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Chainsaw Hobbit
2013-03-12, 08:04 PM
These are the ten roleplaying games that I consider essential to my collection, and that I recommend to all roleplaying enthusiasts.

Basic Fantasy ... A simple, open-source fantasy roleplaying game that improves on the principals of classic D&D. Easy to learn, play, and modify.

Castles & Crusades ... A refinement of D&D that incorporates elements from nearly every edition, and feels familiar to nearly every roleplaying enthusiast. It feels most like Third Edition, but has strong elements of previous incarnations as well.

Dungeon Crawl Classics ... A Swords & Sorcery roleplaying game that does a great job of emulating the tone and aesthetic of the novels that inspired it. Bizarre, bloody, and darkly funny.

Dungeon World ... An innovative re-interpretation of D&D that plays smoothly and feels fresh and exiting. The Game Master rolls no dice.

FATE Core ... A universal system designed to emulate fiction rather than physics, beautifully crafted and honed to near-perfection. Character's goals, relationships, and emotions have a mechanical effect.

Ghost Lines ... A great example of how rich and enjoyable a four-page game can be. Sort of like a cross between Ghost Busters and the video game Dishonored.

Mouse Guard ... A beautiful game with beautiful presentation; endlessly hackable. Can be lighthearted or dark.

Neverwhere Third Edition ... A rich setting great for roleplaying, and a simple system that is easy to modify or replace. Not just for fans of the book.

New World of Darkness ... A flexible setting, great writing, and an elegant system.

Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition ... A universal system that makes for fast-paced, free-wheeling games - also well-suited to virtual tabletops. Very cinematic.

Honorable Mentions ... Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Basic RolePlaying, Changeling: the Dreaming, D&D Fourth Edition, Deathwatch, Grimm, Monsters & Other Childish Things, Swords & Wizardry, Woodland Warriors, Wraith: the Oblivion.

What are your top ten roleplaying games?

Jack of Spades
2013-03-12, 08:16 PM
Ugh... Top 10? I'll see if I can get past 3.

Fiasco. A beautiful game, great for when you don't feel like playing an RPG and just feel like having a great time for the night.

The rest shall be things I don't necessarily recommend for others, but love nonetheless.

2. Deadlands Classic: Miles better than SW, in my opinion.
3. World of Darkness: Only as humans. Ever.
4. Deathwatch: Sometimes it's just fun to let your hair down and play a completely absurd character. Space Marines are great for that.

I guess four is what I can muster. I really haven't found too many systems I've actually enjoyed. But those that I've enjoyed, I've enjoyed so very much.

Vknight
2013-03-12, 08:42 PM
Top 10 in no particular order

Monsters & Other Childish Things
Wild Talents
Dresden Files Rpg
Ironclaw
Anima: Beyond Fantasy
Little Fears
Don't Rest Your Head
Fiasco
Eclipse Phase
Shadowrun

Grinner
2013-03-12, 08:51 PM
In no particular order:

D&D 3rd Edition - I rag on this so much, but I think we all owe it a lot. I doubt that WotC's intentions were altruistic when they released it, but the SRD did initiate a tradition of open gaming.

Unknown Armies - The setting is...superb. One of the co-authors, Greg Stolze, complains that horror games like Call of Cthulhu and World of Darkness often depict humans as being relatively helpless. That is not the case here, but it's a long and lonely road to the top.

Eclipse Phase - The game itself is kind of a pain to play, but the setting is so well done. More than that, I'm impressed by how thoroughly they document the character options. Want to play a massive, quartz-plated crab psychosurgeon? They've got that.

Nobilis - 'Nuff said.

Over the Edge - As far as I can tell, this game started the idea of narrative mechanics. Rather than exhaustively describe every possible character option, players are instead free to define their characters' traits, and conflicts are handled by common sense modified by dice rolls, rather than vice versa.

FATE Core - It seems more elegant than the previous incarnations of FATE. Consequently, it also seems a bit easier to create homebrew for.

Frankenstein Atomic Frontier - Given its obscurity, I haven't actually had a chance to play it. Still, it's a neat setting describable as Promethean: The Created meets Fallout.

That's all for now.

Edit: Wait. One more.

Shadows of Esteren: It's got this weird Celtic/Gothic setting, but that's not the important part. Instead, what got me about this game is the character attributes. Characters are defined by five sliding scales, and each ascribes certain personality traits. Want a strong warrior? Bump up his Combativeness scale, but keep in mind that he'll be a bit...unhinged.

navar100
2013-03-12, 09:33 PM
Pathfinder

3E

Ars Magica

apathy

:smallbiggrin:

Grod_The_Giant
2013-03-12, 09:37 PM
I don't have 10, but... I love Mutants and Masterminds 3e. Love it, love it, love it. The Dresden Files RPG is beautiful for roleplaying, and, well, I can't help but enjoy 3.5e D&D.

Rhynn
2013-03-12, 09:41 PM
RuneQuest (any edition)
Glorantha is the most incredibly awesome setting. It has the most awesome fan authors, fan websites, mailing lists, and fanzines. RuneQuest is a great system, regardless of who it's by (so far).

Cyberpunk 2020
You can't beat the metal, choomba. Mostly it's the attitude. The rules need tweaking (but the supplement Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads! did that for you), the setting needs tweaking (but Home of the Brave, Live & Direct, Protect & Serve, and Wildside flesh it out). But the attitude is the heart of it. Style before substance,

D&D (any old-school, prefer AD&D 2E supported by 1E DMG)
My favorite kind of D&D is old. Includes OD&D, B/X or BECMI, AD&D, and the myriad wonderful retroclones (DCC, Basic Fantasy, Swords & Wizardry Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Stars Without Number, Adventurer Conqueror King, etc.). Still prefer (very houseruled) AD&D 2E.

The Riddle of Steel
Best ancient to renaissance close-combat combat ever. Also, sword & sorcery fantasy is great.

Artesia: Adventures in the Known World
Great system (with some caveats), amazing world, wonderful interaction of rules to actually bring the world to life and suggest logical outcomes. If only Mark Smylie would get off his ass and continue the comic! :smallfurious:

HârnMaster (any edition)
Good, surprisingly simple rules with great realism, the most real-feeling world there is. Also a guilty pleasure for my internal accountant (must fill out HârnManor sheets for every manor in Kaldor... must...).

Aces & Eights
You can't beat it for realistic and fun (and gritty!) Wild West gunslinging. Easy to ditch the setting and use it for real-world historical game, but the alternative setting is designed to allow campaigns to go decades of game-time without leaving the Wild West period, while keeping all sorts of scenarios possible.

Trail of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu is great, but Trail introduces mechanics actually designed for mysteries, plus injects new ideas and twists into old ones. (And uh Old Ones. And Great Old Ones.)

Twilight 2013
Best modern small-unit combat, best post-apocalyptic survival.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Zombies zombies zombies. Plus awesome, simple rules.

