Most Addictive system???

[HunterOfJello]

This isn't what system is best, more fun, better designed, etc etc whatever.

Trash all that. No one cares. This thread is about one thing. Addiction


Which system is the most addictive from your personal experience?
What system creates that itch that pulls you back for more and more?






This is for personal experience only. No references. Nothing about what you've heard other people say. Nothing about what you think is likely to be true. Only personal experience from games you've personally experienced.

[Tawmis]

This isn't what system is best, more fun, better designed, etc etc whatever.
Trash all that. No one cares. This thread is about one thing. Addiction
Which system is the most addictive from your personal experience?
What system creates that itch that pulls you back for more and more?


For me, without a doubt D&D (5e, specifically these days).
Especially if I get to DM.
I enjoy being a player, but the real thrill - that injection of fantasy morphine comes when I get to DM.
The writer in me thrives off of it - the unpredictability of my players - forcing me to always be ready to improvise.
I've gotten to the point that I just scribble notes and don't plan anything. It's all improvised.
And it challenges that creative need in me and silences the voices in my head.

[Kurald Galain]

For me it is,
Werewolf: the Apocalypse for the setting
Paranoia for the humor
Pathfinder Society for the huge overarching metaplot (and also, character building and development)

[Anonymouswizard]

Unknown Armies.

It's the lore, it's the magic, it's the style that screams 'Guy Ritchie crossed with the writings of somebody currently high on four different hard drugs', it's the fact that the game not only allows but actively encourages you to be the crazed cultist out to destroy the world. It's one of the few games I've come across where the presented factions inspire me to come up with stories, and the latest edition has really interesting mechanics that passively push PCs towards being less and less functional members of society.

Then on top of that it's magic system does Mage, but even better. Who cares about being a gothic sorcerer when the default schools are so gripping. Do you want to be a car wizard, a farm wizard, a movie cliché wizard? These are all examples from the current corebook, but your power will cost you. You can get the power to manipulate people's power via your clothing, as long as you spend your time creating new outfits and don't ever let somebody see you naked.

It's dark, it's gritty, and it's wild. It's a game where you venture into the darkest reaches of the human soul because that's the price you must pay to get what you want. A world where you might stand in the ashes of your life as the government allocates more funding for school meals and say 'it was worth it', and you might truly believe it.

No game gets pulled off my shelf with the frequency of UA.


ETA: yeah, WtA also has a truly cool setting, it easily takes second place for me. Do wish that Garou treated their families better though, it's the one blight on an amazing setting.

ETA2: in most games if you decide to play a gun mage then you'll shoot people. In UA if you play a gun mage you'll probably actively avoid shooting people, because it breaks Taboo and stops you from using your spells based on other things associated with guns.

[Batcathat]

Probably Mutants & Masterminds. Specifically, its character creation and even more specifically its super power creation. I'm quite addicted to character creation in general (I'm the kind of person who has about a dozen false starts to any CRPG, since I can't stop trying new characters) but M&M's power creation stands out a bit. It's a good balance between flexible and easy to use.

As for actually playing (or GMing) games, I'm not sure if I have any particular addiction. There are some favorites, of course, but nothing that really stands out, I think.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I tend to go through cycles. A few years ago it was 5e D&D (which cumulated in writing a pair of 3rd party source books); before that was Mutants and Masterminds 3e, preceeded by 3.5e D&D and THAT (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?329161-Giants-and-Graveyards-Grod-s-collected-3-5-revisions) whole nightmare mess of homebrew.

Right now it's Exalted--the setting and lore are fun as hell, and the mechanics are just the right kind of glorious overcomplicated mess for my brain to latch onto and never let go. (And has also led to a insanely ginormous homebrew project (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641560-Behold-I-give-you-the-d20-Exalted-it-is-the-lightning-it-is-the-madness) come to think. There's probably something wrong with me)

[LecternOfJasper]

For some reason I can't stop returning to the 3.5 subforum, even though I know I won't ever try to run or play it again. There's so many better things out there, but the itch must be scratched.

