Bob World Builders favorite RPG Poll.

[overgeeked]

If anyone's surprised by a single vote for Over the Edge 3E, that's me.

 

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

Kind of shocking DC20 got so many votes.

 

[dbolack]

If anyone's surprised by a single vote for Over the Edge 3E, that's me.

I mean, I put in Whispering Vault, so...

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Kind of shocking DC20 got so many votes.

I think it's pretty definitely going to be because:

Looks like several rpg fan groups got wind of the poll and voted in mass for their game. I'm curious about the next 10,000 votes, as news of the poll spread further on the internet.

All it would take would be the DC20 Discord putting out an all-members message saying "Please vote in this poll! ", not even telling people what to vote for, to get a lot of people moving.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Wow, I'm surprised at how high GURPS ranked, relatively speaking. Especially considering some of the games it outranked, or came close to.

I think it is a game that people have fond memories of. One that, for many, lives eternally in one or of:

• I played the heck out of this (back in the day).
• I didn't get to play this much, but spent hours reading sourcebooks and writing up characters.
• If I had a group that was interested, I'd play the heck out of this.
• Actual play is nothing special, but doesn't it look elegant and complete?

That said, and as others have mentioned, I think there are fan groups of specific games who have found the poll and come out in force. And GURPS has some strident fans that very much want to promote it (/sometimes defend it against perceived sleights, etc.).

 

[Thierry-Advent]

And GURPS has some strident fans that very much want to promote it (/sometimes defend it against perceived sleights, etc.).

Well they did a poor job on their FB group page. I asked questions and was label an abuser of the system bad player, on my first post! LOL never went back there.

 

[Voidmoji]

Well they did a poor job on their FB group page. I asked questions and was label an abuser of the system bad player, on my first post! LOL never went back there.

People on Facebook were jerks? Shocking!

For GURPS stuff I would recommend the official forum, or the main GURPS Discord. Both are more friendly.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

People on Facebook were jerks? Shocking!

For GURPS stuff I would recommend the official forum, or the main GURPS Discord. Both are more friendly.

I'll try the forum, I still have an account it seems.

 

[aramis erak]

This is a hard one to define. Yes, I think Pathfinder could have been split, but there are also other games on the list with player divide between editions, so where do we draw the line which ones to split and which ones to keep a single entry?

Most of the others, a split would only make their setting fanbase split across half a dozen or more editions...
In cases like BRP, Pendragon, CoC, Ars Magica - the mechanical changes of editions are less even than the AD&D 1E/2E distance.
Some, such as Traveller, every major edition is a different game engine, and there are a bunch: CT, MT, TNE, T4, GT, T20, GTIW, HT, T5, MGT1, MGT2, Cepheus Engine... and CT has 4 subeditions of core rules (CT77, CT81, TTB aka CT83, and ST aka CT84; essentially 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2).

 

[aramis erak]

Off topic: what ARE the games where the edition split REALLY matters?

L5R in the 1, 2, 3, and 4 as a single clade vs 5th - the FFG/Edge version.

Cyberpunk - there are signficant changes to the setting and some noteworthy rules changes. CP2013 (first ed) has unique netrunning rules. CP 2020 is essentially just a slightly expanded and much nicer presentation of everything but the damage and netrunning rules - but those are, proportionally, HUGE frakking changes. CP v3 made changes in character gen, and in the cyberware, but thats about as far as I read. CP 2077 makes further mechanical changes... And each of them advances the setting timeline as well. Stuff can be ported, mostly, but the fans probably prefer their favored edition and its combination of chrome and tone... Each also tweaks the combat system, tho none nearly the distance that the 2013→2020 jump did, and each tweaks netrunning, but again, the 2013→2020 jump was HUGE...

Shadowrun - based upon the various fanboy arguments, it's basically, 1e alone, 2 & 3 together, 4 onward each its own... with Anarchy off to the side.

Mechwarrior 1e is a point builder 4atts GURPS-like; 2E is a priority system with templates and 6 atts, 3E is a randomized lifepath, A Time Of War: The Battletech RPG (ATOW) is a new pointbuilder; Destiny is a new engine with reduced complexity and numbers reduced but clearly derived from ATOW. Each has its own fanbase. I've only run 1 & 2, but have Destiny and have read both destiny and ATOW... I want to try Destiny someday. I may be overlooking an edition.

Mekton: Mekton 1 isn't an RPG, just a mecha battle game; Mekton II is an RPG; Mekton Zeta is a revised and expanded edition of the RPG... and there's a half-edition for Mekton II - Mekton Technical System as a sourcebook revised mecha and ship construction severely... This is about the least meaningful edition breakpoints I'll discuss - M I, M II, M II+MTS, MZ... and it's because of the importance of the ship/mecha/minimecha design systems. The play mechanics are almost identical across the board. If you want a non-battletech mecha game with simulationist leanings, MZ is the one.
M II is easier to build for, but MZ is so much more flexible... Too bad I've only gotten it to table as a battle game in 1-on-1's.
Not that Mekton even made the poll's write-ins...

Hero System: 1e to 3e as one group; 4, 5, and 5R as a second group, and 6th as a third. This boils down to how martial arts work in 1-3 vs 4-5R, and 6 having dropped the figuring of all the secondary attributes. As with mekton, the level of difference is pretty minor, and if you know the changes, it's not a big deal to convert on the fly, so while it matters for character gen — quite a bit for 1-5R vs 6, to be honest — but in play, they're very very close otherwise, so it's barely enough to be worth tracking...

Bob screwed up in the other direction, too...
World of Darkness vs VTM. Bob noted that Vampire and WoD appeared in the patreon, so he "... listed the most popular flavor, Vampire the Maskquerade."... that's a 25 year old edition and not the one getting the most talk from what I've seen. Most people are doing mixed World of Darkness games — there are a dozen plus in the 90's generation — and then the 00's editions with the single core and splatbooks, then the 10's and 20's with Onyx Path's retro 20s and new editions...
he should have stayed with the broader term, because he pissed more off by ignoring the roughly equal numbers of other WoD fans than Vampire fans, and many of those are using other editions than Vampire the Masquerade.
Distinguishing the LARP rules might have been a good idea — they have totally different mechanics even if they have the same setting and similar character gen. And they work fine as a tabletop game. Or, at least, The Masquerade does. (that's the first edition of the Vampire LARP rules; Laws of the Night is the current, and is substantially the same mechanics. If you want to tabletop without the RPS with occasional 4th option, use opposed 1d3 rolls, using 1d4 for the guys with a 4th option, high roller wins. Or use actual RSP dice - google "rock paper scissors dice")