Forgive me if this is the wrong place to start such a thread.
Aside from D20 and D&D in general, what are some of the best RPG's out there. I recall back in the day (long ago) when we had games like Star Frontiers, DC Heroes, Top Secret and Flashing Blades.
Now, with a full time job and school two nights a week, in addition to three kids and a wife, I am pretty loyal to 4e. I love the product support. I love the modules since I don't have a lot of time to come up with entire campaigns like I used to. Piazo seems to do a good job with thier modules and all, but aside from these...what's out there? I really have no idea. And not just fantasy genre, I'm just curious in general as to what some of the other more exciting and dynamic, top RPGs are popular out there right now and what makes them so good or unique.
Thanks!!
I like Alternity the best. It's a great universal system with 2 really good campaign worlds. The old Marvel SAGA deck was a lot of fun, though the Dragonlance version was flawed. I've always wanted to try GURPS and I always heard the old West End Games Star Was was fun. The only systems I've ever tried that I didn't like were WoD (though Changeling was fun) and Hero. I hate Hero!
This is like asking, "What's the best food?" It all depends on the tastes of the folks involved and what you're doing with it.
Dread is an extremely effective system for games of psychological horror and a high PC body count (if you play it according to the rules, at most one PC will be alive at the end of the session). It's simple and tense, and there are no die rolls.
GURPS, FUDGE, and FATE offer simple, clear rules for games that don't easily fit into existing genres, and/or for players who don't want the number crunching of more complex systems. You can run anything with these systems.
Mouse Guard offers a comprehensible, medium-complexity system, with a clear structure for adventures and challenges, set in a compelling world. It's also got a gorgeous book.
I haven't had a chance to play it, but I'm very jazzed by InSpectres, a system for Ghostbusters-style stories. Fascinating mechanics in that one.
For me, hands down, the best RPG was TSR's Marvel Superheroes Role-playing Game (MSHRPG). Not the Saga/Sega version that came out later. The original FASERIP, d%-for-everything game. Loved it! Still do.
Next up would be Shadowrun. Probably 2nd edition. I love its mix of magic and technology, modern and fantasy.
Third is Paranoia - any edition.
I forget who posted this... I didn't take the time to study the mechanics, but the storyline is very nifty - eclipse phase (don't have a link, look it up) you can find a pdf of the rulebook on line (long read - about 400 pages). At some point, I'll probably look at this more, in depth. Right now, though, my hands are full with 4e
I am a huge fan of a couple of RPGS apart form D&D
Pendragon I love the fact that you roleplay generations and build you families wealth a prestige, it is a great concept to play and the system works well, I also enjoy the low magic aspect of the game, if you encounter a monster or a witch, you are experiencing something quite rare.
Star Wars Saga This game was so good I almost gave 3rd ed another shot, and that is a big statement coming form me. Saga is a brilliant system, fun to play, easy to learn and every character can be interesting.
I am a fan of many other systems (such as Rifts - absolutely anything can happen in that game, WoD - i love the mechanics but usually only for one of games, and the Warhammer Fantasy RPG - very gritty and tough) but those two are my favorites apart from D&D 4E and AD&D.
Marvel Super Heroes!
Palladium makes some solid games. Palladium Fantasy RPG, Robotech, Rifts. All fun games.
I'm a bit partial to GURPS at the moment due to its focus on character creation and giving you benefits for building characters and not classes. There really ARE no classes. Oh, there are archetypes, but those are mainly based on someones vision of what that particular proffession would incapsulate. And archetypes are built by the players. It's truly a more, grown-up, form of RPGing but still a lot of fun. And you can pretty much build ANY game you want with the rules set. From epic fantasy, to far future games. It's fun, clean, and a really elegant system.
Exalted is also fun if you want to go for the demigod route. Your characters are far and above the normal mortal in that game and you can pull off some really powerful combinations to thwart your enemies. Great world, setting, and flavor.
Has anyone tried Song of Fire and Ice?
Most of these games are out-of-print but if you can find copies, I recommend them:
Deadlands. The spaghetti western . . . with meat (as the cover blurbs). Basically the Civil War is still raging on (in 1876), California is gone into the sea (after the big 'quake), and the dead walk. You can play hexslinging hucksters, mad scientists with steampunk gizmos and such. We played the Pinnacle version (circa '97) but there's also a more recent d20 version (still in print?).
