Would like new RPG.

[D20ragon]

Ive been looking for a new RPG,so I thought I'd ask opinions on what is good/not. I don't care about genre or the base mechanic. So far I've tried:Dungeons and Dragons(favorite),Deadlands,Pirates of the spanish main,Star wars roleplaying,Seventh sea,and some other random ones.
Any ideas?

[The Rose Dragon]

Witchcraft, Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition, Anima Prime, Nine Worlds, NEMESIS, FATE, and these are only the free ones. Non-free ones include GURPS, Don't Rest Your Head, Faery's Tale Deluxe, Qin: the Warring States, Legends of the Wulin and Mecha RPG.

[molten_dragon]

Three that I've played and really enjoyed are Exalted, Shadowrun, and the Dresden Files RPG.

Exalted is an asian-inspired game where you play larger-than-life heroic characters. Combat is cinematic and pretty unrealistic, and it's fairly rules-heavy.

Dresden files is modern fantasy. Characters are much closer to human abilities (and some may be plain mortal humans, though exceptional ones). It's a much more rules-light, story-based game. Combat is intended to be infrequent, and is pretty deadly when it does happen.

Shadowrun is cyberpunk fantasy. There are megacorporations, computer hacking, and cyborgs right alongside elves, dwarves, and magic. It's also a fairly rules-heavy game. Combat tends to be more realistic than something like D&D, but not as realistic as some games. You can get shot a few times and have a decent expectation of living.

[Rhynn]

Some of my favorites, in addition to the D&D retroclones in my signature (you can check out several of them for free, so get to it!):

• Aces & Eights - western alt-history
• Artesia: Adventures in the Known World - Bronze Age -influenced Renaissance fantasy setting
• Call of Cthulhu - Lovecraft mythos horror
• Conan d20 from Mongoose - sword & sorcery in the Hyborian Age, nice application of d20
• Cyberpunk 2020 - classic cyberpunk RPG; style over substance, but that's the cyberpunk way!
• HârnMaster - awesome low fantasy, has a weird reputation but isn't nearly as complex or harsh as the memes claim
• HeroQuest (ex Hero Wars) - very modern and cool RPG system, Glorantha is the best fantasy setting
• Legend of Five Rings - cool pseudo-feudal-Japan fantasy, deep setting, tons of material
• Lord of the Rings - unspectacular but solid and good Middle Earth RPG
• Middle-Earth Role Playing and Rolemaster - old, classic, and pretty solid RPGs, adventures and setting books are for either; Rolemaster is a lot more complex and has tons of tables
• The One Ring - Adventures Beyond the Edge of the Wild - a fairly different and modern take on Middle Earth roleplay, set between The Hobbit and LotR
• RuneQuest (currently in the 6th edition) - any and all editions are awesome, and Glorantha is pretty much the best fantasy setting there is
• The Riddle of Steel - a good RPG with simply the best combat system there is, fast and intuitive with tons of tactical options and pretty much the most realism I've seen; works wonderfully for sword & sorcery or any historical setting up to the early 18th century or so
• Trail of Cthulhu - Lovecraft mythos horror with better mechanics and a more modern/less rigid approach to the content
• Twilight 2013 - a remake of Twilight 2000, set in the aftermath of the apocalyptic World War Three; has the best squad-level small-arms combat system there is, but requires a lot of bookkeeping

[Lorsa]

I'm currently enjoying the setting of Eclipse Phase quite a lot. It's interesting on many levels even though some houseruling are needed here and there (imo).

Ars Magica is a very different game that I enjoyed a lot back when I used to play it.

Ops, and I forgot Burning Wheel. Quite different to D&D but can be worth looking into.

[D20ragon]

Thanks,this is really helpful. I have looked into runequest,and yes,glorantha is awesome.

[Black Jester]

Some of my favorites, in addition to the D&D retroclones in my signature (you can check out several of them for free, so get to it!):

You are a man of exquisite taste.

Seriously, that is one good list of recommendations (except the One Ring, that one has only good artwork and is otherwise rather mediocre).

Two further recommendations I would add:

Pendragon is a classic Camelot mystic knight setting RPG which uses a few historical elements with the vast number of legends of tales surrounding King Artus, the Round Table and the Holy Grail. The game is very much designed specifically for this purpose, setting the PCs in the role of young knights in Britain.

Gurps is hands down the best designed set of rules for any RPG. The rules are complex, yet streamlined and intuitive; you can do pretty much any genre or style with these rules, from sentient, yet non-anthropomorphic rabbits to a group of dragons). It is one very powerful set of tools but that also means you have to pick the kind of Gurps you want to play very carefully.

Thanks,this is really helpful. I have looked into runequest,and yes,glorantha is awesome.

Waint until you see the ducks. You can never unsee the ducks.

[WeLoveFireballs]

Personally I am a huge fan of Classic Traveller, but it is not for everyone. It can be quite byzantine at times and the combat is designed to be quick and brutal. The original version is Sci-Fi but someone on the Citizens of the Imperium Forum for it made a fantasy version that I modified for my own campaign. Its a very malleable system, but it is oriented for low combat campaigns since every battle could easily leave people out of commission for days or weeks. Its also a pretty old system so I got PDFs of practically the entire system and all campaign modules (70+ books) for $20. Worth every cent. (except the 273rd one, wasn't worth that cent)

[Tyrrell]

Another vote for ArsMagica. This game has been more fun for me than any other.

[Anxe]

Hackmaster Basic is currently free, so you could give that a try. If you like it you can get the full version later.

Linky

[The Grue]

Seconding Eclipse Phase.

Transhumanism and cyberpunk and horror, oh my.

[Rhynn]

Other RPGs (I don't have a lot of experience with most of these, but I've read the core books):

• Victoriana - Victorian Shadowrun: magic, elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons, whole shebang, set in the 1890s.
• Space 1889 - Old classic; 1880s-1890s Victorian science-fiction with ether-sailing spaceships.
• Little Fears - Horror RPG where the PCs are children.
• The Dark Eye - German fantasy RPG, complicated system but awesome world.
• Dragon Warriors - Classic fantasy RPG with a simple system and a relatively realistic world; feels something like TDE but simpler and less depth (e.g. less reading).
• 2300 AD - Hard SF in the near future, humanity has colonized the stars. AFAIK the latest editions are based on the newer editions of
• Traveller, while the old edition used a fairly (but not entirely) different system more similar to Twilight 2000.
• Buck Rogers XXCV - Probably hard to find. From TSR, rather D&D-like (it even had two Gold Box games published for it). If you like Buck Rogers or 1950s style space opera...
• Elric!, Stormbringer, and Mongoose's Elric of Melnibone - If you're into Michael Moorcock or generally into cynical sword & sorcery. I personally think Elric! is the best game out of the bunch (and has the best splat support). Corum and Hawkmoon also exist.
• Transhuman Space - A near-future hard-SF post-cyberpunkish setting for GURPS that makes learning the game worth it all by itself. Perfect system-setting synergy.
• Mutant Future - A retroclone of Gamma World / Metamorphosis Alpha. Free to download.. Post-apocalypse done without getting too serious about it.
• Blue Planet - A relatively hard posthumanist SF game. Want to play an uplifted orca combat engineer? This is your game. I'm not kidding, the playable "races" are pure-strain human, modified human, genetic redesign human, dolphin, and killer whale. It's not a gimmick, either.