Games That Really "Wowed" You?

[Retreater]

I just got back from GenCon, and I make it a goal to try different systems every time I attend a convention.
Here are some that I tried this time that I enjoyed. Feel free to add yours in this thread....
1) Pirate Borg (Mork Borg): fast character creation, simple rules (but based on d20 so it's familiar), very flavorful.
2) Zweihander: it really played like a streamlined Warhammer Fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed the session.
3) Mother Ship: fast character creation, simple rules (percentage based), flexible skill choices (pick a skill and attribute you think are relevant - and the GM decides), interesting random charts that give lots of flavor
4) Vaesen: another Year Zero game by Free League - and I haven't been disappointed yet. Dice rolling and damage is simpler than Forbidden Lands. Would work great for any supernatural mystery game (a la Cthulhu).

 

[payn]

I enjoyed Forbidden Lands as an old school flavored fantasy RPG. Didnt care much for the setting at all, but I enjoyed the system. I think it did resource attrition well, and gave a real sense of exploration. Combat was very deadly, so it had that OSR feel going for it.

Pathfinder classic. Seriously, I loved that it did some work on 3.5E, which I was just getting mastered at the time. The adventure paths turned me onto using published adventures again. I got a good decade of solid gaming from Paizo. Had many great campaigns and tons of great characters during that time!

Oh, how was Pirate Borg? Is it age of sail type of game?

 

[Staffan]

Last time I got seriously impressed with an RPG design was FFG's Star Wars. Having two different axes of task resolution (success/failure and good/bad side effects) added a lot to the game, and I also liked the combination of traditional skill improvement and class-based talent trees. In particular, I like that the talent trees let you make it so certain abilities can be bought in multiple levels, but you can't laser-focus on them because you can only buy them once per "spot" in the trees.

More recently, I've enjoyed the Troubleshooters. It's not so much "wow, can you do that?" as Star Wars, but it's a really solid implementation of BRP, and I like that they've turned classic ability scores into skills just like any other (which means you never have to go "The lawyer is really smart so he should be good at tech too"), and also that they have binary Abilities which are sort of like feats. Story points are icing on the cake, but nothing that hasn't been done before. That goes for most of the Troubleshooters really: made mostly from off-the-shelf components, but put together really well, and given a really attractive package.

 

[Retreater]

Oh, how was Pirate Borg? Is it age of sail type of game?

I enjoyed it. It was basically a reskinned Mork Borg that didn't seem as bleak. The feel was Curse of the Black Pearl - ghost ships, skeletal pirates.
It inspired me to rethink Mork Borg - to drop a lot of the over the top death metal feel and run it as a gritty fantasy game (like WFRP).

 

[thullgrim]

Genesys (the generic version of FFG Star Wars). The first time I read it it blew my mind.

Had the same feeling the first time I read Blades in the Dark as well.

Numenera as a setting was eye opening.

I love WHFRP 4e and I have Zweihander. I’m curious about how you feel comparing them.

 

[Fenris-77]

I only tried Forbidden Lands recently. I am really impressed with the system and, like someone upstream, not in love with the setting. I played in one short game that had a Fantasy Celtic pastiche kind of approach, and that was glorious.

Swords of the Serpentine continues to wow me as well.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Funny enough, both Pirate Borg and Mothership also wowed the heck out of me at Origins. Great GMs and great tables at both games.

I just got back from GenCon, and I make it a goal to try different systems every time I attend a convention.
Here are some that I tried this time that I enjoyed. Feel free to add yours in this thread....
1) Pirate Borg (Mork Borg): fast character creation, simple rules (but based on d20 so it's familiar), very flavorful.
2) Zweihander: it really played like a streamlined Warhammer Fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed the session.
3) Mother Ship: fast character creation, simple rules (percentage based), flexible skill choices (pick a skill and attribute you think are relevant - and the GM decides), interesting random charts that give lots of flavor
4) Vaesen: another Year Zero game by Free League - and I haven't been disappointed yet. Dice rolling and damage is simpler than Forbidden Lands. Would work great for any supernatural mystery game (a la Cthulhu).

 

[innerdude]

Ironsworn "wowed" me from first read, through 8-10 sessions of GM-ing. Not one time was I ever disappointed. I honestly kept saying to myself, "At some point, is it ever not going to be awesome? When does the letdown happen?" Hasn't happened yet.

I also have to agree with FFG Star Wars. I was pretty neutral to the whole narrative dice resolution mechanic up front, even though I'd heard good things about it. In the 6-8 sessions I've GM'd of it, it has consistently "wowed" me with how well it delivers what's promised in the pages. Admittedly, it also helps that I have a tremendous group who's highly capable of narrative contribution and collaboration.

 

[MGibster]

Alien from Free League really wowed me. The rules do a good job of emulating both Alien and Aliens which I wouldn't have thought possible in one game.

 

[Retreater]

I love WHFRP 4e and I have Zweihander. I’m curious about how you feel comparing them.

I like WFRP because of the setting (it was one of my earliest fantasy RPGs and I got into the lore of the miniatures wargame).
The current edition didn't really connect with me (or my groups): opposed checks, success levels, lengthy character creation, character creation "traps," keeping track of advantage, etc. - all this really slowed down the game.
Having not run Zweihander myself, I can't say if it's simpler behind the scenes - but for me as a player at a convention game, it seemed simple enough.
However, the book seems rather large and poorly organized, so it wasn't one that I was interested in purchasing for myself.