Marvel Unisverse RPG. A fun, resource allocation-driven game (unlike D&D, which is a probability-based game). Easy to learn, fast and fun; couldn't ask for more in a game system. The original MSH by TSR is available for free somewhere online (do a google search). It's unrelated to MURPG though.
Adventure. A pulp era (1920s-30s) RPG by White Wolf. It's apparently set in the AEON/TRINITY universe but we never played those games (which take place in the modern day). There is also a d20 version of this game but I don't know if it's in print (or not).
Has anyone tried Song of Fire and Ice?
I couldn't wait to get that book, but then was disappointed and put it back on the shelf. It's beautifully illustrated but that's about all to recommend it. I love fluff, but this book is about 90% fluff. If you've read the novels you don't need that. Beyond that, it's set during the first book. So if you've kept up with the novels the game is far behind. And they have this strange idea that nobility should be a level adjustment. If you're locked in mortal combat, being the son of duke so and so does you not a lick of good. Why should I have to be 2 levels lower than anyone else to be a noble?
That said, I know a lot of people loved it. To each their own.
4e D&D and SAGA are my two favorits. In fact, I like the SAGA system so much that I don't just use it to play Star Wars, I use it to play sci-fi in general. My personal homebrew sci-fi setting (The Land of Nod, found in my signature) is designed using the SAGA system.
Most of these games are out-of-print but if you can find copies, I recommend them:
Deadlands. The spaghetti western . . . with meat (as the cover blurbs). Basically the Civil War is still raging on (in 1876), California is gone into the sea (after the big 'quake), and the dead walk. You can play hexslinging hucksters, mad scientists with steampunk gizmos and such. We played the Pinnacle version (circa '97) but there's also a more recent d20 version (still in print?).
We had a BLAST with Deadlands for a short run, but man, the mechanics were sooooo cumbersome. Never tried the D20 version. Absolutely LOVED the setting and fluff, just got so tired of the mechanics though. Tried to play it again years later, but just could not re-capture that same magic.
From my experiences the best RPGs:
Shadowrun:
Cyberpunk crossed with Magic and Fantasy. Ever wanted to play a dwarf with a cybernetic arm, nanotattoos and a big fat Minigun? Go ahead. He can also hack and sling some magic if you want. The system (with 4th Edition Anniversary Edition) is very slick and nice, working out nicely. It's a fair bit more complex than D&D but totally worth it. Also, the background fluff is just awesome and extremely deep.
You know, we played Shadowrun for a very short time way back when it first came out and found it rather cumbersome. The damage system (from very, VERY vague memories) was wierd. Loved the setting and all. Is the 4th edition a big improvment over when it first came out?
GURPS hands-down. Its versatility makes it king in our house; we use it for everything (I often remake my D&D4e characters in GURPS in case I want to use them later; my swordmage was a fun one to recreate). I was even tempted to convert my HackMaster game to GURPS before 5th edition released because GURPS is MUCH less complicated and far easier to run.
I love that I can crank out throw-away NPCs in mere seconds (just need HP, defenses, and an appropriate attack skill) and can let my players do pretty much whatever they want in combat without having to look up modifiers all of the time (which comes primarily from GMing GURPS and other games for so many years).
A character in my first GURPS campaign ended up behind the griffin that suddenly materialized in the room with them so his player contrived to get the griffin's attention away from the squishier party members. He jump over the griffin, cracked it in the back of the skull with his elbow, then did a flip to land on his feet beside the griffin.
Back then, of course, I didn't know the system quite as well so I had to look a couple of things up, but it was as easy as "Make an acrobatics check and an attack roll with a -X penalty." (I reduced the penalty drastically because the maneuver was so entertaining as well as selfless). True; it was a bit much for a 1-second combat round but I've never been strict about restraining player creativity by enforcing the time of rounds (which is a big part of why I love the new HackMaster's complete lack of rounds in combat).
Okay. I think I'm done rambling. If the stupid plumber would ever get here... 8o)
While I do generally enjoy many RPG systems, there are two (which are nearly polar opposites in many ways) I come back to like an old friend.
