Looking for something new!

[u/SmokingTomato]

Hey there friends.

I'm a long-time GM, and I've ran a number of systems throughout my time. I'm looking for some more to try out, and I'm itching for recommendations!

I'm currently running three Delta Green games (God's Teeth, Control Group, and a home concoction from The Labyrinth) and it's by far been my most enjoyed system.

I've also ran Call of Cthulhu, Mothership, a number of Mork Borg hacks, Shadow of the Demon Lord (and Wierd Wizard), and soon to be a one-shot with the Sleepy Hollow TTRPG.

I love horror most of all, if it wasn't clear, and I'm hoping to find systems in different settings to try out. Delta Green is phenomenal and it has my contemporary settings on lock, but I'm wanting to wade back into fantasy and sci-fi. I have the ALIEN RPG in my sights for sci-fi, but other recommendations are welcome too.

I don't have a high preference on anything, other than GM support. The only thing I truly ask for is enough GM support to make it enjoyable to learn and run.

Thank you!

[u/JohnDoen86]

If you like horror, then maybe Dread? Ten Candles?

[u/SmokingTomato → u/JohnDoen86]

I've played Dread and a few others organized similarly, but I preferred them more for solo journaling play to be honest

Ten Candles I'll check out, though!

[u/AnythingLow2383]

Given your bread and butter I think Acheron may be a good fit for you/your players. 

It's a CoC-like 1930s setting with a 1984 undertone (the book, not time). Very orwellian Government with masked agents, cults, magic, monsters, the works. 

The books is a complete players handbook, GM guide, and bestiary. from the GM side, the Bestiary is amazing but they do lack adventure modules right now (that's what the team seems to be working on). 

I can't suggest it enough given the inspiration for Acheron seems to be Delta Green, CoC, and some other similar ttRPGs. 

I know it was on sale on RPG Trader for ~20 dollars and may still be or they have a free quick start, pre-generated characters, maps, etc. on their site/DriveThruRPG

[u/SmokingTomato → u/AnythingLow2383]

I'll definitely check it out, thank you!

With being described as more CoC-like, does it have a similar pulpy-vibe? My one complaint with Delta Green is how grounded it is on average (which is a bit crazy to say given the content).

[u/AnythingLow2383 → u/SmokingTomato]

I'd say it's a mix really depending on your players and GM style. Right now I'm playing a Necromancer wearing a wizard skin suit. Definitely pulpy! 

I've had other games where I've played very straight and level characters that would be more in the CoC/Delta Green camp like soldiers and Agents. 

[u/SmokingTomato → u/AnythingLow2383]

Wonderful, thank you! I'll give it a look

[u/AnythingLow2383 → u/SmokingTomato]

Here's the link to their page, the quick start is like 200 pages if you want to dive in there (it's not the best formatted I'll be honest, the actual book is much better laid out)

https://dark-world-studios.mybigcommerce.com/publications/acheron/

[u/Dark_World_Studios → u/SmokingTomato]

Thanks for giving us a look. If you use the code "WELCOME2ACHERON" you'll get 15% off in our store. Welcome to Acheron! May the nightmares never drive you too mad.

[u/Dark_World_Studios → u/AnythingLow2383]

Thanks for the shout out! We really appreciate you spreading the word. A d20 conversion of Call of Cthulhu was how we got started on Acheron. It's a big touchstone for us, same with Delta Green.

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[u/azrendelmare]

I'm fond of The Void. It's hard sci-fi meets Cthulhu. The core book only has three monsters in it, but it's also pay what you want for the PDF on Drive Thru RPG. There is also a book on some monsters, and another book about body horror monsters.

[u/SmokingTomato → u/azrendelmare]

A small library is fine with me, I personally enjoy the design aspect. If it has books that encompass their general design philosophy, I can work with that!

[u/BetterCallStrahd]

Urban Shadows is worth a look. It's more of a political urban fantasy game, with intrigue, investigation, espionage. But you can play vampires, werewolves, demons, and witches. It's basically a lighter approach to running Vampire the Masquerade and other World of Darkness titles.

A more horror oriented system is KULT: Divinity Lost. It's also urban fantasy, though it's about fairly regular people getting drawn into the supernatural, unlike Urban Shadows. You can grab free adventures from the official KULT website. Fair warning, their horror is pretty squicky.

For more classic fantasy with horror added, there's Vaesen.

