Your Top Ten RPGs

[scourger]

...: simple rules, fast play, genre flexibility - is this not a GM's dream come true?...

It is. It strikes the fine balance between being coarse enough to be easy to run while fine enough to be engaging to play.

Similarly, I did a D&D Miniatures mini-campaign using the advancement rules from the Miniatures Handbook. It was fun, but I think the players felt there was not enough for them to do with their characters; which I interpreted as not enough player investment because there was not enough work for the players to do on character creation & advancement. Coarse enough for me to DM but not fine enough for the players (see above). The latest Gamma World had similar issues for us in play (see more above).

 

[scourger]

post doppleganger

 

[Evilhalfling]

...10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?365218-Your-Top-Ten-RPGs/page3#ixzz3ExNxiY4Q

Examples?

SpaceHulk - where any marine that survived melee for more than 1 round got an name and a set of mental problems.

Arkham Horror - playing a magician where each of his fights, encounters or leaps through a portal got a bit of stage magic patter.

a japanese board game where you walked down a straight path, stopped at inns for meals and then walked back. I went with a dying sister, and fortune cookie wisdom for rationalizing most of my moves.

or King of Toyko ... a number of cunning plans, pixie women singers and annoying little boys that have been drafted to help me defeat my 6 year old daughter at that game, usually without success

- basically this is what I do while waiting for others to play... not actually planning or strategizing, cause winning is not that important

 

[TrippyHippy]

10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

…..D&D4……OK……I’ll get my coat…..

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I feel like I've been living behind a rock posting here. Despite having been a roleplayer for about 20 years and I think I've only played about a dozen RPG's! If you excluded games that I'd only played a handful of sessions the list would probably be down to about 5!

My list of RPG's played (in no particular order) are:

AD&D 1E
AD&D 2E
Birthright 2E (I consider this separate to AD&D 2E as we only ever played as regents, with each player running a different country)
D&D 3.XE
Feng Shui
Paranoia
Call of Cthulhu
XCrawl
Gamma World
Alternity
Harnmaster
Mage: The Ascension
Werewolf: The Apocolypse
Mummy: The Resurrection

I own several others, such as Fiasco, Dread, AFMBE, Year of the Zombie and Deadlands. I've read some of them, but I've never played a game of them. Unfortunately my gaming group tends to be heavily skewed towards D&D only. One guy in particular would prefer to not attend a session if we aren't playing D&D.

 

[Baron Greystone]

Olaf, there are only so many hours in a day. Realistically, in a hobby where a game is a huge investment in time on the part of a whole group of people, it's much more common cto only play a few games. And games games are expensive enough that it makes little sense to throw money away on games you'll never play. In spite of the wishes of companies who push you to buy and buy, the people on these boards are unusual in the extreme. I've been gaming for 35 years. I haven't even heard of half these games, in spite of looking at these boards daily and gaming in my FLGS every month. Play what you like, and be done with it. Why feel pressure to further fragment your time, your friends and your moneycif you're already having fun hanging out with your friends and enjoying what you're playing?

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Olaf, there are only so many hours in a day. Realistically, in a hobby where a game is a huge investment in time on the part of a whole group of people, it's much more common cto only play a few games. And games games are expensive enough that it makes little sense to throw money away on games you'll never play. In spite of the wishes of companies who push you to buy and buy, the people on these boards are unusual in the extreme. I've been gaming for 35 years. I haven't even heard of half these games, in spite of looking at these boards daily and gaming in my FLGS every month. Play what you like, and be done with it. Why feel pressure to further fragment your time, your friends and your moneycif you're already having fun hanging out with your friends and enjoying what you're playing?

Oh, I don’t feel pressured to play more of these RPG’s at all. It’s more just the fact that several of the ones that I have read, but not played, sound really cool. So I’d like to play them, but I’ve never had the time and/or a group willing to play them.

But that’s life. Maybe things will change in the future, but for now I’m still happy playing in my fortnightly D&D game.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I note a number of people have listed D&D several times in reference to different editions. I get that rules change and people have preferences, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to consider them different games though.

 

[GMMichael]

a japanese board game where you walked down a straight path, stopped at inns for meals and then walked back. I went with a dying sister, and fortune cookie wisdom for rationalizing most of my moves.

This is just fascinating. Some Japanese stuff nails it, like the Grudge (movie) or Catherine (video game). And then, there's the walk-forth-and-back board game. And there was an earlier Playstation release in which you played a mosquito. And lived the life - wait for it - of a normal mosquito.

I note a number of people have listed D&D several times in reference to different editions. I get that rules change and people have preferences, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to consider them different games though.

Not a stretch if you look at it this way: their common thread is mainly a medieval fantasy setting based on killing monsters, which lots of other games do as well. The rules across editions have been different enough to prevent interbreeding.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Not a stretch if you look at it this way: their common thread is mainly a medieval fantasy setting based on killing monsters, which lots of other games do as well. The rules across editions have been different enough to prevent interbreeding.

I think this is a stereotyping of other games, rather than an acute observation. Take, for example, the comparison of games like The One Ring or RuneQuest. Superficially they are similar to D&D, as they are fantasy rpgs, but the differences are significant.

In the case of The One Ring you are actually trying to recreate a specific atmosphere and narrative pertaining to Middle Earth in the period between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The adventures are not too dissimilar in effect, but the characters are lower powered for the most part and are more ingrained in the cultures of the world. They also specify downtime in a much different way too.

In the case of RuneQuest, the game is a lot more generic in it’s application - but the classic Glorantha setting isn’t medieval (more like a Bronze age feel) and the onus is on questing to rise in ranks for a particular cult, by interacting with myths. Not the same game as D&D at all.