RPG systems you liked -- much to your surprise

[Treebore]

I think I would have to say every game system I am willing to play. I was dragged kicking and screaming into playing AD&D back in 1985, and I have reluctantly tried eveything I have tried, so those I am willing to play technically qualify.

I suppose what you may want is what I consider to be the "biggest" surprises for me. Shadowrun and Legend of the 5 Rings.

 

[billd91]

D&D 3E for sure. Seeing where things had been going with the Player's Option series, I thought D&D was heading for the toilet. Then, thanks largely to Eric Noah's news site, I started being cautiously optimistic. Then, I got ahold of it and tried it and was suitably impressed.

 

[The_Gneech]

In my case, it was Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. After having less-than-happy memories of my attempts at the various World of Whininess Darkness games, Street Fighter was like a breath of fresh air.

Alas, the line got cancelled just as James and I were getting warmed up. We had Steve Long on board and were cranking on a GM's guide when we got the news.

My only real regret, besides the fact that it got canceled, was that there wasn't time to do more real playtesting. Those deadlines were crazy!

-The Gneech

 

[HellHound]

Dude, I -so- love the Street Fighter RPG. The old Storyteller system was perfect for that game. And as long as you don't allow cyborg mutant characters or the cartwheel kick, it rocked.

 

[Akrasia]

I am rather surprised at how many people had low expectations for 3e in this thread. (Nice to see that those expectations were not met.)

Also, it's good to see some love for WFRP and Angel/Buffy.

 

[HellHound]

The thing with 3e is that I was turned off AD&D before 2e came out. 2e just made it worse, and I never bought any 2e books. By then, I was playing RPGs I enjoyed, and wishing that D&D didn't suck so ferociously.

Obviously, I basically expected yet another mangled patch-kit edition like I felt 2e was.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by several items:

Feats - the ability to customize a character as it advances in levels
Skills - a real, working skill system very reminiscent of RoleMaster, a game I really enjoyed
Combat - no more 1 minute combat rounds
Balance - Rogues are still useful at level 12, whereas thieves were just luggage by that point

 

[Dark Psion]

The Recent Marvel Universe RPG
The idea of using red stones & white stones, time measured in panels and pages sounded silly but it is easy to learn and fun to play.

A pity they only released three books.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I am rather surprised at how many people had low expectations for 3e in this thread. (Nice to see that those expectations were not met.)

Likewise. As regards the others, that is.

Also, it's good to see some love for WFRP and Angel/Buffy.

Well, if it'd just been open to the RPGs I like or have liked, each of those would've got a mention from me.

But I was expecting Angel and Buffy to be a blast - and they were! Witchcraft too, to a lesser extent.

And WFRP (1e) I've had much fun with from day 1... which was many days ago indeed.

I'm looking forward to checking out WFRP2. It looks great from the current distance. It might even surprise me by being better than 1st ed. - that'd be cool.

 

[Runesong42]

I was pleasantly surprised with Arcana Unearthed. I wasn't sure what to expect from Monte after my first experience with the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. As it turns out, he seems to think a lot like I do when it comes to The Way Things Should Work in a campaign world.

I was also blown away by Blue Rose RPG. It is the perfect rules-lite-ish system, the magic system is great (treating magic more like a superpower than a fire-and-forget one-time-only effect), and as I read the "how to run a romantic fantasy" part, it turns out that I have been running romantic fantasy campaigns for years now. *LOL* Seriously, buy this book. It's by Green Ronin, and they have yet to steer me wrong in anything.

 

[Akrasia]

.... I'm now in the process of changing / modifying the careers and magic system to run WarHammer Fantasy DiscWorld.

Hey, that would be pretty damn cool.