Yes, but how do you know what to build if you don't have the original to base it on?
This is the basic problem with game products based on licensed properties - when the license goes away, so does the game.
What RPGs Should Every Collection Have?
Yes, but how do you know what to build if you don't have the original to base it on?
This is the basic problem with game products based on licensed properties - when the license goes away, so does the game.
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
- OD&D
- AD&D
- Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 1e
- Gamma World
- Star Frontiers (the real, original one)
- Cyborg Commandos (you said to have in your collection, not that you had to play the game)
- And some good, wacky or beautiful, thematic and experimental indie games: is suggest starting with Dialect
- A collection of TTRPGs that combine your other fandoms: The Expanse, Dresden Files, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek, etc.
- And, preferably, a number of beat up binders overstuffed with yellowing pages of hand written/drawn --or dot matrix printed--maps and homebrew rules, campaigns and adventures. I feel sorry for kids today with their VTTs and PDFs. What are they going to nostalgically touch and page through as old gamers?
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Basic DnD Red Box
GURPs (Cliffhangers)
Fate Accelerated
Spirit of the Century
Pendragon
Traveller
Toon
D&D 3x
D&D 5e
Mutants & Masterminds
Call of Cthulhu by Gaslight
Vaesen
Spycraft
Pathfinder (Kingmaker)
Blades in the Dark
City of Mist
Warhammer Fantasy
Dungeon World
Worlds Without Number/Stars Without Number
Princess World: Frontier Kingdoms
Rolemaster (havent played this in decades though)
Duty & Honour/Beat to Quarters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness
Lost Souls
GURPs (Cliffhangers)
Fate Accelerated
Spirit of the Century
Pendragon
Traveller
Toon
D&D 3x
D&D 5e
Mutants & Masterminds
Call of Cthulhu by Gaslight
Vaesen
Spycraft
Pathfinder (Kingmaker)
Blades in the Dark
City of Mist
Warhammer Fantasy
Dungeon World
Worlds Without Number/Stars Without Number
Princess World: Frontier Kingdoms
Rolemaster (havent played this in decades though)
Duty & Honour/Beat to Quarters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness
Lost Souls
GuardianLurker
Adventurer
So, my criteria is genre-launching/defining or mechanics you should be aware of. In no particular order:
B/X or Rules Cyclopedia or OSE; the quintessential fantasy dungeoncrawl
MEGS DC Heroes; still the best supers game I've ever encountered, and the AP system is awesome.
Godlike/Wild Talents/Reign: the most elegant system I've seen (One Roll Engine isn't a lie.)
FUDGE/Fate: aspects, 'nuff said
Amber: the original diceless game.
Call of Cthulu: there's a reason it's still the granddaddy of all horror systems
Dogs of the Vineyard: goal resolution vs. task resolution is a very interesting take on things.
WoD, especially Werewolf and Mage: a great example of how mechanics can support both role-play and setting.
Fortune's Fool: card-based (Tarot specifically) resolution; there's also a clockpunk/steampunk game that uses a normal deck, but I've forgotten the latter's name
Cortex Prime: A great example of system-building, and a truly fully adaptable system
Savage Worlds: the die-size progression as a model for character progression
Oh, and I forgot:
Pendragon: for introducing the concept of "winter phase" into my game.
B/X or Rules Cyclopedia or OSE; the quintessential fantasy dungeoncrawl
MEGS DC Heroes; still the best supers game I've ever encountered, and the AP system is awesome.
Godlike/Wild Talents/Reign: the most elegant system I've seen (One Roll Engine isn't a lie.)
FUDGE/Fate: aspects, 'nuff said
Amber: the original diceless game.
Call of Cthulu: there's a reason it's still the granddaddy of all horror systems
Dogs of the Vineyard: goal resolution vs. task resolution is a very interesting take on things.
WoD, especially Werewolf and Mage: a great example of how mechanics can support both role-play and setting.
Fortune's Fool: card-based (Tarot specifically) resolution; there's also a clockpunk/steampunk game that uses a normal deck, but I've forgotten the latter's name
Cortex Prime: A great example of system-building, and a truly fully adaptable system
Savage Worlds: the die-size progression as a model for character progression
Oh, and I forgot:
Pendragon: for introducing the concept of "winter phase" into my game.
Last edited:
John Dallman
Hero
All of our lists are inevitably shaped by our formative experiences. I'd list:
RuneQuest 2e or 5e as an example of really big world building.
Champions as an example of detailed character design and unified mechanics.
Amber Diceless as an example of doing it really differently.