Feng Shui
Equal opportunity butt-kicking... awww-yeah. It's generally presented as the "Hong Kong Action Movie" Role Playing game, and the official world (which is weird, wacky and absurdly fun) ties into that, what it really is the definative cinematic RPG. The system is simple, yet it works remarkably cleanly. I adore the game, and have done so since I first GMed it in 1997. Currently being published by Atlas Games.
Champions (Hero System)
Yeah, character building can be (potentially over-) complicated, and the comba system is very involved... but you can, almost literally, make any character you can envision in Hero System. I generally stick to running Superheroic games in Hero System, but it does Fantasy and Sci Fi quite well as well. It's complex, but it's very flexible.
The Hero System is the best I've ever found. The best game of that line is the oringal, 'Champions!' a super-hero RPG. It's in it's 5th ed, and a 6th is underway.
The runner up, for me, would have to Mage: the Ascension. The only game I've ever seen to creadibly combine magic with a modern setting - albeit, through the simple expedient of making science just another form of 'magick.' Out of print, and it's successor, Mage: the Awakening, should just go back to sleep.
Star Wars Saga is pretty good. Unless you are after out and out Sci Fantasy Saga can pretty much satisify all of your Scifi needs.
Hunter is good (the current version).
I'm enjoying Exalted as well.
Eclipsed Phase is looking intersting though. And I'm curious about the Dragonage Pen and Paper that's coming out.
Spycraft is awesome. Super-cinematic, great minion and skill challenge system, allows for cheese without it destabilizing the game (what matters are choices and the cool factor, not your static bonuses, if anything skills are the most important mechanic), has a great combat system, and has some really cool classes. They have a living campaign that is relaunching. The living campaign provides a number of free adventures that are a lot of fun. Crafty Games also has several similar games that use the basic rules, such as FantasyCraft and a Crime Noir setting, called Ten Thousand Bullets. You can easily run a James Bond, fantasy, dark crime, horror, or other campaign with the rules.
Regarding what some others wrote, I recently played Deadlands: Reloaded (uses the Savage Worlds rules, for fast furious fun) and liked it. Great flavor, great setting, and the mechanics are sound. They have free quickstart rules and one-page adventures on the site.
Shadowrun 4th edition is improved. My big pet peeve is that there are too many ways to do things. You can control a drone 3 different ways with totally different attribute/gear/skill mechanics. It makes it unnecessarily complex and cheesable. As with previous editions, the game is easy to break. They have a living campaign which just relaunched. Anyone can download the previous campaign's adventures, so you can easily get rolling. The new campaign requires a reasonable fee (which is dropped if you run it in a public place). Shadowrun has one of the best settings/feels in the game. Just reading the books is an absolute pleasure. The new 20-year edition rulebook is beautiful.
A very similar game in mechanics, and also easy to break, is Legend of the Five Rings. At GenCon they announced a 4th edition will come out in 2010. The mechanics are fun, but written with a story-based approach to balance. That is, if it makes logical sense that Clan X does Y well, then they get a ridiculously broken capability to do that. It can be frustrating. On the other hand, the setting/immersion can be awesome. I play the living campaign, and it has been a lot of fun (it will likely re-launch at GenCon 2010). There are tons of mods to play as part of the living campaign (free).
Cthulhu can be a lot of fun, though usually as a break from other things. Cthulutech was released fairly recently. I've played the D20 version and it is solid and easy to pick up if you know D20.
Eclipse Phase sounds cool, though probably also as a departure.
NWOD changeling the Lost, and Mage the Awakening. Those two are excellent systems. Haven't played Vampire the Requiem, or the new version of wherewolf, but I bet they are pretty cool as well. Really anything by White Wolf is going to be pretty good. I just love the flavour in the changeling, and mage book. Changeling powers being called contracts is pretty cool.
Dark Heresey looks neat. It is set in the warhammer 40k universe and you play someone attached to an inquisitor going on missions. Seems like an interesting system even if I haven't been able to play it.
Eclipse Phase:Freshly out and totally free to download (see your local torrent-tracker) as it is published under the CC Licence. It's about transhumanism, extinction and future tech. You can upload your Ego (personality) and transfer it into another body - for example into a Fury Morph so you can tear apart enemies. Awesome.
I agree completely with this. I can't be said enough, but anyone remotely interested in RPGs owes themselves to at least check out Eclipse Phase. Since it's free to distribute, you only lose time and a bit of hard drive space.
