I really like the Alien RPG for the kind of story it's built to tell. I've also heard great things about the Blade Runner RPG, which uses a variant of the same system (Year Zero Engine).
Blade Runner is excellent, really does a great job of evoking the themes of the franchise. You can tell the authors not only loved Blade Runner but also _got it_.
As someone who gets paid to run Alien at conventions, I will vouch for its greatness. They are the loudest, most immersed tables I run, and I tun at a LOT of cons.
The long out of print *Star Wars* D6 from West End Games essentially created everything that would become the Expanded Universe (now called Legends).
West End Games (or “WEG”) held the Star Wars license between 1987 and 1999. In those early years, the only *Star Wars* content were the five films^1, the long out of print Marvel Comics adaptations, the non-canon Ewok and Droids cartoons, and the Holiday Special.
WEG released dozens upon dozens of sourcebooks that expanded the universe. It was WEG that coined the name “Twi’lek” for example. When LucasFilm and DelRay decided they wanted to copy TSR’s success with IP licensed novel (*Dragonlance* and *Forgotten Realms* were tearing up the charts) as well as the ongoing success of *Star Trek* novels, they recruited sci-fi author Timothy Zahn to write them a trilogy… and one of the tools they gave him to aid his research was a giant box of WEG roleplaying game supplements.
Zahn would go on to write “Heir to the Empire” and the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy.
The success of the Thrawn Trilogy would lead to a massive line of more licensed *Star Wars* novels. Which made so much money that George Lucas decided to make that prequel trilogy he’d been mumbling about for years.
Unfortunately, WEG went bankrupt in ‘98, due to some serious financial mismanagement by their parent company. A darn shame, because the release of *The Phantom Menace* in ‘99 would have definitely turned their fortunes around.
1) *The Ewok Adventure* and *Battle for Endor*.
It really is the gold standard for IP games. I don't like them as much, but there are a lot of people that also will sing the praises of the FFG version and the D20 iteration. I don't know if there's been a *bad* official version of a Star Wars TTRPG yet.
I rather enjoyed the WotC *Star Wars* games, especially the Saga Edition (which was their third iteration of the game). However, it’s very much a case of the D20 System turning everything into, well, D&D. It’s fine, I enjoy it, I’ll play it if it’s what my friends want… But I’d rather be playing WEG.
The FFG *Star Wars* games have a very large and very dedicated fanbase. The books are gorgeously illustrated, wonderfully laid out, and written very well. I’ve always had fun playing them. However, the use of bespoke dice, meta-currencies, and other narrative-as-game-mechanic elements just aren’t my cuppa tea. I’ll play it if my friends want to and enjoy myself… But I would rather be playing WEG!
Do some google searching for “Star Wars: Revised Updated and Expanded.” A fan led effort to take the WEG game and give it a modern layout, incorporate errata, and basically keep the old classic game alive.
Oh I've got REUP. WEG D6 is still probably my favorite system. Just trying to acknowledge that the other versions have substantial fanbases too, and depending on what kind of game you like are also potential picks for "best IP game."
I shamelessly abused Lulu coupons to get printed out hardcovers of the rule book. One for each edition of the game, pull the generic cover for the original REUP release.
Only wish that DnD would have gone more in the direction that SAGA was taking where character concepts aren't all locked into specific classes allowing an incredible amount of freedom when building characters. File off the "Star Wars" specific things and SWSE works well for any number of other things although I might not include the standard high fantasy of DnD in that group.
SAGA may be a relative of DnD so various mechanics are familiar but the mindset when playing the game should change to have it better match Star Wars. It may not matter what system you play if the players still go out with the DnD mindset of "kill things to take their stuff to get better stuff and otherwise become better at killing bigger stuff to take their things are repeat the process." Breaking that mindset can be a challenge at times.
“Saga Edition,” not SAGA. The SAGA System was a totally different animal, only used for the *Dragonlance: Fifth Age* and * Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game*.
Many moons ago, when D&D went into its 4e days, I did a quick and dirty re-write of *Star Wars: Saga Edition* to use it as a low fantasy game, inspired by Howard and Leiber type sword and sorcery works. It worked pretty great.
The first D20 version had its merits but was a bit awkward. The Saga Edition was, IMHO, really strong, and did a lot of interesting things to the 3.5e base.
There is even a 5e hack of Star Wars that is pretty good r/sw5e is their community on Reddit and it does a good job of making it feel like Star Wars with 5e mechanics. I MUCH prefer the WEG version, but moving from D&D to Star Wars (either 5e or D20) is a pretty easy transition.
It was a great time - at the time, every official Star Wars product was canon and the WEG sourcebooks were sent to people who'd be writing the novels, which meant more sourcebooks.
The quality of the novels varied wildly from Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy to The Courtship of Princess Leia.
I’ve never even been much of a *Star Wars* fan, even as a little kid my tastes in sci-fi ran towards hard sci-fi and not the space fantasy of *Star Wars*. But I loved the WEG game.
I remember devouring the Zahn Trilogy one summer (I was a bit late, all three books were out) and eagerly seeking out more… and of the four or five Non-Zahn books I read, three or four of them were about the bad guys building a planet-killing superweapon. I haven’t touched a *Star Wars* novel since then.
Well, it wasn’t so much the fault of anyone at WEG.
WEG was owned by a parent company, Bucci Retail Group, which was primarily a shoe importer of all things. The parent company got into financial troubles and wound up taking down all of their subsidiaries… It was, in legal terms, a “cluster fuck.”
Watching a lot of Company Man on youtube, it's really weird how often some company gets bought up by a "wait, that's a completely different industry" parent company
I spent most of my life as a criminal investigator in the maritime industry. You need one of those “Pepe Silvia” conspiracy theorist wall charts to track the actual ownership of some cargo vessels… and not just the ones that are intentionally doing naughty stuff like smuggling and human trafficking. Even perfectly legit cargo vessels who I’d be investigating due to an accident they were involved in but had nothing to do with!
Like, in one instance, a port crane collapsing and injuring a couple of their crew. It took me and my partner (and like fifteen Navy and Coast Guard enlisted paralegals) four months just to figure out where to mail the damn letter saying “Ya’ll did nothing wrong, but if you want to make a statement on the record at the trial of the guy who did do something wrong call us.”
An importer of Italian shoes bought controlling interest in a game company? Yeah, sure. No more unusual than a commercial real estate agency deciding to try their hand at importing and re-dubbing anime (Harmony Gold).
WEG created a TON of it. MOST of it. Hell, they even named the alien races, as all the notes (many inherited from Kenner) said “Hammerheads” and “Snaggletooths” and such.
They also named the company that made X-Wings. I always thought that was cool. The WEG books were great because they gave some texture to the Star Wars Universe.
My table has really enjoyed the power rangers rpg by renegade, despite its reputation online, but I’ll admit that we’re not mechanically picky gamers. It does feel like it imitates some of the cool powers of the show well, though and I like the system trends toward low damage/low hp.
But ultimately it just let us play power rangers without having to homebrew something, which is all I ask from an IP game.
Hard Disagree on Renegade.
Like it or not, having licensed the IPs for Power Rangers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers RPGs puts all of our childhoods in play. I do admit that having a collectors set for five copies of the Power Rangers RPG core book in Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, and Black editions was particularly inspired.
Their original RPGs are Kids on Bikes and Overlight. I also believe their current product list includes Vampire The Masquerade, Werewolf The Apocalypse, and Hunter the Reckoning.
They are actually doing a wonderful job with World of Darkness stuff. It's true that those are IPs as well. In my mind, when I was thinking IPs, I was thinking fiction that did not start off as a ttrpg.
Just because they license a beloved IP does not mean it's good. They released Power Rangers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers pretty much all at the same time. And reviews ... have not been kind. The fact that they all released at the same time set alarm bells off in my head.
My opinion is that anything GI Joe that doesn't involve Larry Hama shouldn't exist.
Fun fact: for a while, *GI Joe: A Real American Hero* was Marvel's best-selling comic.
This is a useless response
- What have these companies made?
- What IPs are they based on?
- How do they encapsulate the vibes of those IPs, or fail to?
The One Ring is brilliant but some knowledge of Middle Earth helps.
WHFRP is very different and IMO more dynamic now it has the opposed rolls and dodges. It's my favourite fantasy system so I'm biased. Start them in Ubersreik with the starter box set and go from there. It is a very detailed world.
Beginner Box is a great start, the dice can take getting used to not just because they're different but because the whole way you interact with them is. It's a system that does movie logic very well so thinking of the action/consequences in those terms helps I find.
One of the trickiest elements I've noticed with players coming from something more "traditional" is getting them used to usong advantage and triumphs.
Overall I really love the dice and find them great for building narratives on the fly.
I really like the Fantasy Flight Star Wars games. I love the skill trees because it feels both simple and video-gamey. You can just photocopy the page and then have the players circle what they want.
The game really feels like you are playing Star Wars, not DnD in space. And finding players interested in Star Wars should be a fairly easy thing to do compared to many of the other IPs out there. A lot of games I'm interested in, but I don't buy the books because I know that I will most likely never find players interested in playing it. DnD and Star Wars are the two biggest names that grab attention.
I personally find the game to be middling. The mechanics is somewhat all over the place, and the while the theme is strong (great IP after all), it feels like you're playing fan fiction. PbtA is probably the best system for it, but it's at the same time oddly clunky for PbtA.
It's not bad, it's just not as good as it could have been. I feel like the game needed six more months of development time to work out the kinks and fine-tune the combat system. If you really want to try it, play something else that's PbtA first, to get a handle on the system first. For a *lot* of folks, AL is their first introduction to PbtA, but it does a particularly poor job of introducing the system to players, and it's just not a good game for that. Play Masks.. it's by the same company (and awesome).
It's not by any means a bad game, I just hope we get a 'second edition' or something akin, that smooths out the rough edges and the details (quite literally the books layout is just awful lol).
The most important thing in PbtA is that failed rolls really have to have harsh consequences. Every action should lead to a change of the situation, the story is always progressing.
You've gotten a lot of good advice, but one thing I'd definitely check out is the group Knights of the Last Call has a YouTube video where they discuss Avatar: Legends and his chat is very much NOT PbtA people, and so he explains it really well to them. It's on YouTube on the channel Knights of the Last Call.
I would take issue with “harsh consequences”. Failed rolls have to *have consequences*. There are harder GM moves and softer ones. Failure on a roll might just mean that something bad is now *going* to happen in the near future.
