game for 3.5 years not a single player has found it fun. What we found was that fighters get to be fighters all the time from the beginning of the game, but magic-users can only do magic-user things once to a few times per day in the early levels. The system should support
• Rules-light: I and my players have found that rules-light games are not for us. Not that we necessarily want to play a super crunchy game with a million table lookups, but we've found that most OSR style games just don't provide enough procedures, or have a unified mechanic that makes task resolution elegant and easy to manage. Rulings over rules did not work with my group and we found that we essentially had to make up or borrow a bunch of rules and procedures from other systems which created a lot more work for me.

What I'd ideally like is a game with strong procedures and a focus on adventure instead of logistics and resource management. We did not find the issue of how to move a large treasure hoard out of a dungeon to be interesting, and inventory management always felt like a chore. Exploring dungeons, fighting weird monsters, and getting into shenanigans is more up our alley. Also, no one had any interest in domain level play, so the game should not try to shoehorn in or try to draw inspiration from D&D's wargaming roots. My assumption is that I could probably use a generic system like Savage Worlds, but I'm still curious if there exists a game that is designed from the ground up for dungeon-crawling, but without a mechanical lineage that traces back to old-school D&D.

Hey everyone! Absolute beginner here, I’ve been big into fantasy and scifi books for most of my life, and I just got invited to a public event where one of my friends will be game master, we’re playing Pirate Borg. I’m very excited but a bit intimidated as well, I’m a young woman and to be totally honest with you, I’m a bit scared of men-dominated communities.

I have no experience with RPGS whatsoever, I have occasionally heard of DND campaigns, but that’s about it.

I’m well navigated in fantasy terminology and things like that, but I’m still a bit scared I’ll make a fool of myself.

Do you have any tips? Absolute no gos?

Any advice is truly appreciated!

-a very anxious beginner

Apologies if you have seen this question around I am genuinely curious as to what makes people take a chance on indie ttrpgs. Not trying to shill my own games just looking into what I should be focusing on.

As someone who makes ttrpg, I always get disheartened when I put my games on itch for a few dollars and it seems like no one is willing to pay even that to give my game a go.

My question is, what makes you decided "yeah, I'll chuck a couple of bucks at that" for an indie game?

Just saw this and being a fan of the shows peaked my interest. Is the system good? Should I get it?

Edit: oh. For those who don't know, AtLA = Avatar the Last Airbender.

(Reposted because it posted before I actually finished typing)

I was a big Greek mythology kid and have found fellow old Greek mythology kids. I’d love to run a game that is either:

A. Set in classical Greece and the players take in the role of heroes and Demi gods who go on an odyssey and battle classic Greek monsters.

B. Go full Percy Jackson novels and make an adventure based around a camp halfblood knock off.

Just in general, what things are you most looking for, do you flip to, do you have to have in order for you to buy it?

So I have come across this hobby in the last month or so, and gotta say I was intrigued by it, mostly because of the setting and how vast it truly is beyond Dungeons and Dragons, Trials of Cthulhu, and Pathfinder. Also does not help that I am playing Solasta on an Xbox console and getting hooked by its mechanics.

So i do have some questions, if no one minds it:

What are some solid fantasy-style TTRPGs for someone who just learned about this whole thing? Been eyeing Dragonbane, mostly because of the duck species, and Wildsea, because a ship that cut downs tresss in a sea of trees is awesome to imagine. Would love suggestions or alternatives.

Should I try a solo RPG first, or do it with some company first?

What are some solid mystery-type TTRPGs that would work for a beginner? I have been eyeing both Vaesen and Brindlewood Bay, but would love alternatives or suggestions.

TL:DR - I think I am looking for hexcrawl / simple dungeon resources, preferably for 5e, but system agnostic or ones that can be easily adapted are welcome as well.

The wall of text -

My son and his cousins are interested in D&D (two sixth graders and a fourth grader). I am running an official pre-written adventure with the two sixth graders and the parents, but the kiddos have zero interest in the social / RP aspects. Which is fine. I didn't either at their age.

So rather than have the kids be bored out of their minds a third of the time, I would rather just run a game that they are interested in. The younger cousin is of course interested because the older kids are.

I think I want to stick with 5e. As heroic fantasy is the general tone I am shooting for, and the older kids are able to handle it currently. And with only three kids, if they need help with anything it should be manageable.

Which leads me to the hex crawl. It is a mode of play that I am not very familiar with, but from what I do know, it seems relatively easy to have it geared towards exploration and combat. And revealing/exploring hexes on a map seems like a gamification that would grab the kid's attention.

I know I have seen a refence to a module named "Wolves Upon The Coast" that was not a 5e module but was well reviewed as a hex crawl. I am wondering how adaptable that could be for me.

