I'm done with that freakshow, Pathfinder 1E, excellent, great stuff. Started looking into 2e and nearly puked.
Anyone know an RPG that's lore and dungeon/towers/ruins/castles heavy, normal horror, not too much satanic and occult crap, wildreness is cool, taverns gothic look style with some werewolves running around. You guys know what I'm talking about.
No woke crud though please, and must have color art.
PS> Something like Old school essentials with it's awesome rules but in color and more lore would be fantastic.
I'm trying to think of other games that are as well supported as Pathfinder 1. Really nothing is other than 3.5 D&D itself, but some come closer than others.
If you want to go down the scale in terms of complexity, Castles & Crusades would probably be a good bet. If you want something with equivalent crunch, Fantasy Craft is very similar, but I believe it's black and white art. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, maybe? Roughly equal crunch, albeit with a different underlying system, and the 4th edition at least has color art. Fantasy Age roughly fits into that niche as well, but you'll have to ask others about it. I've only ever skimmed the books. Shadow of the Demon Lord might fit the bill. It has a horror aesthetic to the books, but there's no reason you couldn't run it as straight classic fantasy. There's a less-dark version out called Shadow of the Weird Wizard, but since it's brand new I don't think it's well supported (and I don't know how woke it may or may not be).
Dragonbane might be worth checking out. It has really nice color art and it seems to tick many of the boxes you mention. I don't know how deep the lore is, though.
I didn't catch the bit about lore the first time around. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying definitely has you covered there. One of the most lore-rich fantasy universes out there and very easy to brush up on. There are literally dozens of Youtube channels devoted to it.
The expectation with most D&D alternatives is that they'll be at least mostly setting-neutral, and then you take the game and run your preferred setting with it. So you could easily take something like OSE or Castles and Crusades and then just keep running Golarion or start getting into something like Mystara or Midgard. Both have many books devoted to them.
Castles & Crusades if you want something closer to AD&D. It's the spiritual successor, basically AD&D 3rd edition and it was actually designed FOR Gary Gygax to have a set of rules similar to AD&D to publish his adventures. They just came out with their "Reforged" (read: non-OGL) books.
It has a default setting that's heavily inspired by Germanic mythology, but it can get pretty in-depth and a little boring, kind of like reading The Silmarillion.
Quote from: ForgottenF on December 23, 2024, 11:50:25 PMWarhammer Fantasy Roleplaying definitely has you covered there.
If you can get your hands on 2e*, it plays very well. 3e is not what you are looking for. 4e is beautiful to look at, but the crunch of the mechanics is a bit too much in places.
* I believe the pdfs are easy to purchase online.
I'll recommend Shadow of the Demon Lord, or its less-grimdark cousin Shadow of the Weird Wizard.
Guys, thanks for the recommendations I'm going to list them all here so I can look into them today in order. I should mention Warhammer confuses me, I'm not sure what it's all about, I just have the idea of guns and cannons mixed with fantasy stuck in my head, or the limited amount of monsters, I always picture vast armies just fighting each other. Am I completely wrong here? Is there a wife enough bestiary in this?
BTW, when you guys say crunch do you mean like the stats and fighting style? I really don't care about that part, I'm really just a lore, story and settings guy. I really love the rules of Old School Essentials and I guess D&D BX/E? The part about hiding in the shadows, wandering monsters and not attacking the monsters themselves all the time is appealing to me for a dungeon setting. Basically more strategy but not where it becomes into a stealth rogue type. Never liked rogues either lol, I always choose Fighter and Paladin but a bit tired of the straight up just fighting part and basically always winning etc..
- Castles & Crusades
- Fantasy Craft ---- I dug up everywhere, not much besides a black and white book and an RPG game that looked so - so.
- Fantasy Age ----- Looked interesting, but noticed quite a few woke crap
- 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
- Dragonbane That wyrm cover is like one of my all time favorites, I think I'm going to check this out, Symbaroum, Vaesen, Alien, and more from Free League Publishing.