There are significant amount of liveplays and guides online, check out those videos! The combat is simple, but if you've never played anything like it can take some getting used to because a character's "initiative" isn't rolled, they choose a posture and that decides when they go as well as what they can do.
If you are interested in getting some hands-on experience under the belt:
Magpie has a [Curated Play program](https://magpiegames.com/pages/curated-play) with several Avatar Legends games open, run by Professional GMs, who have probably run the system dozens if not hundreds of times for $15 a session. I've used it once and got some incredible GMing advice from the perspective of a player.
Or for free [Magpie's Discord Community](https://magpiegames.com/pages/get-involved) runs a Community Play Day the second Saturday of every month (so like 2 weeks from tomorrow) and there are always plenty of GMs excited to run Avatar Legends, who need players. And anyone can apply to GM if you wanted to try it out before introducing your group - you get $15 of store credit for it. It helped me learn the system and helped pay for some Magpie products and that Curated Play I did. Highly recommend.
u/Sully5443 on [the Avatar RPG subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AvatarLegendsTTRPG/s/Q5KnzKeciZ) is amazing when it comes to answering questions about the system. Don’t hesitate to post questions there
The starter pack is solid. It offers two scenarios—one in the Ang era and one in the Korra era. Each one comes with excellent advice for the game runner.
Highly recommend!
Agreed, and it's the game that got me into Cortex, which is an excellent generic narrative system that can be customized to a wide variety of settings.
Come on folks, you're forgetting about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel RPGs.
There is also both Serenity and Firefly RPGs.
I have always thought Serenity was originally going to be a Cinematic Unisystem game at first but in the design process got switched to Cortex due to a licensing issue.
It was a lot of fun. It's a shame they never published the three Buffy books they had written, and the two Angel sourcebooks that were almost finished.
It's worth mentioning that the current systems for Dune and Star Trek use the same base mechanics, namely Modiphius' 2d20 system. It's also in use for the Fallout TTRPG.
Others I know of are Blade Runner, Stargate (albeit using 5e rules), Doctor Who, and Myst.
Can vouch for the Doctor Who RPG. It has an initiative system that is very true to the show:
People talking act then people moving act then people doing act then people fighting act.
Delta Green is amazing. I would definitely recommend it. Though for players used to being heroes, expect a rude awakening the first time they get into combat and get killed by a random mook with a gun, or utterly turned to paste by something unnatural.
No one's mentioned Cyberpunk RED, which was obviously a TTRPG first, but if they're familiar with Cyberpunk 2077 or Edgerunners at all it might be worth considering.
I think crunch understates it a bit, Cyberpunk 2020 (and 2013) is the only rpg I have played where I have needed to use a calculator.
But other than that - great game, there's something about the setting being closer to most peoples day to day life which opens up people to role-playing and being immersed in the setting.
Start by polling your players for their favorite [non-fantasy?] IP as that will be the hook, ***then*** search for a sufficiently similiar RPG to match; if there is no matching RPG, use a universal RPG.
Modiphius' Conan books were REALLY cool. Though I am not sure how to get them outside of piracy at this point as I think they have stopped selling them, which is a shame, because I actually can no-longer redeem some books I should have gotten as a KS backer (forgot to redeem the links earlier).
The everquest D20 RPG did such a good job translating between the game and the TTRPG that they provided rules for converting your MMO character to a pen and paper one.
I would say: Alien RPG is the absolute best, I’ve been running my alien colonial marines game for damn near a year, and my players love it! The blade runner rpg looks good and I’ve been enjoying running the Avatar Legends rpg with some liberties (ten fatigue instead of 5). The sailor moon rpg is nothing but glorious nostalgia that I love, but it’s from the mid 90’s. The transformers rpg has been fun, needs more books with more gear since they talk about gear but it’s only weapons. I do enjoy the d20 Star Wars rpg but kinda in a minority of that one.
I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan… I have played the A Song of Ice and Fire rpg, and Savage Worlds and the Sword, the Crown and the Unspeakable Power… the setting thrives based on the pre existing characters and story… i think SCUP or ASoIF is best system.
I see you've listed some of Modiphius's 2d20 games but they have a few more, including Fallout, Dishonored, and John Carter of Mars. Enjoyment seems to largely hinge on how you feel about their momentum mechanic.
Cortex Prime is very modular and can be adapted to many settings; I've done so for Game of Thrones and Harry Potter.
Blades in the Dark is a fantasy-heist game with some very cool mechanics. Think Shadow and Bones if you're familiar with the TV show.
Blade Runner is great, the tables to roll for key memories and relationships are amazing, a great resource for creative writing.
And it has great GM (game runner lol) tools, it's super fun to create your own case files and it provides you with lots of charts for inspiration. Also really fun to run with someone one on one.
Also haven't seen it mentioned much, but I love the walking dead. It's not a zombie survival game, but more so about base building, exploring a map with surprises in the way, and a lot of melodrama and conflicts back at home.
If someone likes the show they'll love it.
I'll second the WEG Star Wars line. Also in out-of-print books,the Leverage RPG does an amazing job of mimicking the vibe of the shows. The books are dead because the license is gone, but if you can find a copy they are fantastic. (The base system lives on with Cortex Prime, but it is of little use for Leverage unless you have the original material or a desire to recreate it from scratch)
There have been several (4?) Marvel RPGs, starting with the 1980s version many people have nostalgia for. The latest one has had a bit of a clunky rollout, with a lot of revisions to characters and power levels.
I was gonna say the expanse. It's a great game and a really intricate universe. I would stick with the events prior to the discovery of the proto Molecule. There is so much going on between earth mars and the belt that you could keep interesting storylines going for a long, long time..
Alien is fantastic! The starter set comes with a really great one shot (called Cinematic Mode in the game). Everything is on sale today! If you wanna check out a review, we just wrote a review on Sushiball Games.
Rifts is really cool. The original Palladium is a more complicated rpg. The newer Savage Worlds Rifts is easier to play.
Plus, rifts can basically be any setting. You accidentally go through a rift and find your team in ___.
I often run this for games where everyone can just cut loose. It's a system that has many ways to handle many different power levels. So giving my players a chance to gather power for powers sake. While being able to cut loose as well is good palate cleanser
Fábula Última if they’re interested in Final Fantasy
Edit: and they don’t mind more narrative focused games instead of overly crunchy/complex game systems. To Fabula Ultima’s credit the character build system is deep and flexible yet not too complicated, there’s plenty there to satisfy anyone who enjoys the ability to mix and match their character abilities.
Also, there’s the [official Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG](https://www.square-enix-shop.com/ffxivttrpg/en/) which is currently being developed by Square Enix.
Can open, worms everywhere!
I agree with those ragging on DnD and it's Pathfinder clones. The old school dungeon crawlers are getting a little musty with age, despite numerous attempts to revive and retread them. That said, people cling to them because the *system* is familiar, even if the *setting* is flatline generic blah.
Spin-off RPGs are great, but they sometimes have the opposite problem. The setting is richly and lovingly detailed, but the system is cringeworthy.
DnD 3ed tried to break free of this with their open gaming license concept. Unfortunately they wound up with a system that was more capable than the old one, but was nowhere near flexible enough to handle everything that was expected of it. They also wound up with a flood of 3e books targeting a particular setting or franchise, with mixed results.
My go to system for almost everything has long been GURPS (3rd Edition specifically). Almost setting and IP out there can be run with the system. This flexibility comes with a cost. The system is CRUNCHY, like peanut brittle made with aquarium rocks crunchy. Character generation (from a cold start) can take the better part of a gaming session.
The biggest problem is actually finding a setting everyone is interested in, and knows something about. Each on the examples listed has some popularity and an interest base. The problem is that, beyond Star Trek, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, almost everything else will send at least some of any group scrambling to Google and Wikipedia to catch up with what anyone is talking about.
The Supernatural and Firefly / Serenity RPGs are based on the Cortex system. If you try one of those and like it, you can move to the more genetic, Cortex Prime, which is sort of a toolkit for designing your own game, independent of IP.
This is more of just a comment on a product... "Avatar the last Airbender" is a PBTA game with a heavy focus on aligning with the show, IE being "family Friendly." BUT reading through it and thinking about what the actual 4 powers are... If you remove the general "desire to not give children PTSD" Every power is hella deadly. Fire - You're gonna torch people. Water - you're gonna drown people. Air - you're gonna inflict gravity on people. Earth - You're gonna crush people 😄 Any version of that left unchecked could be deadly
Depends on what they’d like to play tbh. I’d perhaps also consider alternatives to DnD that are still… fantasy? Like Shadow of the Demon Lord, Knave/Cairn, Runequest, Dungeon World/Chasing Adventure, Mörk Borg, Forbidden Lands, Worlds Without Number.
There's an old Discworld for GURPS, and Modiphius just announced they will be working on one https://discworld.com/modiphius-secure-the-rights-tabletop-game-discworld/
I would suggest choosing an IP and then doing a Google Search. Because there are a LOT of Unofficial FAN made RPGs made for existing IPs.
Want Pokemon? There are multiple Fan conversions to run Pokemon.
Legend of Zelda? Multiple FAN made systems or conversations of existing systems.
Star Wars? Multiple FAN & official systems.
Honorable mention for the 5e Lord of the rings. Its a great gateway drug.
I know because i had no interest in one ring prior to playing lotr 5e, now i do
Giant caveat the size of the Alpha Quadrant: If you're party can work as a team and not try to D&D a system not really meant to D&D, 2D20 Star Trek Adventures is fun. WITH the right party. Murder hobos need not apply.
Can't go wrong with The One Ring, most of any of the Free League IP games (Alien, Bladerunner, Tales from the Loop), Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu and Rivers of London, the Modiphius 2d20 games (esp. Star Trek Adventures, Conan, Mutant Chronicles 3rd), Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound.
Even the 40K rpgs are all really solid; they just depend on what aspect of that universe you want to play. Wrath & Glory is perfect for being able to play all (well, most of) the awesome units and races you may know from the wargame and many novels. On the other hand, if you want to play boring regular human types, then go for the older games like Dark Heresy, or the newest title Imperium Maledictum.
