Based on the request for color art and for it to be a bit grim, then I would suggest Shadow of the Demon Lord.

It's got a few changes to how D&D, and by extension Pathfinder, operate.  It doesn't have you roll ability scores.  Your race and class just give them to you.  This is because anything over or under a 10 is a direct 1-1 bonus or penalty, I.E. a strength of 13 is a +3.  Classes are built over time, starting with the basic four, then a dozen more to choose from at level-3, and over 30 to chose from at level-7.  Max level is 12.

The big one is that the game has a built in endgame.  At level-12 you're supposed to fight the creature from the title, The Demon Lord. What that is can vary wildly.  A dragon, a powerful ghost, who knows? 

However, if you want to stick closer to the D&D/Pathfinder you know, then I say Castles & Crusades.  It's pretty much AD&D with a couple tweaks. 

If you want AD&D 2nd Edition, then it's For Gold and Glory or Hyperboria.

ACKS II ticks all your boxes. You'll also want the Auran Empire Primer and probably a few of the adventures for all the lore, as the setting is assumed as default but not forced on you by the core rulebook. (Something like how Traveller assumes an interstellar empire, but the Third Imperium takes other books.)

ACKS has a reputation as overly complex, but I've run a simpler campaign with it just by not feeling compelled to use all the back of the book chapters when I didn't need them. It started life as a modified B/X, so it's more compatible with other OSR games than it's sometimes given credit for.

Only downside is II seems to be pdf only now that we're past the kickstarter.

Damn, there's too many lol.

All are great in their own way.

You guys know of any Gothic Horror ones? Like with werewolves etc. Surprised at the lack of content on these settings out there. Basically looking for either deep dungeon stuff or settings like Carrion Crown if you guys know it Pathfinder 1e stuff.

Quote from: easywolf32 on December 24, 2024, 10:42:16 PMDamn, there's too many lol.

All are great in their own way.

You guys know of any Gothic Horror ones? Like with werewolves etc. Surprised at the lack of content on these settings out there. Basically looking for either deep dungeon stuff or settings like Carrion Crown if you guys know it Pathfinder 1e stuff.

Ravenloft being the OG of course, usually the dedicated Gothic Horror games are set in the early modern or victorian periods. Witch Hunter: The Invisible World might be worth a look if you want rules-heavy, and Savage World of Solomon Kane or Leagues of Gothic Horror for a lighter take.

For gothic horror in the medieval fantasy genre, I believe Gloomhaven might be pushing in that direction, though I haven't read it. There's some horror-y settings available for other games though. The one that pops into my head is the Shadows over Vathak setting (published for Pathfinder 1), which bills itself as Lovecraftian horror, but Lovecraftian and Gothic aren't that far off of each other. Others might know similar settings published for other games.

I think a lot of people pick a part of a broader setting to do the Gothic horror thing in. Sylvania and the Vampire Counts faction in Warhammer would be an example. Kobold Press produced an Empire of the Ghouls supplement which I believe takes place in and under their Midgard setting. There's probably a version of that for a lot of settings, though I'm blanking on them at the moment.

This might be a good time to completely change it up.  Look for a different kind of game with very different mechanics to play for a while.

Old school Call of Cthulhu is a great game as a palate cleanser.

Cyberpunk 2020 is a bit dated now but it still rocks for high tension and high lethality play.  A little home brew goes a long way to making it over into a really cool scifi game.

Traveller is excellent.  It's an easy to learn and easy to use system that gives a lot of depth.  I prefer some of the Cepheus Engine variants like Hostile.

Quote from: easywolf32 on December 24, 2024, 10:27:20 AM- Shadow of the Demon Lord Great assortment of monsters nad nice looking book and art, but don't need pentagrams on all my pages with a massive one in the end as a bonus lol, witchcraft and the devil aint fun and games peeps
- Shadow of the Weird Wizard

IF you want Shadow of the Demon Lord without (most of) the occult symbols, Shadow of the Weird Wizard is a family friendlier take on the system.

Here is a suggestion that's a bit odd, mostly because it's a traditional RPG, and old.

Palladium Fantasy, 1st edition. 

The Palladium system gets a reputation for being janky, but 1st edition fantasy game has the fewest issues.

Overall the game is pretty traditional with elves and dwarves who hate each other, playable knights, wizards, and thieves.  Where it deviates is how combat, the armor, and magic spells work.  The setting is almost a cliche fantasy world, with the possible exception of the Wolfen Empire being a thing (and heavily based on the Roman Empire).

Combat is an opposed roll of a strike vs a parry, Armor Rating determines if a hit is to the armor, which has its own hit points, or to the hit points of the person inside.  Magic is done as spells per day, any that a wizard knows, even spamming the same one over and over.

The game has a very specific world with maps and religions.  There are also 13 races in the book, plus a bunch more in all the supplement books. This includes a race of 7 foot tall wolf people that rule the northeast corner of the map.  They're part of the 13 playable races in the main book.

It has areas of the map that are gothic horror, such as the northwest corner of the map that is called the land of the damned.  But, really, the game is medieval kingdoms, dragons, orc tribes, fairytale monsters, witches, undead skeletons.

I recommend it for two reasons. 

1.  It's the best Palladium RPG to learn the rules.

2.  It's got its own story and world.  Most RPGs don't.

Pathfinder for Savage Worlds? You get all the beautiful Paizo art, the D&D feel and a great, fun system. Use whatever lore from Golarion (PF1) you want, ditch the rest. Savage Worlds has great rules for the things you're looking for, including horror.
Carrion Crown is the next adventure path to be released.

