Thinking about leaving d20? And let's say Wall Street "Thanos snapped" every OGL game out of existence, which isn't likely, but just to give them the benefit of intentions, let's say that happened. Now, there are plenty of great games removing the OGL license, and they are just as worthy, but let's say you wanted to get as far away from the OGL and Wall Street as humanly possible.
I don't blame players either; there are a lot of hurt feelings out here now and a sense of broken trust and betrayal. People want a drama-free home for fantasy gaming and can't take all these negative feelings. Even if they are still sticking with the big corporate games, they know people have been hurt by supporting those, and that is the wrong place to put a community with shared interests.
I feel it too. I look at my OGL games and will continue supporting them - since I know there are creators passionate about them and depending on our support. But I feel sad when I see them, the same feelings I have for a town hit by a natural disaster. These are just games, which is a stretch of comparison (and it can't compare to the loss), but I feel the same. And my 5E books are getting sold.
Sometimes I need to play something unrelated to the drama just to clear my mind and get away.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/E3237690-B636-4D5E-AAD3-ED146560D5DC
The game Dungeon Fantasy is one place to end up, with a community and many cool things to buy. If you don't like GURPS, stay far away, but I keep saving GURPS from my shelved games and boxing up, and it always comes back to my most-played shelf space. A good thing about this boxed set is that it is a complete game and does not need any GURPS books. You could never buy or touch a GURPS book, own this boxed set, and have more than enough to play for years.
They have expansion books in the Dungeon Fantasy line, and all of GURPS 4th Edition is compatible, so you could pull in monsters and other things from those books if you want to. There is really no reason to dive into GURPS 4th, and you could stick to DF books exclusively and still have more than enough. This is a more gritty and realistic combat system than d20 games, and it uses only d6 dice. It also uses hex maps, so another word of caution if you are square-based.
A fault is that it starts with 250-point characters, like a level 5 or 8 d20 character, which is a lot for newer players to process in a new system. There is an excellent book called "Delvers to Grow" that starts characters at lower point levels, but that makes them a lot less survivable as well. If you hand-created 50-point characters (or used the ones in DTG), you would have a better zero-to-hero experience, but this is not for beginners.
Those starting 250-point characters are also very powerful, so they are more like "movie heroes" than your typical "level 1 character" in terms of what they can handle. You get a party of four, and you are talking about severe firepower being thrown around.
An electronic character creation tool called GURPS Character Assistant is great and comes with Dungeon Fantasy files. This is perfect if you need a character creation tool to help you figure things out.
Can I play this as a d20 alternative? Yes, honestly, and I was considering it at one time. This is a more "hard fantasy" experience than your typical d20 game, with deadly combat simulation, detailed character building, and a skill-based and survival-oriented fantasy game. Combat here is hard-fought and tough, and just one goblin is a challenge to a single player. A lucky roll could spell doom, but that increases the tension and makes you plan ahead.
The game uses a template system of character building, but if you wanted to, you could always break that and have any character buy anything they want - just like in GURPS. For that classic fantasy feeling, I would stick to the template recommendations. The builds are fun and go into detail, and you can craft specialist characters that feel worthwhile and useful. The skills and unified 3d6 resolution system shine here, and this is a game where skills and knowledge matter.
Is there a downside? The complexity, to be honest. Sectional armor, hit locations, the flow of combat, and many more detailed simulation rules can be very intimidating. When you combine that with a complex 250-point character, you get a game that is not new-player friendly, and you need to put a little time into learning the system. The rewards for system mastery are huge, and many players stay with DF or GURPS and never look back just because of the character design and flexibility of the system.
On the plus side? The system's complexity will distract you from the OGL drama and keep you busy. Don't underestimate this factor; some players need a "brain reset." I do at times! They need to learn a new system with many crunchy rules to help them overcome bad feelings and memories of hurting people by supporting a game they once loved.
Dungeon Fantasy is an excellent place to end up if you want more crunch, character design freedom, and gritty detailed combat. And don't forget, George Martin of Game of Thrones fame played GURPS, so much of his fantasy world-building feels inspired by this style of gritty game of fantasy survival and deadly combat.
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