My dad has never been a fan of fantasy. He watched Game of Thrones with me because he enjoyed the political intrigue and the action sequences, but wasn't a fan of the Dragons, Magic, or what he called 'snow zombies'. I would love to get him in to some form of tabletop gaming but I'm fairly new to the hobby, and most of the systems I've come across are fantasy based to some extent and I'm sure they would put him off.

He's always been a student of history and would probably respond more to something in a familiar historical setting (he reads voraciously about any British historical period after 1066 right up to WWII). Can anyone suggest a game system that would appeal? I've also been considering some kind of modified version of D&D but to repackage all the stats and spells etc. into real world skills seems like rather a complicated process.

I don't know of a purely historical RPG without fantasy elements, I'm afraid, but it wouldn't be my thing if it did exist so that certainly doesn't mean it doesn't.  But if he can handle fantasy elements, FASA's new 1879 is doing an amazing job of blending real history to their alternate timeline, with a ton of detailed research and a lot of real historical figures.  It has a more standard fantasy world sort of connected to it, but that actually wouldn't be hard at all to just ignore.  And it's focused in London, so that pings the British history piece.

But while magic is new in the setting, it is there.

You might look at Modern AGE or Fate Accelerated?  Both could be readily adapted to cover any period in history you mentioned.

Generally I would agree. Fantasy and Steampunk are my happy places, but my dad would balk at the idea of vanilla D&D or similar. 1879 looks like something I would love personally! Victorian Britain is very much in his comfort zone, so that might work, even with the fantasy elements included. Even if it doesn't I love the concept. I'll have a closer look, thanks for the suggestion!


Fate Accelerated looks simple enough and flexible enough to give him a good starting platform. I've downloaded the PDF and am having a peruse, so thanks Horus!

No problem.  It sounds like you're going to be playing across a table, yes?  I hope you and your father grow closer through your adventures!

GURPS and Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing system can accomodate non-magical, non-fantasy role play.

This message was deleted by the user at 01:25, Mon 27 May 2019.

I would give Pendragon a look-see.

Ostensibly, it's a game about King Arthur and his knights, but this game goes out of its way to steer clear of the fantasy tropes.

Typically, the characters will have one adventure per year, and campaigns often carry over across generations, with players retiring their character and taking the role of that character's heir.

There's also Boot Hill and Flashing Blades, the former set in the Wild West, the latter for 17th Century swashbuckling adventures.

AD&D 2nd Ed had sourcebooks for Vikings, Celts, Charlemagne and Roman eras - I've only got the first, but that cuts way back on the magic, basically suggesting dispensing with Wizard or Priest PCs altogether to keep things authentic.  All those are pre-1066, though.

If you're going old school, there's the Top Secret spy game and any number of variants on that theme.

Call of Cthulhu is horror rather than fantasy so might appeal and has both Victorian (Cthulhu by Gaslight) and WWII (Achtung! Cthulhu) variants.

GURPS can do what you want.  It's a generic system with many supplements you can use.  Only use the ones you want, you can safely ignore magic, psychic powers, etc.

Blue Max/Canvas Eagles may be an interesting option.
http://www.maxeagles.com/

I'm sure they can be converted from war games to a RPG using Savage Worlds without much effort.

The Savage Worlds Showdown rules would do most of the conversion just from matching scale.

From the description of what is fun, the political infighting between the French and Americans for supplies and plane support would make a great Adventure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Escadrille
This message was last edited by the user at 12:30, Mon 27 May 2019.