I’m re-reading the ERB books for the fifth or sixth time, and love the artwork inthe RPG. But my regular group are die-hard D&Ders and do not want to even try JCOM. Are there any online players?
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I have the same problem with trying to run Star Trek Adventures.
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What I’m about to say would probably make people here think I’m nuts 
, but it works and the actual community is rapidly growing (also in light of the current crisis). One way of being able to play any system despite either your regular group not wanting to, or being unable to find the right people online, is to play solo. Yes solo. Not one player/one GM, but true solo. With the right mindset and tools, it’s very much possible, and still very enjoyable. You just have to step into it with a different expectation, and a ton of self-discipline. Of course it won’t work for everyone, especially those that thrive on the social aspect of “regular” roleplaying sessions. But it’s a pretty good alternative.
I’m currently planning a Star Trek Adventures one-shot, using a custom-made desktop application for my character sheets, and the Foundry VTT.
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@Doc-Savage might be running some JCoM sometime soon on his own Discord server. I know he’s doing a one-shot of Conan this Saturday, and he wants to survey a few different games over the coming weeks. I saw JCoM in his stack, and I’d join that game.
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Tell them it’s a variation of Dark Sun back from the 4E and AD&D times… heck it ain’t a far off comparison. And also that learning new rule sets will help stave off dementia, not kidding, keeps the neural links in the brain firing off…
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Sorry you are having this issue. I have the exact same problem. My gaming group has very specific likes and dislikes and getting them to change is nearly impossible. Basically, they like D&D of the 5E variety.
I tried Shadowrun with no success. I have suggested several other systems (Alien, Tales from the Loop, Star Trek, John Carter). I guess they like fantasy and not scifi. 
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Awesome, thank you!
I listened to a podcast, Tabletop Radio Hour, and there one of the hosts played a solo game. It sounded interesting. I can’t remember what ruleset he used to structure the adventure.
There are many tools to help, but the most popular one is called the Mythic Game Master Emulator, which contains several tables and mechanics that provides different ways of generating ideas, surprises, and twists.
Especially now, it’s easy to actually show how it’s done. Voice actor Trevor Devall ran a series of episodes of a solo campaign run using Mythic and Savage Worlds Deluxe, and he plans to run a new adventure using Ironsworn. You can see it here. But this is just one way of playing solo, I intend to play more from a GM’s perspective, “simulating” the world and the characters, improvising as I go, while based on a pre-written adventure outline. Similar to what is know in the writer’s world as “discovery writing”.
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I tried it the way you describe here—“discovery” writing—and my single character almost died right away. I had to leverage every “character shield” I could imagine. My character is a Vanir Skald, so he wasn’t entirely equipped to face even a Mob of Wolves. I might try again, after the precedence of the initial scenario fades.
I had this problem a few years ago. I really struggled, because i actually got sick of the d20 system but one or two of the players jsut didn’t want to make the effort to learn a new system. And you know what? I couldn’t really blame them: we all have demanding jobs and time is precious and every game session is a gift. But we now play a lot of other stuff. For what its worth, this is how it went down with my group.
First, i was honest about my ebbing enthusiasm. Honestly, I was reaching the point where I couldn’t be bothered gaming and, without making it an ultimatum, I let them know, but in one-on-one conversations. At the end of the day, especially if you’re running the game, if you decide you don’t want to anymore, that’s bad for everyone.
NExt, I suggested a ‘s#!ts and giggles’ game or two of a nice, easy system - in this case, Savage Worlds. We played one adventure. Later, I got them to try a game of Cthulu and then Traveller. Some of those systems, some of the layers never want to play again, but it showed everyone we could have fun with other systems.
If you’re giving up your time and energy (and often money) to run a session, your players better appreciate that, or its not worth it.
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(Also, I tried them on Conan, which is a bit more similar to D&D…)
Funny, mine would rather play AS calots.
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I can’t get them to try JCOM out.
My group isn’t interested in anything that isn’t Hero or Fate, and while I like both systems, their stance is the reason they no longer have a GM - I started looking for other players, elsewhere. Before the pandemic, anyway. 
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Maybe running with the canonical nudity will entice them! 
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Wow. I mean that’s like two pretty hard opposite extremes there isn’t it? It’s actually impressive to me that those are their two “only one of these” systems.