Another good one is Savage Worlds. It's a generic rule system covering things from Fantasy, Modern to Sci Fi. As mentioned in the book, it's fast, furious and fun. Character creation is simple, after grasping the basics of the game I created my first character within 10 minutes. There are many SW settings to spice up your game, my favorites being Sundered Skies (the world is shattered and large islands float within the void, airships galore, typical and somewhat non-typical fantasy races - elves are part plant and ruthless slavers).
Damn... after thinking about it I realized that I've played far too many RPGs in my relatively short life. Let's see what I enjoy.
Superhero RPGs: Marvel Super Heroes (pre-Saga), Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Edition
Fantasy RPGs: Legendary Quest, Divus Ex, Scion, Nobilis, RuneSlayer, FATE, Pokéthulhu, Deadlands, Returner's FFRPG, Thrash
Sci-Fi: Eclipse Phase, Mechwarrior, Shadowrun, Metalface, Deadlands: Hell on Earth, Fallout PnP, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Mekton
That's all I can remember off the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty more that I like, but these are probably the top of my list as they were the ones I could remember most easily.
Dark Heresey looks neat. It is set in the warhammer 40k universe and you play someone attached to an inquisitor going on missions. Seems like an interesting system even if I haven't been able to play it.
It is really, really, really dark. It is far from being heroic. My group played a demo at GenCon two years ago, and it was downright depressing. We asked the author if there was a bright side to it at all... he replied something like, "well, when you die your soul goes into the chair upon which the emperor sits, helping to power space flight." This is the same throne that eats millions of innocent souls a day. I like gritty and dark, but this was at another level. Of course, you could choose to change it a bit.
Meh, we're old school around here. Traveler was still the best core system. Yes, it is stupidly simple and that's the whole point. You can do anything with stupidly simple systems and you got plenty of books full of tech gear to play with. The default setting was pretty anemic but when the mechanics are THAT dirt simple? Who cares. Still great for doing quick sci-fi stuff or wacky homebrewing. Honestly GURPS would serve as well, but seems a bit overly complex for not much gain.
Honestly, D&D aside, the game we had the most fun with was the original Gamma World. It was just pure silliness. Crappy system, but at least it was simple.
Cthulhu, Paranoia. Hey, who can resist being doomed to death even before the game starts? Not too many games have more atmosphere than either of these.
Honestly, D&D aside, the game we had the most fun with was the original Gamma World. It was just pure silliness. Crappy system, but at least it was simple.
Yes! I still run 1st Ed Gamma World once a year at a local convention. Too much fun.
My favorites (D&D 4th would be next on the list, but is left out because of the "besides D&D" part) in a very particular order:
HackMaster Basic (or you might find it called 5th edition) - simple mechanics that cover a multitude of things in good enough detail for me: fast playing, action packed, and actually so fun as a game that my players have said "wow, it was even fun just making a character." which they have never said about any game ever before.
Shadowrun 4th - the sci-fantasy, over the top action-noir fluff is more than enough reason to love this game... and now with 4th the mechanics aren't so massively complicated as to feel like a college level course.
Deadlands (not the d20 crap-tastic version) - The combination of dice and cards used to play, and all the poker chips and western cliches being tossed around the table... it's just a really unique approach, and I have always thought of it as one of the greats.
...Obviously I prefer my games to have a high level of lethality to them. Something about a in-game fight feeling like it was over in a flash makes the game more interesting and believable to me, and even with a full group of 6+ players and a lot of enemies on the field - I have never had to say "okay, so the last 3 hours of play time was only about 20 seconds in-game," and that's a big selling point for me... I like to get combat started, run, and over with so that the group has plenty of time to have a genuine in character response to it in context with the rest of the story.
If you can handle a system with a high learning curve, HERO System is about the only other game system I'd recommend ... though the more I play 4e, the less interested I get in HERO due to how freakin' complicated it is.
Cyberpunk 2020 and Tristat dX.
I loves me some Savage Worlds.
I honestly cannot BELIEVE that you guys reached the fourth page of this thread without any mention of Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium/BRP version).
I like New World of Darkness a lot. (Exalted and Scion, being made by White Wolf as well, are rather similar systems, but I like nWoD's flavor.)
