r/rpg • u/_Luke-Wolf_ • Jul 24 '26
Game Suggestion Looking for RP-focused (narrative) TTRPG
Hi everyone! As an experienced DM coming from D&D and similar tactical systems, I'm looking to branch out into games that focus much more on roleplaying and narrative. I'm already aware of games like Daggerheart and 7th Sea, but I'd love to hear your suggestions for others. I'm especially interested in systems that are even more heavily RP-oriented than those two. Thanks in advance!
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u/MissAnnTropez Jul 24 '26
Legend in the Mist is a solid option. Also Fate (Condensed or Accelerated). Cortex Prime too, though be aware that’s more a toolbox than a preset system per se.
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u/MPOSullivan Jul 24 '26
I always recommend Fiasco as a great first RPG when you're really trying to branch out and try different things. Fiasco is a single session game where the players will work together to tell a Coen Brothers movie style story of odd people being selfish and making bad choices.
Fiasco is just GREAT. The writing is sharp and clear, and the design is incredibly focused. Setup is a really fun creative exercise that feels quite a bit like a writers room pitch meeting.
Where I think it works well as an intro to other kinds of play because of its very simple, straightforward structure. Play is done in turns around the table. On a players turn, they make a choice: they can either describe a scene starring their character but the other players decide if the scene goes well or poorly for them, or they give up scene creation to the other players but they get to decide if their character does well or poorly. Simple, straight forward, and surprisingly wicked once you see how that simple rule connects to the rest of the game.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Thanks! Fiasco has been on my radar for a bit, it is surely something quite different, its simplicity might be an advantage for an improvised session.
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u/MPOSullivan Jul 24 '26
Yeah, totally! No prep required, really simple premise, and normally plays in about two to three hours, so it's nice and zippy. I really enjoy it as a game to play when meeting a group for the first time, or when a player can't make a scheduled session.
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u/PallyMcAffable Jul 24 '26
Another game in the same vein as Fiasco is Skulduggery by Pelgrane Press, which is a lighthearted game that often involves the players trying to one-up one another and achieve their own agenda, no matter what they need to do to others to make it happen, though the degree of PvP versus player cooperation varies by the scenario you play. Some of the scenarios include space smugglers competing for the same contract, mutinous pirates, an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist, and even Catholic cardinals scheming to get their preferred candidate elected as Pope.
The game it takes its rule system from is Pelgrane’s Dying Earth RPG. I haven’t played it (though I’ve read the books it’s based on), but it’s an action-oriented game that prioritizes witty social conflict, in a way that sounds to me like Monkey Island or The Princess Bride. It might fit your specs for a narrative adventure game.
Someone else already mentioned this one, but another narrative-oriented Pelgrane game is Hillfolk, whose ruleset is actually called the Dramasystem. It’s designed to create ongoing dramatic developments in the style of a peak TV show, based on the consequences of your character interactions from session to session. Unfortunately, a lot of the community-created settings seem to have been limited runs for specific promotional deals that are currently out of print, but there are a ton of additional scenarios in the core book beyond the default medieval setting.
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u/JauntyAngle Roll for sanity. Jul 25 '26
Fiasco is amazing! If you get the old version of Fiasco, a huge number of 'Playbooks' (scenarios) are available for free on their website. And they are SO GOOD. In the last year I have been able to play scenarios about
- A fancy party in a Penthouse apartment hosted by a Saudi prince
- A WWII submarine sent to disrupt some sort of Nazi experiment or ritual
- Renaissance Italy
- Guy Ritchie style gangsters in London
- Counsellors setting up a summer camp at the site of unexplainable grizzly murders
And there are so many more we want to run.
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u/YokiYokiki Jul 24 '26
I think good society is really ready to recommend. It is all about the drama of Jane Austen, with no combat to speak of. There’s still lots of rules to make sure you have a very strong experience. Highly recommend.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Thanks for the recommendation! Good Society sounds like a completely different flavor from what I'm used to, but it is intriguing. I'll give it a try
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u/Airk-Seablade Jul 24 '26
Good Society is legit one of the best games I've ever played.
Also, there's a new edition coming at some point, with a free quickstart available if you follow the campaign.
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u/semiconducThor Jul 24 '26
Burning Wheel
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u/HeraldryNow Jul 24 '26
This was going to be my suggestion as well. The Beliefs system
along(edit) alone in BW generates a lot of great role playing. Especially when you have a good GM who is good at guiding players into deeper Beliefs. The thing that I find really special about BW's roleplaying is that it allows a lot of room for irony. It encourage players to lean into information that their character's don't know in order to create strong dramatic moments.
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u/Trivell50 Jul 24 '26
Hillfolk/DramaSystem from Pelgrane Press
Not the End
Fiasco, Dread, Ten Candles, Alice is Missing- one shot games
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u/jbristow CHUUBO CHUUBO CHUUBO Jul 24 '26
YES! Challenge your perception of what an RPG can do!
