Games That Really "Wowed" You?

[Lord Mhoram]

I have two -
The first is/was Champions/HERO - I was exposed to it in 1985 in my first year at university. All I had played before that were TSR games (D&D, Gamma World etc). I had actually made a list of what elements would be the perfect RPG for me mechanically. HERO hit every one. It was our exclusive game we played in group, although we still haven't got back to together since Covid started. So yeah, it WOWed me so much it became my game of choice for over 35 years.

The second was Cypher. The wife and I had always had a second system that wasn't HERO to play with just the two of us. We cycled through D&D, Pathfinder, Mythus, Rolemaster, Genesis, FATE, Fantasy Age and others over the years When I read the rules to Numenera I was amazed at the simplicity and ease of the system, and leaving all the flavor and story to the players and GM, and super simplified mechanics. I read the rules through once, and ran an adventure. I've never grokked a system that well before. I'd been wanting something of a more Narrativist feel than HERO, and it was traditional in how characters were built, and some in combat, but very narritive in everything else - it was the perfect fit for me.

 

[Rogerd1]

For he, being 'wowed'by a game is its ease to hack it.

Lords of Gossamer is one, being narrative based. So easy to hack and incorporate things from other genres.

Omni for being fairly easy to hack if you change what +1 in stats means. Plus Godsend Agenda has supers for the system

Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. I suspect this should be easy to hack, and it is why I like it. Should be easy to incorporate stuff from Onyx Path which had a Body, Mind, Soul back.

Tri-Stat. Again fairly hackable at first glance, but, it is by someone who has a bad rep in rpg circles.

DnD 5e. Again fairly easy to to pull stuff from elsewhere, and to refine for setting specific stuff. Has lots of promise, and worki

Savage Worlds (Swade) is the easiest of all, bar the first entry on the list.

 

[Ath-kethin]

3. DungeonCrawl Classics - definitely not a new game, but every time I play, I'm reminded how great it is when everybody is itching to go into the dungeon, figure out weird puzzles and try to figure out weird ways to beat their opponent's.

DCC was the first game I ever read/played (since 1993!) that literally made my eyes pop. After over 25 years of gaming, I'd found my home.

 

[Aldarc]

I feel like most of the games that"wow" me were not typically "love at first sight," but, rather, headscratchers that I only got later once I got how they shifted my expectations: e.g., 4e D&D, Fate, Cortex, Dungeon World, Blades in the Dark, etc.

Other than that my "wows" tend to be more about excellent production values (e.g., anything Free League puts out) or providing solid gaming advice (e.g., WWN/SWN, ICRPG, etc.).

 

[aia_2]

DCC was the first game I ever read/played (since 1993!) that literally made my eyes pop. After over 25 years of gaming, I'd found my home.

Is DCC that old? I thought it was released in 2003 under the OGL... I miss previous products... What was the first book published in 1993?

 

[Ath-kethin]

Is DCC that old? I thought it was released in 2003 under the OGL... I miss previous products... What was the first book published in 1993?

No no no no no. While Goodman Games published stuff as "Dungeon Crawl Classics" since 3e or 3.5, the DCC RPG as an independent system arrived in 2012.

What I meant was, I've been playing since 1993, and discovering the DCC RPG a few years ago blew my mind. In fact, I'd spent a couple years working on an RPG ruleset of my own, but when I found the DCC core rulebook I realized someone had literally done virtually everything I was trying to accomplish with it.

Sorry about the confusion!

 

[aia_2]

Ahhh! Ok, apologies if i misunderstood your comment!
That is clear to me now!

 

[Campbell]

Apocalypse World
It's take on building community in a world full of casual violence really spoke to me. Love the style, attitude and the pace. This is also the game that really taught me how to GM. It helps that you can run the first session with no prep and get to playing within 10 minutes or so. Phenomenal time to table.

Blades in the Dark
I have always loved dynamic settings with a lot of moving pieces where the players feel embedded into the setting. I struggled to execute that sort of thing until I got a handle on Blades. I have always been a fan of crime fiction (Power, Sons of Anarchy). It's great having a game that gives us a glimpse into that life.

Legend of the Five Rings (Fifth Edition)
Cut out all the cruft from earlier editions and really doubles down on the experience of being a samurai. Brilliant strife mechanics make saving face a real concern for players. The contrast between ninjo (desire) and giri(duty) really hit home with the sort of samurai fiction I'm into. Combat system that leans into lingering wounds feels really consistent with the source material.

Vampire - The Requiem (Second Edition)
Another case of a game with a compelling premise that never quite hit the mark for me until it did. Requiem Second Edition really makes it feel like you are playing a vampire. Rewarding players for hitting their breaking points (risking losing humanity) makes Reuiem first and foremost a personal horror game about becoming a vampire. Touchstones from your human life are a brilliant touch.