Searching for a Storytelling System

Question

I am looking to run a game in a low magic not-so-epic fantasy setting. I intend to focus on personal quests and stories and character discovery and growth, which may be related to some big-scale picture but does not get entangled by it. I want a system that gets out of the way as much as possible, and by that I mean that is easy and quick to learn and use. I plan on combat being scarce, and there will be exploration, but not in the fashion of "clearing a dungeon".

I have a lot of experience with MERP and Rolemaster, but this systems do not fit the requisite of being simple. I have experience with WoD (mainly oWoD, but some nWoD too), and I have in mind something among those lines: it is open in the way that gives you a lot of freedom to create the characters (and does not limit you to a job or profession) and, this is important, it doesn't feel "numeric" at all (even though the dots in the character sheets can be translated into numbers). However, I don't plan it on being a Horror or a Dark story, so there are many game mechanics that would get in the way because I aim for a different "flavor". Of course, the mechanics could be tweaked, but I would like to try something different from what I already know.

So, what system would you recommend that could work and why?

Answer 1

WEG d6 Fantasy

• Pro:
  • Free in PDF at RPGNow
  • highly customizable magic system in the PDF version - as high or low as the GM wants.
  • single mechanic system - all actions use the same basic resolution mechanics
  • uses only d6's
  • fast character generation which can use either simple assignment of dice or can use templates plus skill dice.
  • core rules options include count successes mode or roll and total mode.
• Con:
  • requires GM prep to establish setting.
  • print versions hard to find.
  • does little to make combat rare or overly dangerous.
  • All skills linked exclusively to one attribute each.
  • PC's clearly a a cut above normal NPC's as written.

Note that the flexible single mechanic system is very easy for players to learn. If not using the advantages and disadvantages, character generation is "allocate 18 dice to 6 stats, then 7 more dice to skills."

The system is best known for it's Star Wars incarnation, but having used d6 for both SW and for other settings, it's highly flexible and supports play in both combat heavy and combat light modes.

Answer 2

Low magic? Personal growth and character exploration?

Check out Hillfolk, the new rpg from visionary Robin D. Laws:

Hillfolk is based on a new system, DramaSystem, born out of the work Laws did for his book, Hamlet's Hit Points. It's designed to create stories like you'd find in a serial drama TV show. It's been successfully Kickstarted, and should be available soon. I have read, but not played the game, and it looks like exactly the thing for drama-oriented games.

If you want something you can buy and play right now, I'd recommend Primetime Adventures. I have played PTA, it was the first game I ever tried where there was a definite emphasis on being just like a TV show - so the game is mostly about everybody's issues and desires.

Or if you are up for a little hacking, Leverage. Leverage is a great evolution of the Cortex Plus system, again, aimed at reproducing a TV show. If you have a limited set of roles that you can replace Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief, and Mastermind with, you're practically all set.

Answer 3

I would recommend Desolation for this sort of game, although you may not be interested in the game's underlying setting of surviving in a broken world months after the apocalypse.

Overview

• Extremely quick system to grasp and use, that definitely supports rather than interferes with play (Ubiquity roleplaying system)
• Very fast and unobtrusive mechanics that use any even-sided dice you have
• New takes on typical fantasy lands and races
• Free-form magic system with a lot of color that is easily adjusted for how difficult/rare you wish magic to be
• interesting bestiary complete with nutritional information for hunting
• Character creation is simple and designed around the idea of establishing what the character seeks to achieve (and if you use the paired post-apocalyptic setting: what they have lost and how that has affected them)
• Available in pdf and hardcover, 2 supplements which cover additional rules for pre-apocalypse play and adventures of differing lengths and types are also available in pdf, no material outside the core book is required

Personal Observations

I have run this with a group of players with limited RPG experience (D&D only) with 0 experience with the Ubiquity roleplaying system and gotten everyone up to speed during character generation followed by a few sample die rolls to demonstrate how die pools work compared to single-die Target number systems. Ubiquity is the system used for Hollow Earth Expedition (Heroic Pulp), Desolation (High Fantasy brought low), All for One: Regime Diabolique (Swashbuckling Horror), and Leagues of Adventure (Steampulp)

The greatest area of adjustment for players of games designed like D&D seems to be in adapting to free-form spell use. Players with experience of games designed like World of Darkness should not need much orientation at all.

Perks are that the game reinforces character development and expression in its XP mechanic and its die-rolling mechanics. Its XP system is similar to White Wolf's. It's die mechanic is enhanced to allow players to differentiate how much effort they are putting into a task through the resolution speeding short-cut of Taking the Average, and its performance enhancing system of Style Points.

• Players may opt to take the average number of successes their pool would generate to avoid rolling for things for which a base level of success (as relevant to that character)is acceptable.
• Its style point economy allows players to push harder for important actions. Style points are earned through fulfillment of character and entertaining play.

The included setting is interesting, bleak, and challenging. It is wide open for GM creativity and development, and chock full of story seeds and hooks on many levels from simple survival to larger ones of social, cultural, nationalist, or religious import.

Lethality can be determined easily at the outset of play. In its default mode, combat is lethal and descriptive enough to be discouraging and does not lead to the typical 'kill everything you fight with' results common to many fantasy systems.

As the game is not class-based, character growth over time can be a reflection of exactly what your group wishes to explore in play.

My Experience in play

My campaign had a group of 7 players from very diverse backgrounds thoroughly entertained seeking out safe shelter, obtaining a steady supply of food and good relations with communities of other survivors, and steered itself in play into a great quest. Combat was usually avoided by careful planning, or by negotiation, but when it happened was quickly resolved (even at more than 2:1 odds) in less than 30 minutes - with novice players.

Answer 4

You want to play Burning Wheel. Seriously, that is the game for this premise. I've played this game for quite a while now and have a lot of experience running it. It's one of those play-to-find-out games. The story is fueled by Beliefs, which are basically player-written quests. You as the GM just stand in the way of the what the characters what to accomplish in order to see what it is they are made of and, of course, create interesting drama. And failure is not a roadblock for fun, it's simply an excuse to cause a little more drama and throw the game in an unexpected direction! In the meantime, you are free to have your "big picture" working in the background, subtly hinting at the sort of things the players should be paying attention to, but never forcing their hand.

Burning Wheel's default setting is "gritty fantasy;" beyond that, the world is what you make of it. I've played games that involved petty farmers struggling to change their society and eventually (after many, MANY sessions) they end up running the place (and, ironically, became what they fought against). So if you're looking to get away from high fantasy and want your combat brutal and realistic, this game does that.

As far as magic, it can be as involved or not involved as you would like it to be. Aside from the Core Rules (the first ~75 pages or so of the book), pretty much the entire rest of the system is optional and modular. If you buy the additional Magic Burner, you can replace/augment the built-in Sorcery system with one of about a dozen other systems the game designer wrote. Practical Magic - wherein lots of people have magical ability but very slight, and it's mostly used for everyday tasks - sounds like the one for you.