Or if there are other web sites, itch io, or drivethrurpg rpg resources that I should be looking at.

Or if hexcrawl isn't what I should be looking at, pointers to other resources would also be welcome.

Edit: I know I don't want OSR dungeon crawls though, where you have to cautiously and meticulously work your way through the dungeon.

Three years ago I made a post on this subreddit about inspiration and how to run a martial only campaign based on anime and Asian folklore. And I was afraid to start. Thank you all for giving me that push.

Our campaign recently ended and I’m so glad we started I’ve met two of the best players ever and now we have a (not very big) following. I’m thankful for everyone that responded and supported my starting in this and I’m happy to share our journey with you all.

The video of our last session together BOY was this a doozy and is titled as Fleeing Sparrows Final Flight. For those interested in watching further. We’re not pros and I’m not looking to be but I want to share this because of my amazing players deserve to have their talents be seen by the world.

I love them deeply and if anything else just watch timestamp 4:24:20 to the end. If nothing else I’ll have shared how much they mean to me with the world and that I’m happy about.

Here are some of the long form adventures and setting books/boxes I have and my thoughts on them:

• Storm King's Thunder and Out of the Abyss: like my opinion on most things D&D, these were fine once I homebrewed them a fair bit and rewrote some plot points. Probably wouldn't buy again, I'd rather just write my own I think.
• Spelljammer and Dark Sun (2e): love this. I was able to get some books between DriveThruRGP reprints and ebay, and then run them using Rules Cyclopedia. Really fun and great inspiration. Worth picking up if you can find them at a decent price.
• Dungeon Crawl Classics: Lankhmar I picked this box set up because it was on sale, and absolutely love it! I haven't read much in the setting, so I don't know if I'm missing the vibe and themes of the original, but man am I enjoying playing in the setting!
• Obojima: I wish this was it's own rule set. It feels like a lot of really cool aesthetics and evocative writing, but then shoved into the 5e mold. I think making it the cozy version of Shadowdark by making it into its own setting and rule set would have been more satisfying to players.
• Wandering Tavern: I really enjoyed this book and found it inspirational for stories, but also didn't feel like it was particularly revolutionary when it came to tavern mechanics. But I also haven't played this one a ton.
• Cursed Scrolls 1-3: These are zines for Shadowdark, and each has a setting in it. Haven't used them yet, but heard they are good, and so I'm looking forward to playing them!

And here are some that I am keeping my eye on:

• The Shrike: designed for Old School Essentials, which means it will work with the wide range of B/X retroclones. I also like having this in my back pocket for a party I TPK but the players aren't ready to let go of.
• The Dark of Hot Springs Island: Love the combo of the adventure book and the field guide. Keep hearing good things about the story, and I have one player who loves pirate stuff, so I think this will be up his alley.
• Dungeons Of Drakkenheim: I see this as an modern RPG adaptation of Mordheim, and that sounds amazing lol
• Castle Zagyg Yggsburgh: made for Castle Crusades and written by the man himself, Gary Gygax. I saw they are working on Act 2, so I thought this could be an interesting megadungeon to scoop. Plus as a vet, that 50% discount looks PRETTY GOOD! But I don't have the starter set or the core rules, so I'd have to buy those as well.
• DCC Castle Whiterock: Kick starter launches tomorrow and I'm definitely pledging.

Any other books or box sets from your collection or wishlist that you think would fit?

As a D&D 5e player & GM, I'm slowing trying to morph it into a system my own, and when talking to a player and friend of mine, we decided to try and rebuild D&D from the ground up.

Upon some talks, we decided to make it around 60% Combat Rules and 40% Out of Combat Rules, trying to hopefully expand D&D to be more interesting outside combat to everyone, even if you don't have Magic & Spells.

For this, we are planning on expanding the rules for stuff like making projects (like crafting & aquiring expansive or rare items), maintaining a base of operations, gaining political power, making preparations for the next adventure, and last but not least, Build & Socialize with communities.

For the last one, I want to A) make social interactions more interesting and B) codify gratifying rewards & consequences for such interations.

I'm okay with social encounter still being resolved with mostly Roleplay, but I want to give it at least some mechanics beyond just "roll a d20 against a DC", to make trying to socialize with Silver-Tongued Devils (both metaphorical and real) more interesting, impossing and not easily cheeseable.

My main focus, however, is what comes after, trying to give mechanics to what it means to gain the favor of a low ranked footsoldier when compared to a magister, a thieves' guild, a mighty dragon or even the relationship between gods and devouts.

To that end, I want to study other systems more, even doing a oneshot here and there, because even though I've played at least a good few RPGs as of now in the last 4 years, most of them are still under the D&D family, be them direct D&D or stuff like Pathfinder 2e that has its roots in the D&D tree.