Vamphyr
2013-03-12, 09:51 PM
I don't think I can get to ten, but:

D&D 3.5: It was the first system I played and it's always fun to hack your way through hordes of monsters.

Hero: This was the first point based RPG I played and the freedom for character creation is amazing.

Call of Cthulhu 6e (Chaosium): I love the bleakness of Cthulhu and the way the system plays can be a lot of fun.

Libertad
2013-03-12, 10:08 PM
My Top Ten:

Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition: Great amount of support, has great nostalgia value, amazing customization options for kinds of character concepts.

Vampire: the Requiem: Always loved the setting and themes of vampire masterminds behind the scenes, fighting each other for spiritual and political dominance in a world of frightening secrets.

Mutants & Masterminds: Many fond memories of superhero battles and teams. Love the Freedom City setting as well.

Eclipse Phase: I like the setting much more than the rules. Full of fresh ideas and portrays the implications of transhuman technology in a balanced way and how it can give rise to terrible situations.

Deadlands: I'm not very fond of some of the setting elements and rail-roady plots, but the idea of Western gunslingers fighting inhuman monstrosities with magic and weird science is just damn cool.

Mouse Guard: Neat setting, great rules for both newcomers and experienced RPG gamers. Like a darker Redwall.

Shadowrun: Guns-for-hire and street magic in a cyberpunk future? Yes, yes, and yes!

Delwugor
2013-03-12, 10:25 PM
No particular order.

D&D 3.x
AD&D
Fate - Strands of Fate
Fate - Bulldogs!
Fate Core
Pathfinder
Lady Blackbird
Mini6
SWSE

Fighter1000
2013-03-12, 10:33 PM
1. D&D 3.5 The game that introduced me to the hobby of roleplaying.

2. Vampire: The Masquerade Had a lot of crazy fun with this one.

3. Nobilis Only played a few sessions of this one. I really wish I could have played more.

4. Call of Cthulhu A great horror game.

5. Neverwhen The most interesting setting I have ever encountered. I only ever played the version based off of D&D 3.5.

6. RuneQuest A really simple system that I enjoy, but I like to homebrew it to clean it up a bit.

7. d20 Modern/d20 Future There is some really awesome game mechanics here, plus I like how similar it is to D&D 3.5.

8. Legend of the Five Rings I only got to play one session of this one, but it seemed to be a really well-thought-out system.

9. D&D 4th Edition It's not the worst system in the world, but in my opinion it is a steaming pile of poop compared to D&D 3.5.

10. Horror Rules I really wish I got to play this one more. The character creation system was superb.

Alejandro
2013-03-12, 10:50 PM
I can't do ten, but:

1. D&D
2. Star Wars Saga Edition
3. Star Wars D6
4. Shadowrun

Jay R
2013-03-12, 11:21 PM
I don't pretend to be unbiased. These are the games that have made my role-playing experience wonderful, from 1975 to the present. If you don't like these games, fine, and I hope you have games you love as much as I love these.

Dungeons and Dragons. The original. The one that started it all.

Chivalry and Sorcery. The first attempt at realism. It showed us all the best, and all the worst, that realism could bring. It is the most detailed, realistic, lush, beautiful, complete unplayable mess ever written.

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The first attempt to cover everything in the rules.

GURPS. The most extended universal system, with an incredible desire to be accurate. When the designers started a table of weights for various weapons, they didn't think about balance or play value, they brought in a bunch of weapons and weighed them.

Hero System. The way to design exactly the character I want, for any value of character.

Flashing Blades. The system fits the setting perfectly - rules-light, fast-paced, and you can focus on the situation, not the minutia. I would never play a musketeers-era game with anything else.

TOON. It works. Everybody can stay in character, and everybody understands the underlying philosophy.

Lost Worlds. Yes, it's just a combat system. But it's a combat system in which you look at your opponent, and decide what to do.

Pendragon. This game is a well-researched, loving tribute to the King Arthur mythos that is the foundation of all role-playing, and of virtually all fantasy.

Yes, that's only nine. Fine. There is no tenth game that deserves to be put on the same shelf with these.

Again, these are the games that have made my role-playing experience wonderful, from 1975 to the present. If you don't like these games, fine, and I hope you have games you love as much as I love these.

Totally Guy
2013-03-13, 04:26 AM
I've made up my big list.

Apocalypse World - A post apocalyptic game of needs and relationships. The system helps you buy into roll results by presenting you with well defined difficult choices.
Burning Wheel - A fantasy game of the struggle to achieve your ambitions. Will you compromise or will you fight and risk the things you fight for?
D&D Basic - It has a much more specific vision than a lot of the other versions. I wouldn't call myself old school though, but it does align with the aesthetics I like to a good extent for its time.
Dungeon World - A hack of Apocalypse World to bring it to my ideal of a D&D setting. Most D&D settings just turn me off, 3.5 PHB I just can't accept any more.
Inspectres - A game of bustin' ghosts and making stuff up for the camera crew that follows you.
Lacuna - The Inception role playing game that was created years before Inception was a thing.
Lady Blackbird - Yes it's a hack of the Shadow of Yesterday. I still rate it as a stand alone product. It's very accessible in that respect.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess - This rates highly mainly for the adventures. They tell you you're the D&D adventurer when really you're the horror movie protagonist. These adventures will impact your game to such an extent that you never truly stop playing that adventure whilst the game is ongoing.
Mouse Guard - The mice don't want to survive, they need to thrive. But your mice are the bravest ones that will suffer for it.
Poison'd - This is a game about actually nasty pirates. You become the sins you commit. I've not played this though, it needs a group that happy to cross the worst lines.

Honourable mentions:
In a Wicked Age - I couldn't get it to work really. I was being too competitive over the wrong parts.
Pendragon - I haven't given it a real chance aside from a con game that wasn't so great.
FreeMarket - Not had a great time with it because my mind struggles to attune with the setting and how the inhabitants behave.
Burning Empires - The most intimidating game ever means I've never played it.

prufock
2013-03-13, 06:15 AM
1. Mutants & Masterminds (preferably 3rd edition). This game specializes in cinematic superhero fantasy, but can do pretty much anything.

2. Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 edition). This is the game that really started getting me into roleplaying games. It has it's flaws (I'm currently working on my own rebalancing project, Fulcrum, that I hope to be playtesting in the next year), but I love it.

3. Star Wars Saga. This is THE BEST Star Wars game, in my opinion.

4. Homebrew D6. Based largely on the Ghostbusters D6 and subsequent versions of the D6 system, I have my own homebrew system that is designed for rules-light settings.

5. Paranoia! Paranoia! is fun. Other games are not.

Honestly can't get past 5, because these are the only systems I've played that I've really liked.
- Tried D&D 4e, but despite my appreciation of how the classes seem to be better balanced, and liking it from a pure design perspective, it didn't grip me like 3.5.
- Played Vampire: the Masquerade and HATED both the system and the setting.
- Played some weird cyberpunk system that I don't even recall the name of, and while the system wasn't terrible (I actually enjoyed the story), I don't even remember how it worked, and the mechanics were really nothing that couldn't have been done with one of my top 5.
- Made a character for a RIFTS, too convoluted and the game never even started.