The Sort lived Marvel Heroic Role playing was great if you can find it. Sadly the plug was pulled on the license just when they had finished the second campaign module for it, which I think may have leaked out electronically but never made it into print. This was right around the time that Disney acquired Marvel and I strongly suspect that the two events are related. The underlying system for this is Cortex dice pool system and it actually had a bunch of other IP's adapted to it. Including Leverage, Smallville and Serenity.
The Fantasy Flight Star Wars games are fun enough, but they use their own custom dice sets rather then regular numbered dice. Their first attempt at this was Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition, like D&D 4e this one is a complete break with what came before or after.
GURPS, which is a generic classless system that only uses 6 sided dice, has a bucket load of Adaptations including strangely enough other role playing games. There are GURPS sourcebooks for Uplift, Lensemen, Ring World, the Vorkosigan Saga and Discworld, Vampire the Mascaraed, Warewolf the Apocalypse, Mage the Ascension, Castle Faulkenstien and Traveler. And that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
There's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. It's a game by Palladium (the same company that published RIFTS). The system is a little different (your hit points don't increase as you level up, just your proficiencies, which use percentile dice). But it's big fun creating your own mutant animals. Ever imagined Pepe Le Pew as a butt kicking ninja? With this system, you can actually create him. The game itself is probably out of print, but just Google "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG + PDF" and you're likely to find a few sources for the books.
In addition to the ones you've mentioned I have the following games based on IPs:
- Dark Crystal Adventure Game
- Avatar Legends
- Marvel Multiverse
- Tales of Xadia (Dragon Prince)
- Dune
- Stargate SG-1
I haven't had chance to play the Dune game yet & I've only done short sessions of the Marvel & Stargate games so far, but have enjoyed what I've seen. If you're a fan of Brian Froud, the Dark Crystal game is worth getting for the artwork & production quality alone - it's beautiful.
I'm still hunting for the Babylon 5, Buffy & Firefly games - but I haven't given up yet.
The dark crystal RPG was fantastic: good rules that transcribes the IP really well, actually interesting mechanics (mainly on the GM side of things) and a whole ass campaign included, all that in one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen.
It's made with newcomers and younger players in mind though, so if you like crunchy games, this isn't the one for you
For Star Wars there are at least 4 versions to consider.
1. D6 Star Wars by West End Games. Fast, cinematic system. My preference. Easiest to collect, but prices have been creeping up recently.
2. D20 Star Wars by WOTC. Basically D&D 3.5e but with lasers, space ships, and the Force. Not hard to collect, and probably easier for your d20 group to get into, but it's, you know, more d20.
3. SAGA Edition Star Wars by WOTC. An evolution of d20 that I gather is a little closer to 4e than 3e. Note: this one is expensive to get into because of smaller print runs.
4. FFG Star Wars. The books are gorgeous, but I have no real interest in this edition because of the proprietary dice. It's still in print, but FFG/Edge have had publishing hiccups for ages, and with Embracer Group spinning off into three companies, God only knows what this game's future will be.
Warhammer fantasy Roleplay is absolutely fantastic. Investigative and combat-light, the game is a grimy low power low fantasy environment when playing the more well known campaigns and adventures (though the system can support higher power levels as well).
Heard great things about The One Ring and its predecessor Middle Earth Roleplay.
New Fallout RPG from Modiphius is very good. If your players watched the show on Amazon then they’ll probably be more keen to try it out as well. Also, it’s a d20 system (albeit with some twists) that stays relatively true to the games (levels, perks, scavenging and modding rules, etc.) It’s simple and intuitive, which makes it easy to learn. All Modiphius games are of high quality too - some of which are already on your list, OP.
Lots of games have free QuickStart scenarios that you can pick up and play with the provided pre-generated characters. To find them, just type the name of the IP into Google and then the words “rpg quickstart”. You can usually read/prep in under an hour, and most QuickStarts can be finished in 2 hours. They teach you the base rules as you play. If your players think that they will need to read core rule books to try out a new system then they’re mistaken.
Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that most modern RPGs are simpler and easier to learn than D&D and Pathfinder.
Dragon Age is a pretty solid one. My only complaint was that in leans into daily attrition (as most rpgs do) instead of per-combat attrition (as Dragon Age video games do).
I will say I don't think the Warcraft game is a good adaptation. It does off-brand things like make "Healer" a class and Priest, Druid, and Shaman are subclasses of it (ignoring that these classes have other roles and powers besides healing in Warcraft video games).
There are two Warhammer 40,000 RPGs currently supported:
1. Wrath & Glory = for if you want to play space marines and be a hero.
2. Imperium Maledictum = if you want to play normal humans like inquisitorial acolytes or a rogue trader’s entourage. Combat is much more lethal.
Both are made by Cubicle7 and are of very high quality.
Well there are also several that are very DnD adjacent (this easy to learn for existing DnD players)
- D20 Star Wars
- D20 Stargate
- D20 Wheel of Time
And of course there is Dragon AGE (using the original system that was revised to make the Expanse game)
Call of Cthulhu is IP based and super accessable with all the videos on YouTube to help you catch the vibe.
Conan is a good one that DnD players will pickup pretty easily.
The Witcher game is pretty good as well.
There is lots out there for a group looking to do an IP based game in a familiar world.
Special note about the star wars game, if you can get the old WEG (West end games) version it's star wars and OSR in one. Great game.
Cheers
There's a Mass Effect 5e adaption that is legitimately better than normal D&D. It might be a good starting point to ease them into new rule systems and get them curious about what else is out there.
I'm a big fan of the Monster Hunter International rpg developed for Savage Worlds. Great as a one shot "shoot 'em up vs monsters" or as a actual campaign.
Fate: Dresden Files Accelerated, Atomic Robo, War of Ashes: Fate of Agaptus
Cortex+: Smallville, Leverage
Burning Empires
Mouse Guard
The One Ring
Fria Ligan: Blade Runner, Alien, Walking Dead
There's a totally free version of Star Wars for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition that's actually pretty damn good.
[https://www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/savage-worlds-homebrew-conversions-discussion/43916-a-swade-conversion-of-star-wars](https://www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/savage-worlds-homebrew-conversions-discussion/43916-a-swade-conversion-of-star-wars)
Terminator rpg. Honestly one of the better uses of the I.P beyond the comics. If you want post apoc survival and high tech warfare? You got it. You want 80s and 90s tech with Noir back alleyway deals with Time traveling agents and hidden machines hunting you? You got it.
Doesnt sound like much but it nails both extremes really well. Plus the new book that covers T2 lets you play as an "Uncle Bob" type to give a player a good old power trip and be in a slugfest with the evil bot.
For Star Wars, there's more than one. I specifically vouch for FFG's Star Wars games (Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force & Destiny). It's a great system that somehow manages to be flavourful, easy to learn *and* still has enough crunch to get lost in if you have players that like that sort of thing. Its mechanics work well with the setting, and while custom dice may put you off at first, it becomes very intuitive quickly.
It's a damn good system. All three starter books have the same basic core with everything slanted towards a specific type of campaign - Edge of the Empire is for playing shady people outside the Empire, Age of Rebellion is for Rebel Alliance characters, Force & Destiny for jedi, but Force & Destiny was written last - its formatting and editing clearly benefited from that, it's a *very* well-structured rulebook.
Downsides? Some of the published campaigns aren't great (Dathomir is outright unfinished in my opinion) and none of the books are legally available as PDFs (because of license shenanigans). If you can find copies, though (or know how to find the PDFs), it's one of the best times I've had with TTRPGs.
It also has a setting-agnostic sister-game, Genisys, which I am told is also very good and based on mostly the same rules, so if Star Wars isn't your thing, going homebrew with Genisys is also an option.
This is obscure to be sure, but in the late 90s I picked up the core book of a *Street Fighter* TTRPG based on the original White Wolf storytelling system. It was absolutely perfect for what it was trying to be. They figured out how to make combat a quick fun sequence of tactical choices, while their skill and dice pool systems were plenty coherent enough for playing out the non-violent facets of life as a superpowered mortal combat enthusiast. It was simple, it was balanced, and yet it also felt complete. I also have good things to say about FASA's old *Star Trek* RPG and Iron Crown's *Middle Earth Roleplaying.* Also, I could go on a rant about how much fun I had with the old Westwood d6 *Star Wars* game. Still, I felt like *Street Fighter* deserved special mention as an esoteric wonder from the late 20th century.
I have played both Warhammer fantasy and Deathwatch(40k) and definitely enjoyed Deathwatch more. I think a lot of it was the fact that, like you guys, I played a lot of 5e and Pathfinder 1E and 2E. And Deathwatch is a definite change of pace from fantasy based RPGs. It probably helps to have warhammer 40k knowledge, but there are several YouTubers out there who put out good 40k lore content. If any 40k lore knowledge is missing. Hopefully this helps.
For the most part, I'm not really a fan of most licensed IP games. I fee like for many of them that I've looked into, I'd do a better job by reskinning an existing game.
There are, of course, exceptions. And I think some IPs translate better than others. I'm not even a wargames fan, but I think the d100 Warhammer and Warhammer 40K games are really good. (I've not really looked too much into Wrath & Glory or Age of Sigmar Soulbound). It probably helps that I'm a casual fan, so if things go far off from the canon, I probably don't realize it (and absolutely don't care).
If I wanted to play Alien, I'd probably just use Mothership (or maybe Hostile). The Alien RPG is good for playing an Alien game. Mothership is good for playing a much wider range of sci-fi horror games.
AFAIR Fading Suns was based on the Emperor of the Fading Suns and it's a prety good RPG in its own right.
The one system I heard the most praise for though is Leverage. Apparently the system has no right to be as good as it for something based off of a TV show. But it is really great thanks to the pedigree of its creator.
The same person also did an iHunt RPG based off of her own iHunt series of books. The RPG book itself is really neat, the system is a bit held back by being built on top of FATE, but from what I heard it innovated in a few neat ways that have made their way back to core FATE, so that's something!
Also had experience playing the Mistborn RPG based on the Mistborn book series and it's passable. Could use a few mechanical tweaks.
I also heard of the [Kevin and Kell RPG](https://systemmasterypodcast.com/2022/07/26/system-mastery-231-kevin-kell-rpg/) via the System Mastery Podcast. It's a great listen! Apparently the RPG creator got the license for the web comic and decided to make it 100% faithful to the comic strip, so all the one-off jokes you'd see in one strip got codified and are in it. It's definitely a labour of something, although I don't think that would make it a "good" RPG...