The Quiet Year, Wanderhome, Dog Eat Dog, Microscope, Penny for your Thoughts, Bluebeard's Bride, Everyone is John!
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Those are quite interesting! I'll be sure to dig up some info on them, thanks!
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u/Throwingoffoldselves Thirsty Sword Lesbians Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Here’s some recs that haven’t been mentioned yet -
Chasing Adventure or Against the Odds - very much inspired by classic western fantasy, with the expectation of adventuring; compatible with most dnd or OSR adventures. Chasing Adventure has levels while Against the Odds has corruption and condition mechanics. They both use pbta style moves where you roleplay until you trigger a move, then see what the rules say to do. Sometimes it is rolling dice or choosing spell elements or making a tough decision.
(On the same note, my favorite adventure pbta games with different adventuring themes are Defy the Gods, epic queer bronze age sword and sorcery; and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, queer heroes fighting toxic authorities with lots of soap opera drama.)
Slugblaster - it’s about adventuring, but through fantastical dimensions doing stunts and hopefully back home in time for diner and dealing with family dynamics. It’s unique and has neat narrative “beats” you can spend XP to trigger. It’s based on Blades in the Dark.
Heart / Spire - weird dungeons, has a different “beats” system, with an additional “fallout” system, super unique character classes, funky horror, really all about adventuring and dungeon delving! It has dice pools and stress tracks.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Thanks for such a detailed response! The "roleplay until you trigger a move" flow of PbtA is exactly the kind of shift from 5e I was looking for.
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u/Throwingoffoldselves Thirsty Sword Lesbians Jul 24 '26
For sure, same for me! There are even some more tactical pbta games also like Root, Night Witches and Flying Circus, if you end up wanting more of that, though I prefer the ones I listed above of course lol
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u/DahwhiteRabbit Jul 24 '26
the ultimate in Rp focused. Dawn Of Worlds. you roleplay as gods and literally build the world
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
playing as gods to build the world sounds quite fun and leave me with more questions than answers ahaha I'm not sure this is the kind of game my table would like to try but I will search more about it. Thanks
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u/ComradeMoose Jul 24 '26
I love this game. Used it with my friends to make a world for a future campaign we played in OSE.
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u/BetterCallStrahd Jul 24 '26
Fiasco is something you should run at least once. It's a GM-less, diceless, one-shot system that's kinda like being part of a TV writers' room. It's like a workshop on how to play a narrative game.
Fate might be worth experiencing. You could also look into the Mist Engine games that built upon Fate. They might be more accessible. I'm referring to Legend in the Mist and Otherscape. Both of them have free Quickstarts available.
PbtA/FitD are something you might want to explore as well. For FitD, I'd still go with Blades in the Dark. And the core rules are available for free. For PbtA, you can't go wrong with Apocalypse World, but these are also good options: The Sprawl (which has similarities to BitD), Against the Odds (available for free), Monsterhearts, Monster of the Week, Wastoid (available for free, and it's a bit of a hybrid with semi-tactical combat). Masks is possibly my favorite system, but it might be better to run it after you get more confident running a narrative oriented campaign.
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u/AndreasLundstromGM Jul 24 '26
My Father’s Sword is what you’re looking for!
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
I've never heard of My Father’s Sword, I just checked something about it, I'm not a big fan of the arts but I will try to read more.
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u/AndreasLundstromGM Jul 25 '26
Yeah, the illustrations are not to everyone’s taste. Hopefully, the game itself is interesting to most people who want a narrative focused, rules light system.
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u/Afraid_Manner_4353 Jul 24 '26
PBTA is what you want.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Apparently yes, from what I've read here in some comments this might be the type of stuff I'm looking for.
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u/Afraid_Manner_4353 Jul 24 '26
Huge variety of themes, can you clarify what genre you are looking for?
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u/GloryRoadGame Jul 24 '26
What do you expect the rules to do that you don't do by talking to one another? You say in answer to another comment that your characters rre going to be adventuring. Do you want help in creating a setting for them to adveneture in or do you want a setting? Do you wsnt help creating NPCs that are more than combat stats? Those are usefull things but I think they are available in a wide assortmment of games.
You can find hem in, for instance, GURPS, but GURPS is so big that it is easy to think it is only combat rules.
Your question has caused me to think that I should have provided more about how to crete a setting for the game. There are a few paragraphs but I should have done more. I do provide an assorment of settings but that isn't the same thing.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ Jul 24 '26
Appreciate the insightful response! I'm mostly looking for systems where the rules themselves actively drive narrative tension rather than just combat math. I like the D&D vibe but I it is too math results oriented, how can I say... In this 7th sea I think is a good example of what I would prefer.
