Your Second Love

[Man in the Funny Hat]

It's a tough call for me. My initial response (and therefore the one I'll stick with) is Star Wars d6. When I ran it I was the biggest SW geek. (Episodes I-III killed that.) It took a lot of energy to keep up the pace but it was a BLAST.

Traveller is a VERY close runner up. I played a LOT more Traveller than I ever ran SW, but the GM's were always combining it with Space Opera, later Traveller flavors and so forth, and I never owned any of the rules while we played which means I never quite grokked the system.

An equal runner up would be Marvel Super Heroes. I don't know what it was about MSH but I thought it was fantastic. Again the downside was that I never quite grokked the rules because at the time I was playing I didn't have proper access to the rulebook.

None of them ever threatened D&D as my favorite.

 

[grodog]

How about you? What's the first system you stumbled upon after you started gaming that really did it for you?

Call of Cthulhu (then probably Paranoia or WFRP).

 

[TroyXavier]

Heck DND isn't even my first love (any more) Mutants and Masterminds passed it when 2nd ed. came out.

My second rpg after DND was Heroes Unlimited for owning but Rifts for playing IIRC.

 

[Shades of Green]

Babylon Project, the old (pre-d20) Babylon 5 D&D. The system had many problems, but I was heavily into B5 back then and the background and role-playing/campaign-design advice were very good, so I greatly enjoyed the game despite its shortcomings.

Later I found Shadowrun and Classic Traveller and moved onto them...

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Okay (in short):

1st love: Star Frontiers
2nd: D&D
3rd: Runequest
4th: Vampire the Masquerade
5th: Empire of the Petal Throne

Long version:

My first game was Holmes D&D. I'm not that old, but the teacher had a copy in the classroom library. It was interesting, confusing, and in the end I'm not sure what I did. Then I found out I was playing somebody else's character.

The first game I fell in love with was Star Frontiers, though now I look at it and ask "How many times can I get shot with a gun and still live?" And "wait a minute the star chart is flat!" The races were cool though.

Then it was the Metzner Red Box which I used with the Moldvay Blue Book. Then I got a copy of the AD&D Player's Handbook, so my Jr. High and High School games were a mix of three (and everyone wonders why I tinker with games so much) and it became even weirder when I got a copy of Oriental Adventures. Ah, those were the days. All the while dodging my D&D is evil stepmother.

I then had a long summer fling with Runequest extensively at Arkansas Governor's School and loved the system, but could never get the books for my own. A friend of mine let me borrow his Gamma World 3e which I never ran but read extensively.

After that, I got my first corebook set when I bought the 2e books at a bookstore in Harrison, AR after taking my SAT.

Then came college and I ran into Shadowrun, Torg, Champions, GURPS, Cyberpunk 2020, and Mekton. But the game that really caught my eye was Vampire: The Masquerade and its sequels. When I read the 1st Edition book I was riveted and even more so when I read the 1st Edition Chicago by Night. I was a very gamist DM before that, but eventually I wandered into a more Narratavist mode after running WoD for awhile (though I will say, I love the new system even though it inspires hate from my old players).

And when I read about Tekumel and the Empire of the Petal Throne I spent months trying to balance learning about that world with Graduate School.

Then I went through my own gaming is evil phase and eventually recovered. And now I have a wealth of gaming material that doesn't quite fit on two 5 shelf shelf units. But the only game I have right now is a Skype/Map Tools game we run on Saturday nights which is Pulp d20 (the original version).

 

[firesnakearies]

Shadowrun, 2nd edition.

 

[Angrydad]

For me D&D 3.5 is my current #1, but the second would have to be Star Wars d20. I know, it's basically the same as D&D 3.5, but I found SWd20 thanks to the KOTOR games and haven't regretted the purchase.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Champions was mine. I also really like Earthdawn and Ars Magica.

And the really math geeky part of me will always have a soft spot for Chivalry and Sorcery.

 

[Fifth Element]

I don't have one. I play D&D, I don't really play RPGs. I have played other RPGs, but none of them have ever grabbed me the way D&D has. I've tried Shadowrun, Ars Magica, Warhemmer FRPG, and several others. They're all "meh" to me.

So really, I'd say my first love is 3.5, and my second love is BECMI.

 

[ashockney]

Champions

Candidates would include Marvel Super Heroes, DC, Gamma World, Villians and Vigilantes.