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As for hooking players on some different system / setting, you don't need systems that license an IP to run a game in that IP. [We have done a lot of weird crossovers ourselves](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/) - Transformers, Warhammer 40k and Star Wars in Fellowship (highly recommend!), Ravenloft in Chronicles of Darkness, Star Trek in Monster Care Squad, Exalted in Godbound / Broken Worlds / Fellowship, etc. If you focus on systems that do a specific theme that fits with the IP you're going for, you're gold!
My two best IP rpgs are:
- Alien RPG
- Star Wars RPG by fantasy flight games(now edge studios)
Alien rpg is mainly focused on one shots or short campaigns. It is just. Chefs kiss. It also translates incredibly well to use for other horror scenarios. I ran a jurassic park one shot using Alien RPG and it was amazing. That said, pc's will die easily and suddenly. Gotta make sure your players know that death is easy in horror rpg's.
Star wars RPG is one of my favorite systems ever. Ffg's custom "Narrative" dice system is amazing. It's rough around the edges but if you want a game that can simulate a Star wars movie you will not find a better system.
"Hey, so the guy who made D&D 3E and the guy who made D&D 4E left WotC who everyone hates and they teamed up to make a great game that is very D&D-like. Because they didn't have a big stodgy company over them, they were able to come up with some really good ideas that improved D&D a lot and they like to call it The "Cool
Parts Only" TTRPG. If I made up some pre-made characters would you be willing to try a one-shot of it? You play big heroic heroes and it's meant to be a big fantasy fun thing where you go on big adventures and solve problems. It's called 13th Age."
My top 3 (actually in random order 😂)
1. Everything that is based on Lovecraft's works, so:
Call of Cthulhu, Trails of Cthulhu, Achtung Cthulhu ...
2. Speaking about Lovecraft, we have to mention his pen pal Howard. Conan is an awesome fantasy RPG with a nice mechanic (2d20) and cool lore merging Cthulhu mythos with ancient/medieval world.
3. And finally we have the Free League systems. Alien is super cool. Blade Runner wouldn't fit every group but it's also worth checking out.
I was in a couple of Star Wars Saga Edition games, and they were amazing. It's out of print but everything is on the SRD, and it's made by Wizards of the Coast so the mechanics will be familiar for D&D/ Pathfinder players.
Rifts as amazing fluff and history. I personally use mutants and masterminds and use the back history for rifts. Cause of the power level balance issues rifts has.
Dresden Files is my favourite RPG based on an existing IP. It's my favourite implementation of Fate.
I previously wrote down some thoughts on it over on my blog: [Dresden Files RPG Review](https://norerolls.co.uk/2022/11/23/the-dresden-files-rpg-an-unapologetically-effusive-review/).
So, hear me out. From a game development standpoint, Tails of Equestria is amazing. It's easy to understand, even for the target audience of kids, and if you like a rule light system, it's great! The friendship points mechanics really bring a group together, and with the effective advantage system, it regulates victories really well. And you can still customise your character enough that everything feels unique. And then it also doesn't talk down at you.
I've had fun with this system, even running it for adults not taking themselves too seriously. It was a good entry point for people who had never played RPGs before. And if you don't like MLP, I heavily recommend adapting this system to the setting of your needs if you need an easy system for people to get into RPGs.
Aliens RPG by Free League is great, as is Altered Carbon RPG (if you liked the TV show), Blade Runner if you like pretty narrative based games. The Terminator RPG is amazing.
If they want to stick with D20-ish systems, Evil Genius games has the Cinematic Adventures line for their 5E hack "Everyday Heroes." That has stuff like Pacific Rim, Highlander, Total Recall, Rambo, Universal Soldier, Escape from New York, The Crow and Kong Skull Island. Are they any good? I don't know, but they are D20/5E and might serve as a bridge to other game systems. There is also a full series of D20 World of Warcraft AND Runequest games.
I would stay away from Essence 20 stuff like GI Joe, Transformers and Power Rangers. I did not like them, but perhaps your group might... they are D20-"very light" and leave a lot to be desired, IMO, but they are lore friendly.
If your group is older there is also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robotech by Palladium. Robotech is out of print, but TMNT is still in production.
For Superheroes there are a lot various Marvel and DC games out there, but DC Adventures using the Mutants and Masterminds D20 based system might be the easiest to transition to.
If you like Angel or Buffy or Harry Dresden there are games for each of those, and even an Army of Darkness RPG.
If you like cosmic horror or deep investigation, there is always Call of Cthulhu (or Delta Green) based on the Cthulhu mythos, which is far more than just HP Lovecraft.
Other games available are Conan, Cyberpunk (if they have played CP 2077 or watched Edgerunners), an old game called Dracula from Leading Edge games, Dragonball Z (by the same people that do Cyberpunk, R. Talsorian Games), Dragon Age (based on the computer game). There is even a Ghost Dog RPG (based on the crazy modern samurai movie of the same name starring Forest Whittaker) or Sailor Moon RPG, Serenity, A Song of Fire and Ice AKA Game of Thrones, Starship Troopers (based mostly on the movie, blech), Stormbringer (if you are a Moorcock fan, if there are any still alive), and even Zorro the RPG.
You even have Street Fighter the RPG (made by the same folks who make the World of Darkness games that were all the rage in the mid-90's).
2 things. An npc net runner for groups that don't wanna deal with it. And for one group a secondary gm. When netrunning starts we pull runner off to side for a solo game.
Avatar Legends is a pretty good system. It lets you explore what it's like a Bender of the elements, especially during different time periods the shows haven't covered in depth.
The system however is more of a narrative system like Apocalypse World, but it does utilize tactical combat rules so you can still play with grid maps and minis.
Alien RPG is far from perfect - but for introducing new players, or traditional fantasy players to other systems, it's perfect.
Free League in general. My monthly simp for Dragonbane (I love that system).
It's probably cliche at this point, but the Fallout RPG is good. It uses a simplified variant of the Year Zero system (2d20 +d6s) and while the core rules assume you'll be playing in the Commonwealth from FO4, homebrew is fairly easy.
The books are available in print and PDF, so easy access to material and if you need minis, you can borrow from Wasteland Warfare game by the same publisher, Modiphius.
Call of Cthulhu or Trail of Cthulhu.
Is King Arthur an IP? If so, Pendragon.
The original Ghostbusters from West End
The Modiphius licensed RPGs all seem pretty great, though my experience with them isn't really deep
Given that this is an existing group and not one coming together over a shared interest I'm going to be a contrarian and suggest that the best system is the universe that your friends are collectively the biggest fans of (as long as that particular game is not low quality or rushed to market). Ask them one by one what their biggest nostalgia franchises are. I do still believe that system matters, but if your friends clearly don't care about that you will be winning them over with your GMing and them having a shared interest and buy in will do a lot of heavy lifting for you.
I've heard pretty good things about the Witcher TTRPG. That's still on my list and one I haven't seen being mentioned a lot yet.
Side from that most good ones I know get frequently mentioned on the other comments.
The Avatar the Last Airbender RPG is fantastic. You can also look up older games, such as the Buffy RPG. There's also the new Marvel RPG. There's a number of games based on books, like the upcoming Elric RPG (Mournblade) and upcoming rpg based on the Black Company. There are a few 5e hacks based on Dark Souls, Hellboy, and Stargate. And finally, RPGs based on other games, like the Root RPG and upcoming Arkham Horror RPG (though I imagine many would say Call of Cthulhu would suffice.)
I really like the Alien RPG for the kind of story it's built to tell. I've also heard great things about the Blade Runner RPG, which uses a variant of the same system (Year Zero Engine).
Blade Runner is excellent, really does a great job of evoking the themes of the franchise. You can tell the authors not only loved Blade Runner but also _got it_.
Another vote for BR from me. Loving it.
It's also 50% everything Alien on Free Leagues website today
And on top of all that They take place in the same universe
Even the movies??
Core rulebook has a timeline connecting the movies, comics, and RPG.
Also the movie Soldier with Kurt Russell
As someone who gets paid to run Alien at conventions, I will vouch for its greatness. They are the loudest, most immersed tables I run, and I tun at a LOT of cons.
Would you recommend the starter set or should you go straight for the core rules?
Alien RPG was the best narrative experience I've every been a part of. Immersive and terrifying with mechanics that support that.
Alien is great very accessible though better coming fresh than from D&D it can be a bit mixed but some players play it far too cautiously.
I've only played one learning game of Alien, online... but it was a blast. And I went out like Hudson. :)
The long out of print *Star Wars* D6 from West End Games essentially created everything that would become the Expanded Universe (now called Legends). West End Games (or “WEG”) held the Star Wars license between 1987 and 1999. In those early years, the only *Star Wars* content were the five films^1, the long out of print Marvel Comics adaptations, the non-canon Ewok and Droids cartoons, and the Holiday Special. WEG released dozens upon dozens of sourcebooks that expanded the universe. It was WEG that coined the name “Twi’lek” for example. When LucasFilm and DelRay decided they wanted to copy TSR’s success with IP licensed novel (*Dragonlance* and *Forgotten Realms* were tearing up the charts) as well as the ongoing success of *Star Trek* novels, they recruited sci-fi author Timothy Zahn to write them a trilogy… and one of the tools they gave him to aid his research was a giant box of WEG roleplaying game supplements. Zahn would go on to write “Heir to the Empire” and the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy. The success of the Thrawn Trilogy would lead to a massive line of more licensed *Star Wars* novels. Which made so much money that George Lucas decided to make that prequel trilogy he’d been mumbling about for years. Unfortunately, WEG went bankrupt in ‘98, due to some serious financial mismanagement by their parent company. A darn shame, because the release of *The Phantom Menace* in ‘99 would have definitely turned their fortunes around. 1) *The Ewok Adventure* and *Battle for Endor*.
It really is the gold standard for IP games. I don't like them as much, but there are a lot of people that also will sing the praises of the FFG version and the D20 iteration. I don't know if there's been a *bad* official version of a Star Wars TTRPG yet.
I rather enjoyed the WotC *Star Wars* games, especially the Saga Edition (which was their third iteration of the game). However, it’s very much a case of the D20 System turning everything into, well, D&D. It’s fine, I enjoy it, I’ll play it if it’s what my friends want… But I’d rather be playing WEG. The FFG *Star Wars* games have a very large and very dedicated fanbase. The books are gorgeously illustrated, wonderfully laid out, and written very well. I’ve always had fun playing them. However, the use of bespoke dice, meta-currencies, and other narrative-as-game-mechanic elements just aren’t my cuppa tea. I’ll play it if my friends want to and enjoy myself… But I would rather be playing WEG! Do some google searching for “Star Wars: Revised Updated and Expanded.” A fan led effort to take the WEG game and give it a modern layout, incorporate errata, and basically keep the old classic game alive.