Lesser Naboo
2013-03-13, 08:13 AM
1. D&D 3.5
2. Exalted
3. Star Wars Saga Edition
4. Nobilis
5. Call of Cthulhu

AClockworkMelon
2013-03-13, 08:16 AM
1.) New World of Darkness.
Chainsaw Hobbit used the best word to describe nWod: Elegant. It's an elegant system that wonderfully manages a balance between simulationism and ease-of-play. Reading through it for the first time it was like encountering one of those slick mathematical coincidences that make you think "Huh, that's cool." It's perfect for grittier, "realistic" games and can easily be adapted for combat-heavy games: I've converted its core system for everything from Star Wars to more typical fantasy fare and, of course, the "vanilla" WoD setting itself is anything but. The books are well-written and a pleasure to look at just as a cherry on top. I really can't recommend this system enough.

2.) D&D (specifically 3.x)
The version that first introduced me to D&D, I still feel a sense of nostalgia when I look through the core rulebook. Dungeons & Dragons introduced the d20 system, a system that, like White Wolf's Storytelling System, is elegant. Each edition tends to lose that elegance with every additional book slapped on, but this bloat is easily managed in my experience. The granddaddy of modern tabletop RPGs that's managed to stay relevant and a game that I still run campaigns for to this day.

I've played many tabletop RPGs over the years but those are the two that keep pulling me back. I do feel there's one other game that deserves a mention:

3.) Traveller (Mongoose)
Traveller is a game that's tricky for me to run, but I've been in love with its character creation system ever since I first discovered it. With many tabletop RPGs players are ultimately in control of who they're playing, and that's a good thing, but Traveller's transforming of the character creation process into an aspect of play all its own is exciting.

elliott20
2013-03-13, 09:03 AM
To be quite honest, I'm a little perplexed at how many people have listed 3.5 as their favorite. Ok, maybe not perplexed, I can understand the sentiment, but I certainly don't agree with it.

D&D 3.5 is what I know best, but the more I learn about OTHER games, the faster D&D 3.5 drops from my list. If I had to fill out a list of personal top ten, 3.5E would squeeze in simply because I don't have enough games to fill out the whole list.

I mean, D&D is good at making dungeon crawls and combat and it's got ridiculous brand equity, but terrible at pretty much anything else.

Grinner
2013-03-13, 09:15 AM
To be quite honest, I'm a little perplexed at how many people have listed 3.5 as their favorite. Ok, maybe not perplexed, I can understand the sentiment, but I certainly don't agree with it.

D&D 3.5 is what I know best, but the more I learn about OTHER games, the faster D&D 3.5 drops from my list. If I had to fill out a list of personal top ten, 3.5E would squeeze in simply because I don't have enough games to fill out the whole list.

I mean, D&D is good at making dungeon crawls and combat and it's got ridiculous brand equity, but terrible at pretty much anything else.

I can't speak for the others, but consider the number of games based on D&D 3.5: the retroclones; the innumerable third-party settings and sourcebooks (i.e. Oathbound, Midnight, Engel, etc.); etc. Far fewer of those would exist had it not been for D&D 3.5 and its SRD.

Rhynn
2013-03-13, 09:22 AM
I can't speak for the others, but consider the number of games based on D&D 3.5: the retroclones; the innumerable third-party settings and sourcebooks (i.e. Oathbound, Midnight, Engel, etc.); etc. Far fewer of those would exist had it not been for D&D 3.5 and its SRD.

Well, 3.0 and its OGL, to be technical.

But yeah, the big virtue of D&D 3E is definitely the OGL and the SRD, which frankly revolutionarized things. Before it, TSR and even Avalon Hill (or Chaosium, I forget) actually went after people putting their own material based on those companies' games up on the (more or less) nascent Internet. That's probably unimaginable to most young players now.

3E and its OGL produced some great third-party stuff (like Conan d20), and pretty much made the Old School Renaissance/Revival possible - a lot of the games listed here (Dungeon Crawl Classics, Swords & Wizardry, Basic Fantasy, Castles & Crusades, etc.) would never have come to existence without the OGL. The situation was frankly bad before the OGL - I remember RPG websites I loved just closing and taking down their material because someone else had received legal threats or a take-down notice from a game company, and nobody wanted to deal with that.

Gnomish Wanderer
2013-03-13, 10:03 AM
I don't have 10 straight myself, and it seems lots of other people have ones that are on my list.

The Greats
Shadowrun - My first role-playing game. Always close to my heart. Cyberpunk will never not be awesome

D&D - 3.5 and 4th, because they're not as different as people make them out to be. For the epic stories I've run and will run

Traveller - Mongoose Edition, best space game I can think of. Deserves our love and respect

Paranoia - because just playing this game makes Fun mandatory.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten - always loved the rules, and ZOMBIES

NWoD (no splats) - Before White Wolf introduced their... 'backstory'. I carried this with me for months throughout high school. I think people thought I was a witch or something :smallbiggrin: Elegant is right.

Deadlands - Cowboys having gunfights with undead. That's really all you need to describe what makes it great

Lesser mentions
Mouseguard - I love the setting, even though I've never gotten to play a game yet. It's just so... refined.

7th Sea - I have never run a game beyond the first session before forces pulled the in-process game apart, but the stories I hear and the stories taht could of been make me place this here

Mutants and Masterminds - Just recently got the 2e book, and I love it. It's so well-done. I am planning my first game

Genius: the Transgression - IMO, the only good splat for WoD, not even crafted by them. Best fanmade thing I've ever read

Xeratos
2013-03-13, 10:09 AM
Wow. I look at this thread, and I can't help but start tallying up the number of books some of you guys must have purchased. Even at only 1 or 2 books per game, that's still a lot of money. I envy you your bookshelves. For myself, I couldn't even construct a top 3 list, let alone top 10. Pretty much everything I play is either 3.5 or homebrew.

Eldan
2013-03-13, 10:28 AM
I really haven't played all that many for a sensible amount of time to form an opinion. Let's see...

Shadowrun: I can see a lot of potential in it. But our GM turned it into an 80s action movie mainly focused on shooting hordes of mooks without much tactics or planning.

3.5: My great love. I probably know more homebrew for 3.5 than entire other gamelines have rules. Surprisingly (and I know a lot of people will disagree), my favourite system for social encounters, if modified a bit. Simple, quickly resolved, doesn't get in the way of the actual talking. Too many of the more socially oriented game tend to lock down the actual dialogue with too many rolls and tokens and counters.

FATE: the best for quick games without much preparation from the player side and very simple and intuitive rules.

Gamma World: something around third edition. Rules were a mess, kind of a mix of AD&D, d20 and tons of weird tables for everything. But we had a lot of fun.

Mutants and Masterminds: extremely flexible. Build whatever you want.


