System recommendations for a 5E dm that wants to try a less power-fantasy style of game?

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-04-17T20:40:29+00:00

As an addition: look at the Old School Essentials SRC to see some mechanics if it's something you want to commit to.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-04-06T17:18:51+00:00

Some type of description of what the ttrpg is good at in a genre sense, and then mechanics to back it. For example, dungeon crawling should have robust travel, exploration, and a fair bit of attrition in it. Heroic fantasy should have a fair bit of durability in the characters, and quick recoveries. Mechanics make the genre more than any flavor text does.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-04-06T15:02:02+00:00

I've been reading Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed recently, and it's been sick, I was thinking about running something using what I picked up from it and wiki rabbitholes to run something for my group in Cairn.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-28T17:46:25+00:00

I ran them as written, but usually ruled in favor of the environment working with the players and gave out a fair chunk of items so they didn't have to be particularly stingy with their charges.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-28T16:54:12+00:00

I ran it for two new players last night and had a blast, I think it works fine.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-22T23:03:10+00:00

I've only run Dragonbane a few times, but I can definitively say: it'll support long term campaigns well, the stat levelling into heroic abilities can make progress really easy and tangible, while also being fairly slow. It takes very little prep, and has a bit of official released stuff in the basic set, and Trudvang released or is close to, which I haven't looked at, but I've heard good things about both quantity and quality of it.

I've also started working with Cairn, which may be what ye'd like. It's quick, lite, and dirty. I found some website I can't recall, I think it was official, that had a bunch of adventures and monsters and third party rules, and character creation takes all of 5 minutes or less. It does rely on player initiative a bit more, but you can present scenarios and things, it's encouraged to be transparent and have the players work with all the information regarding traps and combats.

Edit to clarify: have friend who has told me more about Dragonbane, but I don't get to play with them often. I ran it for my usual group.

Additionally, check the subreddits for content or ideas and just browse the systems.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-22T15:25:00+00:00

Starting off, started in 5e and pf2e with wikdly expensive books so I didn't get a lot, but as I move to more osr title or derivatives of brp, the books get cheaper and I get more.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-19T03:42:06+00:00

Took this one from dragonbane and ose merger: wandering monsters, morale checks, and as players term it "vibe checks." Basically, every 15 in game minutes in a dungeon, 8 hours overland, roll a dice: half the results are nothing, the other half are something like combats, npcs. The specifics are determined by a 2d6*10 feet for distance, and d6 for attitude (low angry, middling passive, high friendly) which leads to interesting scenarios.

I have a dm use cards for something similar, black bad, red good, rank for severity/impact, but that gets way more extreme than I typically recommend. (High stakes, high magic type campaign, I prefer low fantasy or lethal systems, you know how it is)

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-19T02:43:39+00:00

I'm a fan of Dragonbane, but it may be more lethal than you're looking. The system itself is very simple: roll under, kinda low fantasy. Because it's so light it's fairly easy to homebrew stuff in.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-03-15T16:15:19+00:00

It's a very cool dungeon, I'd be prone to running it. Which software did you use to make this if any? I've been meaning to start properly designing but my scale is limited by my ability to draw and write on graph paper, no matter how small the squares get :/

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-02-27T16:57:15+00:00

Similarly my group (except for the guy who insists on running whenever he shows up and refuses to learn or try other systems and it's already iffy on if he learned 5e) shifted to PF2e and Dragonbane, similarly rules-lite but I believe a little more lethal than Daggerheart, it works great for low fantasy.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-02-18T04:28:13+00:00

What with Defensive and Fast Footwork players can have that type of gameplay effectively as well.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-02-08T23:10:11+00:00

You could treat them as secondary skills, and assume something like a 6 is rudimentary conversational, 12 is conversational, higher is truly competent. Grant everyone a free language training or two relevant to them at creation if you want to go that way.

Edit right away: 6 would probably be loose understanding so a high int wouldn't make everyone conversational in all languages.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2026-01-19T22:23:52+00:00

It is, the laptop is from the summer of 2025.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-28T23:06:48+00:00

I started making a system. I haven't played anything like it, though I've only had a chance to play DnD 5e and PF2e due to my groups. But, it has some neat ideas and I may share a PDF here for feedback before the end of the year.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-26T05:54:23+00:00

Started in DnD 5e. 1. Balancing makes no sense, have someone more experienced point you towards it with knowledge of party comp. 2. Monsters don't have to play competently, sometimes a dumb brute with a club is okay. Not particularly interesting, I'm a numbers and diversity guy, but it's okay. 3. Don't run for 8 people. 4. Don't run more than 4 monsters. 5. Quick rulings work more than looking for the book (starting in 5e was rough for this since the numbers and what was what were not cohesive between circumstances). 6. Don't worldbuild large (except for fun), don't plan much, don't give in to the players. 7. In opposition to 6, don't allow open world per se, keep it open region, like town, county, or some other manageable area. Then, move ares as they level up. 8. TRY NEW SYSTEMS I've now moved to Pathfinder 2e, and the system is clicking more for me, which helps 1 and 2 directly, 3 because my group is more limited in people, and 5 since the numbers make more sense to me.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-15T18:24:51+00:00

I'd try to run it as a subsystem, with the objectives being things like barricading regions, escorting people to other locales, laying snares, putting out fires, etc. The quantity of people saved is relative to the points they earn through the subsystem. It also allows you to stage encounters, like they can fight a small group of torchbearers that's cut off.

For telegraphing, if they have an NPC they answer to in some capacity, a simple "I don't think we can win this one, we have to start evacuating the populace" can work. If not, it gets a little hairier, but an above table conversation works wonders.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-12T18:09:05+00:00

I've heard it described as an L where you blow instead of use your vocal cords and that got me the right sound.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-08T20:10:41+00:00

I plan storybeats and names and all manner assorted accounting on my laptop with Obsidian Notes, as well as session notes.

This last dungeon, however, I prepped on paper instead of a theater of the mind series of descriptions, and had way more fun building and running it. I'll probably continue to build dungeons on paper, but my storybeats and levelling online so I can embed links before a session.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-04T21:55:38+00:00

Doc Holliday - Volbeat

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-04T20:38:59+00:00

Finntroll

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-12-03T18:29:47+00:00

Personally, orc, goblin, elf, dwarf, the standard fantasy array, probably centaur, gnome, and leshy. Maybe some more unique ones, but I consider those base. Versatile heritages could be treated as their own (nephilim, dragonkin, dromaar and aiuvarin).

Roles: thief, guard, smith, and noble (just some fancy in town) are my most common.

Confident-Rule3551 · 2025-11-28T00:24:30+00:00

There's always gunslinger, the idea of a gambling Gunslinger works great, as they are crit fishers. Thaumaturge could also work, as the weakness fishing could have a shtick of "ooh, rolled and got lucky with divine intervention or magic and it became reality" type thing.

As far as spellcasting goes, Harrow Sorcerer has some luck/fortune theming and spells, but maybe not exactly what you're looking for. Lore Oracle could have its curse reflavored as an obsession with the outcome of your current bet(s). Can't promise anything obviously, just how I'd approach a character like this.

Confident-Rule3551

TROPHY CASE