RPG Gems: Your favorite "little known" RPG.

[Fallen Seraph]

It's a fantastic read - so it's worth picking up even if you never play it. There's no lack of material there for adding horror to any other RPG. I've mostly used it for inspiration.

*Nods* And if you aren't a fan of the rules, it is like he said great for inspiration and could be used quite easily I think combined with World of Darkness: Innocents.

 

[Belorin]

Arduin
Just an awesome RPG, it's D&D with a little Gamma World and Call of Cthulhu mixed in.

Bel

 

[Primal]

Polaris by Ben Lehman - this game is just heart-breakingly beautiful:

"Once upon a time, as far north as north can go, there lived the greatest people that this world will ever see. They are gone now, destroyed just as the world destroys all beautiful things. All that remains are these moments we call memories, moments frozen from the flow of time.

Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North is a game for three to five players set during the final years of the Northernmost People, just before the remnants of their civilization were swallowed up by their own Mistake.

This is no longer a history; this is not yet a story. This is all that remains. Whatever else is what you make of it."

You can read more at the publisher's (Tao Games) website here and a great review of the game on Rpg.net here.

 

[ppaladin123]

It's certainly not unknown but I love All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Sometimes you just need a good zombie survival horror game.

 

[sjmiller]

SPI's DragonQuest (2nd edition)

Woo hoo! One of my all time favorite fantasy RPGs. These days people know so little about it. A shame really, it was a lot of fun, easy to run, and easy to add things to it.

 

[fanboy2000]

It's not that unknown, but it was only published in an issue of Polyhedron, so I think it qualifies.

Omega World.

Jonathan Tweet's version of Gamma World for 3e. It had a fairly crazy mutation generation system and a wry sense of humor about it. It's the 2nd best RPG after Paranoia XP. I've ran a few games under that rule system, and they've been fun.

And once, I threw a bunch of Hoops at a D&D group traveling through the Mournlands. And yes, they retained their ability to transmute metal into rubber.

That game had this little gem:

While an individual explorer may be comparable to a D&D character of the same level, a party of explorers is not as powerful as a party of D&D characters because the individual members aren’t as specialized. When planning encounters, give the characters a break to take into account the weakness of their party compared to a D&D party of the same level. Or don’t.

Emphasis mine.

It's like my DM style on the page!

 

[Kishin]

Mekton Zeta. Which I guess is somewhat known, but, still. Supposedly there's new material in the works!

And lately, Anima. (http://www.animarpg.com). It's too bad Fantasy Flight is doing a pretty shoddy job of handling its English translation (apart from the core rules). I've really enjoyed playing in it, and it does its niche better than anything I've encountered previously.

 

[Pinotage]

I quite liked EN Publishing's Tiny Terrors - was a really good litte game. Faery's Tale is also pretty neat for a small RPG. And vs. Monsters as well.

Pinotage

 

[Dragonhelm]

I enjoyed Hick: The Role-Playing Game. You picked your clan (i.e. Clampett, Duke, Kettle), your totem critter, and you just had a lot of fun.

Probably best served as a one-off.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Og Unearthed:

Play a caveman who only knows a few words.

GO BANG HAIRY FOOD!!!

RPGnet : Review of Og: Unearthed Edition