What else can I think of that I enjoyed...

Oh, yeah. OWOD.

Totally Guy
2013-03-13, 10:29 AM
It's a pretty cheap hobby really. I mean with just 10 diverse games on the shelf you've got years of material. I've got one shelf of game books (and some PDFs) and I have more potential games than I have people and time to play them.

Rhynn
2013-03-13, 10:29 AM
Wow. I look at this thread, and I can't help but start tallying up the number of books some of you guys must have purchased. Even at only 1 or 2 books per game, that's still a lot of money. I envy you your bookshelves. For myself, I couldn't even construct a top 3 list, let alone top 10. Pretty much everything I play is either 3.5 or homebrew.

1-2 books each for 10 RPGs? As if. I've got stacks of books. Probably 10-12 (or 15?) stacks a foot high each... I've never actually counted them.

Eldan
2013-03-13, 10:32 AM
Dang. Where do you get the money for that? I've never seen an RPG book under 60 dollars, and many cost more.

Totally Guy
2013-03-13, 11:13 AM
Dang. Where do you get the money for that? I've never seen an RPG book under 60 dollars, and many cost more.

I've never paid that much for an RPG book. A lot of my games are small books. I like some games that are 600 pages. The game I'm running tonight, Lacuna, has 50 pages. I've bought a couple of box sets for around 60USD but never just a book.

Rhynn
2013-03-13, 11:21 AM
Dang. Where do you get the money for that? I've never seen an RPG book under 60 dollars, and many cost more.

I wish it was 60 USD for a single RPG book here.

I've been collecting these for 20 years now. Spread over 20 years, it's not that much money, especially compared to some other hobbies. Heck, between smoking and drinking, I bet some of the people I know literally p*ss away and blow up in smoke more money than I spend on RPG books a year.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2013-03-13, 11:32 AM
Much of my RPG collection is in PDF format, and I view it from my iPad. Much of it was purchased second-hand. These combined factors cut the price in half, at the very least.

Also, concerning D&D Third Edition ...

I'm a bit sad that D&D Third Edition is on so many people's lists, but I'm not surprised. It's nostalgic. We've all played it. It was the only RPG I owned at age twelve, and I loved it. When most of us talk about Third Edition, what we actually mean is a frankengame, filled with houserules and made great by nostalgia.

That being said, its a convoluted mess, and I never plan on playing it again. Some characters blatantly outshine others. The rules feel wonky and bloated. There are all kinds of obnoxious relics left over from older D&D.

Totally Guy
2013-03-13, 11:42 AM
I wish it was 60 USD for a single RPG book here.

But then again I notice that you have The Riddle of Steel on your list which is prohibitively expensive these days since it went out of print. I'd get it if I could but for now I'm content with Burning Wheel for that kind of game. It even comes with a "thumbs up" from Jake Norwood on the first page.

Jay R
2013-03-13, 12:16 PM
Wow. I look at this thread, and I can't help but start tallying up the number of books some of you guys must have purchased. Even at only 1 or 2 books per game, that's still a lot of money. I envy you your bookshelves. For myself, I couldn't even construct a top 3 list, let alone top 10. Pretty much everything I play is either 3.5 or homebrew.

I've been playing, and buying, since 1975. 38 years gives a lot of time to buy books.

Eldan
2013-03-13, 12:43 PM
3.5 is a bloated mess, unbalanced and about 60% of the options are entirely pointless. A lot of things never made much sense and a lot of the rules simply don't work.

It's still the best framework I've ever had for telling a good story. And there's so much homebrew out there, I'd never need to look at anything writen on it by WotC again.

WhatBigTeeth
2013-03-13, 01:51 PM
It's still the best framework I've ever had for telling a good story.
Out of curiosity, how so?

I think the only games I've even played in the last couple years are Dungeon World, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Castles and Crusades and Cascade Failure (d20 stripped down enough to almost be called "light" for post-apocalyptic space opera) with the occasional BD&D and PF.

But my favorite games, however many ages ago it was that I played them, are probably:
Chill - The old version, when the bigger and convoluteder a set of rules was, the "more realistic" it felt. To be honest, the game is terribly heavy and using it was far more of a chore than it had to be, but it was a horror alternative to D&D (the only other RPG I'd even heard of), which really hooked me off the bat.
Dust Devils - Withered gunmen wrassling their inner demons while they run amok toward their own ends. The system does a great job at Once Upon a Time in the West or The Great Silence, and does it with some flair - the poker hand resolution mechanic adds to the feel.
Diaspora - This was always my favorite implementation of FATE, generic systems aside. The shared narrative bits that come in the forms of worldbuilding and Aspect-tagging keep players involved, and the system generally holds up to macro-level scifi nerdiness like interstellar trade negotiations, as well as action and violence and incentives for character-driven actions.
Pendragon - Crunchy enough combat to be tactically engaging, and enough of the fluffy stuff to actively support court intrigue and deep characterization.
Agon - Fun little game about greek heroes. Rules are simplistic. The interesting part is that it has players, as allies, competing against each other for achievements, which really nails the source materials' tone. The one really wonky part was the abstraction in combat - almost like 3:16.
Houses of the Blooded - Swashbuckling and intrigue listed for about the same reasons as Pendragon and Diasopora - incentivized characterization, rules turning negotiation into a minigame that's fun to play

Arbane
2013-03-13, 05:17 PM
Hm... in no particular order:

D&D: I started with the Red Box, way back when. Lots of things about the system BUG me intensely, but it's still the Microsoft Windows of RPGs.

Exalted: The rules are a clunky, bean-counting mess. The concept and the setting are PURE AWESOMENESS.

Feng Shui: First game I saw that embraced "over-the-top"ness as a virtue to be encouraged. Plus it has flying cyborg monkeys.

Tribe 8: Very weird setting, very slick rules.

RuneQuest: Probably the second RPG I ever saw, and I just _like_ how it works. A nice balance between 'realism' and 'heroism'.

Risus: Short and silly.

GURPS: Has a sourcebook for EVERYTHING.

Hero System: Clunky and fiddly, but it can let you make a character that can do almost ANYTHING.

Nobilis: The most brilliant, innovative game nobody can figure out how to play

Legend of the Wulin: Provisionally on the list - lots of nifty ideas on how to handle dramatic kung-fu fighting, and manages to make _injuries_ interesting.

elliott20
2013-03-13, 09:01 PM
well, to be fair to D&D 3.5/3E and all of it's variants, that is one thing that D&D has no other game really has - business acumen.

The idea of going digital, going online, and doing premium content, while releasing the base product is pretty much the early version of the freemium model you see in apps all over the place now. The execution was terrible in a lot of places, but yeah, I totally agree with you guys that by going OGL and SRD, it changed everything.

Had Fate or Burning Wheel done that, we'd have a very different landscape now.

Asmodai
2013-03-13, 10:44 PM
Dang. Where do you get the money for that? I've never seen an RPG book under 60 dollars, and many cost more.

