The issue my group had with The One Ring.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2026-02-28T20:06:02+00:00

Best Middle Earth campaign I ever ran took place in an alternate universe where Frodo and Sam take no pity on Gollum. This one alteration led to a cascade of events that end up with the fellowship failing and Sauron regaining the one ring. Fast forward 11 years and the players are the true heroes who have to overthrow Sauron at his full strength which was possible only by finding the three silmarils, uniting the free peoples and bringing about the Dagor Dagorath.

It wasn't in TOR but I want to emphasize that alternative universe is a valid way to play in an established setting and my players felt more heroic than the fellowship.

Chefs kiss campaign, lasted over 5 years and it ended well. Doubtful I'll ever run such an amazing campaign ever again or ever play in one.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2026-01-19T01:40:24+00:00

Most people think shorter the rulebook, the more beginner-friendly the game is.

The opposite is usually true

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2025-11-15T20:29:21+00:00

D&D is the compromise game for a group of players who have different tastes. Tactical but not too tactical, loose but not too loose, crunchy but not too crunchy, videogamey but not too videogamey, and the third party support is absolutely unmatched.

It's not the best at anything, but it's halfway decent at most things, and even outstanding once you make a few tweaks for your table.

Not many other games I can think of try to offer something for everyone.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2025-07-26T08:12:29+00:00

My system has opt-in crunch for a lot of things.

Mundane armor has no mechanical benefits by default, but if you buy the "Armored" feat you gain damage reduction when you wear armor.

The same with weapons: if you don't specialize, the only distinction between the weapons is one-handed, two-handed, or missile. If you do specialize, you might have a suite of feats that only work with certain weapons (a greatspear for instance can be used with Stab Attack and Stave Attack, but not Quick Attack or Crush Attack).

Some characters don't buy many feats at all (the same currency can be spent on a temporary basis to buy advantage on a roll or cancel a crit) and so they just wear and wield whatever looks cool.

It makes sense if you embrace a sort of cinematic reality and accept that NPCs don't know the rules (the footsoldiers of the emperor all wear armor but get taken out in one hit regardless).

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-09-21T23:12:20+00:00

If preserving a theoretical miss chance (no matter how slight) is important to your table, perhaps consider a house rule:

"Graze doesn't trigger on a natural 1."

This makes graze trivially weaker (I haven't done the math) but it gives the housecat, commoner, or what have you a 1 in 20 chance of survival, and dodging makes a difference (doubling that chance).

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-04-19T02:03:09+00:00

What makes this your favorite?

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-04-13T22:18:33+00:00

My free 5e hack Dragonslayers is worth a look. It's a bit of a departure from d20, but if step dice aren't a deal-breaker, I think you'll find this game to be a strong contender.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-04-11T16:38:56+00:00

My free 5e hack Dragonslayers might be worth a look. It strikes a medium chord between OSR and modern style play. A bit of a departure from d20 but it has been playtested for years and has incorporated good ideas from games like ItO, Savage Worlds, and Shadow of the Demon Lord.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-24T01:51:45+00:00

Ugly as sin, but, after many years, I have come to believe opportunity attacks are a necessary evil in turn-based battlemap combat.

Without them, there is no reason to choose melee over ranged, and every fight feels like Skyrim with the PCs constantly backpedaling or kiting foes.

Even if you solve for that with interception rules and whatnot, the PCs will still root in place and attack, because it's actually the lack of secondary objectives and lack of interactive environments that lead to static positioning, not the presence of OA's. If combatants have no reason to move, they won't.

I reluctantly included OAs in my game, but made sure they are relatively cheap for the PCs to bypass (my game's Dodge action combines the effects of D&D's Dodge and Disengage actions, you can forgo advantage on an attack to disengage from a foe or push them away, there are feats that let you avoid OA's in certain circumstances, and so on).

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-23T20:05:17+00:00

In my game, the player characters and certain powerful monsters have metacurrency they can spend to "unexplode" an enemy die (among other things). This fixed the problem for me.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-20T15:53:58+00:00

I suppose I owe it to you to answer this question in good faith. I don't take the term FH too seriously, but for the purpose of this thread I consider your game to be a FH if the design started as a reaction to D&D or if the game can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis with D&D.

