Red_Ed

Swords of the Serpentine is a great game. I hope I will get a chance to play it this year. Hopefully it wins some prizes. :)

I think Barbarians of the Aftermath could be a good fit for you. It allows to make up your own apocalypse, to customize it as you like. And it based on the simple and excellent Barbarians of Lemuria system.

I didn't get it because it has a reputation of being extremely crunchy. So maybe if you like that level of crunch you should probably get it. I hear the world building is pretty good.

They're definitely not as popular as video games, I guess because they require a bit more investment and a reliable group of people. But are definitely more fun in my opinion.

And the shiny maths rocks are fickle but fun.

Tabletop RPGs, online sadly. Hard to find people in my town who are up for some adventures with pen and paper. And copious amounts of dice.

but removing the limited number of rolls would backfire

I'm not sure what you meant by that. You as the GM are still in control because you are the one that calls for tests. So you can limit them if you feel they are trying to keep rolling for everything. In my opinion the presentationis different but the game is not that different from other more traditional games.

If you think about it the GM turn is just the regular fantasy adventuring phase with the Player turn being the part where the GM let's the players relax and recuperate, like when they are in a town or making a camp. The only difference is that the game thinks that the adventuring phase should be mostly narration with 4-8 rolls to solve it all and maybe one conflict and that the players phase should be dependent on them roleplaying their characters as they made them in the adventuring phase.

But it might also just not be a good fit for you and your group.

I was also considering a thieves guild game played with Swords of the Serpentine.

I was involved for a short playtest of Stonetop, but wasn't impress with the mechanics of the game. It claims it is a game about your community but, once again, there is no real mechanics for it. Playing as the Judge (?!?) playbook the best social mechanic I had for a problem in the community was to declare it Anathema and hit it with the hammer for +1d6 damage..

I wish there was some more focus on the actual personal nteractions and community side. But it was my impression that is again a bait and switch game. It claims is about building a community but doesn't really offer much in regards to interacting with said community. My feeling for the intended gameplay was that it wants you to go into the forest, fight things, get loot and then spend it to buy something for the town. But that short last bit is not exactly a big part of the gameplay, so calling it the focus is a bit bait-and-switchy imo.

I know it, I've been watching them. But OSE is not quite right for me. So far I think the closer to what I want would be either AD&D2e or Hyperborea.

I have their L5R starter set and dice. One day..

I am personally keep thinking about The Halls of Arden Vul, seems like an awesome thing to run. But I have to admit it's a bit intimidating due to size and complexity and I can't, for the life of me, decide what system to run it with. But it's been there brewing at the back of my head for almost two years now..

I am! Happy to see the game still has a community. :)