I feel your pain I remember the $15 White Wolf products going for $40 here. Then i got a credit card and discovered Amazon and bookdepository. Then i got Paypal and got on ebay. Books can be quite a bit more reasonable when purchased like this :)

(Caveat: Just because they're cheaper doesn't meant you won't end up buying more ;))

DontEatRawHagis
2013-03-13, 10:59 PM
Three Words Paranoia

Rhynn
2013-03-14, 02:47 AM
The idea of going digital, going online, and doing premium content, while releasing the base product is pretty much the early version of the freemium model you see in apps all over the place now.

WotC so did not invent that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware), dude...


Had Fate or Burning Wheel done that, we'd have a very different landscape now.

Probably not, given that D&D has dominated RPGs in market share since it started the whole thing (even if its popularity, and in consequence the popularity of RPGs in general, has come way down since the 80s).

Jack of Spades
2013-03-14, 05:41 AM
I get almost all my books in electronic form-- the standard practice around here tends to be the DM buying the books in PDF format and giving them to the players as necessary.

The few physical books that I have were bought during going-out-of business and garage sales for cheap.


well, to be fair to D&D 3.5/3E and all of it's variants, that is one thing that D&D has no other game really has - business acumen.

The idea of going digital, going online, and doing premium content, while releasing the base product is pretty much the early version of the freemium model you see in apps all over the place now. The execution was terrible in a lot of places, but yeah, I totally agree with you guys that by going OGL and SRD, it changed everything.

Had Fate or Burning Wheel done that, we'd have a very different landscape now.

While business savvy was definitely the game-changer, the idea of going digital definitely had nothing to do with it. In fact, Wizards was pretty late to the game for that.

No, what DnD had that others didn't was a massive, extremely-well-advertised brand. Think about it: video games, TV shows, movies, and books directly drawn from the product. Hell, the game got mentioned in E.T. Wizards dominates every market it enters because it knows how to sell a brand. Add to that the fact that DnD was damn near the original sword and sorcery RPG, and made by people who had just enough brand power in and of themselves.

Rhynn
2013-03-14, 07:17 AM
Wizards dominates every market it enters because it knows how to sell a brand. Add to that the fact that DnD was damn near the original sword and sorcery RPG, and made by people who had just enough brand power in and of themselves.

D&D already dominated the market (if not every part of it) during the TSR years, particularly the 80s. And I don't think Gygax, Arneson, etc. had a lot of "brand power" before D&D got popular...

I must be misunderstanding what you're getting at, I think.

Mastikator
2013-03-14, 07:25 AM
1 Trudvagn, it had a very elegant system for skills and actions and the campaign setting was truly remarkable and deep. It had by far the best combat system too.
2 Call of Cthulhu, mostly because the game mechanics felt like they were a safetyline rather than the mechanism for moving forward, leaving most of the attention to the game. The setting and genre is of course killer.
3 D&D 3.5 is the third and sadly the last game I've played.

Frozen_Feet
2013-03-14, 07:41 AM
Hmmm, how to rank these things? Obviously, I won't include any games I haven't played. I think I'll weigh how much I've used the system first, and how much I like them second. So my list:

Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Basically, cosmic horror version of early D&D with streamlined rules, good tutorial and lots of good modules. Fell in love with it three years ago, probably won't let go of it before I make a better retroclone myself.

Praedor: This is a popular Finnish RPG most of you prolly have never heard about. It has a robust character creation and skill system, but what I like most in it is the setting: it is basically the post-apocalyptic Tippyverse. Plus, it had agnostic attitude to gods way before Eberron existed. And it has gay barbarians.

CODA Lord of the Rings roleplaying game: There must be dozen different roleplaying games situated in Middle-Earth. What got me in this one was the beautiful representation, drawing from Peter Jackson's movies. The game itself, you could describe as "D&D 3.5 but with 2d6 instead of d20". I'd argue it has better class system and core math.

BECMI: The second roleplaying game I ever tried, and one of the few I've had the joy of playing, not just game mastering. Nostalgia rules strong here, but it was also very good for a basic roleplaying game. Lamentations is the only reason I don't really play this game anymore.

1st Ed AD&D: This is a very recent experience to me, actually, and I haven't played it much. But it appeals to me for historical reasons, because it is the obvious inspiration behind many computer games which I grew up playing (Nethack, Angband, Exile...). It also has great DMG, and Gygax explains several things pretty clearly which have apparently become forgotten among lot of players.

D6 Star Wars: It made participating in the setting of some of my favorite childhood movies possible. It's the first, and last, Stars Wars themed RPG I've played.

Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game: You know, the one that was "Rolemaster lite". I mostly picked it up because I love Middle-Earth, the actual system was pretty awful in many regards. But hey, gotta love those critical tables. :smallbiggrin:

Twilight 2000: Best "modern" game I've ever played, period.

Elhendi: Obscure Finnish RPG about hippy elves living a peaceful life in their continent. Very humane and optimistic in feel. We had a few very fun adventures with it. Also one of the few games I've witnessed from the player's side, with my brother serving as a GM.

Cyberpunk 2020: Honorary mention goes to the game I started the hobby with. Also, kudos for giving me awesome sourcebooks based on some really good sci-fi novels.

As you can see, D&D is strongly represented, but 3.x doesn't make the cut. :smalltongue: I have a special love-hate relationship with that system: for me, it mostly exist to be tinkered with, not played. The next time I'll play a 3.x. derived game is after I've made one myself, most likely.

Jack of Spades
2013-03-14, 07:50 AM
D&D already dominated the market (if not every part of it) during the TSR years, particularly the 80s. And I don't think Gygax, Arneson, etc. had a lot of "brand power" before D&D got popular...

I must be misunderstanding what you're getting at, I think.

I was mostly talking about the modern era (hence the response to the digital-good point), but I guess I had an inflated opinion of what people thought of Gygax and Arneson back before DnD.

So, I guess you might kind of be misunderstanding me, but if you are it's definitely my fault :smallredface:

Rhynn
2013-03-14, 08:06 AM
Praedor: This is a popular Finnish RPG most of you prolly have never heard about. It has a robust character creation and skill system, but what I like most in it is the setting: it is basically the post-apocalyptic Tippyverse. Plus, it had agnostic attitude to gods way before Eberron existed. And it has gay barbarians.

...

Elhendi: Obscure Finnish RPG about hippy elves living a peaceful life in their continent. Very humane and optimistic in feel. We had a few very fun adventures with it. Also one of the few games I've witnessed from the player's side, with my brother serving as a GM.

Finnish high five!

Praedor (comic and RPG) rocks. (Including the Eridu!) I remember reading the strips in Magus years ago...

Trivia: the combat matrix is almost straight out HârnMaster.

That was a very Finnish list in general (CP2020, MERP, TW2000, BECMI - pretty much every roleplayer I know started with those, including me). :smallcool:


I was mostly talking about the modern era (hence the response to the digital-good point), but I guess I had an inflated opinion of what people thought of Gygax and Arneson back before DnD.

