Best GAMES AROUND! (NOT D20/4e, White Wolf or Cthulhu)

[Nifft]

I've always wanted to try Exalted.

It's a glorious setting, and the system can be made to work too.

3:16 is definitely worth a look. I didn't get it from the site, but once I saw the book I was hooked.

I have to check this one out.

Things I'm currently enjoying:

- Warhammer 3e: dunno if I like the degree of lock-in implicit in their custom made incompatible materials -- including the dice -- but it's got a bunch of interesting ideas.

- Shadowrun 4e: character generation can be very complex, but the core mechanic plays surprisingly smoothly for a system which embraces the Matrix, the Astral, gunslingers, spell-slingers, drones, dragons, and genetic-engineered nanite-pumped cyber-ninjae.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Psion]

Traveler T20 -- good emulation of classic Traveler using the d20 mechanic. Also provides a solution to my main complaint with classis Traveler (very limited character advancement). Warning: expect clunkiness as it is faithfully emulating a clunky system.

I had a lot of fun running that game. Though I've honestly moved on to Mongoose Traveller, I do think it has about the best PC/small ship scale ship combat system ever (it didn't scale well to capital ships, but that's fixable.)

I will say, you could easily game the system, but its one of those games that if you don't have players out to break it by squeezing every ounce out it of their character, it works rather nicely.

The Player's Companion addresses several of my complaints about shortfalls to the system.

 

[Psion]

For me:

Mongoose Traveller: A nice take on a classic SF system. Slick, easy to use, gritty, with a character generation sequence that provides interesting backstories, helps connect the characters, and (despite being random) makes sure that the group covers the basics.

FATE 3.0 and its many instances:
Spirit of the Century - Heroic pulp adventure.
Diaspora - Hard(ish*) gritty SF.
Starblazer Adventures - Based on the UK comic of the same name, the system is build for high adventure space opera a la the new Star Trek movie.
there are others, including the forthcoming Dresden Files game, but none that I have played.

Danger Patrol - Heroic Retro-SF in the vein of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. This one is actually in open beta, and you can get the beta pdf here:

Danger Patrol - Action/Adventure Roleplaying in the World of Tomorrow

Spycraft 2.0 and Fantasy Craft. Yeah, they're d20 OGL, but as they are 2nd and 3rd generation derivatives and neither bears the d20 logo, I'm defying your restriction.

Spycraft 2.0 is a flexible system for high octane modern action.

Fantasy Craft is also a nice highly flexible fantasy system. I used it to run a Dying Earth/Zothique-esque Sword & Sorcery setting. See my sig for details on the Freeport campaign I'm running using it.

 

[rgard]

I've always enjoyed Dragonquest, but never had the opportunity to play it past the mid 80s.

SPI initially published it and later TSR.

DragonQuest Fan Page by Snafaru

There is an open source document for it.

 

[Here4DaFreeSwag]

In addition to the mentions of Savage Worlds, Mongoose's Runequest 2, Hackmaster Basic, and Dragon Age the Tabletop PnP RPG, there's also:

Dragon Warriors, by Magnum Opus Press/Mongoose
Mongoose's upcoming Lone Wolf Multiplayer book
Metal, Magic, and Lore by MML
A Song of Fire and Ice by Green Ronin
Talislanta, now for free in it's entirety
D6 Fantasy, etc. also for free in pdf form

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I can't believe that no-one has mentioned Feng Shui yet. Think over the top, Jackie Chan style Hong Kong action movies where even the starting characters can perform awesome combat moves.

XCrawl also gets a tick from me. Think a D&D dungeon crawl combined with the Running Man movie (the one with Arnie in it) combined with some of the play-it-up to the cameras of wrestling (the fake wrestling, not the Olympics wresting). If you don't like wrestling don't let that put you off. I don't like it but I love XCrawl.

Paranoia is another one I would give a thumbs up to. As a previous poster said, edition doesn't matter too much, it's all about getting the feel right.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Wightbred]

3:16

Nifft: I have to check this one out.

I definitely recommend 3:16. But don't just look at the char sheet and go "too simple" as I did. Check out some reviews and play posts as this game is much more than it seems on the surface. I haven't laughed so hard or seen so much engagement with character at a table in years.

Also throw my hat in for any of the following depending on the group:
- Shadowrun 4
- Mouse Guard
- Rogue Trader (and DH)
- Poison'd
- Dogs

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

XCrawl also gets a tick from me. Think a D&D dungeon crawl combined with the Running Man movie (the one with Arnie in it) combined with some of the play-it-up to the cameras of wrestling (the fake wrestling, not the Olympics wresting). If you don't like wrestling don't let that put you off. I don't like it but I love XCrawl.

Its funny- I actually wound up in a conversation about X-Crawl with PandaBrett (its creator) right here on ENWorld back in 2007. I had been describing the game as kind of a slightly different take on Niven & Barnes Dream Park novels, Westworld and videogames like Smash TV...and according to him, he had never heard of Dream Park or Westworld.

 

[NMcCoy]

Dread is brilliant.

Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies is a tremendous amount of fun.

A Penny For My Thoughts is one of those games that is barely a game, but is an excellent and entertaining improvisational exercise.

 

[Midnight Dawns]

I'll second Mekton. Just finished up a mini-campaign using one of the alternate battle systems and the game went pretty well. While I haven't tried it Noblis looks like an interesting system as does the actual Game of Thrones system (which my group will be using in a few months).