D&D and WoD are definitely both scions of the old school of design with dense, complex rules that can be inaccessible and unapproachable. I could see you potentially liking
Amtgard in the LARP sphere, and for more free-form roleplaying experiences that provide basic structure but center the interaction I'm more inclined to recommend
Fate Core or
Powered By the Apocalypse. I've never personally been super into World of Darkness although my wife started there and has a decent amount of affection for it, I find it a bit... much in terms of how hard it goes on its aesthetic and its ruleset has always been a mess. D&D is usually the most complex game on the market that people actually play (GURPS is way more complicated but nobody actually gets around to playing it because you need 50 books to do anything), I don't honestly feel like it's a fantastic beginner game and it's definitely not a great roleplay-centric system but because it owns like 90% of the market that's just what most people play, alas. I tried to balance my own game in the rough midpoint between Fate and D&D since I like the tactical combat but dislike the rigid system and lack of creative options.
It's unfortunately a shame since WoD and D&D are the big two that a lot of folks get that and only that for their TTRPG experience, but even then it definitely takes a certain approach and mindset to really play and enjoy, any number of factors can get in the way such as system or bad GM or what have you so I totally get not being enamored with it. We're a strange breed, TTRPGers.