Break The RPG Mold: Embrace Unique over Generic

[@HarmonicClockwork]

The advice in this video really resonated with me. Recently I found the Fantasy Age system, which was more of what I wanted in a game. I like the easy magic system, the stunt mechanics, and I would argue it does D&D better than D&D. What really helped was one of the settings & the supplements made me have so many ideas, and get excited about what kind of adventures to run, and D&D never did that for me. No disrespect to anyone who loves D&D and the setting, and gets inspired by it. Fantasy Age isn't perfect, but parts of it feel easier and it speaks my language better. Ultimately, it's not that different, but it's different enough that I'm excited to run it.

[@TheRPGBlender]

Glad it made sense to you! And that is exactly it - there is absolutely nothing wrong with loving whatever system you are into, but being willing to take that step beyond it may help you find something even better.

[@HarmonicClockwork]

@@TheRPGBlender And a side benefit to exploring different games: they help break you out of the system of thought where you assume that most things in one monolithic game are set in stone. They're not, and exploring other games can help open your mind.

[@Blerdy_Disposition]

As someone who plays a lot of generic systems and run them (Basic Roleplaying, Genesys, GURPs) you hit it right on the marker). Telling folks to just Playa generic system can be a bit of a downside since their are systems that can and do things more efficiently. I think one reason I play generic systems is because even in generic systems they offer different systems. GURPs is pretty crunchy and can be combat heavy while Genesys is pretty narrative driven. So those offer flexibility while difference in rolls and results. But even then if you want to run a grimdark dungeon crawling game why not run a OSR game like Mörk Börg? Tldr: yeah we should all play more generic specific games. It'll save us time. Great video btw 🤣 as always.

[@TheRPGBlender]

That is a good point - there is definitely variety in generic systems, and even times when the generic system is the right approach! But if you'll be spending as much time homebrewing and tweaking that system as you would learning a new one...might be time to switch it up

[@wingusryu8289]

I have always played a lot of the old big systems, DND (since 2nd ed), World of Darkness and Palladium. But recently I am in love with all these small publishers with rules light systems. I want creativity and less numbers and worrying if I made a good build and other min maxing. Currently into ICRPG, and Mork Borg. I ordered EZD6 and Viking Death Squad and cant wait to get them. I just backed Shadowdark and cant wait to get it. Also waiting to get my hands on Vaults of Vaarn. Now I just gotta figure out how to get a group together again.

[@TheRPGBlender]

So many great little games that you'd never experience if you just stuck to one!

[@NickNLouie]

I agree. I also think it is hard to learn new games or leave the benefits of the D&D population. I was listening to Ludonarrative Dissidents recently talking about 13th Age. The podcast called D&D the Lingua Franca. One thing that is "nice" about just hacking D&D is that one's group can translate to a slightly altered D&D setting pretty quickly. And there is a good-sized population out there that may also be interested in one's hack of D&D. And if one wanted to homebrew a setting or scenario, in some cases it can get get up and running fairly easy since the hacker is familiar with D&D and can maybe spend less time hacking a homebrew world into D&D than potentially using a whole new game.

[@MemphiStig]

Most of my experience comes from the 80s and 90s. So I played AD&D, TSR's western Boot Hill, Mechwarrior (Battletech rpg), TSR's Marvel Superheroes, Rolemaster, Warhammer FRPG, and several others. These games couldn't be more different mechanically, and all of them had unique reasons for it. The last two were fantasy like D&D, but RM was for people who didn't like D&D's particular limits, and Warhammer had a very particular setting. The other three were obviously very different genres from D&D. And I can tell you, the D&D "engine" was not then and is not now, suitable for all genres or stories or styles of play (or even tables). It's worth learning new rules, and usually not as hard as you fear, and these days there are so many indie, cheap or free, and rules light systems readily available everywhere for every type of game you want, that there's no reason to stick to one thing forever. Unless of course, that's really all you care about. And if that's how you feel, cool. But we'll be playing something else next week, so let me know if you change your mind.🙂

[@ThePiachu]

My group tends to both look for new systems to play and do some kit-bashing of our own to get it over a hump of not being quite what we were looking for. We do it mainly because we often find some cool setting or concept we want to run, but it's attached to a bad system (like we loved Exalted the setting, but Exalted the system didn't gel well with the group that couldn't handle crunch). It's easier to get a system that's 90% where you want it and do the 10% tweak than to do 80% or 50% of the legwork with a system you know. Another problem with generic systems is that they are often generic *combat engines*, not generic systems. Like Savage Worlds was that kind of disappointment for us when we tried using it for a horror setting and it did not deliver, while we switched to Chronicles of Darkness and it was night and day. Moreover, good systems are like good board games - they actively work towards making your game fun and following the system is rewarding. If you have to fight the rules, you're not having a good time. D&D is kind of like Monopoly in that regard - everyone knows it, nobody plays it by the book, and there is a whole world of other games out there people that only know board games by Monopoly won't understand that they are missing.