- Mystara ----- Looks interesting
- Midgard ----- Looks VERY interesting
- Warhammer
PS> Found another great one Lex Occultum, gothic type.
Why not go back to Pathfinder 1E? Why did you migrate in the first place? That might give a clue to what might be satisfying.
Quote from: easywolf32 on December 24, 2024, 10:27:20 AMGuys, thanks for the recommendations I'm going to list them all here so I can look into them today in order. I should mention Warhammer confuses me, I'm not sure what it's all about, I just have the idea of guns and cannons mixed with fantasy stuck in my head, or the limited amount of monsters, I always picture vast armies just fighting each other. Am I completely wrong here? Is there a wife enough bestiary in this?
BTW, when you guys say crunch do you mean like the stats and fighting style? I really don't care about that part, I'm really just a lore, story and settings guy. I really love the rules of Old School Essentials and I guess D&D BX/E? The part about hiding in the shadows, wandering monsters and not attacking the monsters themselves all the time is appealing to me for a dungeon setting. Basically more strategy but not where it becomes into a stealth rogue type. Never liked rogues either lol, I always choose Fighter and Paladin but a bit tired of the straight up just fighting part and basically always winning etc..
- 3.5 D&D
- Castles & Crusades
- Fantasy Craft
- Fantasy Age
- Shadow of the Demon Lord
- Shadow of the Weird Wizard
- Dragonbane
- Mystara
- Midgard
- Warhammer
Since you're a lore guy, I'll float a couple of Youtube recommendations on the settings I mentioned.
For Warhammer Fantasy, there's a lot of channels. I think The Book of Choyer (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxbR0SRy9VpBWgkbLqmRGysJxvZLoEft3) is considered a good middle-of-the-road channel by most. I'm partial to Arch's lore videos myself, and have re-ordered them (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLChESs_u7EVqMBuKlW_MhqT4xoUBUfr0X) to give to players for a WFRP campaign I'm planning. Just started watching The Inept General (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXjy66zEwAoTev_AQ_TGH-z1dxM122ESI) as well. The latter two frame their videos as speculation around the Total War Warhammer computer games, but it's all lore from the tabletop games.
For Mystara Mr. Welch (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI27Za9sqyRVnc9-naoDIWQ_6MM6ONwQy) Is very much
the guy on that topic. If you look around on the internet, you can find a sourcebook he wrote for the setting for 5e which I think was published for free. BECMI Berserker (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWDOtS6ogHeek3lGHbHwMgoNZo6KFaY2E) has been walking through the setting books as well.
I'm not as into Midgard, but it seems like you really have to go to The Book (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/105276/midgard-campaign-setting) for it. That said, this guy (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjO5Ppt1i9gl27-urLZXD9wMxEsEHPRsz) has a playlist talking about it (which I haven't seen).
I updated that post, good points on Midgard and Mystara, and Pathfinder 1E, also found another interesting one called Lex Occultum.
Uh........ maybe 13th Age?
I didn't think of it before, but 7th Sea is another lore-heavy game. Good production values, too.
EDIT: On the subject of production value, I think the best looking RPG I've ever seen is Trudvang Chronicles. Nobody plays it, though, and I think it's out of print.
Another really good one is Shadows of Esteren
https://portal.esteren.org/en
It is a beautifully presented game, with traditional art, a gothic setting, and is largely human-focused (you don't play elves, dwarves, etc.)
it is also relatively rules-light and easy to pick up
Lots of moldering castles, abandoned monasteries, etc.
just keep playing pf1. grab some 3.0/.5 content. why does it matter if it's in colour?
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 AMQuote 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 AMQuote 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.
For Gothic horror, there's the version of Masque of the Red Death that Sword & Sorcery/White Wolf put out for D&D 3.5. It's set in a gothic horror version of Earth in the 1890s.
