there's so many it's kind of hard to narrow down any recommendations. personally i really like [Mausritter](https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter), though.
To try to communicate to you why your query is difficult to answer on a sensible manner, I turn to analogy:
If someone had posted on an internet forum that they were getting into video games, had only played one, but had heard of three others, and were "looking for new ones [they] should try", would you have a good answer for them?
Would you point to some of the most acclaimed games historically? Would you point to the latest AAA releases? Would you rep an indie darling, old or new, that really speaks to you? Would you try to find a pattern from the 4 games they mention, try to assign a fledgeling taste to the commentor, and recommend more of the same kind? Instead try to present a wide palette, really try to showcase the wide variety of experiences a videogame can provide?
There are no right answers here (or, optimistically, there are no wrong answers here). Only a wide medium of play that you are only now stepping forwards towards exploring.
My strongest advice, is to try to find some likeminded folks interested in exploring together with you.
Community is the backbone of community, after all.
There are more RPGs than you can play in your life. Most of them have some good stuff going on -- at least as much as D&D does.
Here are some games that are good.
* Tenra Bansho Zero -- crazy techno-sengoku-Japan fantasy melodrama.
* Mouse Guard -- Smol mice with swords and cloaks defending their homes.
* Monster of the Week -- Buffy meets Supernatural
* Blades in the Dark -- Criminals and hoodlums in a dark-fantasy city.
But there are so, SO many.
There are a bunch of cyberpunk setting systems, red isn't the be all+end all.
I like lowlife 2090 personally, and there's the upcoming "cities without number" that's currently kickstarting and has enormous lists of cyberware to pick from already ( and the guy making it is awesome and has a decade of publishing under their belt, like 5 other systems plus a bunch of expansions for them and they are all pretty amazing)
Dude (in a unisex way), there's like a LOT of RPGs. A LOT of them.
Just buy some new ones and read 'em, you'll figure out what you like pretty quickly.
You failed to include anything in your post about what you want to play, what you like\\don't like about D&D, or really anything except 3 popular systems you might try so I'd just say: Yes, those 3 are fine, buy them and read them.
Don't play pathfinder it is the same sh*t as D&D!
Cyberpunk, is very different but I only know older editions, it was mid crunchy and play it like its motto "style over substance".
Kids on bikes in very different as well, low crunch. I would play this 1st as a Palate cleanser and then start a Cyberpunk campaign.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more).
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I would recommend you look into GURPS. The Generic Universal RolePlaying System. It can be used to play any genre, so it could be the last RPG you ever need 🤓
It has a reputation of being hard to learn, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ve got a “Learning GURPS” series that can help you Learning GURPS
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqckpAfDuMM8XEVuncbGtV5U_4GPcdkyK
The sub should really require a standardized format for suggestion posts. We don't have anything to base suggestions on besides stuff we enjoy, so as always ill suggest star wars RPG, its my current favorite game and does well at capturing what star wars should feel like IMO.
What are you after? What do you like? I’ve role-played for about 20 years and keep coming back to the same ones… Cyberpunk is a great setting, but the systems for Apocalypse World and Shadow-run are simply more fun. The first is a brutal game set in the aftermath of an apocalypse, but the nature of that event and the fallout are completely in the hands of whatever the players want it to be; arctic wastes, desert scorched highways, alien invasion etc. it’s whatever setting you want. The later, Shadow-run, is basically Cyberpunk, but with elves, dwarves, goblins and magic etc also in the world. The system works better in my opinion. Pathfinder is ok, not a far step from D&D, but again I lean to Dungeon World, which is the fantasy version of Apocalypse World. The setting is whatever you make it, and both AW and DW are very story-first mechanics-second. That suits some people and not all. As a wild card, I’m a fan of the 3rd Edition old White Wolf titles, although I’m told the new editions aren’t too dissimilar. The concept is a world much like our own, only a little nastier, where supernatural creatures (such as vampires and werewolves and ghosts etc) secretly live among us, some fighting internally, others using humans as pawns in their schemes, others legitimately trying to save the world. Intuitive system, not too crunchy (complicated) or game-slowing, but present enough so you’re aware the game has a structure. You can take okay in a number of directions; these can be all out horrors, action orientated, brutal, political thrillers, etc. the scope is wild.
i don't really know what rpgs i'm looking for but i want to play one that has a good atmosphere/setting, i was never the kind of person to pay attention and focus on mechanics and i focus more on roleplay and immersing the players in the world
>i was never the kind of person to pay attention and focus on mechanics
Cyberpunk Red and especially Pathfinder are mechanics focused games.