I don't believe they really had much of a reputation outside of their wargaming circles (Chainmail was hardly a big thing outside of them, and probably not even within them). The success of D&D undoubtedly came as a surprise.

Totally Guy
2013-03-14, 08:15 AM
Even though he's not Finnish I think James Raggi IV of LotFP lives in Finland. I follow him on G+.

Rhynn
2013-03-14, 08:28 AM
Even though he's not Finnish I think James Raggi IV of LotFP lives in Finland. I follow him on G+.

He does.

To my eternal shame, I kinda can't stand his adventures. :smallredface: I like all the basic ideas, but then he just takes that whole "I'm 16 and listen to black metal" approach... The Monolith With A Long Title has a cool concept, but all the details are... ech. Death Love Doom has a great backstory and a good structure, but I'd have to cut out and re-write all the family members. It's not like I have a problem with disgusting or gory material (I've watched Ichi the Killer, Cannibal Holocaust, etc.) but there's a point where "mature content" becomes "juvenile content" ...

Weirdly, though, I like Carcosa, which I understand Raggi re-published or something?

Frozen_Feet
2013-03-14, 09:50 AM
Even though he's not Finnish I think James Raggi IV of LotFP lives in Finland. I follow him on G+.

He does. I've bought all my LotFP stuff from him personally. I even gave him a poster of my own convention campaign last time around. :smallbiggrin: He's a fun guy.


That was a very Finnish list in general (CP2020, MERP, TW2000, BECMI - pretty much every roleplayer I know started with those, including me).

Courtesy of them having a lot of translated stuff and still being found in most libraries. :smallsmile:

And Petri Hiltunen rocks. I too first read his works in Magus. Try Väinämöisen Paluu as well if you haven't already. :smallbiggrin:

Totally Guy
2013-03-14, 10:04 AM
He does. I've bought all my LotFP stuff from him personally. I even gave him a poster of my own convention campaign last time around. :smallbiggrin: He's a fun guy.

I first heard of him when he was interviewed by the Jennisodes podcast. At the start I was thinking "This guy's a closed minded idiot", by the end I was all like "This guy totally gets his gaming, sign me up!".

Arbane
2013-03-14, 12:14 PM
To my eternal shame, I kinda can't stand his adventures. :smallredface: I like all the basic ideas, but then he just takes that whole "I'm 16 and listen to black metal" approach... The Monolith With A Long Title has a cool concept, but all the details are... ech.

Isn't that the one where... yep, found it. (http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/discussion/post/2420/#p2420)


"If a time paradox does occur ... the campaign world and all connected universes fold in on themselves ending everything. Not only is this game over, but the Referee in question can never run an RPG session again, with any system, because all their possibilities have been canceled."

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm268/Taarkoth/awesome_smiley_lotfp.jpg



A friend of mine likes LoFP, but from his description, Iit sounds like the entire purpose of the game is to troll the players. It's like Paranoia with broadswords.

Totally Guy
2013-03-14, 12:21 PM
A friend of mine likes LoFP, but from his description, Iit sounds like the entire purpose of the game is to troll the players. It's like Paranoia with broadswords.

And then there's the failed save that makes you put the character sheet in a stamped, addressed envelope and left in a public place. When you receive the sheet the character may return to play. :smallbiggrin:

Rhynn
2013-03-14, 02:14 PM
A friend of mine likes LoFP, but from his description, Iit sounds like the entire purpose of the game is to troll the players. It's like Paranoia with broadswords.

Well, that module is a "special case," but yeah, that's a direct quote. Just the fact Raggi thought that line worth including (whether for humor or whatever else purpose)... :smallannoyed:

And yes, Monolith will explicitly ruin and destroy your campaign.

Yet it will only really work in a campaign - Monolith is pointless as a one-off because you'd lack investment in your character. Yet once you start the adventure, you're permanently screwed, unless someone stumbles on the one way to ensure the others get away (with a minimum of 1 character lost for ever).

Death Love Doom works better as a one-off, but then you miss out on really figuring out the item at the center of it. At least it's not guaranteed to mess up your campaign...

Also, that picture? Perfection.

(So sorry about this sidetracking. :smallredface: )

Dust
2013-03-14, 02:30 PM
5) Nobilis
Edged out my beloved Mouse Guard and Riddle of Steel for the 5th spot. A generally fantastic game.

4) Trail of Cthulhu
I love me some lovecraftian horror, but the original rules and systems assumed you had a group of players that knew all the tropes and missed none of the clues. This remake trims the fat while understanding your typical group. I can't recommend it enough.

3) Mutants and Masterminds
Not for everyone, but there's no better superhero system in my mind. When you wanna just take on Dr. Null and his army of spider-legged brain-bots, this is our group's constant go-to.

2) Paranoia
Similarly, for a one-shot game very few systems are designed to encourage as much FUN as this one. Lots of good memories.

1) D&D 4e
Yeah, that's right. I'll stand up against the wall and defend this one while you get your guns.
I always wanted to like D&D. But so much of 2 and 3.X turned me right off. Pathfinder just slapped a new coat of paint over the old problems while having the audacity to tell long-time 3.X fans that they didn't know how to fix the problems in their own beloved system.

4e's a radical departure from the old style, and we all know it has problems. But it did a lot of stuff right, and I, for one, happen to be a fan of the MMO style. Not all the time, of course, but I like seeing a setting that was originally a tactical wargame return to those roots with a balanced, low-op nobody-gets-overshadowed scenario. I buy books because that's what I'm looking for - the roleplaying aspects we can handle without some game designer butting in.

Jay R
2013-03-14, 03:33 PM
I think you don't really know about the start of RPGs.

No, what DnD had that others didn't was a massive, extremely-well-advertised brand. ... Add to that the fact that DnD was damn near the original sword and sorcery RPG, and made by people who had just enough brand power in and of themselves.

D&D wasn't "damn near" the original sword and sorcery RPG. It was in fact the original RPG of any kind. What it had that the others didn't, in 1974-1975, was existence.


I was mostly talking about the modern era (hence the response to the digital-good point), but I guess I had an inflated opinion of what people thought of Gygax and Arneson back before DnD.

Only a few miniatures players had ever heard of them before D&D. They started having a presence when D&D was published, establishing the RPG market, in 1974.

Jack of Spades
2013-03-14, 07:21 PM
I think you don't really know about the start of RPGs.

Quite likely! My parents were ~10 years old when RPG's started. Please excuse my ignorance. :smallredface:

Jay R
2013-03-14, 07:29 PM
Quite likely! My parents were ~10 years old when RPG's started. Please excuse my ignorance. :smallredface:

No problem. I hope I came across as offering information, not criticism.

