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Poll: What was the first non-D&D system you ever GM'd?

Poll: What was the first non-D&D system you ever GM'd?


  • Total voters
    42

JohnnFour

Game Master
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Demonplague Author
Borderland Explorer
Saw this question on Reddit, and thought it would be interesting to see the Campaign Community's experiences.

Apologies for the presumption of GMing D&D first. Based on past Roleplaying Tips surveys, D&D is run by 60-75% of subscribers. I also needed an efficient way to structure the poll
 

Gedece

Active member
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
I went through AD&D 2nd edition, Shadowrun, Mage, Alternity, DC heroes, INS/MV, Big Eyes-Small mouth, Fate Core, PBTA.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye) as most Germans, I guess :)
 

BenS

Member
Wizard of Story
Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye) as most Germans, I guess :)

There are other systems? :sneaky:

Funny enough, the background story of TDE was that DnD was quite successful already in north america and Wizards of the Coast wanted to expand to Germany as there seemed to be a good market. They were already deep into the negotiations with Schmidt-Spiele in the 80ies which was (and probably still is) one of the biggest publishers of board-games in Germany but according to Schmidt-Spiele they were very adamant on having an unusually high share of the revenue generated by DnD, so Schmidt-Spiele decided to make their own DnD with blackjack and hookers...
They hired two pretty random guys, who had a very small publishing company (basically just them) and asked them to come up with a similar product like DnD, but with the strong focus of not copying it too obviously.
In a couple of months they then created the first version of the most popular pen and paper in Germany and this is also the reason why in TdE, you also roll a d20, but in TdE, 1 is the best and 20 is the worst you can roll, basic attributes are also not named simply "strength or dexterity", but they used German synonyms which are way less common, just to make it look like they came up with it on their own ^^.

Over the years however, TdE has become a completely different thing alltogether, as it is now very rich in living history and lore.
 

JohnnFour

Game Master
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Demonplague Author
Borderland Explorer
Other-- Star Trek RPG (FASA)
I had the box set and ran a few games. Tons of fun. I remember that char creation would take a long time though, because of the different life phases of character from youth to the academy.
 

pgcannonjr

Member
Platinum WoA
I had the box set and ran a few games. Tons of fun. I remember that char creation would take a long time though, because of the different life phases of character from youth to the academy.
I know the system so well I can create characters step-by-step without having the book in front of me. I played and GMed the heck out of that game for years. Would still run it if someone wanted to play. I prefer it to the newer Star Trek systems.
 

JohnnFour

Game Master
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Demonplague Author
Borderland Explorer

TealdragonUK

Member
Silver WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
I know the system so well I can create characters step-by-step without having the book in front of me. I played and GMed the heck out of that game for years. Would still run it if someone wanted to play. I prefer it to the newer Star Trek systems.
I have pretty much have all the Modiphius STA stuff, not looked at the older stuff although its considered as great for fluff and info. I'm curious on any major differences for the preference?
 

pgcannonjr

Member
Platinum WoA
I have pretty much have all the Modiphius STA stuff, not looked at the older stuff although its considered as great for fluff and info. I'm curious on any major differences for the preference?
Percentile dice roll for success. Period. The couple of Modiphius games I played, there were so many d20s and "discussions" about which attributes covered what situation, it was just too much. Maybe it was a bad GM. The new books look flashy, they're up-to-date on Treklore, and have a ton of rules. I guess I just like the simplicity of gameplay in the old FASA Star Trek.
 

Ronaldo Lima

Member
Wizard of Story
After getting to know RPG through D&D, I homebrewed a Pokemon RPG (during the TV show peak in 90's), played with friends for a while and ended up selling it to a kind of "richy" boy of a close neighbourhood...
Very different times, when you are a teenager and can spend your whole day just playing/creating games...
 

Xik

Member
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
I've considered other systems from the beginning but haven't ran any yet. My first idea for a system to run was Ryuutama, since I'd seen someone recommend it for new GMs, the GM-powers seemed an interesting idea...and I'm a big fan of dragons. XD
Over lockdown I joined a discord server tied to a tabletop-cafe, which introduced me to Numenera as a possibility to consider running.
Recently a friend talked about wanting to put an RPG group together, so I've also considered Quest and Masks: A New Generation from subsequent research.
 

ELF

Generator Sage
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
My first commercial RPG system was Avalon Hill's Powers & Perils that I mail ordered from the US, but it turned out to be too complex for me to run.

Luckily I found out about a guy who had started importing RPGs for his friends and an ever-widening circle of other customers. I traveled to his home town and picked up the D&D red box from his home. It was followed by Tunnels & Trolls, which was the first non-D&D RPG I ran.
 
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