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sitnspin:
The better version of Shadowrun is The Sprawl.

Narrative based, rules light, mission based cyberpunk system. Created by Hamish Cameron and published by Ardens Ludere.

It lacks the fantasy aspects of Shadowrun, but does a better job supporting the premise of a group of specialist deniable assets in the perpetual corporate war of the dystopian capitalist corpofascist nightmare future. The mechanics support the concept better than Shadowrun does. It doesn't come with a default setting, each group makes their own and each player contributes to the world building.

It is mechanically way cleaner, allowing you to focus on the story and the action without getting bogged down in dice and rules.

TheEvilDog:
Awesome! I'll need to check that out.

sitnspin:
Blades In The Dark
One Seven Design
Crime Drama/Dark Fantasy/Victorian Horror

Players take on the roles of a gang of ne'erdowells in a dark urban industrial-quasi-Victorian magi-tech world. Fiction-first, simple but robust rule set that allow you to do pretty much whatever you want. Tests are made based on the characters fictional positioning (controlled, risky, or desperate) and magnitude of the potential effect (limited, standard, great).  The setting is rich and detailed, and darkly cool.

Several hundred years ago the Cataclysm destroyed the gates of death, shattered the continents, and banished the sun. Now the restless dead roam the world feeding on the life force of the living, incomprehensibly large demons known as Leviathans swim the inky black seas, and civilisation holds back the darkness and chaos outside the cities with lightning barriers and electroplasmic lights powered by the blood of the great Leviathans. In the city of Doskvol, you and your crew of daring scoundrels eek out a living and jostle for position amongst the city's numerous gangs, fighting, dealing, and running scores. Will you and your teammates rise to the top, seizing control of the city's underworld, or be crushed along with countless other upstarts?

TheEvilDog:
Dark Heresy
Fantasy Flight Games/Games Workshop
Dystopia/Dark Science Fantasy/Investigative Horror

You are an acolyte in the Holy Inquisition of the Emperor of Mankind. Which this being the 40K universe means you're the low-man in the pecking order, which also means that chances are you're going to die. Horribly. Then your replacements are going to die horribly. How horribly? Well check out the 16 tables for rolling critical injuries.

In all seriousness, you are the field agents for an Inquisitor, charged with investigating conspiracies against Humanity and ensuring they don't come to fruition. Characters could come from a variety of homeworlds and backgrounds, each giving their own unique bonuses, as well as superficial quirks to make them pop more. In the second edition classes were done away with for Archetypes, opening up more varied characters (for example, an Outsider Archetype could be an outlaw, a scavenger or a bounty hunter, just off the top of my head). Likewise, every archetype could do something useful, encouraging players to try different things and encouraging GMs to run games that aren't gun-n'-run.

This is a game that will ensure that no character will get out of a campaign unscathed, be it injury to the body or the mind. This is a game with a corruption and insanity mechanic, because your character will be staring into the abyss and it will stare back and it will leave its mark on them (that said, an extra hand bursting out of their chest is pretty handy....for about five minutes before their former comrades put them to the torch...)

Pros
- Not your typical RP, there is an emphasis on investigations, uncovering clues and determining where the group should go next.
- You are forced to plan ahead. Use cover, make plans. You can't go charging into every combat, because you will get maimed.
- Choices, you have so much freedom when creating your characters. Career paths can open and veer off, leaving you with a unique group if you want.
- A variety of locations. Because this is the 40K universe, there is literally a million worlds open to you, ranging from sparsely populated desert worlds, to hive worlds with billions of people. And each is unique in its own way.

Cons
- It lethal. Dark Heresy and the other Games Workshop RPs have a well deserved reputation for how dangerous combat is. Starting characters have somewhere between 9 and 14 wounds and the average rifle type weapon does 1d10+3 damage on a hit, meaning if you're unlucky, you could be killed in one round. Added to this, there is one form of resurrection and its not the kind you want to inflict on someone.
- Tiered gameplay. Because Dark Heresy was the first 40K RP, it hasn't done that well in matching up in crossovers with the later games. As such, a high level DH character might have the same power level as a beginner character in the next game, Rogue Trader.

Sadly, due to the ending of the partnership between Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games earlier this year, Dark Heresy and the rest of the RPs are now out of print. Meaning the only way to get the books is secondhand.

TheEvilDog:
ZWEIHANDER - The Grim & Perilous RPG
Grim & Perilous Studios
Dark Fantasy

Zweihander stands as the spiritual successor to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which was discontinued early this year, and Zweihander does a remarkable job at living up to that legacy. And it is an absolute massive attempt too, as the pdf version stands at just under 700 pages. Zweihander takes places in a European-esque Renaissance type setting that is seeing a gradual corruption seeping through the world, but other than that the overall setting feels rather neutral.

Pros
- A rather in-depth and involved character creation. Put it this way, it starts on page 26 and ends on page 72.
- Plenty of choice for careers, with nearly 120 for you to choose.
- Everything in one book with 692 pages.
- Due the neutral setting, its quite easier to tweak things to run campaigns in other fictional worlds; want to play a campaign during the War of the Five Kings (ASOFI)? What about a campaign of Die Zwerge? Maybe run a campaign in a Mayan style world? Its all open to you.
- It might not be the best entry game for newcomers, but its neutral tone means it can be used without overwhelming new players with information.
- Wonderful artwork and full of well written background text.

Cons
- Its massive. Too massive really. Its the kind of book you're going to have to go back and forth through to pick up information.
- Its beige in its own way. There's nothing that really stands out or makes it "pop".
- It adds nothing new. You can play as a Human, an Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling or an Ogre. There's a land and its slowly being corrupted. Its the same ground being trod over again.
- That's the lot. It looks like Grim & Perilous Studios won't be releasing any expansions for it later. That could change, but it'll be a long time yet.

Despite what I might say in the cons section, its still a game I would suggest picking up. And its currently just over €10 on DriveThruRPG.

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