Xeratos
2013-03-14, 10:57 PM
As far as the history of dungeons and dragons as a franchise goes, I picked up this book (http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-Adventure-Celebration-Retrospective/dp/0786934980/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363319452&sr=1-3&keywords=history+of+dungeons+and+dragons) a few years back. It wasn't presented spectacularly, and I'm sure the artwork has a lot more nostalgia for someone who actually played basic, ad&d, etc., but it did more or less describe dungeons and dragons from its inception to right about 3.5, I believe.

From reading the reviews, it looks like there were probably better alternatives written, but having personally read this one, I can say that it wasn't all that terrible, funky printing angles aside. I learned a lot about how a game I've been playing for a decade began and evolved from this book.

TheOOB
2013-03-15, 01:46 AM
In no particular order

1) Pathfinder - A vast improvement of D&D 3.5, Pathfinder captures both heroic fantasy, and tactical small group combat in a way no other game to date has ever come close to. It may be a safe choice, but there is a reason D&D(or in this case Pathfinder), it the top dog.

2) 7th Sea - While many of the game mechanics are outdated and flawed, the way AEG mixes setting with mechanics is unmatched, and while I won't say 7th Sea creatures the best long lasting campaigns with my group, they are often some of the most raw fun I have ever had.

3) Legend of the Five Rings 4e - It's like 7th Sea, but samurai instead of pirates, and a more updated rule system. Doesn't have the same raw fun, but it great none the less.

4) Paranoia - Putting this game on your list is mandatory, doing otherwise is treason.

5) Fiasco - Proving that roleplaying games can do anything they want, Fiasco allows you to tell an interesting story without needless things like continuity, rules, or character attachment.

6) Exalted 2e - For a system that is almost completely unplayable. Exalted is a beautiful mess. I don't love what the system does, I love what it tries to do.

7) Geist: The Sin Eaters - My favorite of the New World of Darkness, Geist manages to keep the dark tone while making characters will more interesting abilities, and providing an easier way to hook players into the story.

8) Shadowrun 4e - Shadowrun has problems, loads of problems, but no system I've seen allows the depths and interesting scenarios of shadowrun.

9) D&D 4e - While not a true successor to the D&D throne, 4e is an interesting game that proves itself on it's own merits. When compared to D&D is fails, but when seen as it's own unique entity it has legs.

10) FATAL (dodges blows) no, just kidding. I'll have to go with Mouseguard. It takes the beautiful train wreck of the burning wheel, and makes something halfway playable out of it. Also props for being a game you can play with kids and adults, and have completely different games.

Hida Reju
2013-03-15, 03:04 AM
Spycraft 2nd Edition - if for nothing else than the beauty that is its Chase mechanics that got adapted to include, Brainwashing, hacking, torture, and boardroom battles. Then you add a well crafted system for creating varied characters by basically picking two traits that act like 3.5 races templates to round out your class. Honorable mention for its detailed minion generation system. Also the only system that let you build the Sherlock Holmes from RDJ as a Intelligence based Martial Artist and be awesome.

Spycraft 1st Edition - Not quiet as well done as 2nd edition but had much to show for its ever cool "Shadow Force Archer" World setting. I would try to hunt down the PDFs just to have access to that world. Plus it used a system similar to the D20 Star Wars force powers to represent Psionics and it worked very well. Psionics was a trade off on your base characters cause they cost skill points and feats to be good with.

Street Fighter RPG by White Wolf, the setting might be insane but the mechanics were sound and more than interesting. Plus the few die hard fans that did homebrew took the system and made it shine. I might not be good at playing it but it was different and interesting.

Tetsubo 57
2013-03-16, 07:01 AM
In no order:

Pathfinder.
Gamma World (1992).
The Mutant Epoch.
M&M 3E.
Radiance.
Everstone: The Blood Legacy.
Cyberpunk 2020.
HARP.
Stars Without Number.
After the Bomb (Second Edition). For the mutant creation rules.

Asmodai
2013-03-16, 09:21 AM
Mage The Ascension - hands down, Mage the Ascension is one of the games that has the warmest place in my heart, only shared with Werewolf. It's a thinking man's game, where the rules are simple and where your imagination and crazy ideas are the bread and butter. I love it.

Werewolf The Apocalypse - something always resonated with Werewolf and me. The culture, the style the attitude of not quietly going into the night.For big badass monsters the Garou (and their Fera buddies) are quite deep and engaging. Their stories are fraught with complications and trying to live with horrible burdens and the efforts they make are a story that will go down in history as glorious epics

Adventure! - As a setting, Adventure is a fun pulpy romp. As a rule set, it's one of my favorites. The way the Knacks work and the fact that Inspiration allows the players to edit the game makes for a perfect pulpy game hanging off cliffhangers :)

Exalted - I adore this setting. It's well thought out, kickstarts your imagination and inspires you to go out and be awesome. There are few places you can do this much crazy stuff and be just one of the mad people who change this world. 2nd edition was a total mess that made me want to bang my head on the wall, so I ended up going back to First Edition, and that will tide me over till 3E (hopefuly).

Legend of the Five Rings - For all its ignoring of actual Japan, I love the style, flair and research that went into making Rokugan. The setting is well developed and the clans are inspiring bunches that can easily get you into making fun characters. The Fourth Edition in general has left me agape with wonder of how well it was made. I just wish i could to actually play it :(

Weapons of the Gods / Legends of Wulin - It's a flavorful system that actually builds benefits from obligations and roleplaying. The Martial arts are loads of fun to play with and the characters you create have a distinct Romance of the Three Kingdoms feel that's hard to pass up. The dice rolling mechanic is bonkers enough to be enjoyable. Ah well i love Borgstromancy anyway ;). Now if I could only get the physical copy of Legends of the Wulin...

Deadlands - Deadlands (and it's sequel Hell on Earth) are just pure gonzo fun. When people say Exalted is a kitchenshink, i just think they never tried Deadlands or its derivatives. Lately I've been doing a Hammer horror inspired set of stories, and recently i realised that I could easily port Ravenloft stuff into Deadlands. Cowboys and Zombies... and a ****load of monsters from all kinds of lore. Or Fallout with insane magic powers... Deadlands is just plain old fun

Rogue Trader - My personal favorite among the 40k RPG's, Rogue Trader is rather weird for the setting as it allows for much more personal freedom and exploring the strangeness of the Warhammer universe. The characters are all great individuals with a task to explore, fight wicked alien scum, conquer, trade, steal, build empires and bed alien (or just lost human) maidens. To start off you get a starship a kilometer or few long. How can you say no to this mix?

Dark Heresy - Where Rogue Trader is the wacky look on 40k, Dark Heresy is all about the grim dark future. The characters are nobodies and are chosen to be expendable. But that doesn't mean they cannot try and make their lives mean something. This dichotomy Dark Heresy plays up makes for a very good game where making a good character is deeply rewarding. Of course, later on we get into all the evil cults, mad priests, wicked alliens, corrupt nobles and horrible demons... Your character probably won't live to tell the tales, but you will and they will be some tales!