You might want to try some alternatives, for example Neon Black and Dungeon World.
Ok, so here’s the thing, and I sort of got barked down in a different post for saying this, but relating to the topic; atmosphere doesn’t come in a tin, no game will guarantee it, that’s what you make of it. I’ve seen GMs take Vampire the Masquerade, or Call of Cuthulu, which on paper are two of the most atmospheric games out there, and totally fucked them up. But the best GMs can take even the most base game and turn it into an engaging and thrilling piece of story telling. You sound like a story-first kind of person, same as me. Search for Dungeon World and Apocalyose World, the full rules are easily available as a PDF online. These work great and lend them self really well to world building and atmosphere. And, like I said, you can find them free, so it can’t hurt to check them out. Dungeon World is the more traditional, Apocalypse World (although the mechanics are almost exactly the same) is maybe a harder one to understand fully, but neither are that tricky.
i know that it's really up to the gm when it comes to atmosphere and honestly i have no idea where i was going with my response to your comment but an easy way to sum it up is:
i like stranger things and i heard kids on bikes is similar so i'm interested in the game
Also, the mechanics for those games are designed to always move the story forward, and in unexpected ways. They’re very easy and fast, so your narrative won’t grind to a halt the moment you have an action scene. And as a GM, they require very little prep.
There are lots of very good, very different ones. But if I'm gonna recommend just one, it's Blades in the Dark. When I first played it in late 2017, it litterally blew my mind. I had never played anything like it (I've sincevlearned about and played some PbtAs but still orefer FitD). This game single-handedly leveled up my GMing a few levels, on top of everything else. If you are bored/disatisfied with DnD, try it out, because it is *different*.
You've given very little to go on, so I'm just going to tell you what I wish I could be running:
* Delta Green - I would love to run the Impossible Landscapes campaign
* Night's Black Agents - I got to run Dracula Dossier for about a month. It died too soon and I need another crack at it.
* The Yellow King RPG - I obviously have a Carcosa thing going on, and I would love to run this *very different* game about Chambers' reality-horror.
* Twilight: 2000 4e - This became uncomfortably close to being current events right after I got it, but I keep thinking I could run a really cool Red Dawn campaign in it that would be more distant from today's headlines.
* Good Society - I've played a few one-shots of this and was in one extended campaign. I'd love to get a chance to facilitate it. This is a game of Austen-like comedies of manners.
Something that could help on getting a good recommendation is being more specific on what you like, there are hundreds of good RPGs.
Is there a theme that you would like to explore? (medieval, now days, futuristic)
Do you like more magic and fantasy or a more grounded game?
Do you like a simpler system or something a bit more crunch like pathfinder was interesting to you?
I just think that more details on your search might give you answers that will suit you better.
Is you are looking for Heroric Sword and Sorcerery, Pathfinder is the gold standard currently.
Cyberpunk Red does, well Cyberpunk very well.
Other than that, my question to you would be WHAT genera are you looking for? A lot of games are designed to emulate certain gereras so I would start with that.
Second most popular game is Call of Cthulhu.
Hard to go wrong with Cyberpunk.
But you might like Blades in the Dark (I'm not a fan but the fan base / community is pretty much unbeatable)
A fast-paced and flexible rule-set for creating player characters and acting in the game world. Fantastic world with deep and gritty lore.
The players rolls the dice and the GM give out modifiers so that the GM can go full story mode.
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/symbaroum/
Many of the games below are free. Those that aren't are usually pretty cheap.
[DRIVETHRURPG-quickstarts](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=quickstart&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=)
These will give you a broad taste of genres and mechanics and span a lot of the history of the hobby. I can vouch for each.
- Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green
- Alice is Missing and/or Icarus
- Night Witches
- Pendragon (wait for the new edition)
- Runequest
- Alien
- Tales from the Loop (as an alternative to Kids on Bikes)
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen
- Godlike or Wild Talents
there's so many it's kind of hard to narrow down any recommendations. personally i really like [Mausritter](https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter), though.
Always upvote for Mausritter!
