Your Top Ten RPGs

[Baron Greystone]

In no order: 1st ed AD&D, Classic Traveller, Chaosium 2nd ed Runequest, Gamma World 1st and 2nd ed, Call of Cthulhu, any edition but the new one, Stormbringer 1st ed, FASA Star Trek, Metamorphosis Alpha 1st ed, Fading Suns 2nd ed, Paranoia 1st ed.

 

[Evilhalfling]

1. 13th age
2. D&D 4e
3. TMNT
4. D&D 3.5
5. Call of Cthulu (old)
6. Champions
7. Werewolf the Apocalypse
8. Pathfinder
9. Fiasco
10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

 

[Hand of Evil]

1. Warhammer RPG v.2
2. Earth Dawn
3. Shadows of Esteren
4. PathFinder
5. Chill (Pacesetter Box)
6. Ghost Busters
7. Paranoia
8. Iron Kingdom v2
9. D20 (this covers a lot but it is a lot to love)
10. 13th Age

 

[scourger]

...10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

Examples?

 

[innerdude]

1. Savage Worlds
2. The One Ring
3. Fantasy Craft
4. Runequest / Legend
5. Top Secret S.I.
6. BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia
7. Ars Magica (Never played, but love the concept)
8. Burning Wheel (Never played, but love the concept)
9. WEG Star Wars, 2nd Edition Revised
10. This spot still open . . . . Maybe Fate / Legends of Anglerre? Numenara? The new Cortex+ Firefly?

 

[GMMichael]

Examples?

Sure:

HeroQuest: take D&D hero miniatures, put them on the map included in the 3.0 DMG, and add the occasional orc or door miniature, and you have a great gateway drug for RPGs - or a game called HeroQuest. It was well done, if I recall.

or,

Risk: whether you want to be George W. or Kim Jong Il, Risk provides the framework and the gameboard. I think Risk actually mentions in the rules that it's house rule-friendly.

As for RPGs, some that I've played,

: who sets out to write their non-favorite game? Some broad features that I like are short rules, fast character and monster generation, and a very simple dice rolling/result system. Maybe someday will it have more special gear, monsters, and artwork.

: the mercifully streamlined version of 3.5. Odds are that the DMG will re-introduce the headaches of 3e, but the PH is really a great improvement.

: the mercifully remastered version of 3e. Fun game, cool abilities, fun combat tactics. And with top-notch splat books, of which I own many.

...and some I haven't,

: simple rules, fast play, genre flexibility - is this not a GM's dream come true?

: grow your character's stats from his life experiences? Heck yeah! And if he gets caught in a wormhole and sent to the future, well, you can keep using the same rules.

Zweihaender: the dark ages were not a very safe time for living. Anarchy, baby. This game looks like it will catch that flavor well.

Far Away Land: simple, quirky rules for an eye-catching fantasy game. And I'd really love to play through the setting-generation module.

Final Fantasy d6: this game looks to effectively catch both the mechanics and the theme of Final Fantasy combat and roleplaying. But it's a little bulky, which might help to explain why I've never found a game to hop into. (Why is there no FF icon? The name is almost as old as D&D!)

Well, that's 10. Happy gaming!

 

[TerraDave]

1. AD&D I (the great inspirer, and I still use stuff from it)
2. B/X D&D (the teacher, and I still use stuff from it)
3. D&D 5E (main game now, and hopefully for a while)
4. Call of Cthulhu (maybe best designed game of all time)
5. Gamma World, 1E & 2E (may be the “purist” setting for an RPG)
6. AD&D II (so many problems, such a huge campaign and epic world)
7. D&D III & IV (disappointed in the end, but had fun with them)
8. FASA Star Trek (#1 in wishing I had played more)
9. Marvel Super Heroes, TSR, (yes, I think this was good game)
10. Traveler (and someday I think I will understand it)
Honorary Mention: Twilight 2000 (did not live up to our hopes, but still had fun)

 

[Wild Gazebo]

4. Call of Cthulhu (maybe best designed game of all time)

Which edition? I never picked any of them up...which has always surprised me a little

Honorary Mention: Twilight 2000 (did not live up to our hopes, but still had fun)

One of my favorite 'useless' characters was from that game. I played a ultra-famous avant garde artist who used 'found' street signs, vehicles, and buildings to create his art. He was arrested so many times he had his own 'special' police to come arrest him and run him through the courts. It was very fun...and I even came in useful once or twice...I know I should go to RPG hell.

 

[steenan]

I'm not completely decided on the order among my "top 10", but I'm sure what games are there:
1. Fate Core
2. Dogs in the Vineyard
3. Dungeon World
4. Nobilis
5. Exalted
6. Blood&Smoke (aka new-new-Vampire)
7. D&D 4e
8. Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (and other Cortex+ games)
9. Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine
10. Polaris

The list is quite eclectic and different games are there for different reasons. Some for great, inspiring settings (Nobilis, Exalted), some for being clear what they are about and delivering what's promised (DitV, DW, B&S, D&D4, Polaris) and some for being great engines to build things with (Fate, MHR, Chuubo's).

 

[TerraDave]

Which edition? I never picked any of them up...which has always surprised me a little

Which edition of CoC? Most from Chaosium are about the same, at least in play. the WotC D20 one obviously has some different mechanics, though in terms of providing an overview of the mythos and different thing you can do with it, it is also very good. I am not familiar with Trail of Cthulhu or the 7th edition that apparently has come out from Chaosium.

 

[scourger]

...: simple rules, fast play, genre flexibility - is this not a GM's dream come true?...