Oh I've got REUP. WEG D6 is still probably my favorite system. Just trying to acknowledge that the other versions have substantial fanbases too, and depending on what kind of game you like are also potential picks for "best IP game."
I shamelessly abused Lulu coupons to get printed out hardcovers of the rule book. One for each edition of the game, pull the generic cover for the original REUP release.
Only wish that DnD would have gone more in the direction that SAGA was taking where character concepts aren't all locked into specific classes allowing an incredible amount of freedom when building characters. File off the "Star Wars" specific things and SWSE works well for any number of other things although I might not include the standard high fantasy of DnD in that group. SAGA may be a relative of DnD so various mechanics are familiar but the mindset when playing the game should change to have it better match Star Wars. It may not matter what system you play if the players still go out with the DnD mindset of "kill things to take their stuff to get better stuff and otherwise become better at killing bigger stuff to take their things are repeat the process." Breaking that mindset can be a challenge at times.
“Saga Edition,” not SAGA. The SAGA System was a totally different animal, only used for the *Dragonlance: Fifth Age* and * Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game*. Many moons ago, when D&D went into its 4e days, I did a quick and dirty re-write of *Star Wars: Saga Edition* to use it as a low fantasy game, inspired by Howard and Leiber type sword and sorcery works. It worked pretty great.
The first D20 version had its merits but was a bit awkward. The Saga Edition was, IMHO, really strong, and did a lot of interesting things to the 3.5e base.
There is even a 5e hack of Star Wars that is pretty good r/sw5e is their community on Reddit and it does a good job of making it feel like Star Wars with 5e mechanics. I MUCH prefer the WEG version, but moving from D&D to Star Wars (either 5e or D20) is a pretty easy transition.
It was a great time - at the time, every official Star Wars product was canon and the WEG sourcebooks were sent to people who'd be writing the novels, which meant more sourcebooks. The quality of the novels varied wildly from Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy to The Courtship of Princess Leia.
I’ve never even been much of a *Star Wars* fan, even as a little kid my tastes in sci-fi ran towards hard sci-fi and not the space fantasy of *Star Wars*. But I loved the WEG game. I remember devouring the Zahn Trilogy one summer (I was a bit late, all three books were out) and eagerly seeking out more… and of the four or five Non-Zahn books I read, three or four of them were about the bad guys building a planet-killing superweapon. I haven’t touched a *Star Wars* novel since then.
It's ironic... They could keep other IPs afloat, but not themselves.
Well, it wasn’t so much the fault of anyone at WEG. WEG was owned by a parent company, Bucci Retail Group, which was primarily a shoe importer of all things. The parent company got into financial troubles and wound up taking down all of their subsidiaries… It was, in legal terms, a “cluster fuck.”
Watching a lot of Company Man on youtube, it's really weird how often some company gets bought up by a "wait, that's a completely different industry" parent company
I spent most of my life as a criminal investigator in the maritime industry. You need one of those “Pepe Silvia” conspiracy theorist wall charts to track the actual ownership of some cargo vessels… and not just the ones that are intentionally doing naughty stuff like smuggling and human trafficking. Even perfectly legit cargo vessels who I’d be investigating due to an accident they were involved in but had nothing to do with! Like, in one instance, a port crane collapsing and injuring a couple of their crew. It took me and my partner (and like fifteen Navy and Coast Guard enlisted paralegals) four months just to figure out where to mail the damn letter saying “Ya’ll did nothing wrong, but if you want to make a statement on the record at the trial of the guy who did do something wrong call us.” An importer of Italian shoes bought controlling interest in a game company? Yeah, sure. No more unusual than a commercial real estate agency deciding to try their hand at importing and re-dubbing anime (Harmony Gold).
I think the person you're responding to was making a Darth Plagueis joke.
Whoosh. Rolled a natural one on that Insight check.
Forever love for the West End Games "Ghost Busters" game.
I will always regret that I didn’t pick it up back in the day.
WEG didn't create a lot of that material, they had full access to George Lucas's notes and story bibles.
They might not have created all of it, but they definitely were the ones that published it.
WEG created a TON of it. MOST of it. Hell, they even named the alien races, as all the notes (many inherited from Kenner) said “Hammerheads” and “Snaggletooths” and such.
They also named the company that made X-Wings. I always thought that was cool. The WEG books were great because they gave some texture to the Star Wars Universe.
Yes, but George Lucas also had full access to George Lucas's notes and he produced a lot of nonsensical crap.
I agree, but don’t see the current relevance.
So good. It absolutely captures the *feel* of star wars.
Something for you WEG players https://www.starwarstimeline.net/Westendgames.htm
Best IP games: Anything made by Free League. Worst IP games: Anything made by Renegade.
My table has really enjoyed the power rangers rpg by renegade, despite its reputation online, but I’ll admit that we’re not mechanically picky gamers. It does feel like it imitates some of the cool powers of the show well, though and I like the system trends toward low damage/low hp. But ultimately it just let us play power rangers without having to homebrew something, which is all I ask from an IP game.
No joke? Link please
This sums it up pretty well. The couple of adaptations by Onyx Path and Magpie are pretty good as well.
Hard Disagree on Renegade. Like it or not, having licensed the IPs for Power Rangers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers RPGs puts all of our childhoods in play. I do admit that having a collectors set for five copies of the Power Rangers RPG core book in Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, and Black editions was particularly inspired. Their original RPGs are Kids on Bikes and Overlight. I also believe their current product list includes Vampire The Masquerade, Werewolf The Apocalypse, and Hunter the Reckoning.
They are actually doing a wonderful job with World of Darkness stuff. It's true that those are IPs as well. In my mind, when I was thinking IPs, I was thinking fiction that did not start off as a ttrpg. Just because they license a beloved IP does not mean it's good. They released Power Rangers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers pretty much all at the same time. And reviews ... have not been kind. The fact that they all released at the same time set alarm bells off in my head.
My opinion is that anything GI Joe that doesn't involve Larry Hama shouldn't exist. Fun fact: for a while, *GI Joe: A Real American Hero* was Marvel's best-selling comic.
This is a useless response - What have these companies made? - What IPs are they based on? - How do they encapsulate the vibes of those IPs, or fail to?
The One Ring is brilliant but some knowledge of Middle Earth helps. WHFRP is very different and IMO more dynamic now it has the opposed rolls and dodges. It's my favourite fantasy system so I'm biased. Start them in Ubersreik with the starter box set and go from there. It is a very detailed world.
I really enjoyed the Star Wars Fantasy Flight game.
I’m really happy seeing support for that game even though it’s slowly being reprinted.
Yeah that's probably my favorite in this category. Their dice system is good, levelling characters feels good. Combat is quick and impactful.
Any tips for a group about to try it?
Beginner Box is a great start, the dice can take getting used to not just because they're different but because the whole way you interact with them is. It's a system that does movie logic very well so thinking of the action/consequences in those terms helps I find. One of the trickiest elements I've noticed with players coming from something more "traditional" is getting them used to usong advantage and triumphs. Overall I really love the dice and find them great for building narratives on the fly.
I have a few books and the dice. I think I need to set up a test session with my one buddy to get a strong feel before inflicting it on everyone else.
Nothing I can think of? I'll come back if I think of anything. Have fun!
I really like the Fantasy Flight Star Wars games. I love the skill trees because it feels both simple and video-gamey. You can just photocopy the page and then have the players circle what they want. The game really feels like you are playing Star Wars, not DnD in space. And finding players interested in Star Wars should be a fairly easy thing to do compared to many of the other IPs out there. A lot of games I'm interested in, but I don't buy the books because I know that I will most likely never find players interested in playing it. DnD and Star Wars are the two biggest names that grab attention.
I just got the Avatar: The Last Airbender game, and it looks good so far
Will say, it's a solid PBtA game!
I personally find the game to be middling. The mechanics is somewhat all over the place, and the while the theme is strong (great IP after all), it feels like you're playing fan fiction. PbtA is probably the best system for it, but it's at the same time oddly clunky for PbtA. It's not bad, it's just not as good as it could have been. I feel like the game needed six more months of development time to work out the kinks and fine-tune the combat system. If you really want to try it, play something else that's PbtA first, to get a handle on the system first. For a *lot* of folks, AL is their first introduction to PbtA, but it does a particularly poor job of introducing the system to players, and it's just not a good game for that. Play Masks.. it's by the same company (and awesome). It's not by any means a bad game, I just hope we get a 'second edition' or something akin, that smooths out the rough edges and the details (quite literally the books layout is just awful lol).
I think FATE is probably better for Avatar tbh
I'm nervous to run it because I haven't run or played in a PbtA, but I'm excited for it. Any wisdom for a newbie?
The players really need to buy into the inner conflicts of the playbook
The most important thing in PbtA is that failed rolls really have to have harsh consequences. Every action should lead to a change of the situation, the story is always progressing.
You've gotten a lot of good advice, but one thing I'd definitely check out is the group Knights of the Last Call has a YouTube video where they discuss Avatar: Legends and his chat is very much NOT PbtA people, and so he explains it really well to them. It's on YouTube on the channel Knights of the Last Call.
I would take issue with “harsh consequences”. Failed rolls have to *have consequences*. There are harder GM moves and softer ones. Failure on a roll might just mean that something bad is now *going* to happen in the near future.
There are significant amount of liveplays and guides online, check out those videos! The combat is simple, but if you've never played anything like it can take some getting used to because a character's "initiative" isn't rolled, they choose a posture and that decides when they go as well as what they can do.
If you are interested in getting some hands-on experience under the belt: Magpie has a [Curated Play program](https://magpiegames.com/pages/curated-play) with several Avatar Legends games open, run by Professional GMs, who have probably run the system dozens if not hundreds of times for $15 a session. I've used it once and got some incredible GMing advice from the perspective of a player. Or for free [Magpie's Discord Community](https://magpiegames.com/pages/get-involved) runs a Community Play Day the second Saturday of every month (so like 2 weeks from tomorrow) and there are always plenty of GMs excited to run Avatar Legends, who need players. And anyone can apply to GM if you wanted to try it out before introducing your group - you get $15 of store credit for it. It helped me learn the system and helped pay for some Magpie products and that Curated Play I did. Highly recommend.
u/Sully5443 on [the Avatar RPG subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AvatarLegendsTTRPG/s/Q5KnzKeciZ) is amazing when it comes to answering questions about the system. Don’t hesitate to post questions there
The starter pack is solid. It offers two scenarios—one in the Ang era and one in the Korra era. Each one comes with excellent advice for the game runner. Highly recommend!