Dont you like 2E? I think its great. My problem is that more and more Paizo seems to be Marketing exclusively to woke leftist 10 year old girls. They gonna turn Golarion into a petting zoo. Imo just keep the content that is good and create content that is better. Nobody will arrest you for homebrew.
Although its not like anything like pathfinder. It also has its own campaign setting I havent looked into...
Open legend is a great rules lite TTRPG
Quote from: weirdguy564 on December 26, 2024, 08:20:09 PMQuote 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.
Something like that?
HELL NO LOL.
Quote from: Orphan81 on December 27, 2024, 06:12:23 PMWhat 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.
Looked into it, but not into werewolf clans..
Quote from: Ruprecht on December 24, 2024, 10:39:52 AMWhy not go back to Pathfinder 1E? Why did you migrate in the first place? That might give a clue to what might be satisfying.
This and the Witch Hunter (For Victorian-Gothic) were the best suggestions, thanks.
I'm really liking what I'm seeing from Forgotten Realms though. That's what I call High Fantasy. This book looks great: The Grand History of the Realms. Anyone know of a Forgotten Realms book adventure set in big dungeons or classic horror setting?
I'm more of a reader than a player to be honest.
Sounds like you're good with Pathfinder 1E, but you just need more adventures/setting stuff in color?
Have you checked out Kobold Press' Midgard campaign setting? It looks like they are mostly creating new stuff for 5E, but both Noble Knight and DTRPG have their Pathfinder stuff (here's a DTRPG bundle: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/174219/midgard-pathfinder-bundle).
Quote from: easywolf32 on December 23, 2024, 09:41:13 PMI'm done with that freakshow, Pathfinder 1E, excellent, great stuff. Started looking into 2e and nearly puked.
Anyone know an RPG that's lore and dungeon/towers/ruins/castles heavy, normal horror, not too much satanic and occult crap, wildreness is cool, taverns gothic look style with some werewolves running around. You guys know what I'm talking about.
No woke crud though please, and must have color art.
PS> Something like Old school essentials with it's awesome rules but in color and more lore would be fantastic.
is it the setting itself that made you vomit? or the rules? If you liked 1e's setting... and you're familiar with the lore, you could always simply run it on a cleaner non-Woke chassis - Savage Worlds Pathfinder.
Otherwise I'd highly recommend just going with an older D&D edition (1e or 2e) and go hog wild.
Based on your descriptions of what you're looking for - it sounds like Symbaroum might be the setting for you. I've never run it, but the setting is literally everything you're asking for.
OR... if you want something a little different, I'm always pimping out Talislanta. It's entirely free (except the new edition - which doesn't matter, as it's 99% mostly the same material.) Go to their website, they've made all previous editions freeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I recommend 4th. But I can say great things about all of them.
If you're glued to d20 - Fantasycraft for system is hard to beat, BUT you have to adapt your d20 setting to it, it's a ruleset.
Castles and Crusades is cool too.
Quote from: tenbones on January 02, 2025, 07:18:42 PMQuote from: easywolf32 on December 23, 2024, 09:41:13 PMI'm done with that freakshow, Pathfinder 1E, excellent, great stuff. Started looking into 2e and nearly puked.
Anyone know an RPG that's lore and dungeon/towers/ruins/castles heavy, normal horror, not too much satanic and occult crap, wildreness is cool, taverns gothic look style with some werewolves running around. You guys know what I'm talking about.
No woke crud though please, and must have color art.
PS> Something like Old school essentials with it's awesome rules but in color and more lore would be fantastic.
is it the setting itself that made you vomit? or the rules? If you liked 1e's setting... and you're familiar with the lore, you could always simply run it on a cleaner non-Woke chassis - Savage Worlds Pathfinder.
Otherwise I'd highly recommend just going with an older D&D edition (1e or 2e) and go hog wild.
Based on your descriptions of what you're looking for - it sounds like Symbaroum might be the setting for you. I've never run it, but the setting is literally everything you're asking for.