[@TheRPGBlender]

Absolutely! Kit bashing can be fun and can fill small holes in an otherwise good system. But just like you experienced, sometimes the problem is just systemic to the game itself, and switching things up can make a world of difference.

[@TheRPGBlender]

No hate toward generic games - if it what you enjoy, more fun to you! But my style is to find the game with existing mechanics that support the concept - not build them into a different system.

[@brendanm4950]

I also love trying new games and use a similar method for learning systems. For me, I have 2 reasons for using generic systems (when I do). First is pre made settings. I love the setting of numenera. It uses a generic system (cypher) and I have no reason to homebrew away from that. Second is laziness. My big issue with d&d is that it is such a milquetoast setting. It is basically a generic setting with not generic rules. If I am just looking for a generic dungeon crawl to kill a couple hours then it doesn't matter if there is a more perfect ruleset because the game itself doesn't matter

[@TheRPGBlender]

First point - I absolutely agree. There are definitely some good unique settings for Generic games. I love Predation for Cypher system! Second - that is fair as well. If you are just doing a light one off game with a simple idea like a dungeon crawler, no reason to learn something new. Its more for the longer games I see more value in learning a new game than rebuilding a generic one.

[@Betito1171]

I’ve been trying to push my friends to try other rpgs that are not DnD for awhile

[@UsuarioGenerico-li5pf]

I strongly disagree that a unique game is better than a generic system, In my little experience with TTRPG's (3 and a half years) I have tried to try many possible games before even being able to play D&D. None have left me 90% satisfied or hooked me personally except for 3 (GURPS, Savage Worlds and Cyberpunk 2020)... I have tried many kinds of games, CoC, Cyberpunk 2020, C&C, D&D, Fantasy Age, 13th Age, Star Wars D6, Blades in the Dark, FATE, OSE (As for 3 days), Stars Without Number, Swords & Wizardry, Savage Worlds, GURPS, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Werewolf the Apocalypse (I hated the character creation system and the organization of the book) and some of Palladium. Despite the short time I had the opportunity to play and run all those games. However, almost all of them end up boring me or disappointing me for two reasons. 1.- very specific Theme/Setting/Genre/Design intentions. 2.- Too limiting to what I would really like to play/run or with very few options to expand the game beyond the main premise. That's what makes me prefer generic systems like some mentioned above. Playing a TTRPG with such a specific premise and theme makes me feel like I'm learning how to play a video game. In addition to the fact that with specific games with a specific theme with specific lore, it ends up for me ruining what I had in terms of character or even ending up ruining an campaign idea (I'm looking at you WtA). Or simply the fact that the game has only one interesting thing and the rest doesn't quite connect with me or my group. For example, many fantasy games are human-centric and low fantasy, or many games only support a specific genre when we want to combine genres how heroic fantasy with eighties horror or space opera with prehistoric technology. In my case, I wanted a game that matched D&D-style fantasy with WWII but there was nothing quite like what I was looking for so I ended up using Savage Worlds. Or I wanted a semi-steampunk dark fantasy game without human characters... Obviously I had to use a generic system like GURPS because D&D (And variants like the osr) limited everything and such a game doesn't exist. One of my players wanted to run a Berserk like fantasy, but a high fantasy world with slasher horror influences. He had to "hack" SotDL in order to get the game he wanted. And recently another one of my players wanted to make a Steampunk pulp game in the world of My Little Pony (The idea was too ridiculous to tell him no) And he ended up using Savage Worlds as a system because he felt it was the best fit for the type of game he wanted to run. The point is that we could have been content to play RAW anything made by someone else, but for that we could play a video game directly. As a saying goes "If no one does it, be the first to do it" and if there are games that only offer you the system so that you can do what you want with it, personally, I'd rather do the work myself using a base, than modify someone else's work to suit my needs. And Cyberpunk 2020 I played it because of the Cyberpunk 2077 Hype. And with all the supplements and expansions it had, it wasn't such a bad experience. But since I discovered and learned how to play and running GURPS, I am no longer interested in Cyberpunk 2020, I feel like for me GURPS makes Cyberpunk 2020 and D&D better than their own games. Because in generic systems I can add my own twist to their concepts, and really make the game my own.