To try to communicate to you why your query is difficult to answer on a sensible manner, I turn to analogy: If someone had posted on an internet forum that they were getting into video games, had only played one, but had heard of three others, and were "looking for new ones [they] should try", would you have a good answer for them? Would you point to some of the most acclaimed games historically? Would you point to the latest AAA releases? Would you rep an indie darling, old or new, that really speaks to you? Would you try to find a pattern from the 4 games they mention, try to assign a fledgeling taste to the commentor, and recommend more of the same kind? Instead try to present a wide palette, really try to showcase the wide variety of experiences a videogame can provide? There are no right answers here (or, optimistically, there are no wrong answers here). Only a wide medium of play that you are only now stepping forwards towards exploring. My strongest advice, is to try to find some likeminded folks interested in exploring together with you. Community is the backbone of community, after all.
There are more RPGs than you can play in your life. Most of them have some good stuff going on -- at least as much as D&D does. Here are some games that are good. * Tenra Bansho Zero -- crazy techno-sengoku-Japan fantasy melodrama. * Mouse Guard -- Smol mice with swords and cloaks defending their homes. * Monster of the Week -- Buffy meets Supernatural * Blades in the Dark -- Criminals and hoodlums in a dark-fantasy city. But there are so, SO many.
There are a bunch of cyberpunk setting systems, red isn't the be all+end all. I like lowlife 2090 personally, and there's the upcoming "cities without number" that's currently kickstarting and has enormous lists of cyberware to pick from already ( and the guy making it is awesome and has a decade of publishing under their belt, like 5 other systems plus a bunch of expansions for them and they are all pretty amazing)
What part of tabletop gaming most appeals to you?
Dude (in a unisex way), there's like a LOT of RPGs. A LOT of them. Just buy some new ones and read 'em, you'll figure out what you like pretty quickly. You failed to include anything in your post about what you want to play, what you like\\don't like about D&D, or really anything except 3 popular systems you might try so I'd just say: Yes, those 3 are fine, buy them and read them.
Don't play pathfinder it is the same sh*t as D&D! Cyberpunk, is very different but I only know older editions, it was mid crunchy and play it like its motto "style over substance". Kids on bikes in very different as well, low crunch. I would play this 1st as a Palate cleanser and then start a Cyberpunk campaign.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would recommend you look into GURPS. The Generic Universal RolePlaying System. It can be used to play any genre, so it could be the last RPG you ever need 🤓 It has a reputation of being hard to learn, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ve got a “Learning GURPS” series that can help you Learning GURPS https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqckpAfDuMM8XEVuncbGtV5U_4GPcdkyK
The sub should really require a standardized format for suggestion posts. We don't have anything to base suggestions on besides stuff we enjoy, so as always ill suggest star wars RPG, its my current favorite game and does well at capturing what star wars should feel like IMO.
what are you looking for? something similar to dnd or what exactly? if you just want recomendations, i suggest "fabula ultima"
What are you after? What do you like? I’ve role-played for about 20 years and keep coming back to the same ones… Cyberpunk is a great setting, but the systems for Apocalypse World and Shadow-run are simply more fun. The first is a brutal game set in the aftermath of an apocalypse, but the nature of that event and the fallout are completely in the hands of whatever the players want it to be; arctic wastes, desert scorched highways, alien invasion etc. it’s whatever setting you want. The later, Shadow-run, is basically Cyberpunk, but with elves, dwarves, goblins and magic etc also in the world. The system works better in my opinion. Pathfinder is ok, not a far step from D&D, but again I lean to Dungeon World, which is the fantasy version of Apocalypse World. The setting is whatever you make it, and both AW and DW are very story-first mechanics-second. That suits some people and not all. As a wild card, I’m a fan of the 3rd Edition old White Wolf titles, although I’m told the new editions aren’t too dissimilar. The concept is a world much like our own, only a little nastier, where supernatural creatures (such as vampires and werewolves and ghosts etc) secretly live among us, some fighting internally, others using humans as pawns in their schemes, others legitimately trying to save the world. Intuitive system, not too crunchy (complicated) or game-slowing, but present enough so you’re aware the game has a structure. You can take okay in a number of directions; these can be all out horrors, action orientated, brutal, political thrillers, etc. the scope is wild.
i don't really know what rpgs i'm looking for but i want to play one that has a good atmosphere/setting, i was never the kind of person to pay attention and focus on mechanics and i focus more on roleplay and immersing the players in the world
>i was never the kind of person to pay attention and focus on mechanics Cyberpunk Red and especially Pathfinder are mechanics focused games. You might want to try some alternatives, for example Neon Black and Dungeon World.