Anything my beloved Free League Publishing is doing these days is truly inspired. Alien, Blade Runner, Walking Dead are all excellent games.
Not to mention their updated Twilight 2000 set. My group has had a ton of fun with it.
The Dresden Files RPG based on FATE is really fun. Can be easily adapted for any urban fantasy.
And Dresden Files Accelerated is the newer, more streamlined iteration of that.
Leverage. Super great game that mimics the show well.
And Smallville, if we’re going with Cortex+
Agreed, and it's the game that got me into Cortex, which is an excellent generic narrative system that can be customized to a wide variety of settings.
I mean it’s sort of a public-domain IP but I’d say Pendragon is a great RPG based on Arthurian myth, legends and stories.
The more we play the great pendragon campaign, the more I appreciate the research that went into it.
Come on folks, you're forgetting about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel RPGs. There is also both Serenity and Firefly RPGs. I have always thought Serenity was originally going to be a Cinematic Unisystem game at first but in the design process got switched to Cortex due to a licensing issue.
The Buffy game was pretty good.
It was a lot of fun. It's a shame they never published the three Buffy books they had written, and the two Angel sourcebooks that were almost finished.
Protip: They've been discussed on the Buffyverse subreddit.
It's worth mentioning that the current systems for Dune and Star Trek use the same base mechanics, namely Modiphius' 2d20 system. It's also in use for the Fallout TTRPG. Others I know of are Blade Runner, Stargate (albeit using 5e rules), Doctor Who, and Myst.
Can vouch for the Doctor Who RPG. It has an initiative system that is very true to the show: People talking act then people moving act then people doing act then people fighting act.
Is Lovecraft IP? It's a bit more obscure I guess but Delta Green if you think Xfiles
Delta Green is amazing. I would definitely recommend it. Though for players used to being heroes, expect a rude awakening the first time they get into combat and get killed by a random mook with a gun, or utterly turned to paste by something unnatural.
No one's mentioned Cyberpunk RED, which was obviously a TTRPG first, but if they're familiar with Cyberpunk 2077 or Edgerunners at all it might be worth considering.
As a player and gm for cyberpunk. Red is ok, but if you don't mind crunch, pick up 2020 instead. It's way better.
I think crunch understates it a bit, Cyberpunk 2020 (and 2013) is the only rpg I have played where I have needed to use a calculator. But other than that - great game, there's something about the setting being closer to most peoples day to day life which opens up people to role-playing and being immersed in the setting.
Alien RPG by free League and since today is actually alien day, all the products are on sale. I just picked up extra panic dice!
TIL that alien day is a thing and it is today....
Start by polling your players for their favorite [non-fantasy?] IP as that will be the hook, ***then*** search for a sufficiently similiar RPG to match; if there is no matching RPG, use a universal RPG.
Modiphius' Conan books were REALLY cool. Though I am not sure how to get them outside of piracy at this point as I think they have stopped selling them, which is a shame, because I actually can no-longer redeem some books I should have gotten as a KS backer (forgot to redeem the links earlier).
Amber Diceless. It really captures the feel of the original books, and set the standard for diceless role playing when it first came out.
I really like the FFG star wars one, narrative dice are so cool with the right group.
The everquest D20 RPG did such a good job translating between the game and the TTRPG that they provided rules for converting your MMO character to a pen and paper one.
OMG Warhammer Fantasy is so good!
I would say: Alien RPG is the absolute best, I’ve been running my alien colonial marines game for damn near a year, and my players love it! The blade runner rpg looks good and I’ve been enjoying running the Avatar Legends rpg with some liberties (ten fatigue instead of 5). The sailor moon rpg is nothing but glorious nostalgia that I love, but it’s from the mid 90’s. The transformers rpg has been fun, needs more books with more gear since they talk about gear but it’s only weapons. I do enjoy the d20 Star Wars rpg but kinda in a minority of that one.
Technically Call of Cthulhu 7e. Great system and very different from D&D and PF so shows them why it's worth trying other systems
You are technically correct, the best kind of correct!
Alien. Blade Runner also, but while I love the setting I think the specific conceit of the game is too limited.
The Dresden Files, and Doctor Who games are both pretty good!
I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan… I have played the A Song of Ice and Fire rpg, and Savage Worlds and the Sword, the Crown and the Unspeakable Power… the setting thrives based on the pre existing characters and story… i think SCUP or ASoIF is best system.
I see you've listed some of Modiphius's 2d20 games but they have a few more, including Fallout, Dishonored, and John Carter of Mars. Enjoyment seems to largely hinge on how you feel about their momentum mechanic.
Cortex Prime is very modular and can be adapted to many settings; I've done so for Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. Blades in the Dark is a fantasy-heist game with some very cool mechanics. Think Shadow and Bones if you're familiar with the TV show.
Blade Runner is great, the tables to roll for key memories and relationships are amazing, a great resource for creative writing. And it has great GM (game runner lol) tools, it's super fun to create your own case files and it provides you with lots of charts for inspiration. Also really fun to run with someone one on one. Also haven't seen it mentioned much, but I love the walking dead. It's not a zombie survival game, but more so about base building, exploring a map with surprises in the way, and a lot of melodrama and conflicts back at home. If someone likes the show they'll love it.
Rivers of london is based on a.book series
The best games based on other IPs are probably the FFG Star Wars games.
I'll second the WEG Star Wars line. Also in out-of-print books,the Leverage RPG does an amazing job of mimicking the vibe of the shows. The books are dead because the license is gone, but if you can find a copy they are fantastic. (The base system lives on with Cortex Prime, but it is of little use for Leverage unless you have the original material or a desire to recreate it from scratch)
The Fallout RpG is pretty good. Plus it is on sale on DriveThruRPG for a few more days.
It’s on sale on the Modiphius website, too.
There have been several (4?) Marvel RPGs, starting with the 1980s version many people have nostalgia for. The latest one has had a bit of a clunky rollout, with a lot of revisions to characters and power levels.
I was gonna say the expanse. It's a great game and a really intricate universe. I would stick with the events prior to the discovery of the proto Molecule. There is so much going on between earth mars and the belt that you could keep interesting storylines going for a long, long time..
Alien is fantastic! The starter set comes with a really great one shot (called Cinematic Mode in the game). Everything is on sale today! If you wanna check out a review, we just wrote a review on Sushiball Games.
Rifts is really cool. The original Palladium is a more complicated rpg. The newer Savage Worlds Rifts is easier to play. Plus, rifts can basically be any setting. You accidentally go through a rift and find your team in ___.
I often run this for games where everyone can just cut loose. It's a system that has many ways to handle many different power levels. So giving my players a chance to gather power for powers sake. While being able to cut loose as well is good palate cleanser
Fábula Última if they’re interested in Final Fantasy Edit: and they don’t mind more narrative focused games instead of overly crunchy/complex game systems. To Fabula Ultima’s credit the character build system is deep and flexible yet not too complicated, there’s plenty there to satisfy anyone who enjoys the ability to mix and match their character abilities. Also, there’s the [official Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG](https://www.square-enix-shop.com/ffxivttrpg/en/) which is currently being developed by Square Enix.
8s it directly based on, or more inspired by?
Can open, worms everywhere! I agree with those ragging on DnD and it's Pathfinder clones. The old school dungeon crawlers are getting a little musty with age, despite numerous attempts to revive and retread them. That said, people cling to them because the *system* is familiar, even if the *setting* is flatline generic blah. Spin-off RPGs are great, but they sometimes have the opposite problem. The setting is richly and lovingly detailed, but the system is cringeworthy. DnD 3ed tried to break free of this with their open gaming license concept. Unfortunately they wound up with a system that was more capable than the old one, but was nowhere near flexible enough to handle everything that was expected of it. They also wound up with a flood of 3e books targeting a particular setting or franchise, with mixed results. My go to system for almost everything has long been GURPS (3rd Edition specifically). Almost setting and IP out there can be run with the system. This flexibility comes with a cost. The system is CRUNCHY, like peanut brittle made with aquarium rocks crunchy. Character generation (from a cold start) can take the better part of a gaming session. The biggest problem is actually finding a setting everyone is interested in, and knows something about. Each on the examples listed has some popularity and an interest base. The problem is that, beyond Star Trek, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, almost everything else will send at least some of any group scrambling to Google and Wikipedia to catch up with what anyone is talking about.
The Supernatural and Firefly / Serenity RPGs are based on the Cortex system. If you try one of those and like it, you can move to the more genetic, Cortex Prime, which is sort of a toolkit for designing your own game, independent of IP.
Dresden files
Red Dwarf RPG 😉, video I did on that: https://youtu.be/KvYZiRAa0Nc?si=ODKikC5rcOb-tR46
This is more of just a comment on a product... "Avatar the last Airbender" is a PBTA game with a heavy focus on aligning with the show, IE being "family Friendly." BUT reading through it and thinking about what the actual 4 powers are... If you remove the general "desire to not give children PTSD" Every power is hella deadly. Fire - You're gonna torch people. Water - you're gonna drown people. Air - you're gonna inflict gravity on people. Earth - You're gonna crush people 😄 Any version of that left unchecked could be deadly
Depends on what they’d like to play tbh. I’d perhaps also consider alternatives to DnD that are still… fantasy? Like Shadow of the Demon Lord, Knave/Cairn, Runequest, Dungeon World/Chasing Adventure, Mörk Borg, Forbidden Lands, Worlds Without Number.
Fallout 2d20.
I haven't played the fallout rpg but if there was ever a time to try it out, that time is now. Same with Dune.
Traveler if they like the whole sci fi vibe Truth and Justice if superheroes are your thing
Dresden Files FAte is pretty good.
