Other Game Systems

[The Human Target]

Thanks for the contributions, everyone. It's easy for some of these games to kind of fall through the cracks when my FLGS carries nothing but WotC.

I'm pretty open on trying new games.

Basically what's I'm looking for is (in no particular order):
1. Something that's in print; I don't want a PDF rule book
2. More or less rules-lite (in comparison to D&D 3.5)
3. Something that would be affordable to get started with (don't want to have to buy a lot of books, just in case it doesn't catch on with my group)
4. Not minis centric
5. A system that can accomodate different genres (the pure fantasy of D&D is getting old)

As far as the Buffy/Firefly games go, how well would they work if I've never seen an episode of the TV shows? In fact, I don't know for certain if any of the 7 people who regularly game with me have seen either program.

Retreater

True 20 (it fills all your other criteria, other than it being d20 based)
Savage Worlds
Basic Role Playing (BRP)

 

[shurai]

1. Something that's in print; I don't want a PDF rule book

(WARNING: Shameless plug ahead)

What if it's a free PDF? My game system is at http://zuggers.org/orp.pdf if you want to check it out. It's pretty basic at the moment but it's intended to handle "everything" genre-wise.

(End shameless plug)

Also, I'm really amazed no one has mentioned Dream Pod 9's great games: http://www.dp9.com/

Their system, Silhouette, is just about my favorite.

I've tweaked The Window a bit and used it for extremely rules lite games with my kids and had tons of fun with it.

OH MY GOD SOMEONE ELSE WHO'S HEARD OF THE WINDOW!!!!111!!!one!!!1

Sorry. : ] Yeah, I really like The Window too.

 

[T. Foster]

They don't necessarily fit your criteria, but pretty much the only rpgs I'd have any interest in playing nowadays are:

Prince Valiant Storytelling Game
Classic Traveller
Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974 edition)

Nothing else holds much appeal for me anymore, including longtime favorites RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, and 1E AD&D (which is particularly unfortunate, since I'm currently playing in an AD&D campaign and am expected to take over as DM shortly...).

 

[Glyfair]

Prince Valiant Storytelling Game

From what I've heard, the best introductory RPG from a mechanics POV.

I really like Heroquest. It does take a different mindset from D&D. Combat and tactical games aren't very interesting, so a dungeon crawl style is bad. However, scenarios with a variety of contests are handled very well. Also, using creative methods is encouraged.

Things I love about the system (besides the fact that it's for Glorantha, the original world for Runequest:

Character Generation: The different character generation methods, from writing a 100 word description of your character and deriving your abilities from that to creating a character on the fly as you play (for the players who are chronically late to your games).

Open Ended Abilities: There are no "standard stats" necessarily. Every character has abilities based on their concept. Yes, there are the RPG staples of sword fighting, strong or fast. However, anything you might consider can be used from "widely travelled" to "smells bad" to "speaks in riddles."

Universal Conflict Resolution: One basic mechanic covers all contests with two different methods divided based on how important they are to the story. Most are resolved with one roll, but cinematically important contests go to the extended method. The extended method can be used whether the important contest is a combat or a debate.

Also, this allows you to use varying abilities in the contest, possibly with a penalty. If a huge troll is bearing down with his "club fighting skill" (augmented with "strong" and "big") you can try to use your "confuse the dumb" in the contest ("You can't kill me now, it's elf season, not human season").

 

[Angel Tarragon]

There is plenty out there. All it takes is a little research to find it.

My personal faves are:
Red Dwarf - Deep 7
Masterbook Series (specifically Tales from the Crypt) - West End Games
Palladium Megaverse - Palladium
Original World of Darkness (Specifically Mage, Vampire and Werewolf) - White Wolf
Amazing Engine (specifically For Fairy Queen and Country)- TSR
Ars Magica
MegaTraveller & Classic Traveller
Alternity - TSR

 

[thedungeondelver]

CYBERPUNK:2020
HEAVY GEAR
MECHWARRIOR
ROBOTECH
we seein' a theme here...?
ARMORED TROOPERS VOTOMS
various flavors of STAR TREK
AMBER
SERENITY
VILLIANS & VIGILIANTES
HACKMASTER
LEJENDARY ADVENTURES
TEKUMEL: EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE
SHADOWRUN
MEKTON ZETA PLUS


...

and that's just what's on my bookshelf at the moment

 

[Aus_Snow]

CYBERPUNK:2020

Hear, hear. How could I have missed that one? An absolutely classic RPG. All-time fave (one of), in fact.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My favorite system of all time- but only beating out D20 by a hair- is HERO. I've yet to find a PC I couldn't create with it. The D20 offspring Mutants & Masterminds is very nearly its equal, and much less complex.

I enjoyed Traveller in all its forms, but the original holds a special charm.

Paranoia is a classic, pure & simple.

Chaosium's basic system from Runequest/Heroquest has been used in a variety of games, especially licensed versions of the various iterations of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion character (Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, etc). Its easy to use and pretty flexible, though sometimes looking at a PC with a 127% chance of success at a task does make the brain wobble momentarily.

While I don't particularly care for their systems, I find that games like Deadlands, RIFTS, Space: 1889, Shadowrun, SSI's Universe, Mayfair's Underground and the WoD games are so rich in campaign info that I consider them indispensible resources for gaming.

 

[Aeric]

CYBERPUNK:2020
HEAVY GEAR
MECHWARRIOR
ROBOTECH
we seein' a theme here...?
ARMORED TROOPERS VOTOMS
various flavors of STAR TREK
AMBER
SERENITY
VILLIANS & VIGILIANTES
HACKMASTER
LEJENDARY ADVENTURES
TEKUMEL: EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE
SHADOWRUN
MEKTON ZETA PLUS


...

and that's just what's on my bookshelf at the moment

Ah, you must be the other Mekton player I've heard of. Pleased to meet you.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Ah, you must be the other Mekton player I've heard of. Pleased to meet you.

MEKTON is one of those things like GURPS - everybody has at least one book of it, but nobody plays it.

(I, for one, thought the MEKTON:MTS and OPERATION:RIMFIRE books were some of the most wonderfully baroque RPG gamebooks ever published in terms of mechanics and story...Wouldn't play them if you paid me to, but they were neat.)