In another thread I heard about this game called Radiance by Dario Nardi.

The handbook PDF is free.

DT-RPG Radiance Free Player Handbook

I had a look over it, and I'm surprised I haven't seen it before.  It's from 2012 or so, last updated in 2017. For a 15 year old game that's free, you would expect it to be better known.

It's based on D&D 3.5, with some 4E and 5E bits. 

One of the biggest differences is that magic runs off of Vitality points, which are hit points by another name. The type that regenerate fast from resting.

The other is that armor is a Damage Reduction based.  It doesn't raise your AC.  It soaks up the first few points of damage you take.

The third thing is that you don't have AC.  You have three of them called Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.  Everything that attacks you is going to have to beat a target number, but how they attack you determines which of those three defensive numbers is their target to beat on the good, old D20. 

I like this game.  It is complex compared to what I like, but this one is well written.  Hell, it even keeps things on single or twin pages, a great editing trick to make things easy to read. 

Thanks as I wasn't aware of this and will have to check it out.  Just from a quick glance, it looks visually/asthetically very much like a 3e D20 product (as in the official D20 licensing program that was the more prestigous version of the OGL).   Just flipping through the pages reminded me of the old 3e Mongoose titles.

Very nice for a freebie!

Just keep in mind there is no GM material or Beastiary. 

That is sold separately.  And I do mean sold.  That might be how this game is monetized.  Free Player Handbook PDF, but the GM PDF is $8.

DT-RPG GM Guide

Quote from: RNGm on January 13, 2025, 06:38:11 PMThanks as I wasn't aware of this and will have to check it out.  Just from a quick glance, it looks visually/asthetically very much like a 3e D20 product (as in the official D20 licensing program that was the more prestigous version of the OGL).  Just flipping through the pages reminded me of the old 3e Mongoose titles.

Yeah, that's the same thing I was thinking.  It's very 3E.  Very professional looking as well.

And this has been available for a decade, more or less.  Yet, nobody is talking about it.

We have ForgottenF to thank for finding it and posting it in another thread.

I remember when this came out.  It was discussed quite heavily on RPGNet (before the woke takeover), but I don't recall seeing much about it in other circles.  I do remember thinking it was a pretty cool adaption, but I never did anything with it as there were a lot of other things occupying my gaming time then.  Be interesting to go back and look at it now that I have another decade and a half of gaming experience.

Yup, this is an old one. I remember reading it. Definitely too crunchy for my taste, but well done.

Its nice they have a free PHB, if you like it paying 8 bucks for the DMG+MM sounds more than reasonable.

I think the printed books are spendy, but on second thought it might be better than I thought.

D&D books are expensive.

Hell, my twin brother got a full set of Hyperborea 3E books, and I'm thinking that was $140 or so for all of them.

$35 and $25 for a hardcover PH and DM/MM (currently on sale) isn't unreasonable.

I'm more curious about game mechanics than anything else.  It's got what I like about RPGs.

1.  Martial classes need to be customizable like spell casters
2.  Lots of races and classes.
3.  Armor Class needs to be replaced by something else.  I prefer a save throw, but damage reduction works too.
4.  Magic should be non-Vancian.

I'll even admit that a couple of my favorite games don't use all of that.  But it helps.

Radiance does have all of that.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 13, 2025, 02:04:50 PMOne of the biggest differences is that magic runs off of Vitality points, which are hit points by another name. The type that regenerate fast from resting.

For anyone who's played it or anything like this, how well did this work, and how did it affect player decisions?  I quite like this idea and went back and forth for a long time on using this in my game, but in the end went with a different approach.

This is one of the 3.x derivatives released after 4e, intending to continue the legacy. Like all the others, it was buried by Pathfinder.

Radiance in particular seems to be inspired by the d20 SAGA rules. Those are neat innovations that were sadly discarded by both Pathfinder and D&D5e.