Would you play D&D if it wasn't D&D

[Webhead]

...But I love the more gritty aspects of it and how disease really matters unlike in DnD. I guess I am just more of a urban fantasy, low/mid magic fantasy system player.

Though I do like high fantasy but sometimes it gets boring. I just love Swashbucklers and sea stuff, so naturally going to love 7th Seas games.

By all accounts then, I think you ought to try 2 settings in particular from Savage Worlds:

Sundered Skies (gritty, "survivalist", somewhat pirate-esque fantasy aboard flying ships)

and

Pirates of the Spanish Main (piratey, swashbuckling adventure on the high seas)

Great games both and a very workable rules set.

[gajenx]

I would not need settings as much as rules since I am a firm believer that any fantasy game rules system can be worked to pertain to any fantasy setting you just need a good storyteller to do it.

[Arch Lich Thoth-Amon]

I would not need settings as much as rules since I am a firm believer that any fantasy game rules system can be worked to pertain to any fantasy setting you just need a good storyteller to do it.

Bulls Eye! Shot the arrow through the shaft. Would have made Robin Hood proud.

Alot of gamers forget that it's the storyteller, and the comaraderie that makes any game fun and memorable.

[Webhead]

I would not need settings as much as rules since I am a firm believer that any fantasy game rules system can be worked to pertain to any fantasy setting you just need a good storyteller to do it.

Precisely. That's the same reason I tend to hold on to good RPG settings or ideas even if I don't like the rules that are representing them...because I can always convert the themes, styles and ideas over to whatever rules set I choose. It's the enthusiasm for the "imaginary space" of the game that helps the GM sell it more so than the mechanics that it works off of (for many people, at least).

Hence my recommendation of the 2 settings. More so than the fact that they use a particular game system, I think you would find them appealing on the basis of the shared themes and styles that you mentioned are of interest to you ("gritty" fantasy and swashbuckling adventure).

A good example in my instance is GURPS. I don't like the GURPS rules, but I buy the occasional GURPS sourcebook if it has some good concept material that can be mined for my own games.

[gajenx]

I mined the GURPS ideas on runes so that people can in game use them more easily and without them being broken from when I did Runequest games. The has it set up that once you cast a rune you can invoke it and all it controls as a swift equivalent action in DnD. So completely broken in that system. Thus UI modified it with the GURPS noun Verb pairings of things and fine it to work better and allow for runestyle casters as PCs.

Though I have incorporated concepts of the game setting into almost all fantasy games I run since I like slightly more realistic based games over the modern world with a fantasy backdrop that DnD has.

[Webhead]

As I start pondering things that this thread surfaces in my mind, I start to identify that I'm not as much concerned with reflecting "realism" or "grittiness" (though adding a level of "grit" is fun) in my fantasy as much as the idea of "risk and consequences".

Especially when it comes to magic, I find the D&D formula to be far too "dependable". Magic should be at least slightly uncertain and potentially dangerous. This is probably one of the reaons I've always liked the different versions of magic in Deadlands.

You have "Blessed" who use their Faith to call upon their god(s) to perform miracles, but there is no guarantee that the miracle will be granted and even a chance that such denial of gratification may cause the character to slowly begin to doubt their Faith.

You have "Hucksters" whose magic is worked by besting an evil spirit in a contest of wills and forcing it to do the caster's bidding. Naturally, attempting to wrestle such a spirit into slavery and failing opens you up to all kinds of nasty retaliation from said spirit. Tread lightly.

Then you have the "Shamans" who negotiate and barter with natural spirits to perform favors. The more powerful or significant the favor called upon, the greater the requirements of the spirit will be. If the spirit is going to use its power to help you, it needs to receive something equally valuable from you in return.

"There is no action without consequence."

Especially when it comes to magic, I really like to include this theme in my games.

Sorry for the thread-drift. Had some free-association thinking there. Please continue on...

[MortonStromgal]

Hucksters

This is where the rest of the party tells that player "Just say no, dude."

[Webhead]

This is where the rest of the party tells that player "Just say no, dude."

Which happens more often than you might think.

The trade-off with Hucksters is that their magic is usually the most powerful. Just don't stand too close to one when he's gonna start calling upon it. Manitous (the evil spirits) don't really care if they catch nearby folks in the backlash as well.

[Talmek]

As long as it's fun, I'm up to play any combination.

Primarily, my experience is either with WoD or DnD mechanics.

[theredspyda]

IF it's an rpg I don't mind giving it a try it, if not get a feel for it.

[TheSmartestLemming]

I've got to agree with you there Webhead, Deadlands is an incredibly interesting system, it's just too bad no one wants to play it

[Webhead]

I've got to agree with you there Webhead, Deadlands is an incredibly interesting system, it's just too bad no one wants to play it

Yes, far too few. Deadlands really is something special though as I've neither run, played nor heard about second or third hand a Deadlands game that wasn't a lot of fun for all involved. For me, it's the setting more than the original system that the first edition used.

I think I'm lucky in that I have a couple of players who will gleefully play Deadlands at the drop of a hat. In fact, whenever my current campaign (Sundered Skies) concludes, that's probably the next game I'm going to run. I bought Deadlands Reloaded and have been blown away. All the flavor of the original with a much simpler and smoother system to go with it (and you still get to use the cards and poker chips! ).

[tesral]

There is only one other game I would play, "Morrow Project", but I use a mix of homebrew rules to play it. OBTW, all versions of D&D are D&D.

Morrow Project, there is a name I haven't heard in a while. I hung around the Order of Leibowitz while it was being written. So yes, I know the authors. One of my regulars has a Morrow play test version. The Morrow system was not refined. It had rough edges that never really got smoothed out and some of the authors were real "gear heads" and "gun bunnies", so the combat system is over detialed.

I'm not a system Nazi. I play Exalted and know not a thing about it really. Two session do not an expert make. Now if you want me to run something it's going to be D&D, I breathe D&D, d20 modified for species. But only because I do know the system forward and backward.

[nijineko]

d&d is d&d. for me it is a gestalt experience. you pull out the parts, you don't get the experience. whichever edition you use. but that definition is becoming more and more flexible since they keep performing radical surgery on it. ^^ before too long, the only thing that will be consistent are the iconic monsters, and sometimes not even then. ^^

however, fantasy is not d&d. i would happily play anything i can wrap my head around and feel comfortable with, even if it did use some conventions from d&d.

[Windstar]

Only 1 other sees it my way, mmmmm. But that's ok. I can deal. FR rules!!!