| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| EltonRobb |
Posted - 06 Jul 2025 : 01:21:53
Hello fellow scribes!
I am wondering what Fantasy game system you use for your Realms game. There are a plethora of fantasy game systems out there. From Old School Revival games, to Dungeons and Dragons (any Edition), GURPS, Rolemaster, Runequest, and beyond!
I'd just like to know. |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Falcon |
Posted - 23 Aug 2025 : 06:43:54
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Falcon
Hello!
Long time lurker here! I’ve been using Dragonbane for a grey box sword and sorcery version of forgotten realms. I think it works better with the implied setting and in the tone of the literature than D&D in many cases. Another strong reason for me is that I’m Swedish and Dragonbane was the rpg I grew up with.
Conversion are mostly done on the fly or best fit… I keep monsters few and a more human centric world.
I want to give Dragonbane a chance, myself, but I've barely gotten a "meh" from my gaming group when mentioning it.
Ah, to bad but that means your players are invested in your ordinary system and that is a good thing. Try a one of perhaps! |
| Ltlconf |
Posted - 21 Aug 2025 : 17:35:11
For a long time we used Runequest, then a heavily modified (using a rule set from a Green Ronin setting, and many house rules) 3.5 D&D for a time, mainly because players and source materials were easy to find.
Now we're using Castles & Crusades. It has that D&D feel and similar enough system to AD&D and even 3rd Ed, that we can easily convert pretty much any edition of D&D to it.
Best of all, the GM guide has plenty of easily plugged in rules options that if we want feats, a detailed skill system, cultural variations to characters, non-Vancian magic, and so on we can do it easily, without breaking anything.
Best of all, for us players, the Player's Guide, like 2nd and 3rd Ed has ALL the effective rules needed to play the game. The GM guide is pretty much just advice and optional rules. Though damned useful nonetheless!
Heck, we can even use D&D spells with minimal changes, which means the sheer number of spells we've got access to is almost bottomless! |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 21 Aug 2025 : 02:55:00
quote:
Originally posted by Falcon
Hello!
Long time lurker here! I’ve been using Dragonbane for a grey box sword and sorcery version of forgotten realms. I think it works better with the implied setting and in the tone of the literature than D&D in many cases. Another strong reason for me is that I’m Swedish and Dragonbane was the rpg I grew up with.
Conversion are mostly done on the fly or best fit… I keep monsters few and a more human centric world.
I want to give Dragonbane a chance, myself, but I've barely gotten a "meh" from my gaming group when mentioning it. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 20 Aug 2025 : 21:01:08
-I've always used 3e/3.5e as my base, but have borrowed liberally from Pathfinder and 5e for things. |
| Falcon |
Posted - 19 Aug 2025 : 12:18:09
Hello!
Long time lurker here! I’ve been using Dragonbane for a grey box sword and sorcery version of forgotten realms. I think it works better with the implied setting and in the tone of the literature than D&D in many cases. Another strong reason for me is that I’m Swedish and Dragonbane was the rpg I grew up with.
Conversion are mostly done on the fly or best fit… I keep monsters few and a more human centric world. |
| TheLurkerAbove |
Posted - 19 Jul 2025 : 01:13:51
I'm part of a smallish (25 player) Discord Living World set in Forgotten Realms, and we use Pathfinder 1e heavily modified for Forgotten Realms with both homebrew and 3pp content. Most of us were long-time 3e players, and the 3.5+ qualities of PF1e just made it a natural fit. We also enjoy the PF deific obedience mechanics, and so we have a pretty extensive conversion of the Forgotten Realms faiths to the Pathfinder Obedience and Boon mechanics. Also some love for the old 2e Specialty Priest kits by using archetypes instead of prestige classes for specialty priests. The site is https://cupsofjoy.xyz and any of the conversions and homebrew are free to borrow, we just appreciate credit where credit is due and that's reciprocal when we borrow from places like here and others' homebrew. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 08 Jul 2025 : 12:41:53
quote:
Originally posted by EltonRobb
Hello fellow scribes!