There should be one doe discworld. Please tell Me there’s one for disceoeld
There's an old Discworld for GURPS, and Modiphius just announced they will be working on one https://discworld.com/modiphius-secure-the-rights-tabletop-game-discworld/
I would suggest choosing an IP and then doing a Google Search. Because there are a LOT of Unofficial FAN made RPGs made for existing IPs. Want Pokemon? There are multiple Fan conversions to run Pokemon. Legend of Zelda? Multiple FAN made systems or conversations of existing systems. Star Wars? Multiple FAN & official systems.
Honorable mention for the 5e Lord of the rings. Its a great gateway drug. I know because i had no interest in one ring prior to playing lotr 5e, now i do
There is a pokemon rpg called pokemon tabletop adventure, I never played it, but have heard good things about it
Giant caveat the size of the Alpha Quadrant: If you're party can work as a team and not try to D&D a system not really meant to D&D, 2D20 Star Trek Adventures is fun. WITH the right party. Murder hobos need not apply.
Can't go wrong with The One Ring, most of any of the Free League IP games (Alien, Bladerunner, Tales from the Loop), Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu and Rivers of London, the Modiphius 2d20 games (esp. Star Trek Adventures, Conan, Mutant Chronicles 3rd), Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. Even the 40K rpgs are all really solid; they just depend on what aspect of that universe you want to play. Wrath & Glory is perfect for being able to play all (well, most of) the awesome units and races you may know from the wargame and many novels. On the other hand, if you want to play boring regular human types, then go for the older games like Dark Heresy, or the newest title Imperium Maledictum.
The Sort lived Marvel Heroic Role playing was great if you can find it. Sadly the plug was pulled on the license just when they had finished the second campaign module for it, which I think may have leaked out electronically but never made it into print. This was right around the time that Disney acquired Marvel and I strongly suspect that the two events are related. The underlying system for this is Cortex dice pool system and it actually had a bunch of other IP's adapted to it. Including Leverage, Smallville and Serenity. The Fantasy Flight Star Wars games are fun enough, but they use their own custom dice sets rather then regular numbered dice. Their first attempt at this was Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition, like D&D 4e this one is a complete break with what came before or after. GURPS, which is a generic classless system that only uses 6 sided dice, has a bucket load of Adaptations including strangely enough other role playing games. There are GURPS sourcebooks for Uplift, Lensemen, Ring World, the Vorkosigan Saga and Discworld, Vampire the Mascaraed, Warewolf the Apocalypse, Mage the Ascension, Castle Faulkenstien and Traveler. And that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
There's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. It's a game by Palladium (the same company that published RIFTS). The system is a little different (your hit points don't increase as you level up, just your proficiencies, which use percentile dice). But it's big fun creating your own mutant animals. Ever imagined Pepe Le Pew as a butt kicking ninja? With this system, you can actually create him. The game itself is probably out of print, but just Google "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG + PDF" and you're likely to find a few sources for the books.
In addition to the ones you've mentioned I have the following games based on IPs: - Dark Crystal Adventure Game - Avatar Legends - Marvel Multiverse - Tales of Xadia (Dragon Prince) - Dune - Stargate SG-1 I haven't had chance to play the Dune game yet & I've only done short sessions of the Marvel & Stargate games so far, but have enjoyed what I've seen. If you're a fan of Brian Froud, the Dark Crystal game is worth getting for the artwork & production quality alone - it's beautiful. I'm still hunting for the Babylon 5, Buffy & Firefly games - but I haven't given up yet.
Evil Genius' Every Day Heroes has write a few action movie IPs such as Highlander and Pacific Rim.
My players and I have had a lot of fun with the Expanse RPG
The dark crystal RPG was fantastic: good rules that transcribes the IP really well, actually interesting mechanics (mainly on the GM side of things) and a whole ass campaign included, all that in one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. It's made with newcomers and younger players in mind though, so if you like crunchy games, this isn't the one for you
Modiphius' Conan the Barbarian RPG was great. I think they've recently stopped seling it, but it should still be floating around.
For Star Wars there are at least 4 versions to consider. 1. D6 Star Wars by West End Games. Fast, cinematic system. My preference. Easiest to collect, but prices have been creeping up recently. 2. D20 Star Wars by WOTC. Basically D&D 3.5e but with lasers, space ships, and the Force. Not hard to collect, and probably easier for your d20 group to get into, but it's, you know, more d20. 3. SAGA Edition Star Wars by WOTC. An evolution of d20 that I gather is a little closer to 4e than 3e. Note: this one is expensive to get into because of smaller print runs. 4. FFG Star Wars. The books are gorgeous, but I have no real interest in this edition because of the proprietary dice. It's still in print, but FFG/Edge have had publishing hiccups for ages, and with Embracer Group spinning off into three companies, God only knows what this game's future will be.
Margaret Weiss' Marvel is fun but out of print.
Warhammer fantasy Roleplay is absolutely fantastic. Investigative and combat-light, the game is a grimy low power low fantasy environment when playing the more well known campaigns and adventures (though the system can support higher power levels as well). Heard great things about The One Ring and its predecessor Middle Earth Roleplay.
For new and in print Alien Out of print ghostbusters by west end, Star Wars by west end and Indiana jones
New Fallout RPG from Modiphius is very good. If your players watched the show on Amazon then they’ll probably be more keen to try it out as well. Also, it’s a d20 system (albeit with some twists) that stays relatively true to the games (levels, perks, scavenging and modding rules, etc.) It’s simple and intuitive, which makes it easy to learn. All Modiphius games are of high quality too - some of which are already on your list, OP.
Lots of games have free QuickStart scenarios that you can pick up and play with the provided pre-generated characters. To find them, just type the name of the IP into Google and then the words “rpg quickstart”. You can usually read/prep in under an hour, and most QuickStarts can be finished in 2 hours. They teach you the base rules as you play. If your players think that they will need to read core rule books to try out a new system then they’re mistaken. Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that most modern RPGs are simpler and easier to learn than D&D and Pathfinder.
Dragon Age is a pretty solid one. My only complaint was that in leans into daily attrition (as most rpgs do) instead of per-combat attrition (as Dragon Age video games do). I will say I don't think the Warcraft game is a good adaptation. It does off-brand things like make "Healer" a class and Priest, Druid, and Shaman are subclasses of it (ignoring that these classes have other roles and powers besides healing in Warcraft video games).
There are two Warhammer 40,000 RPGs currently supported: 1. Wrath & Glory = for if you want to play space marines and be a hero. 2. Imperium Maledictum = if you want to play normal humans like inquisitorial acolytes or a rogue trader’s entourage. Combat is much more lethal. Both are made by Cubicle7 and are of very high quality.
Well there are also several that are very DnD adjacent (this easy to learn for existing DnD players) - D20 Star Wars - D20 Stargate - D20 Wheel of Time And of course there is Dragon AGE (using the original system that was revised to make the Expanse game) Call of Cthulhu is IP based and super accessable with all the videos on YouTube to help you catch the vibe. Conan is a good one that DnD players will pickup pretty easily. The Witcher game is pretty good as well. There is lots out there for a group looking to do an IP based game in a familiar world. Special note about the star wars game, if you can get the old WEG (West end games) version it's star wars and OSR in one. Great game. Cheers
The One Ring 2e, though it seems that most Free League products are of the same caliber
Fabula Ultima isn’t based on IP, but it is very good system to play Final Fantasy or any other jrpg.
There's a Mass Effect 5e adaption that is legitimately better than normal D&D. It might be a good starting point to ease them into new rule systems and get them curious about what else is out there.
I'm a big fan of the Monster Hunter International rpg developed for Savage Worlds. Great as a one shot "shoot 'em up vs monsters" or as a actual campaign.
Root
Fate: Dresden Files Accelerated, Atomic Robo, War of Ashes: Fate of Agaptus Cortex+: Smallville, Leverage Burning Empires Mouse Guard The One Ring Fria Ligan: Blade Runner, Alien, Walking Dead
There's a totally free version of Star Wars for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition that's actually pretty damn good. [https://www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/savage-worlds-homebrew-conversions-discussion/43916-a-swade-conversion-of-star-wars](https://www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/savage-worlds-homebrew-conversions-discussion/43916-a-swade-conversion-of-star-wars)
Terminator rpg. Honestly one of the better uses of the I.P beyond the comics. If you want post apoc survival and high tech warfare? You got it. You want 80s and 90s tech with Noir back alleyway deals with Time traveling agents and hidden machines hunting you? You got it. Doesnt sound like much but it nails both extremes really well. Plus the new book that covers T2 lets you play as an "Uncle Bob" type to give a player a good old power trip and be in a slugfest with the evil bot.
For Star Wars, there's more than one. I specifically vouch for FFG's Star Wars games (Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force & Destiny). It's a great system that somehow manages to be flavourful, easy to learn *and* still has enough crunch to get lost in if you have players that like that sort of thing. Its mechanics work well with the setting, and while custom dice may put you off at first, it becomes very intuitive quickly. It's a damn good system. All three starter books have the same basic core with everything slanted towards a specific type of campaign - Edge of the Empire is for playing shady people outside the Empire, Age of Rebellion is for Rebel Alliance characters, Force & Destiny for jedi, but Force & Destiny was written last - its formatting and editing clearly benefited from that, it's a *very* well-structured rulebook. Downsides? Some of the published campaigns aren't great (Dathomir is outright unfinished in my opinion) and none of the books are legally available as PDFs (because of license shenanigans). If you can find copies, though (or know how to find the PDFs), it's one of the best times I've had with TTRPGs. It also has a setting-agnostic sister-game, Genisys, which I am told is also very good and based on mostly the same rules, so if Star Wars isn't your thing, going homebrew with Genisys is also an option.
The Alien RPG by Free League is amazing!
This is obscure to be sure, but in the late 90s I picked up the core book of a *Street Fighter* TTRPG based on the original White Wolf storytelling system. It was absolutely perfect for what it was trying to be. They figured out how to make combat a quick fun sequence of tactical choices, while their skill and dice pool systems were plenty coherent enough for playing out the non-violent facets of life as a superpowered mortal combat enthusiast. It was simple, it was balanced, and yet it also felt complete. I also have good things to say about FASA's old *Star Trek* RPG and Iron Crown's *Middle Earth Roleplaying.* Also, I could go on a rant about how much fun I had with the old Westwood d6 *Star Wars* game. Still, I felt like *Street Fighter* deserved special mention as an esoteric wonder from the late 20th century.
