A Look At Other Fantasy RPGs Instead Of Dungeons And Dragons

The 2024 version of Dungeons and Dragons is in the hands of fans. Many are excited by the shift in direction of these books. D&D has never been more popular and these books are geared to help newer players understand the game better.

For some fans, however, new corebooks come as a bit of a crossroads. Buying new books and learning rules changes can put some players and Dungeon Masters off from continuing their games. Those groups might be wondering what other games are out there.

If you’ve been following my writing about games on the internet, you know I love talking about the big, bright, beautiful selection of role playing games beyond D&D. I’ve put together a list of games that still have a central mechanic of rolling a d20, class and level based character structure and have a fantasy adventure focus. It is not an exhaustive collection by any means but each of the games below is a good place to take a first wobbly step into a larger world.

Pathfinder Second Edition Remastered

Pathfinder began as a spin-off from the Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. It has since evolved into one of the most popular alternatives for players who want a solid, balanced mechanical baseline and a game that offers deep customization of characters. Pathfinder Second Edition Remastered took a further step away from its roots recently removing elements like alignment to establish itself as a unique game.

Paizo recently released a new version of Guns and Gear which allows Game Masters to add in elements of steampunk with rules for firearms, classes like the gunslinger and inventor, plus ways to build items that blend magic and technology in unique ways. This is my favorite book for the line because I think it really helps the game stand out from its older sibling, which is generally shy about guns in any of its official worlds. There are also plenty of online resources curious players can use to check out the rules and Paizo often rolls out Humble Bundles to give people a head start on their collections.

Old School Essentials

Many long time fans of D&D have their favorite edition of the game. They’ll stick to those books but there are also companies that produce games inspired by those rules. These games are often called OSR games for Old School Renaissance and they prize cautious play and wits over flashy magic and big combat.

Old School Essentials is one of the big names in this space. They’ve taken one of the most popular versions of D&D and republished it with a better eye to organization and use at the table. They’ve also embraced support of a robust field of third party contributors with those products compatible with other games in the OSR world.

Mörk Borg

Another OSR title that’s blossomed due to its embrace of outside producers is Mörk Borg. This Swedish artpunk RPG boils down the rules even further to eliminate skills and make characters flavorful yet fragile. The world has already ended in this game and players are just trying to survive by slaying the monsters unleashed by apocalyptic events.

This game has inspired dozens of other games but two have stood out to me. Pirate Borg focuses on nautical fantasy by setting this cataclysm during the golden age of piracy. Vast Grimm moves the action into space for a game that feels more like 90’s video games like Doom or Quake.

Shadowdark

Shadowdark takes Fifth Edition and strips it down to the bare essentials while using art inspired by the black and white illustrations of games from the 70’s and 80’s. It also uses the concept of a burning torch as a bit of real time clock management. It cuts down on players showing off TikToks and getting into debates over the best Star Trek show when they know they are on the clock in the dungeon.

There are three official expansions that offer new classes, spells and areas to explore. The publisher, The Arcane Library, will be looking to expand into new zines with a Kickstarter due to launch this spring. Shadowdark is a personal favorite because of its simplicity, speed and lethality for anyone who wants a classic dungeon crawl experience.

Shadow Of The Weird Wizard

Robert J. Schwalb is a game designing machine. He was one of the designers on Fifth Edition and has been working in the industry for years. His most recent release, Shadow Of The Weird Wizard, keeps the basics of D&D while streamlining almost everything about it.

The game is an update of his much darker Shadow of the Demon Lord. It shifts into more heroic fantasy which he supposed with dozens of small, inexpensive microreleases rather than large books. My favorite part is building characters which allow for multiclassing that’s as easy as snapping LEGO bricks together.

Dragonbane

Free League Publishing published an adaptation of Sweden’s Drakar och Demoner as Dragonbane in 2023. The absolutely packed boxed set contains everything a group needs to play the game like dice, maps, rules and even a full 10 story adventure path. For groups who want to venture into a new game without buying a bunch of new books, this is a fantastic value.

The biggest adjustment here is the game is to roll under a target number rather than roll over one. Players can choose to reroll a failed roll by selecting a condition that penalizes further rolls. What I love about this mechanic is that the conditions are emotional states which gives players direction on how their characters feel by all the fighting and fleeing that happens in the dungeon

Tales of the Valiant/Level Up

This pair of titles can be viewed as either new games on their own or toolboxes full of alternative rules options that a Dungeon Master can use to customize their Fifth Edition Games. Tales Of The Valiant comes from Kobold Press which has been a producer of great D&D 5e content from the beginning. Level Up is produced by the folks who run EN World, one of the top RPG news sites out there.

Tales Of The Valiant is a great choice for groups that still want to play Fifth Edition but don’t want to buy any more books from Wizards of the Coast. In addition to this budding game line, the books they produce are now compatible with their game as well as Fifth Edition. I really enjoy their Campaign Builder series, of which their most recent release, Dungeons & Ruins, is full of great advice on how to build dangerous places for players to explore.

For fans who enjoy the basics of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition but wish there were more options, Level Up brings more engaging mechanics to the game. Simplicity is one of the reasons Fifth Edition has become to popular but after 10 years of it, even newer players are seeking out more complex options that merge mechanics and narrative more closely. My favorite example of this in Level Up is the Destiny mechanic, which gives each player a personal storyline to pursue and rewards them with a new ability when they resolve it in game.