Has Hasbro Broken D&D for you? Let's suggest other systems for people to try!

[Retry]

Originally Posted by Demandredd

but I also can't throw away the hundreds of pounds I've spent on 5e material.

Before getting to your question it bears stressing that no one is asking you to throw away your purchased material! You own those products, what you do with them - whether you play with them or leave them to collect dust means absolutely nothing to WotC.

Those of us who are suggesting boycotting the company are suggesting instead not to buy any new books, subscriptions, or media from them.

You can still play 5e. I highly doubt it will go away. Although, this is a time where other systems have a chance to grow - I know the pf community has certainly seized this opportunity on reddit.

---

Back to your question however - that is a subjective one and there is no one answer.

As mentioned 5e isn't going away and there are some quite excited to see what One DND has to offer. If you wish to go for a more narration/story-focused game that can work well in pbp, then I'd suggest looking at some of the PbtA games suggested here. The Cypher system I recommended also works great in pbp. So long as you keep a healthy OOC going somehow you should be golden.

[Lazer]

Originally Posted by Demandredd

The question I would like to throw out there is which systems do people feel are most suited to PbP play, since this is pretty much my primary and only form of role-playing? Things to consider would be which systems streamline combat to such an extent that running them in PbP format can be done without having to mess about with the rules too much to get them to fit, or alternatively place the focus more on the narrative rather than the dice-rolling?

Orcbane has been working on a TTRPG system specifically tailored to PbP. I don't feel confident analysing mechanics but if anyone else does, have a look over it and let Orcbane know what you think.

[jr1v3]

I really wanted to try pathfinder 2 but it seems there aren't so much games using it. THe haacter creations seems overwhelming compared to D&D 5e but I like the system. Pathfinder 1e seems nice too but I still don get used to the overwhelming options it does have.I always have to ask some veteran player to recommend me feat and trait related in the kind of character you want to play. Also, in PF 1e you really have to plan to character from ground zero.

[FCastor]

Originally Posted by jr1v3

I really wanted to try pathfinder 2 but it seems there aren't so much games using it. THe haacter creations seems overwhelming compared to D&D 5e but I like the system. Pathfinder 1e seems nice too but I still don get used to the overwhelming options it does have.I always have to ask some veteran player to recommend me feat and trait related in the kind of character you want to play. Also, in PF 1e you really have to plan to character from ground zero.

Pathfinder 1E is very expansive. And while loads and loads of options can be a good thing, it does feel pretty bloated nowadays. Even I find it overwhelming and it is the system I have played the most. I can only imagine what it looks like to a newcomer. And if you think 5E can be "broken", as in "create characters that can break the system"... oh, boy, have I got news for you!

Pathfinder 2E, on the other hand, is quite a bit more streamlined. It still is more mechanically complex than D&D 5E, though nowhere near PF1E, but the consensus seems to be that it cannot be "broken", so to speak. One can build a character with theme and flavor in mind, picking skills and feats that fit the concept they have in their mind, and still be effective mechanically. The gap between a role-player and a roll-player or min-maxer appears to be smaller than ever as PF2E focuses more on party strength rather than individual character strength. This can also mean that an encounter needs to be approached with teamwork in mind, lest it prove deadly (and it does seem to be the case that PCs can more or less wade through lower-level threats but actually hit a wall with higher-level ones, something the GM -and the players, for that matter- should keep in mind).

Not that it is perfect of course. One gripe that comes to mind, especially when coming from 5E, would be spellcasting. While there are several mitigating factors now, PF2E retains Vancian casting.

On the other hand, one thing that really bugs me with 5E is how restrictive it feels or is when it comes to skills and feats, the latter of which is actually an optional rule, if I am not mistaken. It is extremely hard to gain skills beyond the ones chosen at character creation; I believe you have to either multiclass or get feats that grant skills in order to do so. And ASIs and feats depend on class levels rather than character levels, which can make a somewhat scarce resource even more so.

[BlackDragon0]

OK so I have played battle Hamer, hero quest , dnd, adnd2e, dnd 5e, pathfinder, starfinder, masks, serenity, and a d6 system I'm not sure of.

Battle hammer was easy. Hero quest as well just different d6 dice. Masks the next easiest to understand. 5e the easiest dnd. Both dnd and 2e were thaco based hard but once you understand it it's easy. Serenity is crazy but not to difficult. Starfinder and pathfinder are hard to ch build, harder to figure out. I just do what I know from 5e and hope to get by. And the d6 one I'm not sure I totally get it but when I do I'm sure it'll be easy.

[jr1v3]

Originally Posted by FCastor

Pathfinder 1E is very expansive. And while loads and loads of options can be a good thing, it does feel pretty bloated nowadays. Even I find it overwhelming and it is the system I have played the most. I can only imagine what it looks like to a newcomer. And if you think 5E can be "broken", as in "create characters that can break the system"... oh, boy, have I got news for you!