Edit: Also, any time someone optimistically talks about running a PF2e game, I can't stop until I have a character planned out. Maybe I just can't stop fiddling with complex systems. I don't do this nearly as much for 5e, even though that's definitely the one that my group plays the most.

[pwykersotz]

3.5 used to be the most addictive system for me. Then I broke the addiction by taking it too far. I built a character that was so complicated I needed 12 pages of spreadsheet to track everything. It was beautiful, but it was the end of my love of optimization.

5e is the most addictive system for me now. It just feels right. When I'm playing other systems, I'm keenly aware of the things that I could do in D&D and I miss them. And I always seem to come back. It's not my favorite system, I have several issues with it. But when I'm not playing it, somewhere in the back of my mind I want to be playing it.

[elros]

Probably Mutants & Masterminds. Specifically, its character creation and even more specifically its super power creation. I'm quite addicted to character creation in general (I'm the kind of person who has about a dozen false starts to any CRPG, since I can't stop trying new characters) but M&M's power creation stands out a bit. It's a good balance between flexible and easy to use.

As for actually playing (or GMing) games, I'm not sure if I have any particular addiction. There are some favorites, of course, but nothing that really stands out, I think.
I got hooked making characters for Champions in the 80s, and I still like making characters for that system even though I have not played a game in years. I disliked it when they removed calculated statistics (e.g. base speed is no longer dexterity/10) because I like the way the characteristics interacted, but I concede it leads to more character variety (i.e. you could make a lower dexterity character and still be playable).
I heard about M&M but have never read the books.

[SimonMoon6]

I keep wanting to do stuff with TORG, either the old version or the new version, despite the flaws that both versions have. (The old version had the "glass ninja" problem but the new version has the "we took out all the stuff you could abuse and now it's all bland and boring" problem (or maybe that's just me).)

I've run games in the old TORG system anytime I could (which was... two times) and the games never got very far, but it's such a unique setting which is reflected in the peculiarity of the game system (which uses both dice and it's own deck of cards during combat). It's so incredibly flavorful all the time, with the way that the system builds in it own form of dramatic tension with combats (etc) being relatively easy in the first few scenes but becoming more challenging in the more dramatic scenes.

Plus, it has a built in way to use charisma-based skills (any and all of them) in combat, so even the non-combat people can make a huge contribution in combat.

And the central idea of people having their own personal reality bubbles that might conflict with other people's belief in their own realities... I mean, what could be more topical these days?

I'm always thinking about TORG and wanting to use it, but I just never get to.

[Rynjin]

Mutants and Masterminds is a solid contender. It's a game whose POSSIBILITIES are so endless that I itched to play it even when I knew, and had said straight up to the DM, that the game's mechanics were a big part of why were weren't enjoying the game.

Character creation is just so fun in that game. I've also, over time of pushing through my dissatisfaction with certain parts of it, managed to figure out how to work around the "flaws" in simple ways, a change of mindset.

No other system I've played have I been enamored enough to "acquire" a taste for it. I've either loved it from the go (eg. Pathfinder and Savage Worlds) or stopped playing as soon as I stopped having fun. (eg. 5e).

[farothel]

That's a difficult one, as we try to sample many systems. Going with the system I have the most characters in at the moment including PbP I would say Pathfinder 2E.

[Eldan]

There's two different parts to it for me.

There's the books I like to read. That's stuff like Unknown Armies and Degenesis, tons and tons of weird lore.

There's the stuff I like to work on. That's almost entirely D&D 3.5. I'm not into it as much as I was, but there's no other system I've ever written a 50 page homebrew magic system for, or built a level 40 gestalt character using 6 spreadsheets for fun. (Never played those characters, just wanted to see what I could do.)

Actually playing... that varies. I mostly just ask my group what they want me to run, and then find a way to get myself into it.

