I don't like fantasy... So what?

We love D&D and all of the other fantasy/dark fantasy related TTRPGs, and we’re all about it. Tik Tok, Facebook groups, Discord groups, Reddit. All of it.

But what about those friends of ours who are not into fantasy and such? Will we leave them behind and keep having fun our way? I think not! Since ohana means family, and family means no nerd is left behind, I’m here to talk about two favorite systems of mine, for those into many genres but fantasy.

First of all, Call of Cthulhu!

If you like eldritch horror (aka. Lovecraftian stuff), that might suit you just fine.

CoC is something like a horror movie that taken incomprehensible proportions. And this is why it uses one of my most favorite player features. SANITY! It adds a subtle, yet much more complex, in terms of narration, note to the adventure. For you, as an investigator (title of the players in this TTRPG), face things that are not from this world, and surpass by far the human understanding, making your player go from kicking butts, to going nuts in a matter of saving throws. Meaning that your character cannot only die. It can also not die, but go totally insane, even turning into a cultist’s minion, forgetting its humanity, and serving for as long as it still lives, to one of the Elder Gods, ancient beings from the furthest distances of the universe or even other dimensions.

As you might as well have already noticed, Call of Cthulhu is a system with its name derived from one of the most famous tales from H.P. Lovecraft. And for that, you as the Gate Keeper (title for all DMs who narrates the adventures from this system) can use all of Lovecraft’s lore, and even homebrew some sci-fi (Check Event Horizon – movie - for references) into it. I promise it will be one hell of an adventure!

Now following to the last, but not least. World of darkness!

Now, I’ll try not to fanboy so much about this one in particular, because it’s my #1 favorite system for so many reasons. But let’s stick to the facts.

WoD is a system that gives the DM and the players so many possibilities, because it can be narrated in any era, from before the great biblical flood in some scenarios, to even a The Matrix-like futuristic time in others. And if you’d like it, you can even mix them, because the system completely allows you to homebrew your very own scenario, without any complications or obstacles for any DM.

You can be a vampire, a werewolf, a demon, an angel, a mage (but not like in D&D), and face many, many threats, uncover secrets, conspiracies, all in the most appealing X-Files/Twilight Zone vibe.

Some of the scenarios that compose WoD are Vampire – The masquerade; Mage – Ascension; and Werewolf – Apocalypse. And one of the things I find most interesting about this separated scenarios, is that they can be entangled with each other, depending only of the Dm’s brains and will.

So how about you give it a go and check it out?

If you say yes, just remember. Roll sanity!