OR... if you want something a little different, I'm always pimping out Talislanta. It's entirely free (except the new edition - which doesn't matter, as it's 99% mostly the same material.) Go to their website, they've made all previous editions freeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I recommend 4th. But I can say great things about all of them.
If you're glued to d20 - Fantasycraft for system is hard to beat, BUT you have to adapt your d20 setting to it, it's a ruleset.
Castles and Crusades is cool too.
Honestly, what got me into these RPG's was the PC games Pathfinder Kingmaker and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. I've played games since like 1981...and these two rocketed up my top 5 list of all time. Like the length and storyline and different mobs are just great in it. So were the characters, especially in Kingmaker. I started with Pillars of Eternity which I thought was fantastic, especially that 17 floor dungeon underneath your castle, but the Pathfinder games just blew it out of the water. So I was looking for some lore books to read for fun, that's basically where I'm at now. I had a game of D&D with some friends of my elder brother back in the day around say 1988, which was a blast, but never had a chance to play another TTRPG again...neither could I now, because I don't know anyone that plays TTRPG's. I tried getting into Foundry VTT, but that looks like rocket science to me. So yeah, I was just looking for high adventure lore books, with decent color art, and with dungeons and some horror stories/adventures in them, but I like wilderness and everything else too.
Symbaroum looks very interesting, but I'm still stuck in that Golarion setting from Pathfinder. But I can't stand all those main characters they use except for Amiri the barbarian, she was great in Pathfinder Kingmaker, but if you take a look at their books they use those crusty woke types (Cleric, Rogue, Paladin especially) in every damn friggin book. It just kills it for me. So I was taking a look at their pathfinder adventure paths, for their 1e they look amazing, almost all of them, but for 2e it's a friggin circus man. They even have an adventure path that's a cirucs lol. They just keep adding all these wokey chracters with a bunch of pink pants and colorful little flowers in their hair and all these idiotic little wokey little cats and stoopid stuff that you would find in a book for a 3 year old, maybe 2 year olds even. Know what I mean? It just kills the whole scene.
Just wanted to find an rpg that is a bit more grim, but not to the point where it's too grim, just like in both Pathfinder games. At the same time, I'm digging that victorian-Gothic scene so was looking for something such as that as well. I looked into almost everything that was mentioned here, especially Castles and Crusaders, but not sure It's what I want to read. Will probably just get the best Pathfinder 1e like these ones and call it a day, but thanks all.
Kingmaker
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Horror Adventures
Hell's Rebels
Abomination Vaults
Strange Aeons
Reign of Winter
Quote from: easywolf32 on January 03, 2025, 09:40:56 AMQuote from: tenbones on January 02, 2025, 07:18:42 PMQuote from: easywolf32 on December 23, 2024, 09:41:13 PMI'm done with that freakshow, Pathfinder 1E, excellent, great stuff. Started looking into 2e and nearly puked.
Anyone know an RPG that's lore and dungeon/towers/ruins/castles heavy, normal horror, not too much satanic and occult crap, wildreness is cool, taverns gothic look style with some werewolves running around. You guys know what I'm talking about.
No woke crud though please, and must have color art.
PS> Something like Old school essentials with it's awesome rules but in color and more lore would be fantastic.
is it the setting itself that made you vomit? or the rules? If you liked 1e's setting... and you're familiar with the lore, you could always simply run it on a cleaner non-Woke chassis - Savage Worlds Pathfinder.
Otherwise I'd highly recommend just going with an older D&D edition (1e or 2e) and go hog wild.
Based on your descriptions of what you're looking for - it sounds like Symbaroum might be the setting for you. I've never run it, but the setting is literally everything you're asking for.
OR... if you want something a little different, I'm always pimping out Talislanta. It's entirely free (except the new edition - which doesn't matter, as it's 99% mostly the same material.) Go to their website, they've made all previous editions freeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I recommend 4th. But I can say great things about all of them.
If you're glued to d20 - Fantasycraft for system is hard to beat, BUT you have to adapt your d20 setting to it, it's a ruleset.
