your problem had nothing to do with D&D. Also the New World is written system-neutral so you can use any in fantasy rpg game.
That's true. The problem that I had was with the players and the GM. I was mad at the players for playing in a linear game and mad at the GM for running such a linear game. The problem was that this was one of two games in town. That's the only reason anyone played in the game. The other game was run by a real dickhead who lost all his players in one fell swoop after a fight (that was his fault) broke out at his game.
I shouldn't blame the game, only the inept people that were running them. Keep in mind this was during my dark peroid of gaming right after high school before I found my current gaming group.
In other news, I checked out the New World and like what I see. I am working on a Savage Worlds conversion of the stat blocks for the creatures and may run a few one-offs for my group in that setting. Thanks for the feedback.