So, here I'm going to be talking about five different roleplaying games in the pen & paper sphere which I would recommend as a nice alternative to the mighty dungeon delver from Wizards Of The Coast.
Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 4th Edition
The first is the roleplaying game shown up above, Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. Set within the Old World of Warhammer by Games Workshop you take on the role of regular folk who get drawn into terrible and strange situations, a perfect grimdark narrative.One of the big draws for the game is that it has you playing as characters who are the lowest of the low, fighting odds that they are never meant to tackle and slowly but surely carving out your heroic stories.
The new edition by Cubicle 7 has done a lot to solve the swingy nature of the mechanics in both 1st and 2nd Edition but it has still retained what made it great. There is still a nice degree of brutality to the rules and combat and it is just as weird as before. Magic is still a dangerous road to wander down and corruption and more await around every corner.
If you like the idea of playing a grimdark Fantasy roleplaying game then I would highly recommend Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play.
Savage Worlds
Creating sessions for a group can take a really long time and so that's where games like Savage Worlds come in. This system is incredibly easy to play and can be bolted onto any setting you like.
Running off a really brutal and heroic set of mechanics which make you feel like the cast of a Hollywood film, Savage Worlds is a great sandbox for people who want to tell one-shot stories in particular. I use it to tell tales of Pulp adventures akin to Indiana Jones and The Mummy and each session has been exceptionally fun.
A key thing for me that really needs focusing on is the amount of agency it gives the players. Your group is encouraged to really be creative with both what they do and what they say. This then feeds into what you're doing as the Storyteller and allows you plenty of freedom.
The game also works very well with miniatures and there a lot of rules for playing out map-based stories so if you're interested in transferring over into roleplaying from wargames then I would highly recommend it as a starting point.
Dragon Age
One of the longest-running campaigns I have ever run been in charge of used this system from Green Ronin. Set in the world of Dragon Age, which I was a massive fan of, the game really lets you dive into the lore and tell some pretty intense stories.
Much like with Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play the setting for Dragon Age is pretty grimdark so you can have a lot of fun horrifying your players with all sorts of strange tales and monstrous foes.
The game also runs off a very simple and easy-to-use system of 3D6 alongside what are called Stunts. Combat is very simple and brutal (although it does get a bit iffy at higher levels) and the Stunts help to give more help to newcomers.
Each player is presented with a table of things they can spend their Stunt Dice on so if you're unsure of what to do beyond just hitting that Genlock you can consult the chart and push it around, sunder its armour and all sorts of different things. It takes a bit of getting used to but the Stunt system is a really nice addition to the game and we had a lot of fun with it.
Currently, Green Ronin has combined all of its previous Dragon Age products into one core book so you have a one-stop-shop of options as a Storyteller and gamer. It is handy to try and get your hands on some of the accessories though too.
This has further been expanded by Green Ronin into Fantasy AGE and Modern AGE so if you're looking for a generic Fantasy system or one that works for Sci-Fi games they also have options there too.
The Deep Dark
The Deep Dark is a roleplaying game that I found on Kickstarter not long ago. This small indie designer was looking to bring together the old school feel of the dungeon crawler alongside new mechanics which felt like they gave the players more agency.
Much like with some of the other choices here the game has a darker side and there is a genuine sense of darkness and foreboding about your adventures but one of the key things about it is as that it puts a lot of focus on your players and their choices.
Dungeons come together very naturally and you're encouraged to draw them out as go you. Members of your party will also be charting the lands looking for safe havens and such so as the campaign develops you'll start to build up a living and breathing world for your players to explore.
A new and updated take on The Deep Dark is also in the works by the creator which you can find more about here but the Quickstart for the game is pretty cheap and well worth downloading. It takes minutes to read through and should provide you with a lot of nostalgia as you sit doodling dungeons and coming up with classic characters.
Fiasco
Last but not least we have a roleplaying game which is more of a party game. In Fiasco something is going to go wrong. You play as characters who are trying to push the story forward through a series of scenes, developing the story cooperatively towards its end goal.
Everyone is encouraged to get involved as you're coming up with places for the scenes to be set, motivations for the characters and ways in which it will all play out. I have had a lot of fun playing this game, especially with the use of a Jenga tower which is effectively a way for you to track the crumbling story you've set up.
Almost like a built-in timer the game slowly gets more and more desperate and it has ended in some fantastic ways both times I've played it.
Fiasco is very different from other games out there and certainly more for those who feel comfortable doing a bit of improv. It's not for those who like to maths things out and work the variables as they hack their way through a dungeon.
Hopefully, this gives you some interesting games to go and research further. If I was to offer some more advice I'd also check out these games if you have time...
...each of them provides something different, especially the likes of Mouse Guard and Goblin Quest. If you're trying to get kids into roleplaying games I'd also suggest Tails Of Equestria by River Horse Games.
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