Hello All
So in the past I ran a "One Piece" like pirate game in 4th edition DnD. Worked out wonderfully, and everyone had a grand time. Recently one of my players asked about running a game similar to it again. Since the previous game was one of my greatest success as a GM, I'm in the mood to one up myself with a new campaign. I am however in need of some help in doing so.
Since I love genres with a twist this time I'm thinking of a pirate game taking place in a Rogue Galaxy/Treasure Planet setting(I'll drop links in both at the end of post). The question however is what game to run it in. I have stopped playing DnD4e and no longer have my books and I have an almost completely new group this time. I'm considering Pathfinder however I would rather use something more rules-lite, as pathfinder is rather overwhelming to some new players and I would like to be less "crunchy". Anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you for your time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHFP1IDAJtw
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133240/
Currently, my go-to game is Mutants & Masterminds. It has a bit of crunch to it and it is advertised as a Super Hero RPG. It is a d20 product, so most gamers should have some familiarity with it already. That could help overcome the crunchiness. It is a Super Hero RPG, but I find it works wonderfully for any cinematic genre. If you want your heroes larger than life, M&M can work.
I always hear wonderful things about Savage Worlds. I have not actually played it, so I reserve judgment. It is far less crunchy than a lot of games and still retains tactical movement.
PDQ# is the underlying system for Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies and is free on Atomic Sock Monkey's website. If you want a really (and I do mean really) rules light system, this is your game. I ran an experimental one shot Serenity game where I told the players nothing about the system I was going to use until the night of the game. They were experienced gamers, but still, we went from no characters or knowledge of the system to running in less than an hour.
Many of the Fate systems would work as well. Crunch-wise, they are probably somewhere between M&M and PDQ#. Starblazer Adventures is more whimsical while Diaspora has more of a Traveller feel to it.
And, of course, there is all the versions of Traveller out there.