Castles and Crusades is cool too.
Honestly, what got me into these RPG's was the PC games Pathfinder Kingmaker and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. I've played games since like 1981...and these two rocketed up my top 5 list of all time. Like the length and storyline and different mobs are just great in it. So were the characters, especially in Kingmaker. I started with Pillars of Eternity which I thought was fantastic, especially that 17 floor dungeon underneath your castle, but the Pathfinder games just blew it out of the water. So I was looking for some lore books to read for fun, that's basically where I'm at now. I had a game of D&D with some friends of my elder brother back in the day around say 1988, which was a blast, but never had a chance to play another TTRPG again...neither could I now, because I don't know anyone that plays TTRPG's. I tried getting into Foundry VTT, but that looks like rocket science to me. So yeah, I was just looking for high adventure lore books, with decent color art, and with dungeons and some horror stories/adventures in them, but I like wilderness and everything else too.
Symbaroum looks very interesting, but I'm still stuck in that Golarion setting from Pathfinder. But I can't stand all those main characters they use except for Amiri the barbarian, she was great in Pathfinder Kingmaker, but if you take a look at their books they use those crusty woke types (Cleric, Rogue, Paladin especially) in every damn friggin book. It just kills it for me. So I was taking a look at their pathfinder adventure paths, for their 1e they look amazing, almost all of them, but for 2e it's a friggin circus man. They even have an adventure path that's a cirucs lol. They just keep adding all these wokey chracters with a bunch of pink pants and colorful little flowers in their hair and all these idiotic little wokey little cats and stoopid stuff that you would find in a book for a 3 year old, maybe 2 year olds even. Know what I mean? It just kills the whole scene.
Just wanted to find an rpg that is a bit more grim, but not to the point where it's too grim, just like in both Pathfinder games. At the same time, I'm digging that victorian-Gothic scene so was looking for something such as that as well. I looked into almost everything that was mentioned here, especially Castles and Crusaders, but not sure It's what I want to read. Will probably just get the best Pathfinder 1e like these ones and call it a day, but thanks all.
Kingmaker
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Horror Adventures
Hell's Rebels
Abomination Vaults
Strange Aeons
Reign of Winter
Delete this post someone lol, was posted by mistake.
Quote from: easywolf32 on January 03, 2025, 09:40:56 AMHonestly, what got me into these RPG's was the PC games Pathfinder Kingmaker and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. I've played games since like 1981...and these two rocketed up my top 5 list of all time. Like the length and storyline and different mobs are just great in it. So were the characters, especially in Kingmaker. I started with Pillars of Eternity which I thought was fantastic, especially that 17 floor dungeon underneath your castle, but the Pathfinder games just blew it out of the water. So I was looking for some lore books to read for fun, that's basically where I'm at now. I had a game of D&D with some friends of my elder brother back in the day around say 1988, which was a blast, but never had a chance to play another TTRPG again...neither could I now, because I don't know anyone that plays TTRPG's. I tried getting into Foundry VTT, but that looks like rocket science to me. So yeah, I was just looking for high adventure lore books, with decent color art, and with dungeons and some horror stories/adventures in them, but I like wilderness and everything else too.
Symbaroum looks very interesting, but I'm still stuck in that Golarion setting from Pathfinder. But I can't stand all those main characters they use except for Amiri the barbarian, she was great in Pathfinder Kingmaker, but if you take a look at their books they use those crusty woke types (Cleric, Rogue, Paladin especially) in every damn friggin book. It just kills it for me. So I was taking a look at their pathfinder adventure paths, for their 1e they look amazing, almost all of them, but for 2e it's a friggin circus man. They even have an adventure path that's a cirucs lol. They just keep adding all these wokey chracters with a bunch of pink pants and colorful little flowers in their hair and all these idiotic little wokey little cats and stoopid stuff that you would find in a book for a 3 year old, maybe 2 year olds even. Know what I mean? It just kills the whole scene.
