I really love role playing games. Specifically the pen and paper type - table top role playing games. This year I think I landed on what is currently my favorite system Dragonbane". I’m going to lay out why I’m so taken with it.
First and foremost the game is simple but not too simple. It’s easy to set up. It’s not too hard to run. It’s easy to play. Honestly, it’s probably easy to run, but I’m learning it as I’m running it and I don’t care what the system is, when I DM I try to do all I can to carry my part, and it never feels “easy”.
I have tried PBTA stuff in a search for ease, but the lack of structure actually made it harder for me. I need some help. I play D&D regularly but man, there is a lot to manage. Sure, there are even more crunchy games, but for me D&D is a lot. And when I’m thinking about getting together a group of players and having fun, I know the odds of success are a lot higher when no one needs to buy books or spend a ton of time studying and preparing. With very little, people can pick up and start playing Dragonbane very quickly.
I know a good number of people who think they want to play D&D but I really don’t think they do. They want to do what they’ve seen in movies and shows. And Dragonbane really delivers that. Quickly they are playing, rolling, and having fun.
Second, it’s a D20 game. Ok - this is lame but I’m telling you it’s facts. People love having a nice mix of polyhedrals. They love rolling that d20. They love learning the difference between d10 and d12, etc. I love it. Sure we can play a game where we just roll d6s, but it’s fun to have a wider range of dice.
Third, it’s a fantasy setting a lot of people know. I’ve played a lot of fantasy games. When I put together my current group I was open to any setting. But they are all new to ttrpgs and they wanted fantasy. So this goes back to point one a bit, in that along with ease, having an attractive setting increases the size of potential players by quite a bit. I am incredibly enamoured with Mausritter for example, but it’s harder to find people who want to play it on a more long term basis.
Fourth, it has good publisher support and is growing. All right, I don’t know for a fact that it’s growing. But here is what I see. Kickstarters for Dragonbane stuff that are destroying the goals in a matter of hours. There is a huge catalog of material in Swedish that’s getting translated and re-worked. Free League have a great 3rd party license and there is tons of good content. It sucks to find a system you are excited about, but it is essentially dead. Dragonbane is alive and moving and right now you can purchase enough content to be playing for years.
I’m sure there’s more but that’s a good start of a list.