Call of Cthulhu for getting all the compromises in the right place.
Pendragon for making minds and principles as important as physical things.
RuneQuest 2e or 5e as an example of really big world building.
Champions as an example of detailed character design and unified mechanics.
Amber Diceless as an example of doing it really differently.
Call of Cthulhu for getting all the compromises in the right place.
Pendragon for making minds and principles as important as physical things.
Aldarc
Legend
Okay. Now I would probably swap Vaesen with Pendragon.
Drumheller
Explorer
Any version of Vampire rpg.
ichabod
Legned
I said I would give you the combined results, so here they are. I had to fudge some things here and there. Lots of people said "something PbtA", I just put in Apocalpse World. Some would give several examples of what they were voting on, and I generally just took the first one.
Now, if we give the lowest ranked vote 1 point, the next lowest 2, and so on, we get the following rankings for the top 20:
1. Call of Cthulhu (132 points)
2. D&D [A1E] (127 points)*
3. Apocalypse World (118 points)
4. Pendragon (116 points)
5. Blades in the Dark (115 points)
6. D&D [5E] (112 points)
7. D&D [B/X] (77 points)
8. Traveller [1E] (73 points)
9. D&D [3E] (69 points)
10. Savage Worlds (65 points)
11. Star Wars (62 points)
12. Feng Shui (59 points)
13. Dungeon Crawl Classics (58 points)
14. Fate [Core] (54 points)
15. Cyberpunk (53 points)
16. D&D [0E] (51 points)
17. Toon (50 points)
18. Traveller [2300] (49 points)
19. Amber (46 points)
20. Vampire (45 points)
* D&D [A1E] is first edition AD&D. I coded it this way to keep all of the D&D editions together.
However, there was a bit of variety in the voting. One person voted for 26 RPGs, and another voted for 1. If we instead just use the top ten for each person, we get the following results:
1. D&D [A1E] (47 points)
2. Pendragon (36 points)
3. Call of Cthulhu (36 points)
4. D&D [5E] (32 points)
5. D&D [B/X] (29 points)
6. Apocalypse World (28 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (26 points)
8. D&D [3E] (21 points)
9. D&D [0E] (19 points)
10. Traveller [2300] (17 points)
11. Traveller [1E] (17 points)
12. Savage Worlds (17 points)
13. Dungeon Crawl Classics (16 points)
14. Star Wars (14 points)
15. Amber (14 points)
16. Vampire (13 points)
17. Toon (13 points)
18. The Fantasy Trip (13 points)
19. Traveller (12 points)
20. Gamma World (12 points)
This is a bit different. Pendragon and the various D&D editions move up, Call of Cthulhu moves down, and Gamma World and the Fantasy Trip show up. But look at number 19. Not everyone gave an edition for every RPG. So I thought to revist the votes using just the game, and not the edition. With all the votes, it comes out to:
1. D&D (512 points)
2. Traveller (184 points)
3. Call of Cthulhu (168 points)
4. Pendragon (159 points)
5. Fate (142 points)
6. Apocalypse World (118 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (115 points)
8. Savage Worlds (86 points)
9. Warhammer Fantasy (76 points)
10. Cyberpunk (76 points)
11. Feng Shui (71 points)
12. Star Wars (62 points)
13. Burning Wheel (59 points)
14. Dungeon Crawl Classics (58 points)
15. Toon (50 points)
16. Over the Edge (47 points)
17. Amber (46 points)
18. Vampire (45 points)
19. The Fantasy Trip (45 points)
20. Champions (45 points)
D&D taking the top spot is obvious given the votes for the various editions (and technically ballot stuffing, since many people voted for multiple editions). Fate does very well here, moving from 14 to 5. And a lot of other systems that there wasn't room for make it into the top 20.
And if we only look at each person's top 10, the votes are:
1. D&D (176 points)
2. Traveller (48 points)
3. Pendragon (47 points)
4. Call of Cthulhu (43 points)
5. Fate (32 points)
6. Apocalypse World (28 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (26 points)
8. Savage Worlds (22 points)
9. Warhammer Fantasy (18 points)
10. Cyberpunk (17 points)
11. Dungeon Crawl Classics (16 points)
12. Over the Edge (15 points)
13. Star Wars (14 points)
14. Amber (14 points)
15. Vampire (13 points)
16. Toon (13 points)
17. The Fantasy Trip (13 points)
18. Champions (13 points)
19. Gamma World (12 points)
20. Twilight 2000 (11 points)
It's mostly the same in the top ten, but a couple RPGs drop out below there.
