Games That Really "Wowed" You?

[billd91]

James Bond 007. The difficulty bidding example using the car chase scene from Goldfinger was particularly brilliant. Plus - HERO POINTS.

Mutants and Masterminds. 1e blew me away as a point based super game that split the difference between games like Villains and Vigilantes and Champions in how powers were defined and bought. And though M&M shifted closer toward Champions in its power structure, basing things on just a d20, no ablative hit points, splitting combat super stats Strength and Dexterity into separate components, and extra effort are all fantastic parts of the game.

 

[RuinousPowers]

It's been a long time since I've been Wow'd. I keep buying new games looking for new mechanics that would spark my imagination, but really haven't found much.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Blades in the Dark was eye opening to me when I read it a couple years back.

The next game to really wow me was Spire: The City Must Fall.

Most recently, I'm wowed by the Die RPG, based on the comic. I'm reading through the PDF now in anticipation of the book shipping, and I'm really digging it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm another one who hasn't been wowed in many a year, though some games sometimes impress me in one way or another. The first one I remember many a year ago was when I was involved in some late playtests on RuneQuest.

 

[aia_2]

I will never stop to reccomend "Tiers Age": a Tolkien based RPG... It is for free however i found only two versions of this game: one in french (the original language), the second in italian. This is the most well conceived RPG in terms of role-play!

 

[John R Davis]

Most recent is the Talisman RPG.
Has such great mechanics. Narrative, fast, furious fun. It's PBTA meets Dragon Age.

 

[FriendlyFiend]

1. Beyond the Wall - a perfect fusion of simplified Basic D&D with a much more modern philosophy. Fantastic playbook-based character/world creation, magical magic, and you can go from character creation to a completed session in under 3, extremely satisfying, hours. So. Much. Fun.

2. The Yellow King - possibly my favourite iteration of the GUMSHOE rules (though Swords of the Serpentine vies for that spot) alongside four fabulous settings.

3. Liminal - it just works so well.

 

[aramis erak]

Star Wars d6 2E - literally the first time a second edition made only changes I liked. I liked 1E. I preferred 1e+RC over 1E, and 2E over both... (2ER&E, however... I prefer 2.0.)

Starships & Spacemen (1E), back about 1985... so simple, yet so flavorful... And still fun.

Alien... dripping with theme in the book and in play. And it scratches my Traveller itch better than any single edition of Traveller.

Marvel Heroic RP... It allows so much creativity and feel... without the tables nor math of so many others... Second Best Supers game I've run...

Sentinel Comics... Not quite as simple as MHRP, but less constrained, and better in play... some subgenres of supers are better in MHRP (combiners, especially), but SCRPG is much better for building custom characters... It's my favorite supers game.

 

[Mezuka]

• AD&D
• Star Frontiers
• Numenera
• Ashen Stars
• Coriolis

 

[Emirikol]

WFRP 3rd Edition

Cthulhu

Paranoia

..for all the reasons