Name an TTRPG You Really Like But Have Never Played/GMed

[jdrakeh]

MERP 2e. I've owned it multiple times over the years, but could never find a group of people willing to give it a chance.

 

[Reynard]

MERP 2e. I've owned it multiple times over the years, but could never find a group of people willing to give it a chance.

That is the only Rolemaster I have ever had a chance to run. I liked it.

 

[jdrakeh]

I've weirdly run RM1, RM2 (Classic), RMFRP, RMX (Rolemaster Express), and MERP 1e. I really like Express. Instead of front loading everything like other editions of Rolemaster, it strips out all of the options, starts with a very simple core, then adds options back in via a series of 'zine supplements. I really wish they'd stuck with that format instead of going with multiple, ginormous, core books.

 

[Velderan]

The main game that comes to mind right now is Pendragon. I bought the Starter Set, loved what was in it and bought the Core Rulebook but haven't gotten around to running it yet. I'm sure it will get played eventually, the group I run games for is generally up for playing whatever nonsense I throw together for them.

 

[Kannik]

And that's when it hit me. I did know this combat system. It wasn't the same, but it was really similar. A year prior, a friend of mine had roped us into playing Phoenix Command. This was a modified Phoenix Command combat system. Oh noes ... We had this great scenario set up, and it was an exciting 45 minutes, and then there was a combat .... and the next two hours (which was less than thirty seconds, I think, game time) was a horror show in all senses of the word.

Ah, good ol' Phoenix Command. With it's optional book of 63 different hit locations. I too at the time thought that would be excellently cool and realistic. Perhaps it's fortunate I never played/ran it and thus could keep that illusion intact.

(To be clear, even without playing I no longer have that illusion... )

 

[Reynard]

Ah, good ol' Phoenix Command. With it's optional book of 63 different hit locations. I too at the time thought that would be excellently cool and realistic. Perhaps it's fortunate I never played/ran it and thus could keep that illusion intact.

(To be clear, even without playing I no longer have that illusion... )

I wonder: is the problem just the difficulty in doing all the rolling? If so, it seems like apps or VTTs could solve that and RPGs with crunchy, granular combat would make a resurgence.

 

[jdrakeh]

I wonder: is the problem just the difficulty in doing all the rolling? If so, it seems like apps or VTTs could solve that and RPGs with crunchy, granular combat would make a resurgence.

It's ridiculously crunchy. For example, in Phoenix Command, as I recall, there were rules to calculate trajectories of individual bullets fired. I recall Living Steel being less unhinged, but still pretty complex (I think a VTT could probably handle Living Steel, but not Phoenix Command).

 

[John Dallman]

I don't seem to have one of these. I hoped Continuum would be compelling, but it wasn't. I had hopes of CthulhuTech, but could never get the lore straight. D&D4e I gave away before I was half-way through the Player's Handbook. I've managed to play or run pretty well everything that's ever seemed attractive to me.

 

[Kannik]

I wonder: is the problem just the difficulty in doing all the rolling? If so, it seems like apps or VTTs could solve that and RPGs with crunchy, granular combat would make a resurgence.

Partially, but mostly I'd say is the exponentially diminishing returns for that level of "accuracy" and detail. Detail intricacies that would even make some wargames blush. That the bullet is lodged 28.4mm into your left anterium tibulum hallux plegia is less important than the result of said bullet on your character's functionality and continued aliveness.

(And I put accuracy in quotes because the tables were probably derived with a lot of extrapolation and/or middling understanding, and so the extra level of specificity might not be truthfully accurate.)

 

[TheAlkaizer]

There's so much...

But the ones that come to mind are:

• The One Ring 2E
• Orbital Blues
• Ultraviolet Grasslands

I really want to run them. On paper, they seem to be really good games and I really enjoyed reading the books.

But, oh boy, I think 70% of my collection of games are in that category.