Pathfinder 2E, on the other hand, is quite a bit more streamlined. It still is more mechanically complex than D&D 5E, though nowhere near PF1E, but the consensus seems to be that it cannot be "broken", so to speak. One can build a character with theme and flavor in mind, picking skills and feats that fit the concept they have in their mind, and still be effective mechanically. The gap between a role-player and a roll-player or min-maxer appears to be smaller than ever as PF2E focuses more on party strength rather than individual character strength. This can also mean that an encounter needs to be approached with teamwork in mind, lest it prove deadly (and it does seem to be the case that PCs can more or less wade through lower-level threats but actually hit a wall with higher-level ones, something the GM -and the players, for that matter- should keep in mind).

Not that it is perfect of course. One gripe that comes to mind, especially when coming from 5E, would be spellcasting. While there are several mitigating factors now, PF2E retains Vancian casting.

On the other hand, one thing that really bugs me with 5E is how restrictive it feels or is when it comes to skills and feats, the latter of which is actually an optional rule, if I am not mistaken. It is extremely hard to gain skills beyond the ones chosen at character creation; I believe you have to either multiclass or get feats that grant skills in order to do so. And ASIs and feats depend on class levels rather than character levels, which can make a somewhat scarce resource even more so.

Now that I hear your opinion, that just make me more eager to try pathfinder 2e. I have a character concept (a human swashbuckler ronin of pf 1e) I would like to play.

[FCastor]

Originally Posted by jr1v3

Now that I hear your opinion, that just make me more eager to try pathfinder 2e. I have a character concept (a human swashbuckler ronin of pf 1e) I would like to play.

Here are a couple of videos that seem to be right up your alley. They may also interest anyone considering trying PF2E out or curious about the differences between it and D&D 5E.

Part 1

Part 2

[jr1v3]

Originally Posted by FCastor

Here are a couple of videos that seem to be right up your alley. They may also interest anyone considering trying PF2E out or curious about the differences between it and D&D 5E.

Part 1

Part 2

THanks!, I would need then to find a game to play!

[jr1v3]

GOOD NEWS!! WOTC recoiled!! they will leave OLG 1.0a like it was and they will release the SRD contend under the license Creative commons 5.1! WEEEE WOOOON HEEEEEEEEELL YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

[Inuvash255]

"You may have thought you won, but you're wrong. Both of us won." - Someone at WotC, probably

[Inuvash255]

But really, that's basically the best case scenario at this point! Glad it's over... for now. :X

[Aethera]

I'm late to the discussion, and I'm glad WOTC realized their error and backtracked.

That said, if you love D&D 5e, you might want to consider 13th Age. It was designed by one of the 3e guys and one of the 4e guys plus others, and it's a nice middleground. It's also not a WOTC product (Pelgrane Press), which is a lovely thing. But everything is free to play, now that OGL 1.0a is going to stay intact.

I'm not as active as I used to be, but I'd be happy to answer questions about it. It hasn't been hugely popular on this site, but most of us who were big proponents of the system had life things pull us away.

All this to say, it's a good system, and for 5e fans it might be a gentler transition than something percentile-based.

EDIT: Oh! I guess I can puff up and spout stuff about getting my 13th Age game into the RPGX Hall of Fame in 2020, but that was the quality of the players I was honored to GM for, not so much the system. It's on hiatus at present, but who knows.

[Demandredd]

Even though they have walked back the changes, I think the damage has been done for some people. I was already left cold by the all-digital future they seem to be moving towards for One D&D / 6th Edition / Whatever you want to call it. I'm old-school, and I like the feel of the books in my hands, and I don't like the potential for abuse there will be with microtransactions in the new edition going forwards. For One D&D I strongly suspect there will be a new OGL for that that will impose the same restrictions WotC was looking for here.

Whatever happens I guess its time to move over to Paizo, I at least trust them not to attempt the same shenanigans WotC have.

[Lazer]

I'm generally pro-tech, I like the convenience of having PDFs of books because I can read them anywhere, and having character sheet apps which can do all of the maths for me, but I really hate the idea of having a system gated behind a site which charges subscriptions. The subscription-based model in general seems to be getting overused these days, and it's particularly noticeable for me at work (as a bursar at a small school) where our subscription expenses have gone up by about 600% over the last ten years.

[Retry]

I've quickly compiled most of the suggested systems for ease of discovery. I attempted to grab a landing page, if any, via searching and fell back on the DrivethruRPG page for the game if I couldn't find one.
Admittedly, I didn't give too much effort into finding landing pages because I don't want to lose too much time when I owe games posts

Game list Alternative games that you should 100% take a look at!~: Sorted alphabetically 13th Age Blades in the Dark (BitD) Forged in the Dark (FitD) Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants Champions Complete CY_BORG Cyberpunk Red Cypher System Defiant Deviant Earthdawn FFG Star Wars Roleplaying Games Fragged Kingdom Genesys Heart: The City Beneath Modiphius 2d20 systems (such as Conan, Star Trek, Fallout, etc.) MORK BORG Mouse Guard Mutants and Masterminds 2e Numenera Old/New World of Darkness (OWoD/NWoD) Pathfinder Powerd by the Apocalypse (PbtA) Masks Thirsty Sword Lesbians SIGMATA: This Signal Kills Fascists Spire: The City Must Fall The Crossing RPG [v0.3] (made by orcbane) Wanderhome

@Lazer - Can you copy this and merge it into your intial post for any others who might wander in?