Best Licensed RPG: Discuss the Best Adaptation of a Movie/Book to an RPG that You've Ever Played!

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Morrus]

I’m with you on the Ghostbusters RPG. Probably the most perfect example. I have two copies of that game for some reason.

WEG’s Star Wars also; it isn’t a perfect game, but it captures the feel of Star Wars well.

 

[Umbran]

Hm. My favorite game adapted form media is actually from television: Leverage. I actually got into the TV show because I played a session of the game at a house con, and thought it seemed like a cool idea.

Based in Cortex+, the system has natively the concept that complications will arise during play, which is absolutely perfect for the comedic heist genre with its plan-and-then-things-go-wrong plotting.

I'm with you on Marvel FASERIP as well. Had a whole lot of fun with that game.

 

[Ulfgeir]

A couple of different games I enjoyed:

Dresden Files Rpg - It is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the talk between Dresden, Bob, and Billy (who are the games creators). The system works well for what is intended. The system in Atomic Robo is the other gold standard for what can be done with FATE (and is also gorgeous, but has a different feel).

Star Wars Saga edition. It was what D&D 4e should have been in terms of crunch. The system gave you lots of ways that you could customize your character, and still felt much more Star Wars than FFG's games (I liked the WEG version as well, for the simplicity). However the official campaign where you were starting the rebellion, let's just say that some of the stuff there was so messed up it was beyond belief. I mean a Rancor-sized critter that had so much DR that only lightsabers could hurt it...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I love that you could be 1 slayer and the scoobies. It handled different power-level well. Helps that Buffy is one of my favourite tv-shows. The combat system was messy though, with the different manoeuvres.

Babylon 5 d20-version. I can't remember how much differed between 1st and 2nd ed, but I did like it a lot. We had a fun campaign in it.

Ghosts of Albion - Based on a fantasy series from BBC, and made by Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy). The idea of having the ghosts of Lord Nelson and Boadiccea/Boudicca helping the new guardians protect the realm was fun. The system is ok as far as I remember. Loved the setting, and the animated show from BBC.

 

[tommybahama]

I'm going way back to the 80's and say James Bond 007 was the best RPG adapted from a book/movie that I've ever played.

 

[Ulfgeir]

I'm going way back to the 80's and say James Bond 007 was the best RPG adapted from a book/movie that I've ever played.

I remember playing it in the mid/late eighties, but was not very fond of it at the time. I do recall that it did not work well if you were a too large group (which we were). Maybe I need to get hold of it again and do some rereading.

 

[John Dallman]

Two that were notably good:

Amber Diceless, with a properly devious group of players. The GM eventually had to start dropping subplots before he lost the ability to keep track of them all, and so that he could resolve the major plotline.

The Discworld RPG, second edition, from 2015. This gets the magic right, which was something of a failure in the first edition and let me run very satisfactory plots.

 

[dragoner]

Iron Crown Enterprises Middle Earth Role Playing, we had a lot of fun with those, and they really raised the bar on quality for the time.

Chaosium Thieves' World boxed set, really loved that too.

 

[Nebulous]

I didn't know Ghostbusters had a famous 80s rpg. That sounds pretty cool.

Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Role-Playing Game and Ghostbusters International ‒ colloquially and collectively called simply the Ghostbusters RPG ‒ are comedy/horror roleplaying games published by West End Games. The initial title was a shameless cash-in of the first movie, with Ghostbusters International helping suck in more cash following the second movie. Despite this, they were pretty darned good, and the system used was a precursor to the D6 System later used in many titles, including the Star Wars RPG. It's also the first game to feature a dice-pool mechanic, which changed roleplaying games forever.

 

[Eric V]

I'm probably the only one who liked DC Heroes 2nd edition by Mayfair games (I believe...), but I really did. Allowed for a wide range of adventure types, crossovers, etc.

I wish I had been older when that game came along.