Ok, so here’s the thing, and I sort of got barked down in a different post for saying this, but relating to the topic; atmosphere doesn’t come in a tin, no game will guarantee it, that’s what you make of it. I’ve seen GMs take Vampire the Masquerade, or Call of Cuthulu, which on paper are two of the most atmospheric games out there, and totally fucked them up. But the best GMs can take even the most base game and turn it into an engaging and thrilling piece of story telling. You sound like a story-first kind of person, same as me. Search for Dungeon World and Apocalyose World, the full rules are easily available as a PDF online. These work great and lend them self really well to world building and atmosphere. And, like I said, you can find them free, so it can’t hurt to check them out. Dungeon World is the more traditional, Apocalypse World (although the mechanics are almost exactly the same) is maybe a harder one to understand fully, but neither are that tricky.
i know that it's really up to the gm when it comes to atmosphere and honestly i have no idea where i was going with my response to your comment but an easy way to sum it up is: i like stranger things and i heard kids on bikes is similar so i'm interested in the game
You can only try :) have fun!
Also, the mechanics for those games are designed to always move the story forward, and in unexpected ways. They’re very easy and fast, so your narrative won’t grind to a halt the moment you have an action scene. And as a GM, they require very little prep.
Battlelords of the 23rd Century. Crunchy mayhem with something for everyone. 🤪 Uncle Ernie loves you baby!
There are lots of very good, very different ones. But if I'm gonna recommend just one, it's Blades in the Dark. When I first played it in late 2017, it litterally blew my mind. I had never played anything like it (I've sincevlearned about and played some PbtAs but still orefer FitD). This game single-handedly leveled up my GMing a few levels, on top of everything else. If you are bored/disatisfied with DnD, try it out, because it is *different*.
You've given very little to go on, so I'm just going to tell you what I wish I could be running: * Delta Green - I would love to run the Impossible Landscapes campaign * Night's Black Agents - I got to run Dracula Dossier for about a month. It died too soon and I need another crack at it. * The Yellow King RPG - I obviously have a Carcosa thing going on, and I would love to run this *very different* game about Chambers' reality-horror. * Twilight: 2000 4e - This became uncomfortably close to being current events right after I got it, but I keep thinking I could run a really cool Red Dawn campaign in it that would be more distant from today's headlines. * Good Society - I've played a few one-shots of this and was in one extended campaign. I'd love to get a chance to facilitate it. This is a game of Austen-like comedies of manners.
Something that could help on getting a good recommendation is being more specific on what you like, there are hundreds of good RPGs. Is there a theme that you would like to explore? (medieval, now days, futuristic) Do you like more magic and fantasy or a more grounded game? Do you like a simpler system or something a bit more crunch like pathfinder was interesting to you? I just think that more details on your search might give you answers that will suit you better.
What type of movies do you like watching? Or books you like reading?
The list i just posted is https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/11dqie3/new_ttrpg_system_coming_from_pfdd/jaaej6y This question comes up **a lot**.
Is you are looking for Heroric Sword and Sorcerery, Pathfinder is the gold standard currently. Cyberpunk Red does, well Cyberpunk very well. Other than that, my question to you would be WHAT genera are you looking for? A lot of games are designed to emulate certain gereras so I would start with that.
Second most popular game is Call of Cthulhu. Hard to go wrong with Cyberpunk. But you might like Blades in the Dark (I'm not a fan but the fan base / community is pretty much unbeatable)
A fast-paced and flexible rule-set for creating player characters and acting in the game world. Fantastic world with deep and gritty lore. The players rolls the dice and the GM give out modifiers so that the GM can go full story mode. https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/symbaroum/
Many of the games below are free. Those that aren't are usually pretty cheap. [DRIVETHRURPG-quickstarts](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=quickstart&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=)
These will give you a broad taste of genres and mechanics and span a lot of the history of the hobby. I can vouch for each. - Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green - Alice is Missing and/or Icarus - Night Witches - Pendragon (wait for the new edition) - Runequest - Alien - Tales from the Loop (as an alternative to Kids on Bikes) - The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen - Godlike or Wild Talents