Now, if we give the lowest ranked vote 1 point, the next lowest 2, and so on, we get the following rankings for the top 20:
1. Call of Cthulhu (132 points)
2. D&D [A1E] (127 points)*
3. Apocalypse World (118 points)
4. Pendragon (116 points)
5. Blades in the Dark (115 points)
6. D&D [5E] (112 points)
7. D&D [B/X] (77 points)
8. Traveller [1E] (73 points)
9. D&D [3E] (69 points)
10. Savage Worlds (65 points)
11. Star Wars (62 points)
12. Feng Shui (59 points)
13. Dungeon Crawl Classics (58 points)
14. Fate [Core] (54 points)
15. Cyberpunk (53 points)
16. D&D [0E] (51 points)
17. Toon (50 points)
18. Traveller [2300] (49 points)
19. Amber (46 points)
20. Vampire (45 points)
* D&D [A1E] is first edition AD&D. I coded it this way to keep all of the D&D editions together.
However, there was a bit of variety in the voting. One person voted for 26 RPGs, and another voted for 1. If we instead just use the top ten for each person, we get the following results:
1. D&D [A1E] (47 points)
2. Pendragon (36 points)
3. Call of Cthulhu (36 points)
4. D&D [5E] (32 points)
5. D&D [B/X] (29 points)
6. Apocalypse World (28 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (26 points)
8. D&D [3E] (21 points)
9. D&D [0E] (19 points)
10. Traveller [2300] (17 points)
11. Traveller [1E] (17 points)
12. Savage Worlds (17 points)
13. Dungeon Crawl Classics (16 points)
14. Star Wars (14 points)
15. Amber (14 points)
16. Vampire (13 points)
17. Toon (13 points)
18. The Fantasy Trip (13 points)
19. Traveller (12 points)
20. Gamma World (12 points)
This is a bit different. Pendragon and the various D&D editions move up, Call of Cthulhu moves down, and Gamma World and the Fantasy Trip show up. But look at number 19. Not everyone gave an edition for every RPG. So I thought to revist the votes using just the game, and not the edition. With all the votes, it comes out to:
1. D&D (512 points)
2. Traveller (184 points)
3. Call of Cthulhu (168 points)
4. Pendragon (159 points)
5. Fate (142 points)
6. Apocalypse World (118 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (115 points)
8. Savage Worlds (86 points)
9. Warhammer Fantasy (76 points)
10. Cyberpunk (76 points)
11. Feng Shui (71 points)
12. Star Wars (62 points)
13. Burning Wheel (59 points)
14. Dungeon Crawl Classics (58 points)
15. Toon (50 points)
16. Over the Edge (47 points)
17. Amber (46 points)
18. Vampire (45 points)
19. The Fantasy Trip (45 points)
20. Champions (45 points)
D&D taking the top spot is obvious given the votes for the various editions (and technically ballot stuffing, since many people voted for multiple editions). Fate does very well here, moving from 14 to 5. And a lot of other systems that there wasn't room for make it into the top 20.
And if we only look at each person's top 10, the votes are:
1. D&D (176 points)
2. Traveller (48 points)
3. Pendragon (47 points)
4. Call of Cthulhu (43 points)
5. Fate (32 points)
6. Apocalypse World (28 points)
7. Blades in the Dark (26 points)
8. Savage Worlds (22 points)
9. Warhammer Fantasy (18 points)
10. Cyberpunk (17 points)
11. Dungeon Crawl Classics (16 points)
12. Over the Edge (15 points)
13. Star Wars (14 points)
14. Amber (14 points)
15. Vampire (13 points)
16. Toon (13 points)
17. The Fantasy Trip (13 points)
18. Champions (13 points)
19. Gamma World (12 points)
20. Twilight 2000 (11 points)
It's mostly the same in the top ten, but a couple RPGs drop out below there.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
My Top 10 Must Own RPGs (no particular order):
AD&D 1e
Amber Diceless Roleplaying
Boothill (3e box set)
Bushido (any edition)
Call of Cthulhu (GW 3rd Edition hardcover)
DragonQuest (2e box set)
Runequest 2e
Stormbringer (GW 1st Edition hardcover)
The Traveller Book
Tunnels & Trolls (Deluxe Edition)
AD&D 1e
Amber Diceless Roleplaying
Boothill (3e box set)
Bushido (any edition)
Call of Cthulhu (GW 3rd Edition hardcover)
DragonQuest (2e box set)
Runequest 2e
Stormbringer (GW 1st Edition hardcover)
The Traveller Book
Tunnels & Trolls (Deluxe Edition)
