RPG systems you liked -- much to your surprise

[JohnSnow]

Never took you for a Discworld fan Akrasia...Guess we're all still FULL of surprises. That said, here's my list:

Star Wars d20: I was a big WEG Star Wars d6 player. After playing it for a long time, I gave up on it because rolling fistfulls of d6s was starting to get on my nerves. However, the original game did a great job with modelling the Force and I was petrified I'd get the Force - the Psionics edition when WotC/TSR took on Star Wars. Bill Slaviscek's involvement lessened by apprehension enough that I bought it. As it happened, I loved it - they retained the best parts of d6 Star Wars and ported over the parts of D&D that I liked to provide an awesome system. I kinda miss the template "quotes" though. "...greenies..." *chuckle*

d20 Modern: I was skeptical - make that VERY skeptical - as to whether the d20 D&D rules would convert to modern campaigns. However, I was an Alternity and TSSI fan back in their respective days, so I decided to see WotC's take on modern. And I found myself quite (pleasantly) surprised.

Castles & Crusades - Ah yes...C&C. As Akrasia knows, I thought I'd hate C&C based on everything it was "taking away" from D&D. But I didn't. I still found things about D&D 3e that I missed, but I have to admit that C&C was a fun game to play - much more fun than I expected.

WFRP2e - I had no expectations for this when we played, since I never played the original game. I read it and liked it enough to buy it. And then when we played I enjoyed it in play - although it's still not my favorite fantasy roleplaying system.

I guess those all count, right?

 

[scadgrad]

C&C I believe that only Mythmere and Akrasia can rival me as the biggest C&C fanboy here at EnWorld, but my expectations weren't really that high. I only thought that the game would be a cool way to run old 1st ed. and 2nd ed. mods w/out resorting to the clunkiness of those system (I feel like I've just blasphemed). Turns out that like John Snow, I found it to be much more fun than I had anticipated and I immediately set to work converting my 3.5 campaiagn over to C&C. I've never looked back.

Warhammer RPG 2nd ed. So most people already know I'm a huge WHFB junky (attend GTs and RTTs fairly regularly) and I've always loved the Old World, but Chris Pramas really deserves some recoginition for this one. It is a blast to play. Can't wait until this Sunday when we finally start the first episode of Ashes of Middenheim.

d20 modern While you couldn't make me play d20 D&D at gun point anymore, I really like this rules set and I've had many, many ideas for using it for one shots, Cthulu Modern, etc.

 

[Vonlok The Bold]

I'll add mine to the voices claiming D&D 3.0. I loved AD&D, and played some 2nd Edition, but really didn't like it, and felt like I had been ripped off for all the materials I bought for it.

When I heard that they were coming out with third edition I wondered why they were going to do more damage to the game I loved. The more I read about the rules, the more I hated the idea. "What do you mean any race can play any class? A dwarven Magic User... oh they are either Wizards or Sorcerors now... all the more reason to hate it... No THACO!?!?!?!?!?"

Finally after reading positive review after positive review, and joining a group that was going to play it, I gave in and tried it. Much to my surprise I loved it.

 

[Akrasia]

... Never took you for a Discworld fan Akrasia...

Well, not exactly a 'fan'. I like the books well enough, but I would not say that I am a 'fan' in the way that I am a fan of Tolkien, Howard, Vance, et al. I like Pratchet's stuff in the same way that I like Gemmell's stuff (pleasant diversions -- albeit of very different kinds!).

But essentially, I'm just a sucker for 'rules tweaking'!

 

[LilCthulhu]

MERP: I really liked the realistic approach to the game, how a simple "low-level" could actually killed a high-leveled character or monster if very lucky

WEG's Star Wars: So simple mechanics, very space operish... I prefer it to the d20 version. But I actually sold all my books because we're not as much in SW now adays... the prequels being not that great ( ep3 was good though ), but I must admit that I was eager to try again after seeing the IMPS: Relentless fan movie ...

The original Babylon5 RPG: Yep, I actually liked the mechanics of rolling two sets of dice, one positive, the other negative... I should put my hand on Moongoose's d20 version.

The original Sovereign Stone RPG: I liked the approach to statistics... have a 1d4 in strenght and a 1d20 in dexterity ... although statistically, it was not perfect... We currently play the d20 version and I like the approach on spell with casting threshold and the ORKS are way to cool to play

Cyberpunk: As a player, I had a blast...

Dragonlance Saga System: Actually a nice system. Playing with cards, involved a lot of strategy and planning... the Magic system held on a single sheet... Instead of spells, you somehow controlled the element and could write any spell Very neat...

Call Of Cthulhu: Both version... best d20 manual I bought, best non-class-system... The sanity version in d20 does feel awkward to players... and somehow they hate throwing those d100 sanity checks... feels weird against a d20 system ... The original is neat/simple.

---

I'd like to put my hands on Midnight 2.0, Spycraft 2.0 and BlueRose's True20 systems to see what's out there... but so far, considering d20.. I'm sticking to CoC for everything... One book to rule them out...

 

[tec-9-7]

Interestingly enough, I don't think I've ever been pleasantly suprised by a system. I would usually approach systems w/ a positive and optimistic attitude, so it has been much more common for me to be disappointed by systems.

*EDIT* Oops! I forgot Call of Chtulhu! That was a game I didn't expect to like very much when I first read the reviews of it back in the 80s, but as I played and ran it, I came to like it very much!

 

[devilbat]

I'll add another voice for the original Deadlands system. I didn't think a campy western horror game would work, and I basically had to bribe some people to play it. Once they did, they asked me to make a campaign out of the one shot, which continued for three years.

The utilization of chips and cards lent itself so well to the game, the classes were interesting, the setting was well developed, and Pinnacle supported it with some great books, adventures and accesories. It remains my favorite system to this day.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

7th Sea. I am ashamed to say that I actually mocked it when I saw it in the store, and commented 'Who would ever want to play that?...

Then I read it, and came across the way that teleportation could be used to accurately determine longitude... a means that would actually work, and that I would never have thought of in a million years.

Then I ran it... it was a very, very fun system.

The Auld Grump

 

[TheGM]

3E/D20. I was certain they went too far and ruined the game. I still don't like the "magic everywhere" feel of it, and struggle to control that in my games, but I do run a regular 3.5 game these days.

HackMaster. Walked past it at GenCon before I finally picked it up at the next one. The parody turned me off, but once I read through it I decided to try it. It's great fun, though I've massively modified it in the ensuing years.

 

[Turanil]

My question: What RPG systems have your tried -- and liked -- despite initial doubts?

Actually for me it was C&C. I bought it out of curiosity, and then was stuck.