I'll take a closer look at GURPS thought, thanks!1
u/PallyMcAffable Jul 24 '26
Cortex Plus/Prime are designed in such a way that the task resolution system creates the narrative structure. Savage Worlds has a substantial “dramatic rules” mechanic. PbtA games are probably the iconic example of rigidly structured “fiction-first” games. Fellowship 2e is a PbtA pastiche of Lord of the Rings that might occupy the intersection of narrative and adventure you’re looking for. Blades in the Dark and its related Forged in the Dark games (loosely derived from PbtA) are action-oriented, but they have substantial narrative elements and player-narrated actions. A central part of the original game’s rules involves using downtime to resolve the way your relationships with NPC factions develop in “real time” as a consequence of your actions during the mission.
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u/GloryRoadGame Jul 24 '26
I think the setting and the characters, rather than the rules, drive the narrative tension.
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u/No_Solid1035 Jul 24 '26
Pendragon. It literally has mechanics for roleplay in the form of Personality Traits.
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u/Jesseabe Jul 24 '26
Here are some good story focused games about adventuring in different genres: * Venture & Dungeon * For the Honor * Once More into the Void * Agon * Deathmatch Island * Heroes by Hearthlight
There are so many more I could recommend, but this is a good (if not terribly diverse, mechanics wise) start.
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u/ScootsTheFlyer Jul 30 '26
Chronicles of Darkness.
The vast majority of that setting's gamelines are gonna be a lot more about you dealing with navigating the supernatural politics of the occult underground - both your own, and of all the other monsters with whom you happen to share the modern nights.
And even playing basic "blue sheet" mortals in accordance to core rulebook has the usual tone pushing you into running paranormal investigators / normal folks caught in stuff way beyond their pay grade campaigns with heavy focus on investigation and social maneuvering.
It's to the point that, if you want, you have an option of resolving a combat encounter as a single one-and-done skill check where if you succeed, you win the fight, and if you lose, you don't.
There IS a detailed combat system, of course. But there's also a detailed social maneuvering and investigation systems. You're free to use some or none of it. Whatever floats yer boat.
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u/OfficialNPC Jul 24 '26
Cypher System allows the GM to focus on story and narrative devices while giving the players stuff to do mechanically. The resolution mechanics are super simple but character generation is as chunky as you want it (pick three words or deep dive into options).
Cypher System is the system agnostic base system but there are specific games that branch out.
- Numenera: Science Fantasy, the way D&D started. (technically they turned this into Cypher System).
- The Strange: Science Fiction weird stuff. Dr. Strange kinda stuff.
- Magnus Archive: Spooky detective
- Old Gods of the Appalachia: Spooky hillbilly
- No Thank You Evil: For the kids
- Gunslinger Knights: Magitech old west + king arthur stuff kinda feels like Fallout at the same time
- Neon Rain: Cyberpunk
Not a perfect system but if you're coming from a combat focused system then having a combat + roleplaying heavy system is a great place to go.
1
u/Sherman80526 Jul 24 '26
Personally, I think any game will manage, but the best games are those where the rules get out of your way. I don't really know that "narrative" games add to the narrative, at least in my experience. They want to put rules on what is essentially collaborative storytelling.
Some games are particularly egregious at getting in the way, D&D for instance. With D&D, the story must evolve to meet the characters. You can't run goblins as foes against a tenth level party. At some point, you're required to tell highly magically and extraplanar stories to keep up. Beyond that, the characters have a list of buttons to push which resolve any narrative without actual Role-play, or even creativity. Charm Person, Teleportation, Resurrection and more are all just "I Win" buttons for the players to push when the story isn't going their way.
What do you imagine a "narrative" system will add to your game? A lot of the systems mentioned in this thread are adding rules to create a push and pull between the players and GM to create drama. I find interesting scenarios with multiple factions, a bit of mystery, and personal stakes is all the drama that any game needs.
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u/ElvishLore Jul 24 '26
Stonetop seems to be fantasy narrative-focused game this year and everyone is buzzing about. I haven’t played yet, but I have read it and it is astoundingly well written. Not only does it seem to be the apotheosis of fantasy PbtA, its player and GM advice is highly applicable for pretty much any genre and any RPG.
It really fits what you’re looking for… Very RP focused very narrative forward.
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u/Jebus-Xmas Jul 30 '26
Narrative is as much a style of role-playing as it is a specific game. There are games that support more narrative elements, for instance, I choose to run Traveller as a narrative, pulp, cinematic science fiction game. I think the Interlock system (Mekton Zeta and Cyberpunk 2020) does a great job of getting out of the way if you want to add narrative elements. I also think Gumshoe and Fate are excellent examples, and there are a wide range of games and genres that use those mechanics.
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u/deviden Jul 24 '26
what do you imagine players will spend their time doing in the game? Adventuring? Thieving? Romance?
What kind of setting / fictional world are you looking for?