[u/SmokingTomato → u/BetterCallStrahd]

I enjoy the sound of both from your descriptions! Urban Shadows sounds very interesting from a vibes standpoint, like it still has a horror vibe but doesn't horrify as much.

KULT sounds great as well, and if it's very visceral, I'll just save it for my group running God's Teeth from Delta Green. I don't think anything can get as icky as that one, so something that gets close would be very welcome.

Vaesen is on my list of "to-run" games already, I love it!

[u/Irrational-gonzo]

Try Legends in the Mist, they have a solo demo game you can download and try out on their page. I really like it, the setting, the rules, and the style.

[u/SmokingTomato → u/Irrational-gonzo]

I've been eyeing it, but I haven't cracked it open yet! Someone else in my community has been singing praise, so I might go ahead and grab it. Thank you!

[u/OriginalMadman]

Dark Conspiracy, the old version was cracking back in the day and I heard a new one is on the way. It might fit your taste

[u/SmokingTomato → u/OriginalMadman]

This one looks super interesting just from a surface read. It definitely reads like it could be Delta Green vibes with a different flavor, which is absolutely something I'll check out, thank you!

[u/everydaydefenders]

Its setting agnostic, but Its my favorite system by far if you are a narrative driven kind of table.

Genesys

[u/SmokingTomato → u/everydaydefenders]

One of my tables is incredibly narrative driven, I'll give it a read!

[u/everydaydefenders → u/SmokingTomato]

Its narrative dice take a second to get used to. But once you do, your ability add narrative flare to every roll is wildly freeing as a DM. You can succeed with a negative side effect, or fail with a positive side effect. Its a very cool system.

Theres no classes either. You use XP to buy abilities and boosts. As such, all characters are unique.

Lastly, you avoid character power creep. Rayher than leveling up dramatically increasing HP and power, instead it primarily expands your tool-kit. So its much easier to scale and balance the game over time, and the baddies thay were scary at the beginning can continue ro be scary at the end.

[u/SmokingTomato → u/everydaydefenders]

Definitely a fan of everything presented there. My community is very welcoming to new things as well, so getting used to a newer dice system shouldn't be a big issue.

It sounds very improv heavy as well just from your dice description, is that true? It's a big plus if so.

I'm definitely a fan of "scary at the start, can still scary at the end" as well

[u/everydaydefenders → u/SmokingTomato]

Absolutely yes.

Furthermore, there is a mechanic there that allows for players to have some influence on what those results can mean. They can essentially "spend" positive results to trigger certain narrative events.- negative results are always in the control of the DM.

It also has a "story point" system as well. A shared pool of tokens that can be spent by the players (or the DM) to trigger something important.

It could be a million different things. But an example might be: We are trying to enter the club The bouncer wont let us enter. DM, can I spend a story point to suggest that during our planning, I previously bribed the assistant manager for access?

Or: Your blaster missed the stormtroopers. Oh DM, could I spend a story point to have that blaster bolt strike the door panel behind the stormtrooper, and cause the blast doors to slam shut? (Cutting off reinforcements.)

That kind of thing.

[u/SmokingTomato → u/everydaydefenders]

That sounds wonderful, I'll definitely give it a peep. Thank you!

[u/Troacctid]

Have you tried Heart: The City Beneath? It's got a nice funky horror theme and it does some pretty cool things. There's a free quickstart for it.

I really like DIE: The Roleplaying Game. It has great DM support and works very well with a horror theme. (One of the scenarios in the book is themed around low-budget horror movies. The PCs are all former members of a small-time indie filmmaking studio who get sucked into their own movie—and they're cast as the antagonists.)

[u/SmokingTomato → u/Troacctid]

I've seen Heart mentioned here and there, but I never checked it out myself. I'll add the quickstart to my reading list!

DIE seems really interesting as well, and I'm already sold with the GM support. The mentioned scenario is super interesting as well, I'll give it a perusal!

[u/Wolfbane14]

I always recommend people check out EZD6. It's a rules light game that I think has very intuitive rules, which makes it a great game to know about for introducing new people to the hobby. It's default setting is fantasy but it has supplements for a post-apocalyptic setting and a horror setting and I believe there is more in the works

[u/PingPongMachine]

Whatever game you choose to play you should grab The Book of Unremitting Horror. It's the best book of horror monsters and phenomena by far imo. Works great with modern day horror too.

I would also check out some Gumshoe games like Fear Itself and The Esoterrorists.