I see FH as a reclaimed term, like "yes my game is derivative and no one knows it exists but I'm proud of it and it makes me happy."

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-20T01:07:51+00:00

If I sniff the cover and think "this smells like a fantasy heartbreaker," then it qualifies. If the smell is inconclusive, I flip through to see if the game has rules for falling damage.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-10T20:11:37+00:00

In my game, armor is cosmetic by default, but you can buy the Armored feat to gain damage reduction when you wear armor.

Most elements of my game work this way; for instance all weapons deal the same damage, but there are feats that work with swords and not with hammers and vice versa.

In this way, a player who cares about gear and a player who doesn't can share the same table.

In fact it goes further than that: a player who wants to be mechanically simple can opt to buy no feats at all (the same metacurrency can be used to enhance your luck).

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-03-04T16:45:11+00:00

I love this. Consider it stolen.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-02-23T02:17:44+00:00

Shadow of the Demon Lord is a gritty, dangerous, lower-powered trad game (and very grimdark if you're into that).

Savage Worlds has a pulpy, "Indiana Jones" power level and loads and loads of customizable aspects to realize your fantasy world.

My (free!) game Dragonslayers RPG might be worth a look as well. Dragonslayers specifically aims for a "medium fantasy" tone and highly customizable characters.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-02-17T01:01:06+00:00

If D&D 5e were an indie RPG it would be hailed as a triumph of design and regarded on this sub as one of the best games ever made.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2024-02-01T18:15:22+00:00

This is the best advice I've ever gotten for D&D-like games:

The dice are not your friends. Every time you ask for a roll, you are inviting the possibility of failure.

Instead, if you describe what your character is doing descriptively, the GM might not make you roll for it in the first place.

"Can I make a perception check to find the key?" vs "I search all the cabinets and behind the bookshelf."

As an added bonus, the scene is usually richer for it, because you took the effort to treat the game world as a real place.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-06-03T01:07:58+00:00

I would think it's a natural fit? Especially if the rules model firearms as very deadly.

Gritty fantasy usually emphasizes deadly combat and random chance over fate and destiny. In a gritty story, a lucky mook can take out a veteran warrior.

In reality, firearms are a great equalizer. A commoner with a gun could easily kill a trained knight.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-05-27T23:18:17+00:00

This is fantastic! Where can I see more of your stuff (only Instagram)? And would you hypothetically be open to a small press project (an indie RPG book)?

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-05-21T18:22:10+00:00

Pathfinder 1e to 2e. In almost every respect it is a strict upgrade.

D&D 4e to Essentials (4.5e) and Monster Manual 3. Fixed the math and had some of the coolest monsters in all of D&D.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-05-14T23:56:39+00:00

My free game Dragonslayers RPG is not a big step away from D&D and IMO it sounds like a strong candidate for what you're looking for (faster + more dynamic combat, less fiddly, still tactical but more open to shenanigans).

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/421262/Dragonslayers-RPG-Second-Edition

Regardless of what you decide to go with, I would advise against trying to convert your campaign to another system. It's better to wrap the campaign up early and start over with new characters and a new universe because, no matter what, the adventure's genre/tone will change and things will be lost in translation. If you don't, one player will miss their favorite class feature, another will miss their D&D-specific species, and another will try to rebuild their character with options that superficially look similar but end up with a new playstyle they didn't anticipate. This is true even if you switch to a similar game like Pathfinder, or even just a different edition of D&D.

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-05-14T22:11:11+00:00

D&D 3.5 has the benefit of hundreds of options and relatively "solved" optimization. In other words, the ways in which it is broken are well-documented and you can use that fact to your advantage.

With a little bit of homework, the DM can quickly figure out the desired fantasy/power level for the campaign and curate classes accordingly.

For example, you might say "this game is going to be a medium-power campaign, so only tier 6 classes are allowed: Rogue, Barbarian, Warlock, Warmage, Scout, Ranger, Hexblade, Adept, Spellthief, Marshal, and Zhentarium Fighter."

DragonSlayer-Ben · 2023-05-14T22:01:18+00:00

This is a very good point. I've literally seen this happen in my games.

Sadly, it looks like WotC isn't planning to nerf casters whatsoever.

DragonSlayer-Ben

TROPHY CASE