[Lord Raziere]

I used to be addicted to Exalted and its lore. now I am no longer am, but I still like it. holds a special place in my heart even if I'm focusing on other things.

at one point I was addicted to 1e Chronicles of Darkness (when it was still called World of Darkness) and its lore to some extent, but that world doesn't really interest me enough to try and play it anymore.

I think I sometimes have bouts of being addicted to Wh40k roleplaying games for some reason I can't explain, just reading the books, making attempts at a Grey Knight or an Adepta Sororita or whatever.

sometimes I just like creating random powersets in M&M3e. just figuring how to make this or that power work in it and statting them out.

I dunno, I tend to be mercurial in my interests/what I'm obsessed about at any given time. currently I'm still in an Elden Ring kind of mood for example.

[Quertus]

“You’re running a game? I’m there!” That’s 2e D&D.

“It’s been nothing but pain, but I’ll give it another shot.” That’s WoD Mage.

“But how would you make that in…?” That’s M&M.

Nostalgic memories? Primarily 2e D&D and Paradox.

[Easy e]

I am addicted to playing simple D6 + stat looking for 7+ to succeed systems that are pretty rules lite.

[Misereor]

This isn't what system is best, more fun, better designed, etc etc whatever.

Trash all that. No one cares. This thread is about one thing. Addiction


Shadowrun.
So much Shadowrun, and it's not a healthy addiction...
Every campaign starts because we love the world. Every campaign ends because we can't stand the rules.

[Lacco]

Riddle of Steel.

The editing of the books is terrible. There are some rules lost, not written completely, or just put at the wrong chapter. The magic system is a total mess. The best way to play it is to collect the rules from 3 books, add a magic system from one of its successors, houserule a bit... so, quite some work. The original setting is also a bit of a kitchen sink, but if you have done all of the things mentioned, you should not be afraid of building up a different world. It also has a learning curve that needs to be managed - as it can get a bit overwhelming if you don't have the basics down (both GM and players), and you'll be lucky to get some players as it has this rep of being unplayable. Oh, almost forgot: it requires around 15 d10 per participant to be played fluently, and even more if you want it to be comfortable.

However...

The character generation is fun and it takes around 15 minutes for a skilled player to generate a full character - save for shopping, as that may take another 15 or 30 seconds depending on your choices. It has loads of great ideas - the initiative system, spiritual attributes, skill packets, hit locations.... the mass combat system, poisons & diseases... there are lots of gems, which you'll wish to steal for other games and will make the other games look uninteresting after some time.

At table, it just flows. It's as low-prep as games of this type can be, great for improvised games, it has support for narrative-heavy games but also can be ran as sandbox, it supports low to mid fantasy and anything from dark ages to renaissance without many changes, it works as one-off or campaign or anything in between. The system supports the GM and does not throw logs under their feet, but it also gives certain narrative powers to the players.

And the combat system. It's THE combat system. If you ever looked at fighters/swashbucklers/anything melee related and thought "I'd love a system where this guy is fun to play" then you wanted to play RoS. The amount of choices the player gets - from choice of weaponry, through armor, maneuvers, power of attacks, style of combat, stances, movement, shield positioning... yes, this game makes shields a great choice and gives characters maneuvers to use them. If you are unsatisfied with "I attack" and rolling, then PM me. I'll run a combat in RoS for you and you'll see what I'm talking about - it's highly addictive. Fun. Terrifying. Addictive.

It's not D&D and it will never be. I ran D&D. I ran many games. Always the GM, almost never the player. But if I had to choose one single game to run for the rest of my life, or even the last game I could ever run: I'd choose Riddle of Steel.

The interesting part is: if you approach it with open mind, you can learn the basics in one single sitting. After that it's just expanding of options and possibilities, but the game mechanics are simple and intuitive to play. Not intuitive to read: had players that read the rulebook few times and never got it. But then they sat down, played one game and knew what to roll and when.

Okay, I'm getting down from my soapbox.

...

