Best GAMES AROUND! (NOT D20/4e, White Wolf or Cthulhu)

[Wolf1066]

It all depends on your preferred genre and playing style.

I really enjoyed playing Traveller (original) - we didn't just roll up the characters but never play, in fact we had two different long-term campaigns: one as Mercenaries, the other as Free Traders (a different form of mercenary). The game system is not perfect but it was fun and workable.

Got a lot more interesting when our GM decided to replace the combat system with the Interlock "Friday Night Fire Fight" (2013, not the 2020 version) - a "Plasma Gun, Man Portable" suddenly became a force to be reckoned with.

I really like Cyberpunk genre but I don't much like a lot of the stuff in Cyberpunk 2020. Fortunately there are some great alternative rules out there to pick and choose from as well as some great supplements that add more dimensions to the game. Dark Metropolis and Grimm's Cybertales are great for putting a more realistic edge on the game and you could also go all out and bring in Voudoun, Vampires and Werewolves as well if you wanted.

Some people like it as it is, I prefer to run it heavily modified.

Always wanted to try GURPS or Hero System run by a good GM just to see what they run like. I like the idea that you can play pretty much whatever genre you like under the same gaming system with the flexible technology levels and attributes.

I'd personally like a really good and flexible task/combat/conflict resolution system that adapts well to lots of different genres - attributes capable of coping with everything from smallish animals to superhumans, ability to seamlessly introduce superhuman abilities, different technology levels etc. Would be nice to get to know one system really well and then just decide where you want to go with it for any given game. Superheroes? No prob. Mere human investigators? Likewise. Orcs, elves, cyborgs, magic users, laser and plasma weapons? Yep, no worries.

 

[MichaelSomething]

HA! All of the previous suggestions pale in comparison to Snakes On a Plane: The Roleplaying Game.

 

[nedjer]

Traveller and its closest fantasy equivalent Treasure are my 'weapons of choice'. The travdevkit download is all that's really needed to try it out. Shove it in a word processor, throw in some concept art and it looks great in no time.

As with Treasure, I don't really see the point in paying for locked up, 'this is the art you get', 'can't edit it' systems nowadays. Especially when the open systems cover or go beyond the ground covered in paid rule sets. Sell me a scenario or a setting fine but paying for core rules - not if there's a free Firefox alongside a paid Internet Explorer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I never played a lot of it, but Mekton did seem pretty cool to me.

 

[scourger]

HA! All of the previous suggestions pale in comparison to Snakes On a Plane: The Roleplaying Game.

Now I want to see that darn movie and play the RPG.

 

[Wolf1066]

HA! All of the previous suggestions pale in comparison to Snakes On a Plane: The Roleplaying Game.

Do you get XP/IP for yelling a lot and swearing profusely?

 

[Votan]

Traveller is a fine game. It's very differently built and balanced than more modern games but it manages to catch the spirit of early science fiction surprisingly well. It sneaks in most of the iconic elements and the random character generation makes each character automatically come fleshed out.

The modern versions seem to keep the spirit of the original.

Some of my favorite game sessions as a teenager were done using Traveller. It's definitely worth a look.

 

[nedjer]

Traveller is a fine game. It's very differently built and balanced than more modern games but it manages to catch the spirit of early science fiction surprisingly well. It sneaks in most of the iconic elements and the random character generation makes each character automatically come fleshed out.

The modern versions seem to keep the spirit of the original.

Some of my favorite game sessions as a teenager were done using Traveller. It's definitely worth a look.

I see Traveller as the 'modern game' among an ocean of D&D clones and retros covering much the same ground. Its modular design, sector outlining, character generation . . . takes play in the direction of open-ended narratives, where 'the rules' are really guidelines.

I can appreciate how the lack of complex skill systems, specific rules for specific situations, streamlined combat mechanics and overall minimalism makes it different from many 'modern' games. It's a case of less is more for me, and maybe an easy way to spend a few hours being a teenager again.

 

[Wolf1066]

I have a file on my computer called "IMTU" - and I'm sure pretty much any Traveller GM would get the reference.

I've long thought about running a Traveller game but set in a earlier era than the original books depicted - more to discover, less Tech Levels in some areas. Preferably around the time just after Sol is discovered and Terran humans start learning about what's out there. Have at least half of the players playing humans fresh out of Earth with little to no knowledge of the worlds out there.

Work in actual discovery of some of the alien races rather than them being "already part of the background" - first contact scenarios, exploration, discovery.

I loved that game, would ideally love to be playing in someone's Traveller scenario. No one's running it hereabouts so my only option is to run my own sometime.

 

[nedjer]

I have a file on my computer called "IMTU" - and I'm sure pretty much any Traveller GM would get the reference.

I've long thought about running a Traveller game but set in a earlier era than the original books depicted - more to discover, less Tech Levels in some areas. Preferably around the time just after Sol is discovered and Terran humans start learning about what's out there. Have at least half of the players playing humans fresh out of Earth with little to no knowledge of the worlds out there.

Work in actual discovery of some of the alien races rather than them being "already part of the background" - first contact scenarios, exploration, discovery.

I loved that game, would ideally love to be playing in someone's Traveller scenario. No one's running it hereabouts so my only option is to run my own sometime.

You've just sketched much of the last five years of my Traveller game. Long time since I paid the slightest attention to the Third Imperium, in part because Traveller encourages/ makes it easy to move on/ around.

The Treasure game I'm in is much the same on the rapid re-design front. Several Traveller implants on syndicates, corruption and cartels have taken grip in the story and new races, locations, items, politics . . . slot into subtables, encounter tables and gameplay, pretty much on the fly.

It's almost a self-ordering if a system's modular enough. And made to be patched/ hacked so a quick copy-paste gives you a template.