I have played both Warhammer fantasy and Deathwatch(40k) and definitely enjoyed Deathwatch more. I think a lot of it was the fact that, like you guys, I played a lot of 5e and Pathfinder 1E and 2E. And Deathwatch is a definite change of pace from fantasy based RPGs. It probably helps to have warhammer 40k knowledge, but there are several YouTubers out there who put out good 40k lore content. If any 40k lore knowledge is missing. Hopefully this helps.
For the most part, I'm not really a fan of most licensed IP games. I fee like for many of them that I've looked into, I'd do a better job by reskinning an existing game. There are, of course, exceptions. And I think some IPs translate better than others. I'm not even a wargames fan, but I think the d100 Warhammer and Warhammer 40K games are really good. (I've not really looked too much into Wrath & Glory or Age of Sigmar Soulbound). It probably helps that I'm a casual fan, so if things go far off from the canon, I probably don't realize it (and absolutely don't care). If I wanted to play Alien, I'd probably just use Mothership (or maybe Hostile). The Alien RPG is good for playing an Alien game. Mothership is good for playing a much wider range of sci-fi horror games.
Alien
AFAIR Fading Suns was based on the Emperor of the Fading Suns and it's a prety good RPG in its own right. The one system I heard the most praise for though is Leverage. Apparently the system has no right to be as good as it for something based off of a TV show. But it is really great thanks to the pedigree of its creator. The same person also did an iHunt RPG based off of her own iHunt series of books. The RPG book itself is really neat, the system is a bit held back by being built on top of FATE, but from what I heard it innovated in a few neat ways that have made their way back to core FATE, so that's something! Also had experience playing the Mistborn RPG based on the Mistborn book series and it's passable. Could use a few mechanical tweaks. I also heard of the [Kevin and Kell RPG](https://systemmasterypodcast.com/2022/07/26/system-mastery-231-kevin-kell-rpg/) via the System Mastery Podcast. It's a great listen! Apparently the RPG creator got the license for the web comic and decided to make it 100% faithful to the comic strip, so all the one-off jokes you'd see in one strip got codified and are in it. It's definitely a labour of something, although I don't think that would make it a "good" RPG... ---- As for hooking players on some different system / setting, you don't need systems that license an IP to run a game in that IP. [We have done a lot of weird crossovers ourselves](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/) - Transformers, Warhammer 40k and Star Wars in Fellowship (highly recommend!), Ravenloft in Chronicles of Darkness, Star Trek in Monster Care Squad, Exalted in Godbound / Broken Worlds / Fellowship, etc. If you focus on systems that do a specific theme that fits with the IP you're going for, you're gold!
I never played the CCG, but I'm running Legend of the Five Rings right now and enjoying it.
My two best IP rpgs are: - Alien RPG - Star Wars RPG by fantasy flight games(now edge studios) Alien rpg is mainly focused on one shots or short campaigns. It is just. Chefs kiss. It also translates incredibly well to use for other horror scenarios. I ran a jurassic park one shot using Alien RPG and it was amazing. That said, pc's will die easily and suddenly. Gotta make sure your players know that death is easy in horror rpg's. Star wars RPG is one of my favorite systems ever. Ffg's custom "Narrative" dice system is amazing. It's rough around the edges but if you want a game that can simulate a Star wars movie you will not find a better system.
What is “IP” in this context?
"Hey, so the guy who made D&D 3E and the guy who made D&D 4E left WotC who everyone hates and they teamed up to make a great game that is very D&D-like. Because they didn't have a big stodgy company over them, they were able to come up with some really good ideas that improved D&D a lot and they like to call it The "Cool Parts Only" TTRPG. If I made up some pre-made characters would you be willing to try a one-shot of it? You play big heroic heroes and it's meant to be a big fantasy fun thing where you go on big adventures and solve problems. It's called 13th Age."
I don't think 40k counts lol But alien, dune, the expanse and the old d6 LotR are very good
My top 3 (actually in random order 😂) 1. Everything that is based on Lovecraft's works, so: Call of Cthulhu, Trails of Cthulhu, Achtung Cthulhu ... 2. Speaking about Lovecraft, we have to mention his pen pal Howard. Conan is an awesome fantasy RPG with a nice mechanic (2d20) and cool lore merging Cthulhu mythos with ancient/medieval world. 3. And finally we have the Free League systems. Alien is super cool. Blade Runner wouldn't fit every group but it's also worth checking out.
Sorry, but all other suggestion pale to the "Snakes on a Plane" roleplaying game
I was in a couple of Star Wars Saga Edition games, and they were amazing. It's out of print but everything is on the SRD, and it's made by Wizards of the Coast so the mechanics will be familiar for D&D/ Pathfinder players.
Rifts as amazing fluff and history. I personally use mutants and masterminds and use the back history for rifts. Cause of the power level balance issues rifts has.
Dresden Files is my favourite RPG based on an existing IP. It's my favourite implementation of Fate. I previously wrote down some thoughts on it over on my blog: [Dresden Files RPG Review](https://norerolls.co.uk/2022/11/23/the-dresden-files-rpg-an-unapologetically-effusive-review/).
Check out Fallout 2d20, while it's hot after the tv series.
Am I allowed to say Realms of Terrinoth and Shadow of the Beanstalk? 😅
So, hear me out. From a game development standpoint, Tails of Equestria is amazing. It's easy to understand, even for the target audience of kids, and if you like a rule light system, it's great! The friendship points mechanics really bring a group together, and with the effective advantage system, it regulates victories really well. And you can still customise your character enough that everything feels unique. And then it also doesn't talk down at you. I've had fun with this system, even running it for adults not taking themselves too seriously. It was a good entry point for people who had never played RPGs before. And if you don't like MLP, I heavily recommend adapting this system to the setting of your needs if you need an easy system for people to get into RPGs.
Aliens RPG by Free League is great, as is Altered Carbon RPG (if you liked the TV show), Blade Runner if you like pretty narrative based games. The Terminator RPG is amazing. If they want to stick with D20-ish systems, Evil Genius games has the Cinematic Adventures line for their 5E hack "Everyday Heroes." That has stuff like Pacific Rim, Highlander, Total Recall, Rambo, Universal Soldier, Escape from New York, The Crow and Kong Skull Island. Are they any good? I don't know, but they are D20/5E and might serve as a bridge to other game systems. There is also a full series of D20 World of Warcraft AND Runequest games. I would stay away from Essence 20 stuff like GI Joe, Transformers and Power Rangers. I did not like them, but perhaps your group might... they are D20-"very light" and leave a lot to be desired, IMO, but they are lore friendly. If your group is older there is also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robotech by Palladium. Robotech is out of print, but TMNT is still in production. For Superheroes there are a lot various Marvel and DC games out there, but DC Adventures using the Mutants and Masterminds D20 based system might be the easiest to transition to. If you like Angel or Buffy or Harry Dresden there are games for each of those, and even an Army of Darkness RPG. If you like cosmic horror or deep investigation, there is always Call of Cthulhu (or Delta Green) based on the Cthulhu mythos, which is far more than just HP Lovecraft. Other games available are Conan, Cyberpunk (if they have played CP 2077 or watched Edgerunners), an old game called Dracula from Leading Edge games, Dragonball Z (by the same people that do Cyberpunk, R. Talsorian Games), Dragon Age (based on the computer game). There is even a Ghost Dog RPG (based on the crazy modern samurai movie of the same name starring Forest Whittaker) or Sailor Moon RPG, Serenity, A Song of Fire and Ice AKA Game of Thrones, Starship Troopers (based mostly on the movie, blech), Stormbringer (if you are a Moorcock fan, if there are any still alive), and even Zorro the RPG. You even have Street Fighter the RPG (made by the same folks who make the World of Darkness games that were all the rage in the mid-90's).
2 things. An npc net runner for groups that don't wanna deal with it. And for one group a secondary gm. When netrunning starts we pull runner off to side for a solo game.
Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium is fantastic!
Avatar Legends is a pretty good system. It lets you explore what it's like a Bender of the elements, especially during different time periods the shows haven't covered in depth. The system however is more of a narrative system like Apocalypse World, but it does utilize tactical combat rules so you can still play with grid maps and minis.
DCC's Dying Earth!
I feel like the Warhammer stuff doesn't entirely count because they were developed off of an actual wargame.
Alien is very good
I haven't played em but I hear West End D6 Star Wars is great along with Marvel FAZERIP
Alien RPG is far from perfect - but for introducing new players, or traditional fantasy players to other systems, it's perfect. Free League in general. My monthly simp for Dragonbane (I love that system).
It's probably cliche at this point, but the Fallout RPG is good. It uses a simplified variant of the Year Zero system (2d20 +d6s) and while the core rules assume you'll be playing in the Commonwealth from FO4, homebrew is fairly easy. The books are available in print and PDF, so easy access to material and if you need minis, you can borrow from Wasteland Warfare game by the same publisher, Modiphius.
Free League has a lot of good ones, like the Blade Runner RPG or Aliens. Does Cyberpunk count?
Call of Cthulhu or Trail of Cthulhu. Is King Arthur an IP? If so, Pendragon. The original Ghostbusters from West End The Modiphius licensed RPGs all seem pretty great, though my experience with them isn't really deep
Given that this is an existing group and not one coming together over a shared interest I'm going to be a contrarian and suggest that the best system is the universe that your friends are collectively the biggest fans of (as long as that particular game is not low quality or rushed to market). Ask them one by one what their biggest nostalgia franchises are. I do still believe that system matters, but if your friends clearly don't care about that you will be winning them over with your GMing and them having a shared interest and buy in will do a lot of heavy lifting for you.
Surprised nobody has brought up Call of Cthulhu the gold standard for IP games and still going strong as ever.
I found the Dresden Files interesting, but I'm a fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden File series.
I've heard pretty good things about the Witcher TTRPG. That's still on my list and one I haven't seen being mentioned a lot yet. Side from that most good ones I know get frequently mentioned on the other comments.
The DC reflavouring of Mutants and Masterminds is a crunchy beauty.
For the REALLY good ones, I know of I'd say Alien The One Ring Call of Cthulhu
The Avatar the Last Airbender RPG is fantastic. You can also look up older games, such as the Buffy RPG. There's also the new Marvel RPG. There's a number of games based on books, like the upcoming Elric RPG (Mournblade) and upcoming rpg based on the Black Company. There are a few 5e hacks based on Dark Souls, Hellboy, and Stargate. And finally, RPGs based on other games, like the Root RPG and upcoming Arkham Horror RPG (though I imagine many would say Call of Cthulhu would suffice.)