Just wanted to find an rpg that is a bit more grim, but not to the point where it's too grim, just like in both Pathfinder games. At the same time, I'm digging that victorian-Gothic scene so was looking for something such as that as well. I looked into almost everything that was mentioned here, especially Castles and Crusaders, but not sure It's what I want to read. Will probably just get the best Pathfinder 1e like these ones and call it a day, but thanks all.
Kingmaker
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Horror Adventures
Hell's Rebels
Abomination Vaults
Strange Aeons
Reign of Winter
Okay, you love Golarion. Then I *highly* suggest Savage Worlds Pathfinder. It's simply the Savage Worlds ruleset for Pathfinder without all the silly shit you're rightly complaining about. Yes, they use those iconic character art from 1e, but they don't beat you over the head with it *at all*. The beauty of Savage Worlds is *all* of their other books can be used to tweak your version of Pathfinder to your own needs. You want more Gothic Horror? Pick up the Savage Worlds Horror Compendium to add whatever kinds of rules you want. You can build your own races, curses, let players continue playing as Undead (or whatever you think is cool).
Seriously, the Savage Worlds ruleset will let you customize Golarion any way you want. The only difference is it's not d20 which to me is a good thing as Savage Worlds is faster once you get used to it, and far more scalable. You can play much more high-level with far less headache than in d20.
If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up. Otherwise good luck!
I looked into Palladium "Monsters and Animals" sourcebook for Palladium Fantasy about werewolves. You can play one, but it's not normally a playable race.
However, the way the game is written they fully stat out intelligent races, complete with which classes they can be.
You can totally play one.
FYI, a werebeast race is not the same thing as a lycanthrope. One creates the other, because anytime a werebeast is killed in their human form they rise as mindless undead each night. If you're bitten by that undead husk, you become cursed with lycanthropy and metamorph into a wild animal on full moons.
So, technically there are three kinds of werewolves running around. The race, the undead, and their victims.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 03, 2025, 10:48:18 AMI looked into Palladium "Monsters and Animals" sourcebook for Palladium Fantasy about werewolves. You can play one, but it's not normally a playable race.
However, the way the game is written they fully stat out intelligent races, complete with which classes they can be.
You can totally play one.
FYI, a werebeast race is not the same thing as a lycanthrope. One creates the other, because anytime a werebeast is killed in their human form they rise as mindless undead each night. If you're bitten by that undead husk, you become cursed with lycanthropy and metamorph into a wild animal on full moons.
So, technically there are three kinds of werewolves running around. The race, the undead, and their victims.
I think you posted this to the wrong thread. The curse/disease of lycanthropes and playing one are currently being discussed elsewhere on this board.
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 03, 2025, 11:17:48 AMQuote from: weirdguy564 on January 03, 2025, 10:48:18 AMI looked into Palladium "Monsters and Animals" sourcebook for Palladium Fantasy about werewolves. You can play one, but it's not normally a playable race.
However, the way the game is written they fully stat out intelligent races, complete with which classes they can be.
You can totally play one.
FYI, a werebeast race is not the same thing as a lycanthrope. One creates the other, because anytime a werebeast is killed in their human form they rise as mindless undead each night. If you're bitten by that undead husk, you become cursed with lycanthropy and metamorph into a wild animal on full moons.
So, technically there are three kinds of werewolves running around. The race, the undead, and their victims.
I think you posted this to the wrong thread. The curse/disease of lycanthropes and playing one are currently being discussed elsewhere on this board.
Not quite.
He asked about alternatives to Pathfinder, with good art, a gothic flavor, and specifically if you can play as werewolves. I already posted in here that Palladium Fantasy might be a good choice. Now I'm just going into the werewolf question.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 03, 2025, 10:48:18 AMSeriously, the Savage Worlds ruleset will let you customize Golarion any way you want. The only difference is it's not d20 which to me is a good thing as Savage Worlds is faster once you get used to it, and far more scalable. You can play much more high-level with far less headache than in d20.