If you want D&D style rules, combined with a world that has built in lore, then Hyperboria is a good choice.

It's a lot like AD&D 2nd Ed.  Tons of classes as well.  Your basic four archetypes of Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Wizard exist, but so do every half-this + half-that class as well.  You want to be a Thief/Cleric?  That's the Purloiner, a sneaky religious disciple of the Thief god, Rel. 

Interestingly, the game doesn't have dwarves, elves, or halflings.  Instead it has a bunch of human offshoots like Vikings, Picts, Kimmerians, and Amazon women.  It's more Conan, and less Lord of the Rings.  It's set on a giant hexagon of land orbiting Saturn, kept intact by six obelisks at each corner, and includes some science fiction such as ray guns on the loot tables, yet it still has gods and magic. None of this is explained in detail.  It just is, deal with it as it isn't relevant to  your current situation anyway.

I'll also back up what Matrix Sorcica and others have mentioned.  Savage Worlds is widely regarded as the third most popular game out there, behind D&D5E and Pathfinder. The fact is you can retain your knowledge of Pathfinder's world, but play it with different rules might make SW + Pathfinder for Savage Worlds a good choice.

Quote from: easywolf32 on December 23, 2024, 09:41:13 PMand must have color art.

Ouch. That one is a pretty big limitation.

Quote from: Man at Arms on December 24, 2024, 04:38:24 PMUh........ maybe 13th Age?

Yeah that came to my mind as well. And they are coming out with a 2nd edition in 2025 I believe?

Quote from: ForgottenF on December 25, 2024, 12:27:15 AM

Quote from: easywolf32 on December 24, 2024, 10:42:16 PMDamn, there's too many lol.

All are great in their own way.

You guys know of any Gothic Horror ones? Like with werewolves etc. Surprised at the lack of content on these settings out there. Basically looking for either deep dungeon stuff or settings like Carrion Crown if you guys know it Pathfinder 1e stuff.

Ravenloft being the OG of course, usually the dedicated Gothic Horror games are set in the early modern or victorian periods. Witch Hunter: The Invisible World might be worth a look if you want rules-heavy, and Savage World of Solomon Kane or Leagues of Gothic Horror for a lighter take.

For gothic horror in the medieval fantasy genre, I believe Gloomhaven might be pushing in that direction, though I haven't read it. There's some horror-y settings available for other games though. The one that pops into my head is the Shadows over Vathak setting (published for Pathfinder 1), which bills itself as Lovecraftian horror, but Lovecraftian and Gothic aren't that far off of each other. Others might know similar settings published for other games.

I think a lot of people pick a part of a broader setting to do the Gothic horror thing in. Sylvania and the Vampire Counts faction in Warhammer would be an example. Kobold Press produced an Empire of the Ghouls supplement which I believe takes place in and under their Midgard setting. There's probably a version of that for a lot of settings, though I'm blanking on them at the moment.

Hey there, this one could be great, great suggestion, thanks.: Witch Hunter: The Invisible

Love the biblical theme to it, just hope it's not the mainstream fake ass catholic holy water and man made bullshit, but instead more biblically sound.

PS> I hate psychological horror like anything from Lovecraft/Call of Cthulu.

That pretty much covers up the gothic horror setting for a while, will look into savage worlds for Pathfinder 1E also.

If anyone knows a modern (Post 2000?) Fantasy type with plenty of werewolf one on one haunts let me know also, thanks.

Quote from: Mistwell on December 26, 2024, 11:29:31 AM

Quote from: easywolf32 on December 23, 2024, 09:41:13 PMand must have color art.

Ouch. That one is a pretty big limitation.

Yeah that one perplexes me.  Do we look at all the art while playing?

I personally dislike books that are 2/3 color art to fluff up the page count and charge me more money.

But everyone's different I suppose.

Quote from: easywolf32All are great in their own way.

That pretty much covers up the gothic horror setting for a while, will look into savage worlds for Pathfinder 1E also.

If anyone knows a modern (Post 2000?) Fantasy type with plenty of werewolf one on one haunts let me know also, thanks.

For gothic horror I can only think of Palladium Books Nightbane RPG. 

The game is set in the modern day world.  The planet Earth experienced a single day without the sun, the moon, or stars.  Dark Day.  It freaked out a lot of people, some to commit suicide.  When it was over nobody knew what to think, but then it started.  Creatures entered our world from the mirror universe, and I mean that literally. You reflection is another you. An evil you.  And these evil things want to take over. 

But we have heroes.  Kind of.  The Nightbane.  All orphans on Earth have mutated to have super powers, don't have a mirror opposite, but to use their powers they must transform into bizarre creatures that make Freddy Kruger, Pinhead, and Edward Rattlehands look cute.  Along with their other supernatural allies like vampires and wizards the human race is fighting back. 

Officially, none of this is happening.  Everything is just fine. That might be because every top leader of every nation and news organizations have already been replaced by their mirror universe doppelgänger.  So, it's all fine.  Nothing to see here.  Don't believe those absurd stories of so-called monsters.

Something like that?

FYI, the legends of werewolves comes from Nightbane of the past.  To create a Nightbane there are tons of tables to roll or pick from.  One is a Lycanthropy table.  Werewolves.

What is this weird obsession with Werewolves, but can't have anything you deem "Satanic".

Go buy Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th anniversary edition.

It's post 2000, full color, set in a Gothic World and you get to be the Werewolf.

Oh and there's nothing Satanic in it.