Underrated RPGs

[Evaniel]

This is a hobby horse of mine and pedantic as hell, but I would say the original yellow box for the Marvel Superheroes RPG (1984). A lot of people think of it as the basic version of the more widely known (and loved) Advanced rules (1986), but they're quite different beasts and play at the table very differently.

I've written about it pretty extensively over at rpg.net. The TL;DR version is that the way Karma functions (and more crucially, how much of it is in circulation) in the yellow box set (compared to what it does in Advanced) really distinguishes it from most RPGs. The determining factor of your success (or your opponents' failure) is really about how much Karma you have. That is, with most "luck" or "action point" systems, the dice are still the determining factor in success. With "basic" Marvel, the dice are really simply a means of determining how much Karma is deployed in success.

This gets even more interesting in combats. Each side is basically gambling, bluffing, and calling against the others' pools of Karma, weighing if it's worth paying Karma to mitigate the other sides' successes or blow through what they have.

It's a much more complex play experience informed by pretty simple, elegant rules than it's given credit for.

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm currently very smitten with Cairn 2e, Ruincairn Wardensaga, and RuneScape Kingdoms.

 

[rhythmsoundmotion]

I'm currently very smitten with Cairn 2e, Ruincairn Wardensaga, and RuneScape Kingdoms.

I am excited to read Cairn 2e, it will be completely new for me as I have not read Cairn 1e either!
We Deal in Lead and Ruincairn Wardensaga booth look amazing!
RuneScape Kingdoms is related to BRP?

 

[rhythmsoundmotion]

This is a hobby horse of mine and pedantic as hell, but I would say the original yellow box for the Marvel Superheroes RPG (1984). A lot of people think of it as the basic version of the more widely known (and loved) Advanced rules (1986), but they're quite different beasts and play at the table very differently.

I've written about it pretty extensively over at rpg.net. The TL;DR version is that the way Karma functions (and more crucially, how much of it is in circulation) in the yellow box set (compared to what it does in Advanced) really distinguishes it from most RPGs. The determining factor of your success (or your opponents' failure) is really about how much Karma you have. That is, with most "luck" or "action point" systems, the dice are still the determining factor in success. With "basic" Marvel, the dice are really simply a means of determining how much Karma is deployed in success.

This gets even more interesting in combats. Each side is basically gambling, bluffing, and calling against the others' pools of Karma, weighing if it's worth paying Karma to mitigate the other sides' successes or blow through what they have.

It's a much more complex play experience informed by pretty simple, elegant rules than it's given credit for.

Marvel Super Heroes - Campaign Setting - Marvel Super Heroes - TSR from TSR the yellow box is out of my range. But I am curious about the different Faserip retroclones. Do any of them have a system like the yellow box?

 

[jdrakeh]

RuneScape Kingdoms is related to BRP?

No, RuneScape Kingdoms (the RPG, not the boardgame of the same name) is a bespoke system based on the RuneScape MMORPG. It's a beautiful book and, currently, can be had at many online purveyors of fine RPGs for roughly half off the MSRP (so $20-ish dollars).

 

[TheHand]

Two recent-ish games come to mind for me:

Sentinels Comics, a super hero rpg that really captured the flavor of comic-book action more so than a lot of other supers rpgs, which tend to focus more on modeling individual super powers. To its detriment, I think it suffers from a cumbersome character creation system that most of my own group bounced off of (and I, as the GM had to create most the characters for them), and I think the sections on creating Environments and Villains were difficult for me (again, as GM) to grok. And there’s been very little support for the engine since its release.

The other one is MechWarrior Destiny. As someone who’s played BattleTech since the 90s and has also played every edition of its rpg companion MechWarrior, Destiny is hands down my favorite. However, since its release there hasn’t been any additional support (to my knowledge), and almost no buzz. Not too surprising, though, since I think the intersection of BattleTech war gamers who want a narrative driven game about their Mech pilots is probably very small.

 

[jdrakeh]

The other one is MechWarrior Destiny. As someone who’s played BattleTech since the 90s and has also played every edition of its rpg companion MechWarrior, Destiny is hands down my favorite. However, since its release there hasn’t been any additional support (to my knowledge), and almost no buzz. Not too surprising, though, since I think the intersection of BattleTech war gamers who want a narrative driven game about their Mech pilots is probably very small.

MechWarrior Destiny is amazing. It's the full-on, total package, MechWarrior RPG that I've wanted for decades and that all of the other MechWarrior RPGs failed to deliver for various reasons (but mostly the whole "You want to play out mecha batttles? Then break out the Battletech wargame!" bit).

 

[Evaniel]

Marvel Super Heroes - Campaign Setting - Marvel Super Heroes - TSR from TSR the yellow box is out of my range. But I am curious about the different Faserip retroclones. Do any of them have a system like the yellow box?

Tragically, no. I've liked the first FASERIP retroclone, which basically takes the chassis from a mashup of Basic and Advanced and mashes it up with the Great Power supplement for Icons: Assembled.

Though I don't condone piracy, I will note that a Google search will disclose a pile of PDFs associated with the MSHRPG and also note that the tangle of rights and such for the game.

I was fortunate to stumble on a very reasonably priced lot on ebay a few years ago and got an incredible collection for a song.

 

[PrunellaUK]

Heavy Gear. Great worldbuilding, really solid rules, and scales between characters and vehicles well.

 

[mcmillan]

Unknown Armies is an interesting system and setting for playing in the modern world with a twist but I don’t hear too many talk about

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