I am wondering what Fantasy game system you use for your Realms game. There are a plethora of fantasy game systems out there. From Old School Revival games, to Dungeons and Dragons (any Edition), GURPS, Rolemaster, Runequest, and beyond!
I'd just like to know.
Great question!
So I think it comes down to some concepts: what you envision your Realms to look like? Meaning, is it High Fantasy or maybe more Sword and Sorcery? The tricky thing about the Realms is that each author adds their concepts and ideals into the setting and story and they're not uniform. Sure, magic is pretty prevalent, but how it's used and who uses it (and the commonality of it amongst the people) are all different. For example, in R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels, healing magic isn't exactly showcased. None of the Companions of the Hall are clerics and they certainly don't seem to have an abundance of healing potions going on (as seen in, I believe it was Sea of Swords). But it's very gritty, personal, and dramatic.
On the other hand, you have novels like the Return of the Archwizards trilogy or the Blades of the Moonsea trilogy where magic is far more common amongst the characters and even people they meet.
Also, what aesthetics you're going for? The one thing the Realms is great at - Diversity. This means there's Pirates, musketeers, Knights, Wizards, Samurai and Ninja, eastern-stylized Monks, Friar-Monks, religious conflicts and Heresies, vikings and barbarians, all mixed into this weird pesudo-late Renaissance landscape and technology period. So how much of this plays into your game will definitely have an outlook on you're preferred Game System.
Probably why Dungeons and Dragons is the most often picked (name recognition aside), because it's the easiest RPG system to grab-and-go and apply on a broad scale and scope that has these elements in it.
I've used other systems with the Realms, namely Pathfinder 1e, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Microlite 20, and 13th Age (using their Icons concept as regional organizations/big NPCs).
If I had a willing group, I'd honestly play it far closer to gritty down-to-Faerûn style and go with a modified E6 version of 3.5 D&D. This means that normal people cap out at 6th level and then just advance via Feats and templates. It means that groups of Orcs are always scary, dragons and vampires are down-right terrifying and creatures beyond the Realms (demons, devils, far-realm monstrosities) are the stuff of legends and nightmares, unlike in normal D&D where they're simply generated random encounters that eats up some of your resources. Seriously, my 5e Group of approximately 13th level PCs steamrolled a Nalfeshnee and 5 goat-like Demons (Bulezau) like they were a minor inconvenience.
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| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 07 Jul 2025 : 18:52:25
I agree perfection isnt possible, however, it is surprising how badly designed some rpg systems are.
DnD in just about every edition is one of the worst, it ignores every rule in rpg design, multiple times, often to the extreme. The only reason it is so popular is because it was among the first, and nostalgia is a wonderfully obscure lense through which to view things. |
| EltonRobb |
Posted - 07 Jul 2025 : 17:05:54
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
I use my own system, classless, leveless, single resolution mechanic, scene based play with narrative style meta currency to add to the randomness, and i can use any genre of game i want (although for realms stuff i keep it strictly fantasy).
Once i ventured down the rabbit hole of ttrpg design, i could no longer use other systems as they just have too many badly designed bits that i can no longer ignore.
*nod*
Yes, there is no perfect RPG system. Designing your own is commendable. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 06 Jul 2025 : 18:53:48
I use my own system, classless, leveless, single resolution mechanic, scene based play with narrative style meta currency to add to the randomness, and i can use any genre of game i want (although for realms stuff i keep it strictly fantasy).
Once i ventured down the rabbit hole of ttrpg design, i could no longer use other systems as they just have too many badly designed bits that i can no longer ignore. |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 06 Jul 2025 : 18:09:49
I had a long standing campaign that started out as 2e and went to 3.x before it finally drew to a close some years after that.
These days though, I pretty much only play AD&D in my FR games. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 06 Jul 2025 : 17:29:44
I've only ever used various versions of D&D or pathfinder 1e for the realms, and the pathfinder was limited in time. |
| HighOne |
Posted - 06 Jul 2025 : 14:51:42
I've only used D&D, because it's the only game I can find players for. Whenever I go to Roll20 and check the number of groups playing other games, there are at most 1 or 2, and often none at all. Too bad, because I'd really like to try Shadowdark, Old-School Essentials, or another OSR game. |
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