The Laundry - I've been looking for my own flavor of Call of Cthulhu for years now. I've had CoC, and I've looked into at least a dozen other variations. Then suddenly The Laundry RPG popped up, and the angels (or was that the many angled ones, I cannot remember) sang. The Laundry is based on the novels of Charles Stross and they mix Mythos with Black Ops, Spies, James Bond, Conspiracies, technology, computers, geeks, programming., Modesty Blaise and a ton of humor. And for extra points it can easily be as scary as hell when it's not a brilliant British satire of how bureaucracy works, how people don't get computers and how much are people willing to sacrifice just to get a leg up. Love it.

Exediron
2013-03-16, 02:31 PM
Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game: You know, the one that was "Rolemaster lite". I mostly picked it up because I love Middle-Earth, the actual system was pretty awful in many regards. But hey, gotta love those critical tables. :smallbiggrin:

I was wondering if anybody else was going to mention this one! It seems to be one of the rarer systems in these parts, but I've had some good times there.

As for my own... I haven't actually logged any real play time in 10 systems, but I am familiar enough with the rules of 10 to compile a list:

1 (Many, many hours): My own house rules :smallcool:

2 (~7000 hours): Dungeons and Dragons, either 2E or 3E. Not only was it my first system (2E), but by far the one I've logged the most play time in (3E).

3 (~500 hours): MERP. I actually think it generates significantly more realistic combat than most other systems, and the round structure (though somewhat clunky) allows for such things as a group actually moving in formation, which in D&D is utterly impossible. Also, critical tables win all.

4 (0 hours): GURPS. While I have never actually played GURPS, I have respect for its concept and rules set.

5 (~50 hours): Pathfinder. Not a bad system, but I basically think it's just a package of official house rules for D&D and as such pointless. In a vacuum it's a decent system.

6 (~20 hours): Vampire Masquerade. This is the only d10 based game I have any significant time with, so I might end up liking others better for all I know.

7 (0 hours): Traveler. Never actually managed to get a Traveler game going, but I've always wanted to.

8 (~10 hours): Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

9 (~500 hours): D20 Modern. Terribly flawed and a miserable simulation of real-world combat, but I've still had some good times in it. I wrote a Firearms Revision for D20 Modern that fixed most of my problems with the combat - largely by making it much more lethal.

0 (~8 hours): D&D Next: Can't really say anything definite about it yet, but it looks decent from here.

But as number 1 indicates, really I prefer to alter any system I play to make it more to my taste. If I properly codified all the house rules my group uses for D&D 3E, it would fill a small book.

DonEsteban
2013-03-17, 11:06 AM
Interesting. My little tally gives about 130 systems mentioned (not counting Honorable Mentions). I've never heard about many of them, read or heard talk about maybe 30 and played about a dozen.

Most frequently named games so far were D&D 3.5 (15), Mutants and Masterminds (6), Nobilis (5), Pathfinder (5), Shadowrun (5), AD&D (5), D&D (any original, 5) Mouse Guard (4), and Paranoia (4). Also Star Wars (6) if counted as one system.


D&D 3.5: Not truly a great system, but its popularity is one of its greatest assets, it's relative simplicity, modularity and standardization both boon and bane.

Kobolds Ate My Baby!: Some would say it's not even a roleplaying game, but I would heartily disagree. Never had more fun. They've a kickstarter running, btw.

Honorable Mentions/Too Early to Tell:

Fate/Fudge: Haven't tried any of the published incarnations, but I did my own homebrew once and loved it.

Ratten: A German game where you get to play rats in an abandonded mall. Great atmosphere. Unfortunately, the only game I tried died early.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten: Fun with lots of zombies, simple mechanics.

Paranoia: Didn't get to play it, yet, but fun is mandatory. Other games are not fun (I never said otherwise, why do you ask?)

Call of Cthulhu

Space 1889

WhatBigTeeth
2013-03-17, 12:58 PM
Spycraft 2nd Edition - if for nothing else than the beauty that is its Chase mechanics that got adapted to include, Brainwashing, hacking, torture, and boardroom battles.
Normally, I'm really negative about d20 systems for games about anything other than grid-based combat, since that's the one minigame in most reskinned D&D games that's really interesting on its own, without relying on the story's backdrop.

Spycraft 2 is just about the only exception, exactly because of those various minigames, which slow down the important scenes for spy fiction, complicate them, and tie them in with a fun mechanic. I would have loved to have seen other genre-games of the d20-happy era adopt that model.

Edenbeast
2013-03-17, 02:24 PM
Wow, 10 is quite alot. Of the games I've played, I own at least one or two books, rest is in PDF. There's a few games that deserve some more mention because they have a great system:
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy
Warhammer Fantasy 2nd Edition
Others I enjoy playing:
Pathfinder (replaced DnD 3e and 3.5)
Vampire: The Masquerade and Dark Ages

Kikon9
2013-03-19, 10:45 AM
My favorites, right here.

10-Rifts-Only for the setting.
9-D&d 4e-Simple and easy. My go-to generic fantasy system.
8-D&d 4e Essentials-Just as simple with 4e, but with better designed classes. I don't really know why nobody seems to mention it.
7-Legend of the Five Rings- Best magic system I have ever seen, so many interesting uses for spells.
6-Tales From the Wood- If I want to play as an animal this is the system I use.
5-Call of Cthulhu-It's a PC meat-grinder!:smallbiggrin:
4-The Quiet Year-Only sort of a roleplaying game, but it is so much fun to see how the game progresses.
3-Killsplosion-I just like PVP stuff.
2-EclipsePhase-Transhumanism!
1-Gurps- My favorite point buy system. I just like making characters for it.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2013-03-19, 12:20 PM
A lot of people have mentioned Eclipse Phase. Perhaps I should give it a try.

Grinner
2013-03-19, 01:23 PM
A lot of people have mentioned Eclipse Phase. Perhaps I should give it a try.

Have at it. (http://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/)

Just be forewarned that the system can be complex, especially combat (which you shouldn't be getting into anyway, ideally). Also, the core book is poorly organized. Look into the system conversions and the cheat sheet at the main website's (http://www.eclipsephase.com) Resource section.

Brox
2013-03-19, 02:10 PM
1. D&D From basic to 3.5 including Pathfinder. It comes to a screeching halt before 4th ed. Our group as a whole said "No thank you" to that version

2. Shadowrun Dear god is it fun for me. Any iteration (as long as it isn't D20). Loves rollin me a handful o d6's...

3. Dark Heresy So much flavor. Love the setting.

4. Call of Cthulhu Simple regular human beings against Elder Abominations? WOOO HOO!!!!

5. Deadlands (original) Dice. Cards. Poker Chips. Hilarity!

6. Mutants and Masterminds Make your own hero. Beat the tar out of mook and foil the supervillans plot? Sign me up

7. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1 & 2nd ed. See #3!

8. All Flesh Must Be Eaten Wait, wait...The Walking Dead, starring me? yesssssssssssssssssss

9. Palladium Fantasy I've enjoyed this one many times

That's as far as I got. Clearly showing my age too...