It is. It strikes the fine balance between being coarse enough to be easy to run while fine enough to be engaging to play.

Similarly, I did a D&D Miniatures mini-campaign using the advancement rules from the Miniatures Handbook. It was fun, but I think the players felt there was not enough for them to do with their characters; which I interpreted as not enough player investment because there was not enough work for the players to do on character creation & advancement. Coarse enough for me to DM but not fine enough for the players (see above). The latest Gamma World had similar issues for us in play (see more above).

 

[scourger]

post doppleganger

 

[Evilhalfling]

...10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?365218-Your-Top-Ten-RPGs/page3#ixzz3ExNxiY4Q

Examples?

SpaceHulk - where any marine that survived melee for more than 1 round got an name and a set of mental problems.

Arkham Horror - playing a magician where each of his fights, encounters or leaps through a portal got a bit of stage magic patter.

a japanese board game where you walked down a straight path, stopped at inns for meals and then walked back. I went with a dying sister, and fortune cookie wisdom for rationalizing most of my moves.

or King of Toyko ... a number of cunning plans, pixie women singers and annoying little boys that have been drafted to help me defeat my 6 year old daughter at that game, usually without success

- basically this is what I do while waiting for others to play... not actually planning or strategizing, cause winning is not that important

 

[TrippyHippy]

10. Any board or miniature game where I can add personality and Role playing to my character.

…..D&D4……OK……I’ll get my coat…..

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I feel like I've been living behind a rock posting here. Despite having been a roleplayer for about 20 years and I think I've only played about a dozen RPG's! If you excluded games that I'd only played a handful of sessions the list would probably be down to about 5!

My list of RPG's played (in no particular order) are:

AD&D 1E
AD&D 2E
Birthright 2E (I consider this separate to AD&D 2E as we only ever played as regents, with each player running a different country)
D&D 3.XE
Feng Shui
Paranoia
Call of Cthulhu
XCrawl
Gamma World
Alternity
Harnmaster
Mage: The Ascension
Werewolf: The Apocolypse
Mummy: The Resurrection

I own several others, such as Fiasco, Dread, AFMBE, Year of the Zombie and Deadlands. I've read some of them, but I've never played a game of them. Unfortunately my gaming group tends to be heavily skewed towards D&D only. One guy in particular would prefer to not attend a session if we aren't playing D&D.

 

[Baron Greystone]

Olaf, there are only so many hours in a day. Realistically, in a hobby where a game is a huge investment in time on the part of a whole group of people, it's much more common cto only play a few games. And games games are expensive enough that it makes little sense to throw money away on games you'll never play. In spite of the wishes of companies who push you to buy and buy, the people on these boards are unusual in the extreme. I've been gaming for 35 years. I haven't even heard of half these games, in spite of looking at these boards daily and gaming in my FLGS every month. Play what you like, and be done with it. Why feel pressure to further fragment your time, your friends and your moneycif you're already having fun hanging out with your friends and enjoying what you're playing?

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Olaf, there are only so many hours in a day. Realistically, in a hobby where a game is a huge investment in time on the part of a whole group of people, it's much more common cto only play a few games. And games games are expensive enough that it makes little sense to throw money away on games you'll never play. In spite of the wishes of companies who push you to buy and buy, the people on these boards are unusual in the extreme. I've been gaming for 35 years. I haven't even heard of half these games, in spite of looking at these boards daily and gaming in my FLGS every month. Play what you like, and be done with it. Why feel pressure to further fragment your time, your friends and your moneycif you're already having fun hanging out with your friends and enjoying what you're playing?

Oh, I don’t feel pressured to play more of these RPG’s at all. It’s more just the fact that several of the ones that I have read, but not played, sound really cool. So I’d like to play them, but I’ve never had the time and/or a group willing to play them.

But that’s life. Maybe things will change in the future, but for now I’m still happy playing in my fortnightly D&D game.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I note a number of people have listed D&D several times in reference to different editions. I get that rules change and people have preferences, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to consider them different games though.

 

[GMMichael]

a japanese board game where you walked down a straight path, stopped at inns for meals and then walked back. I went with a dying sister, and fortune cookie wisdom for rationalizing most of my moves.

This is just fascinating. Some Japanese stuff nails it, like the Grudge (movie) or Catherine (video game). And then, there's the walk-forth-and-back board game. And there was an earlier Playstation release in which you played a mosquito. And lived the life - wait for it - of a normal mosquito.

I note a number of people have listed D&D several times in reference to different editions. I get that rules change and people have preferences, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to consider them different games though.

Not a stretch if you look at it this way: their common thread is mainly a medieval fantasy setting based on killing monsters, which lots of other games do as well. The rules across editions have been different enough to prevent interbreeding.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Not a stretch if you look at it this way: their common thread is mainly a medieval fantasy setting based on killing monsters, which lots of other games do as well. The rules across editions have been different enough to prevent interbreeding.

I think this is a stereotyping of other games, rather than an acute observation. Take, for example, the comparison of games like The One Ring or RuneQuest. Superficially they are similar to D&D, as they are fantasy rpgs, but the differences are significant.

In the case of The One Ring you are actually trying to recreate a specific atmosphere and narrative pertaining to Middle Earth in the period between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The adventures are not too dissimilar in effect, but the characters are lower powered for the most part and are more ingrained in the cultures of the world. They also specify downtime in a much different way too.

In the case of RuneQuest, the game is a lot more generic in it’s application - but the classic Glorantha setting isn’t medieval (more like a Bronze age feel) and the onus is on questing to rise in ranks for a particular cult, by interacting with myths. Not the same game as D&D at all.