I know that this isn’t going to be much of a controversial take these days. With Hasbro milking that cash cow so dry it’s basically a husk now, the monetization of the game getting ridiculous, and the oversaturation of the D&D market making the game start to feel a bit less… magical… than it used to be. I remember starting in 2014, reading through my player’s handbook during breaks at work, learning the rules, the configurations, and the world that was both familiar from my novel consumption as a teenager and strangely new since I would get to be exploring it. Those days are far beyond me now, as I can rattle off spell effects or rules without touching the books, or I can build a stat block with my eyes closed, creating something far more balanced than those unfortunate “CR 4s” that were definitely not that.
The magic is starting to die off a little, and that is both disappointing and difficult as I am a player in three games, a DM for two games, and the author of a book series that focuses around D&D as a jumping off point. Does this mean I’m planning on not playing anymore? Of course not. I still enjoy my games, I still enjoy the stories, and I still enjoy the people that I’m playing with, but the other day I was discussing the timeline of the game the Displaced books are based around. We realized that as it currently stood, we were getting exceptionally close to the end game. Within the next year, perhaps less, we will be done playing the game.
After 8 years, these characters will have completed their journeys, gotten their final wrap ups, and get shelved, quite literally in the case of the novels themselves getting completed over the next few years… hopefully not a few decades. I’ve looked at the math, and currently it appears that my total number of books for this series will be approaching 30, if we include the offshoots and the short story collections. All stemming from one D&D game.
So much of my life has centered itself around this game, and there’s still so much to do for it. I started creating the world for it in my late twenties, and now I’m in my late thirties looking at forty approaching. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
However, as that game comes to a close, I don’t expect us all to go our separate ways, or have our Wednesdays become just another night of the week. Wednesday game night has just been a thing for too long to change. But the idea of running another D&D game… It makes me feel exhausted. Even playing in another D&D game makes me feel exhausted. Trimming down on the number of games I’m involved with does seem like a very good idea for my ability to get out into the world more, and take care of my home more, but Wednesdays feel sacred, ya know?
So what could potentially take D&D’s place? Well, we’ve all been exposed, I assume, to the different games that exist out in the world. Even if you’re just an avid reader of my stuff, you should be exposed to Vampire: the Masquerade at the very least. It’s a fantastic game, but it too is currently going through an edition change, which I for one am not financially or emotionally ready to dive into. So I’m actually going to take a little time today to delve into some TTRPGs that I want to consider to replace the Displaced game once we finish it. These are in no particular order, but are just games that either I enjoy, or I want to spend a little more time playing.
1. Vampire: the Masquerade
This one should be an obvious choice. Vampire is one of those games that’s a lot more cerebral, a lot more social, and a lot less fighty. It’s kinda hard to adjust to after playing D&D for so long, as you’re still powerful creatures, however you need to remember how your actions can affect the world and that there are a lot of things in the world that are far more dangerous than you.
Do NOT go into the water.
World of Darkness offers a lot of benefits to people like me who are burned out on the swords and sorcery kind of stories. It makes the mind work differently than the typical boot it, shoot it, loot it munchkin game that D&D can become. There have been plenty of times I've been playing D&D and found myself slipping out of focus because it was a combat heavy day, there were a lot of things in initiative, and my interaction with the board was “roll two attacks, roll damage, pass the turn.” Not to say I don’t enjoy combat every now and again, but there are days when it just doesn’t feel necessary to the plot. I know I’m guilty of throwing a combat encounter into a session because I hadn’t finished the prep I needed to get done.
With Vampire, however, I think I’d like to do a Story Teller hand off, maybe pass the reins around a little bit. Allow myself a break to play as one of my bloodsuckers that I’ve been wanting to indulge in, or tell a few stories myself. That’s the fun of Chronicles, the power level doesn’t really matter as much, and there’s tons of short modules out there offered by Renegade or Drive Thru RPG, a lot are even free!
2. Werewolf the Apocalypse
Yeah, I know, two WoD games in a row, but both are really good… or at least I think they are. I haven’t gotten a chance really to play Werewolf, but I have been DYING to. Ever since I was a little kid, I wished I was a werewolf. The power, the ferocity, the idea of being a force of nature, unstoppable in my goal to destroy that which would harm the world around me!
It’s a power fantasy, sure, but who couldn’t use a power fantasy nowadays.
In fact, it's a power fantasy I get to play around with a little bit in the coming month. For Halloween this year, my Monday group is planning on playing a Werewolf game of my own writing… that I am still working on writing. The idea is that the Caren is threatened by an AI Data center, and they have to figure out how to destroy the damned thing. It’s going to have intrigue, topical inspiration, and hopefully, a lot of catharsis. I’ll even consider posting it here after the fact, letting you know how everything went. I think I need to go through White Wolf to sell it, but I'm pretty sure I can just post it for free like I’ve been doing with the writing prompts.