...oh, Shadowrun is my second. But only the world. The rules... yeah, Riddle of Steel is complex and badly edited. Shadowun rules are just horrible. The best games of Shadowrun were when we tossed the rules out of the window.

[EccentricCircle]

If by addictive we mean "I somehow can't seem to stop myself buying the books, but I really should..." Then its not an rpg per se, but rather warhammer 40k. Do I know that the new Tyranid codex will basically be a copy and paste of the last one? Yes. Will I use the updated stats more than twice this edition? Probably not. Will said next edition be coming far too soon? Indisputably. Have I just bought it anyway. Yep...
At least the rpg systems everyone has mentioned so far habe have saving graces. The rpg books I get have value as a source of ideas even if i dislike the system, or can't find players. So while i have a heck of a lot of them, I don't consider them as addictive!

[Fable Wright]

Shadowrun, Ars Magica, and Unknown Armies.

Unknown Armies: This game is so deeply, deeply entrenched in the human condition that whenever I look at an magic school, I can ask myself "So how would this power warp someone's life?" I've made everyone from an otaku who wound up assuming control of the local yakuza and is planning on forcing back the government's restrictions on Yakuza through a bit of human sacrifice and personal insanity to start up a semiconductor manufacturing plant that the government can't afford to crack down on for geopolitical reasons; to a slave brought to Jamestown and has raised animals and humans for slaughter for four centuries in the pursuit of power, using biological immortality and prescience to just outlast oppressors, and has entered a contract agreement with a fast food chain to be acknowledged as a landholding noble in the upcoming Magickal Revolution...

Ars Magica: This game is a bit of an acquired taste that took me a while to get into, but once I'm there... it's one of the games that has exploration built into the universe. The world is based around the medieval understanding of the universe, which can lead to weird questions. Phrase it like this. One of my characters was looking for a large quantity of quicksilver so he could awaken its inherent knowledge and use it as a sage and familiar. The source he could find turned out to be the blood of a Nephilim living in an extradimensional pocket. This became relevant years later when one of the magi, after being impaled by feathers from a stymphalian bird in a swamp, contracted phithisis (tubercolsis)—could they use this living quicksilver to administer treatment remotely, because quicksilver usually doesn't get disease? Or did it actually have humors, being formed of Sanguine blood and having a Phlegmetic personality? Dare they risk their prize being lost to a disease, to help save the life of another player character? Not only is "oh god I have tubercolsis" a life and death plot point that can't be healed through simple magic (instead requiring a specialist performing a very expensive operation), but so much of the world is unknown. In another game, the players were interested in the mysterious saffron from the Orient that through magic discovered that they were made of the tongues of tiny dragon-like creatures that landed on specific flowers—could they capture and house both the tiny dragons and the plants they nested in? It's a truly intoxicating mix of high fantasy (sorcerers can raise armies of the dead and do battle with barrow-linnorms, or through mastery of air gain flight and the power to make castles out of clouds) and the mundane (how do I find an apprentice to train in my craft? There's precious few of them to go around, and they can be hard to find) that makes for a very grounded feeling fantasy game.

Shadowrun: This is a game that my group keeps coming back to because of the mechanics, weirdly. We're using SR 5e and they're a Hot Mess. But they feel better in combat than most other systems. There's a meaningful differentiation between dodge-tanks and armor-stacking. Magic is punchy and the backlash can whack you in the face. There's a consistent set of rules for skills over a long period of time and skills in the moment. You can make a staggering number of characters in the system, and the world is big enough for a huge array of stuff in it, from magitek experiments, the Horrors metaplot, the role of dragons in society... you name it. Warts and all, we keep coming back to it.

[Martin Greywolf]

FATE, because I can do anything and everything in it. Harry Potter slice of life, xianxia epic adventure, AtlA post-apocalyptic steampunk, 20 minutes into the future with magic on a generational spaceship, Naruto with sensible rules, Weird West meets samurai, Witcher-esque romp based on medieval Hungarian history, superheroes, standard fantasy but in pseudo-central-Eurasia...