If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up. Otherwise good luck!
I've been trying to find new lore books for Pathfinder Savage Worlds but all I can find is remade Pathfinder Adventure Paths with Savage Worlds rules.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 03, 2025, 10:48:18 AMI looked into Palladium "Monsters and Animals" sourcebook for Palladium Fantasy about werewolves. You can play one, but it's not normally a playable race.
However, the way the game is written they fully stat out intelligent races, complete with which classes they can be.
You can totally play one.
FYI, a werebeast race is not the same thing as a lycanthrope. One creates the other, because anytime a werebeast is killed in their human form they rise as mindless undead each night. If you're bitten by that undead husk, you become cursed with lycanthropy and metamorph into a wild animal on full moons.
So, technically there are three kinds of werewolves running around. The race, the undead, and their victims.
Hey there,
I don't want to be or play as a werewolf. Was just looking for different adventures where a werewolf takes center stage as the main monster is all. Don't really care which TTRPG as long as the werewolf doesn't have pink hair or dressed in a pink skirt or something.
Quote from: easywolf32 on January 03, 2025, 01:53:31 PMI've been trying to find new lore books for Pathfinder Savage Worlds but all I can find is remade Pathfinder Adventure Paths with Savage Worlds rules.
They're not doing lorebooks because Golarion 1e is already written. What Savage Pathfinder does is give you the leanest version of Pathfinder 1e with an entirely new system to run it on. It doesn't go deep into Pathfinder lore, because you can pick and choose what you want to include with your own PF1e books. It gives you just enough to run Golarion as a sandbox, and they're making all the Pathfinder APs for those that want them.
By your criteria, you like Golarion, you hate the woke stuff they put into it, now you can enjoy the stuff you like without the stuff you don't on a system that scales *way* better than native 3.x d20. In Savage Pathfinder you can actually play up to the equivalent of 15-20th level (and technically beyond that) with far less clutter and ease.
They have the Savage Worlds Pathfinder Core book, the Advanced Players Guide 1 and 2, two Bestiaries, and Curse of the Crimson Throne AP, and Rise of the Runelords AP.
If you want lore, you can simply use your PF1 books to provide it. All the mechanics you need to make it work are in the SWP books.
Quote from: Dave 2 on December 24, 2024, 08:30:31 PMACKS 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.
I pretty sure you can still get a physical copy. The original ACKS 2 kickstarter was done and people could ping Alex on the discord and get in on that after it closed. Plus the new Treasure Tomb KS allowed you to order physical books of ACKS 2 in addition to the new book, so if they wanted to go this route they should jump on the discord and see he's still doing the same thing.
I looked into ACKS, i dunno man lol.
I did manage to find a great looking Savage Worlds module/adventure/story though: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/101122/red-blizzard-savage-worlds
Found some good ones, think I'm set with that gothic/victorian/werewolf setting now:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17504/dark-of-the-moon-2e
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/390688/shepherd-s-bane-5e
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/436277/hunt-of-the-winter-werewolf
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17508/howls-in-the-night-2e
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/61518/werewolf-the-dark-ages
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/494214/moonshadow-a-werewolf-adventure
These are the type of reads I was looking to find btw:
https://www.tiltingatwindmills.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/full-moon-intro.pdf
For fantasy will just stick to Pathfinder 1e for now, love the rules and world, just hated the wokies.
Quote from: easywolf32 on January 03, 2025, 01:53:31 PMI've been trying to find new lore books for Pathfinder Savage Worlds but all I can find is remade Pathfinder Adventure Paths with Savage Worlds rules.
Lore books for Savage Pathfinder aren't really necessary. There's plenty of Golarion lore stuff for Pathfinder and the lore parts are not system dependent. You can use the voluminous lore stuff published for Pathfinder or use the wiki.
You might want to check out the Dungeon Dwellers Roleplaying Game. I can't personally vouch for it, but it looks pretty good and I'm considering buying it.