Your most underrated system.

[MGibster]

That would be the Rifts version. Which, you might note, isn't mentioned other than Not the rifts version. The originals are simpler, work better, and lack MDC and PSDC. But you're proving the point well enough - you're implying in the dropped portion that you are judging it based upon later games with the two most problematic additions...

It's definitely Mechanoids Space which is listed on Palladium's online store as a pre-order (for $0.00). I never actually played any of the Mechanoids games back in the day, and while I played a lot of Palladium games in the 80s and into the early 90s, over the years I grew to dislike their rules and gave up on them for good around 1995. I have fond memories of Palladium games though, and I think they provided their fans with a line of products that were very good for the price.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I loved playing Chill. Because it was such a charcuterie platter of horrors, you never knew what sort of horrors you were going to confront. And uncertainty is one of the best engines for generating fear in RPGs.

Chill 2e is the best game nobody played.

DCC is a wild and wonderful RPG. I just finished a 10-month campaign of it and I already miss it. It's got a really passionate community, and that goes a long way.

The best game ever is Dungeon Crawl Classics. It's innovative, flexible, and fast.

Unless you're the type who is either a) afraid to make stuff up or b) needs to be able to take a different class every time you level up, DCC will wow you.

And even if you fall into camps a) or b) above, give it a shot. It just might work for you anyway.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Dungeon Fantasy RPG has all the good parts of GURPS; all the good tropes of Dungeons and Dragons. Wizards (and clerics, druids, bards, etc.) and warriors (knights, swashbucklers, archers/scouts, barbarians, martial artists) are both so much fun to play that it's hard to choose between them. There's a good balance between ranged and melee combat. Armor is useful, but not a no-brainer, in part because there's a good balance between mobility and durability, and in part because there are so many other good pieces of equipment (magical and nonmagical) that you wish you could afford to carry. The equipment money game is as much fun as the money mini-game. (Bards, for example, are not always great at killing things but they can help you sell loot for 80% to 100% of list price instead of the default 40%, which can help you buy more healing potions, magical ammunition, spell scrolls, etc. They also do other cool things like mind control and fear effects, but the extra money is especially tempting and hard to replicate.)

I think it's safe to say it's underrated because I left my unopened copy on my dinner table all through COVID, expecting that it was basically just GURPS. Now I wish I'd opened it sooner because it is AWESOME. GURPS is a system for creating games, and Dungeon Fantasy is a game created with GURPS. I have some minor gripes about the monsters not having AD&D-like # appearing or treasure types, but they're fixable, and the actual tactical and strategic gameplay is highly rewarding.