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What game system have you tried that made you go WOW!
Hello Gamers!
So, you're at a con and you're in the dealer room. Or maybe you're at your FLGS browsing the rpg books. Or you might be in a used bookstore. Somehow you pick up X the RPG, go home, read it, and go, "WOW! This game is totally awesome!" What game was that and what was it that made you jump up and down?
Quick rules though: The game must not be D&D and it's billion editions/incarnations/variants/wannabe variants. We 95% all play D&D in some shape or form, but I'm looking for other games.
Double-bonus points: If the game is more obscure.
Triple-bonus points: If the game is more obscure and is still in print/pdf.
Happy Gaming!
Oh, me? Warhammer FRP was my game. Totally loved the gritty feel of the game, the artwork, and the ability to go completely mad while fighting the horrors of undead and the minions of Chaos. I ran a campaign for a whole year as that was my game of choice and I have a ton of WFRP 1e and 2e books.
Effects based design - you buy a generic "Blast" and define it as fire, lightning, eyebeams, magic bolt or whatever. That meant that any character you could envision stylistically you could play (assuming it fit the GMs world).
Point based system - I'm one of those that detests any randomness in character creation.
Disad system - pretty standard (or even outdated with the approach Hero uses) but to my 18 year old self it was amazing.
Speed chart - the way combat timing is handled is one of the most unique things about the system.
And back then it's defualt genre was Superheroes which is my favorite genre.
It's still my primary game 24 years later, and I still play it weekly.
__________________ I'm one of the lucky ones. I married a "gamer-girl."
"Build 'em like a powergamer, but play 'em like a roleplayer." - firesnakearies
Recently? Spirit of the Century. I haven't played it yet, but the character generation system made me go "wow, my group should use this for every game we play!"
__________________ "We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way." -- Boyd, Dollhouse.
Effects based design - you buy a generic "Blast" and define it as fire, lightning, eyebeams, magic bolt or whatever. That meant that any character you could envision stylistically you could play (assuming it fit the GMs world).
Point based system - I'm one of those that detests any randomness in character creation.
Disad system - pretty standard (or even outdated with the approach Hero uses) but to my 18 year old self it was amazing.
Speed chart - the way combat timing is handled is one of the most unique things about the system.
And back then it's defualt genre was Superheroes which is my favorite genre.
It's still my primary game 24 years later, and I still play it weekly.
I agree which is why I like have the Hero 5th edition on my bookshelf and am looking forward to 6th edition. I have played a few games of Champions and one game of Fantasy Hero that I think of and really enjoyed the games immensely.
Like Mallus, reading SotC's character creation was a "Wow!" moment. Back in the day, Champions; more recently, Mutants & Masterminds (especially 2e). Exalted's setting has some make-my-head explode stuff.
__________________ - Bob Huss
[H]e's dead and poisoned and possibly insane on another plane. It's a very stylish death, but a definitive one. - Piratecat
Like Mallus, reading SotC's character creation was a "Wow!" moment. Back in the day, Champions; more recently, Mutants & Masterminds (especially 2e). Exalted's setting has some make-my-head explode stuff.
Tell me a bit more about Exalted. Was there mechanics or setting fluff that made your head explode?
WHFRP2- when it came out a few years ago, we had given up on D&D. I picked up the core book, and was immediately in love all over again with WHFRP. We played a ton of the 1st edition back in high school, and this was the same game, just updated and with more innovations. Its still a favorite among my group.
Deadlands. If any game is 100% pure, undiluted awesome, its Deadlands. In either the classic or Savage Worlds versions, its a ton of old west supernatural fun (just avoid the D20 version like it was a hangin' judge!).
Call of Cthulhu BRP. Yep, its an oldie, but its incredible. Some of the most memorable RP sessions we've ever had have been with CoC over the years, and playing Horror on the Orient Express and the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaigns were incredible sanity-blasting fun!
All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Zombie survival horror doesn't get any better than this, and the sourcebooks for extra settings and twists on zombies are awesome reading as well as tremendous fun to play!
Kult. Probably the best and most disturbing horror RPG of all time. Its not something for the faint at heart, or if you have strong religious beliefs. The underlying setting and metaphysics are incredible from a gaming perspective, and its a lot of fun if you have players who are willing to immerse themselves in the game.
The new Hunter game. The old Hunter was cheesy- too much Buffy, not enough horror. The new Hunter is incredible, and the sourcebooks have been top-notch. I've played in a Hunter game, and it feels like a cross of Millenium and Fringe with monsters thrown in. Awesome stuff.