3. Call of Cthulhu
Here is a game that I have run before, but only once. There was a great pre-generated game called Viral that I ran for my group last Halloween. I think we’d discussed a continuation of it this year, but werewolves! I may get around to writing that continuation out, getting around to playing it, and enjoying the beautiful mess that I’ve made, but that will require another scheduling in around our D&D game.
But in reality, as much as I enjoyed running it, I really want to play it. I have a bad habit of logically thinking, making myself do what is best, especially in longer campaigns, because I want the story of this particular character to run all the way through to its conclusion. Here’s what makes CoC so fun… Your character is supposed to die. You’re squishy, inconsequential, and a speck in comparison to the massive beings who are moving about through the universe. You are expendable, and thus, so is your character.
That may not sound like fun to you, but consider this: If you’re not worried about your character dying, what’s stopping you from pushing that big red button? From reading from the page of the Necronomicon? From playing your character to their grave? Andrew (Timm) and I used to be very good at this, he still really is, but my cautious nature and DM mind I think has made me overly analytical and I feel like CoC is the perfect game to help shake me from that habit.
4. Wild Imaginary West
If you haven’t watched Boylei Hobby Time on YouTube, get over to his channel after you finish reading this and watch him make amazing (and sometimes disturbing) little sculptures and dioramas. Some of the best ones he’s made were part of his Wild Imaginary West setting, a setting that combines cowboys, steam punk, and massively monstrous animals to create a unique setting that I wished I could explore in game.
A wish he granted by creating his own TTRPG based around the dioramas he’s made and the stories he’s told through them. It’s a different system than I’m used to, and I backed his kickstarter to get the game, so I have the rule book, however I haven’t had the chance between work and… surviving the crashing economy that is slowly dooming us all… to sit down and read how it works, but it is on my short list of games to try in the near future, and I cannot wait until I can tell you more.
Until then, check out his channel and support him!
5. Old Gods of Appalachia
Back on the horror train a bit, as well as back on the train of games I have the book for but haven’t read or learned to play, Old Gods is based on a fantastic and exceptionally creepy podcast by the same name. The creators of the podcast paint a picture of a horrible and all too close to home world of Appalachia where beings and monsters are human and not human alike, taking the myths and legends of Appalachia and bringing them to life in beautifully narrated stories that will send chills down your spine.
They then took those stories and made them something you could experience first hand. This was another kickstarter I backed, but that was years and years ago, so you can probably just go to their website and pick up the game there. My recommendation to you would be to go to wherever you get your podcasts and give their first season a listen. I need to actually get back to listening to that podcast, as I’m sure they’ve left me in the dust with what they’ve created since I got distracted by the many aspects of life.
Which just means, I have a backlog to listen to!
6. Edge of the Empire
First introduced to me through The Campaign Podcast, which was, from what I could tell, a joke title for the group known as The One Shot Podcast when they actually decided to do a full campaign of something, this Star Wars role playing game has captured my imagination by creating a cinematic system for their dice rolls, lending itself fully to the theatre of the mind type game play, though still making tabletop and minis feel like an entirely reasonable investment for your game. Turning the game master almost into a film director, you get to be as crunchy or as loose with the rules and lore as you want, allowing players to build their characters to face the threats of the Star Wars universe as people just trying to survive in it.
There are two expansions to the game: Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny, which add more races, classes, and even force powers into the game, and I do own all the main books, however there are enough source books to this game to make 3.5 D&D blush, and I’m not sure how many of them are still in print. However, the fan base is loyal, so most of the information needed on obscure races is available on their wiki page, but the system is exceptionally user friendly, which means that if you can't find the race, ship, or weapon you’re looking for, creating a fitting profile or finding one to supp in shouldn’t be much of a problem.
7. Vassen
This one is kind of an honorable mention, but I still wanted to mention it. I bought the book for this game years ago when I was still living in Columbia and feeling the itch to get into more games and try out new systems. This one drew me in because it was advertised to me as being a lot like Call of Cthulhu, but using Celtic deities and creatures. Now, I was raised most of my life to believe that I was Irish, mostly because my grandfather who fought the Nazis hated them so much that he wanted to distance himself from our deep German ancestry, so I grew up hearing stories of Celtic monsters and culture and loving everything I heard. Vassen feels like a great extension of that love, and a fun way to try and interact with more of that culture while still getting the chance to explore the world of gaming from a different angle.
So, there you have it. A short list of games I’d want to try to make our new Wednesday night game for a while rather than just more D&D. Again, I want to reiterate that I am not saying that I want to throw D&D out the window and be done with it forever. Quite the contrary. I think that in order to preserve my love for the game that got me into this hobby that I love so dearly, I need something else that will help me feel as though the magic of role playing isn’t dead. It’s just that I’ve seen too much behind the curtain, like a Disney employee, and now that I know how the magic is made, it doesn’t feel the same anymore.
Check out the games on this list, and then keep checking out other games from other creators. Gaming is not a one size fits all hobby, and just because there are games you enjoy, doesn’t mean that there aren’t more out there for you to explore. You never know when your next inspiration will strike!
