If I understand your terms correctly, I can think of 3:

1. Wolves upon the coast: an OD&D-ish hack about vikings in a low fantasy version of Europe with nothing but fighting men, Magic comes from artifacts and rituals

2. Outcast Silver Raiders: close to D&D, dark fantsy Scotland during 9-12th century. very simplified, as a default- no demi humans, only fighter, thief, MU- but MU has no spells- he can harm, heal or mend by cutting himself. there are rituals (also pretty dark).

3. Carcosa- He man, if it was super Fed up. there are sci-fi and cthulhu elements, small chance of P syonics. only 2 classes: Fighters and Sorcerers- who start with no rituals and all rituals except banishment require human sacrifice. most rituals are pure evil and not meant for PCs, and it really shows, I got uncomfortable reading some of them. there are 13 races of humans, all different cilors, all fighting, killing and sacrificing each other.

I'd say Pendragon in that you play a knight as opposed to a murderhobo.
Talislanta has a lot of weird species you can play as.
Fireborn you play as a dragon in the modern age, and have flashbacks to the fantasy era (think the flashbacks from Highlander the Gathering) to remember past abilities that would be useful in your current era.

Exalted, 1st edition.

As the Solar Exalted you were literally the most powerful beings in the world from the get go. Your inherent "Charms" (the powers of the Exalted) were better than everyone else's and even cost less xp to raise compared to everyone elses.

So even as an inexperienced "new" Solar, your better charms leveled the playing field against the other more experienced but lesser Exalted (Lunars, Sidherals, Dragonblooded) that came to kill you... and in time you'd grow powerful enough to completely overthrow the entrenched rulerships in the world.

Exalted was very much the "Anti-DnD" when it released July 2001.

Don't know much about it, but how about Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne?

The Fabula Ultima game based on fantasy JRPGs looks really interesting.  I haven't played it yet but just going over the rulebooks my impression is that it is its own thing in a lot of ways.  It has a lot of interesting ideas for sure.

Quote from: I on December 05, 2024, 07:01:27 PMSkyrealms of Jorune maybe?

I ran two campaigns using Skyrealms. One was using the second edition rules (the first edition was, well, a mess), and the next time was a second edition Big Eyes Small Mouth conversion (yes, I am serious). For me, what sets this game apart from others is the setting. It has a far different tone than most settings, and though it tries to be "different," it is not different for the hell of it. It is different, so it fits the game vision of the creators.

I do not collect RPGs anymore. What I have, I play. However, of the few I have kept, I have held on to all three editions of this game.

If you have not seen the game in any of the three editions, you can get everything you need at the Internet Archive.

Hell, if I had the chance, I'd try to get this back on the market with a better rule system.

Richard

Quote from: Trond on December 08, 2024, 11:49:26 PMDon't know much about it, but how about Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne?

Well, yes, this is a good choice.

However, some might have a problem now due to Serpent's Walk, by Randolph D. Calverhall.

Me? I could never get into the setting. It was just too dense for my use.

Richard

Quote from: jhkim on December 08, 2024, 01:11:17 AMOf the more popular RPG settings, I think of Legend of the Five Rings, 7th Sea, and Castle Falkenstein.

The first two of those had 3e-era D&D remakes--and they were pretty terrible. Actually, L5R even has a 5e version out now, but I don't know much about it other than it's by Edge.

Quote from: Trond on December 08, 2024, 11:49:26 PMDon't know much about it, but how about Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne?

Both in setting and system it is very not D&D.

I have the later "Adventures on Tekumel" set and it used a percentile system.
The setting is a combo of post apoc, sci-fi, and fantasy. Its set in a distant future long after some space disaster dropped an entire resort system into a closed off pocket dimension where magic works. There are also high tech items laying around that no one now fully understands and tons of vast ruins of the ancient infrastructure so huge even thousands of years later they are still barely explored.
Civilization is a bit Mayan/Aztec in style and there are various alien races, descendants of tourists essentially.

Quote from: I on December 05, 2024, 07:01:27 PMSkyrealms of Jorune maybe?

That's amazing. When I read the thread topic that was immediately the first game I thought of.

By way of an explanation, what makes Jorune immediately different is that the base assumption of the character development arc is not merely "grow more physically powerful to fight more and more dangerous enemies" but "become a citizen of the largest major nation to be a part of directing its future" -- and the genius of Jorune as a game is that one of the best ways to earn citizenship is to find caches of Earth-Tec treasure (from the realms' ancient founding as a lost interstellar Earth colony). In other words, doing exactly the kind of treasure-hunt adventures RPG parties always do is exactly the way to become a mover and shaker in the world.

Quote from: RI2 on December 09, 2024, 10:08:02 AM

Quote from: Trond on December 08, 2024, 11:49:26 PMDon't know much about it, but how about Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne?

Well, yes, this is a good choice.

However, some might have a problem now due to Serpent's Walk, by Randolph D. Calverhall.

Me? I could never get into the setting. It was just too dense for my use.

Richard

What's this about?

Quote from: Trond on December 09, 2024, 10:24:33 PM

Quote from: RI2 on December 09, 2024, 10:08:02 AM

Quote from: Trond on December 08, 2024, 11:49:26 PMDon't know much about it, but how about Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne?

Well, yes, this is a good choice.

However, some might have a problem now due to Serpent's Walk, by Randolph D. Calverhall.

Me? I could never get into the setting. It was just too dense for my use.

Richard

What's this about?

Here you go: link.

It never really bothered me. I never could get into Tekumel, nor did I play it, so I had no attachment. I did not have the attachment others might have. I do remember that when this news broke, the Tekumel community went into a tailspin.

Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser on December 09, 2024, 01:58:21 PM

Quote from: I on December 05, 2024, 07:01:27 PMSkyrealms of Jorune maybe?

That's amazing. When I read the thread topic that was immediately the first game I thought of.

By way of an explanation, what makes Jorune immediately different is that the base assumption of the character development arc is not merely "grow more physically powerful to fight more and more dangerous enemies" but "become a citizen of the largest major nation to be a part of directing its future" -- and the genius of Jorune as a game is that one of the best ways to earn citizenship is to find caches of Earth-Tec treasure (from the realms' ancient founding as a lost interstellar Earth colony). In other words, doing exactly the kind of treasure-hunt adventures RPG parties always do is exactly the way to become a mover and shaker in the world.

The other aspect of this game/setting I have always loved is how it blurs the line between sci-fi and fantasy. You have those who trace their roots back to the arrival and those who are descendants of the native species. Actual floating islands can only be reached by flying ships. There is just so much here that can be mined.

Quote from: Brad on December 06, 2024, 06:31:15 PM

Quote from: Omega on December 06, 2024, 05:14:43 PMThe Wormwood setting for Rifts.

Easily one of the most underappreciated fantasy settings ever. It's literal demon lords fighting invulnerable holy warriors that looks more like some weird 70s sci-fi movie than anything. Fucking great on all levels.

I have that sourcebook for Rifts. When you read through the mini comic strip in the book and...a dude on a motorcycle? It's insane, in a cool Heavy Metal magazine sort of way.

Because of this thread I sought out the Wormwood pdf and read it. That setting is amazing. Really a pity it's functionally abandoned. It could easily be a standalone game.