Other TTRPG systems

As much as I like D&D, I have always been fascinated by other Tabletop Roleplaying Systems. Please tell me about some of the systems you have enjoyed or are curious about.

The ones I've tried as a player include Cyberpunk Red (I did a oneshot at a comic book shop), Vampire the Masquerade (a high school friend ran a few sessions), Star Wars (I think it was the 2000 roleplaying system, same friend did a oneshot), and Dread (I've played numerous times at my local boardgame cafe).

I've only been a DM/GM using the Dread system. It's super easy, you use a jenga tower instead of dice rolls, although it is limited to one shots. It's mainly geared towards horror stories, with the jenga tower building up tension, if you knock over the tower your character dies. You can use it for pretty much any IP or theme. The oneshot I ran with it had the player investigating the disappearance of children from transport hubs worldwide and the clues pointed to a forest in rural Scotland and a castle hidden inside it, which were turning the children into occult weapons, and it was run by a bigoted headmistress.

My collection of rulebooks keeps getting bigger and includes rulebooks for Vampire the Masquerade, Shiver, Extreme Meatpunks Forever, Monster of the Week, Hellboy GURPS, Rebel Scum, and Dread. I also have a bunch of PDFs.

I want to GM more, which mostly means I need to get better at organizing players, but if anyone has any gamemaster/dungeon master advice, I'd appreciate it.

Played monsterhearts once! Kinda awkward roleplaying a romance-heavy ttrpg with friends, and some new people I didn’t know too well, but still an interesting system with pretty fun mechanics.
I’ve also read a lot about Blades in the Dark, but haven’t had a chance to run a game yet. Seems like a really neat system. Very big picture in the way it’s played, almost like playing a part in a heist movie. You’re a crew of criminals trying to build their underground empire!
Another one I was looking into was ICON, which -similarly to BITD- looks really and vast and great for telling wide-scale stories!! It’s by the creator of Lancer which is a mech pilot ttrpg that i’ve heard a lot of good things about, and Kill Six Billion Demons which is a fantastic comic that I adore. The pdf for ICON is online for free, and it’s just about in its final stages so now is a great time to check it out! Everyone plays as a mythical hero of the land exploring dungeons that have been popping up all over the place.

Some friends and I have a very long ongoing Monster of the Week campaign that's been super fun, and is also the longest-running tabletop campaign I've been in, I think. My player character in that game is Filonyn, who you can read about on their page on my website here if you want. They're really going through it in that game. I also have an in-character bestiary that serves as sort of a summary of game events, but they're not the most reliable narrator ever. Still, it's definitely my favorite writing that I've done.


I've also played Mausritter, and, briefly, Root. I'd love to have another chance to play Root - I never got to do much with my character, Tilly, and I really liked him. Someday I'll do a writeup about her to post online, but I haven't got around to it - here's his picture, though.

That's really cool that you've used the events of the game for more writing, I look forward to reading it.

Also I love Root, although I've only played the board game. The worldbuilding is great and the art is so cute.

BraveCrab wrote:

That's really cool that you've used the events of the game for more writing, I look forward to reading it.

Also I love Root, although I've only played the board game. The worldbuilding is great and the art is so cute.

Thank you!!! And yeah, Root has such a charming setup! I'd honestly really recommend people read the rulebook even if they don't have a campaign lined up or expect to get to play one, it's a fun read even if you aren't playing the game.

Duck wrote:

Played monsterhearts once! Kinda awkward roleplaying a romance-heavy ttrpg with friends, and some new people I didn’t know too well, but still an interesting system with pretty fun mechanics.

Monsterhearts looks fun, but I get what you mean about the awkwardness, which is a shame because I love the non-combat aspects of RPGs more than the combat. When will society be more comfortable wooing with your friends instead of murdering with them