Role-Playing Games for People Who Don’t Like Dungeons & Dragons

Which is a shame, because there are thousands of other RPGs out there.

So if that whole vibe isnt working for you, heres a guide to searching for something better.

Different options

Theres no reason that a game has to be medieval-flavored.

you could playthe minions of a vampire or mad scientist, or anintentionally overpowered adventurer.

Wikipedia has a long, but far from complete,list of games by genre.

If theres no official game, theres often an unofficial game (check out thisHarry Potter RPG).

If theres no unofficial game, theres usually something in a matching genre.

Some systems arent even built for a specific setting or story.

Every game works a little differently, or alotdifferently.

In D&D, wizards learn specific spells independently of each other, like theyre collectible cards.

If you just want a version of D&D thats less complicated, you have tons of options.

Two of my favorites areDungeon Crawl ClassicsandDungeon World, and theyre roughly opposites.

You dont want to build friendships with non-player characters, you want to kill them and take their loot.

DCC also uses even weirder dice than D&D, likedice with 7 or 30 sides.

Theres less arithmetic, but some more abstract concepts to keep in mind.

you’ve got the option to get a lot weirder, and throw out the dice entirely.

The horror gameDreadis run with a Jenga tower.

When the tower falls, you die.

For a minimalist version of D&D, try theTiny Dungeon Roleplaying Game Handbook.

Players dont level up, and all dice rolls use a couple of regular six-sided dice.

If youre a beginner, tryPaste Magazines list of beginner RPGs(including several Ive mentioned).

For all the variety of RPGs, most of them are engineered for fighting.

But a few games avoid this cliche.

^-^ A play session lasts just an hour or two.

You could also tryThe Cloud Dungeon and ExSpelled, two cute adventure games played through imagination and papercraft.

For more games, check out theNon-video game examples sectionof this TV Tropes page.

But maybe no one in your group wants to spend hours prepping your sessions and studying the rules.

The system is meant to work with any genre or setting.

You and your fellow players are all tangled in a web of intrigue with each other.

You do roll dice, but just the regular kind.