Finally, Dark Heresy is freakin' amazing. I love the WH40K universe, and the Inquisition is one of the more "colorful" institutions in that setting. I've run two campaigns using Dark Heresy, and each one was a ton of fun (incidentally, they both ended horribly for the PCs with daemon possession and execution for xeno contamination by other Inquisitors, but then again- it is WH40K). The players loved it, and how dark and desperate the universe is. We can't wait for Rogue Trader!
__________________ Gothmog
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"I feel like I've been mauled by Jesus." -Frye, Futurama.
For me it was Sorcerer. Not picking up the book and reading, but actually playing it.
It's obscure and still in print - do I get triple bonus points?
__________________ "If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."
-- Ernest Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms" Burning Empires:Boldaq Keep on the Shadowfell
Tell me a bit more about Exalted. Was there mechanics or setting fluff that made your head explode?
More of the setting fluff than the mechanics; the mechanics are an updated version of the old WoD mechanics, with some twists, so they were mostly familiar.
__________________ - Bob Huss
[H]e's dead and poisoned and possibly insane on another plane. It's a very stylish death, but a definitive one. - Piratecat
Dread, with its Jenga-based resolution system and its "13 questions" character creation. I'm not sure you could convince me there's a better, more atmospheric horror mechanic than the Jenga tower Dread uses.
It's not the fresh new darling anymore, but Dogs in the Vineyard continues to impress me. I realised recently that it's probably the best system available for running a thematically-accurate game set in Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I have yet to be anything but stunned with any system based on FATE3.
Wild Talents impressed me, but Truth & Justice is still my favorite superhero system. It (T&J) is pitch-perfect at simulating superhero comics from the mid-1960s and after.
And since I mentioned the One-Roll Engine with Wild Talents, I should bring up Reign. ORE is easily the best traditional dice pool system I've had for face-to-face play, since it can encode a ton of fast-to-read information into a single roll. Reign goes above and beyond the standard ORE mechanic by adapting it to abstracted group-level actions (e.g., war, corporate action, chorus line dance-offs), but still allowing the PCs to significantly affect the outcomes of these larger-scale actions.
What game systems have I tried that made me go WOW?! Hm, let's see.
Pendragon. So different from what I'd played until then, and it was an amazing (if far too short ) campaign. In fact, playing it impressed me so much, that I bought a copy some time later, and ended up nicking some of bits of the system and porting them to D&D.
Call of Cthulhu. And how many games has this one influenced, I wonder. . . A timeless classic, and yeah, there are reasons for this. Try it, with a decent GM, and you'll find out why for yourself. . .
Dragon Warriors. A fantasy RPG with *soul*. Has an excellent, evocative setting built in, great names for just about everything, from places to NPCs to spells, and so on. Plus, a neat, fast, intuitive system.
Ooh, colours! Anyway, those games all blew me away when I had the good fortune to try them.
For me it was Feng Shui. I first played the game with one of the game's creators at a convention in SE Washington and I absolutely fell in love. Great fun and so completely flexible.
__________________ My 4th Edition Campaign Blog: http://ebonshar.blogspot.com/- Currently playing Thunderspire Labyrinth
One game I've recently started playing that has been making me say wow constantly:
A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. It's currently in print by Green Ronin. It's still a bit rough around the edges (they've had a boatload of errata for the initial book, and we are still waiting on the campaign guide) but it terms of capturing the flavour of the books, it seems to work really well. Our group has started a couple of campaigns, which inspired me to start reading the books and not a chapter goes by that doesn't include something occuring in the book that gives a "and that is where that rule/benefit/flaw/etc comes from" moment or two.
Slasher Flick - a rules-lite game from Spectrum Games (who created Cartoon Action Hour) specifically designed to play out a horror movie of the slasher genre. The mechanics are simple and capture the feel perfectly, and the actual gameplay is fun as all get-out.
For me it was Feng Shui. I first played the game with one of the game's creators at a convention in SE Washington and I absolutely fell in love. Great fun and so completely flexible.
I played Feng Shui at a con by a guy who loved the game and was probably the #1 fanboy. Needless to say, he made the whole modern wuxia Hong Kong action thing work and it was great. Nothing like playing a Chow Yun Fat with two guns going up against a 1,500 year old Chinese sorcerer. Awesome.
) campaign. In fact, playing it impressed me so much, that I bought a copy some time later, and ended up nicking some of bits of the system and porting them to D&D. 
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