If we are sticking to with the current milinium I say Stars Wars Saga is a great role playing game. SWS is much, much better than the Star Wars d20, which although not bad was a disappointment. You want the Star Wars experience in a RPG, Star Wars Saga is the way to go.
MY favorite RPG, excluding DnD of the last milinium, Star Wars D6 from West End games. The setting is one of the best.
My second favorite RPG excluding DnD from the past would be Alternity. It was such a great and fun game. We once played a two year campaign.
I also loved playing old school Gamma World.
One vote for SWSE, and one vote for Decipher's Star Trek RPG (but probably because I'm biased for the setting).
I like New World of Darkness a lot. (Exalted and Scion, being made by White Wolf as well, are rather similar systems, but I like nWoD's flavor.)
Completley agree. NWOD has far less of a meta plot than OWD, besides the books are just pretty the changeling book especially. I love the art of the book, as well as the stories. I also like how the different groups can mix now.
Since I don't personally believe there is a 'best' RPG, I am just going to throw out some names of games that I felt accomplished the job they set out to do.
We'll start out with the "It's a What?" catagory.
Sea Dracula - It's... Different. With a capital D. You play a Lawyer in Animal City, where a crazy trial on losely acclaimed facts and maybe was there witnesses trying to prove that your client was... doing something maybe related to the actual crime? And whenever there is an objection, or a recess, you have a Dance Off. The winner of the game is determined by the Jury, which can also demand a Dance Party. Yes, you actually have to Dance. It is... bizarre to say the least, but a lot of fun.
Legend of the Five Rings RPG - Many, MANY people play this game wrong. The whole reason it ends up side by side in 3E Oriental Adventures is because Many Many people played it wrong. The game, if played right, is an excellent game for Court Drama and Intrigue in a Fuedal Society. It is also good for gritty mysteries. It is not for those that want to hack and slash. It's overall a game that wanted a feel, and came very close to extablishing it.
In Nomine - From the 111/666 Mechanic, to the presentation of the source material, In Nomine is a game that if you are taking it seriously, you have to be really hard core. It's more silly then it really presents itself, and it places the war for the morality of the world in questionable hands. Overall, I think it's a neater game then I can get people to play.
Marvel Adventure Game - Yes, the dreaded Saga System. Say what you will, this game was fun, it accomplished the task of letting people play the superhero their way, and it pretty much let the player do what they wanted without too much of a hassle or rules to get in the way. It was a neat game.
TORG - A lot of games want to be Multi-Genre. They do. Gurps tries to, and it fails. Heroes System tries, and it fails. No other game manages to handle Samurai Corperate Lawyers and Cyberpapel Crusaders fighting side by side better then TORG, and none give a better purpose for doing so. The Drama Deck makes this one of the first games to give narritive control straight to the players, and the rules were complex and rich. West End Games finest game.
Deadlands - We give Deadlands here an honorable mention, for game world. While not the best system in the world, and it's questionable if the mechanics really helped inspire a wild west feel, or just let someone's poker buddies hide the fact that they were roleplaying, the game world was interesting and approriately horror filled. Deadlands was always an enjoyable read, even if the system seemed to flail about wildly at times.
Changeling: the Lost
Hands down about the best game I've ever played. The setting and background is so fantastically evocative and wonderfully mysterious: struggling to get a new life after you've been kidnapped by strange otherworldly entities and escaped, your character tries to balance the paranoia (they could come for you again, after all!), the wish for a human life (although your beloved ones probably didn't even notice you were gone for years due to a doppelganger) and the need to embrace your newly found (or rather forced upon) fae-nature.
This fae-nature could manifest in just about any way you can imagine, depending on how your durance went. Were you kept in a glass and set aflame (experiencing the pain, but never able to die) to spend light for your keeper? Congratulations, you're a fire elemental now, able to control and commune with fire. Were you just one of many abducts who were chased through a forest as a cruel game for your captors? When you get out you've probably turned into a rabbit-man or fox-woman.
Really, there are no boundaries of what you can do! The fact that the system itself is rather easily learned is just another plus-point for this great game.
Marvel Adventure Game - Yes, the dreaded Saga System. Say what you will, this game was fun, it accomplished the task of letting people play the superhero their way, and it pretty much let the player do what they wanted without too much of a hassle or rules to get in the way. It was a neat game.
I agree. I agree so much I actually have a group built for it (though it is a lonely group.) It wasn't perfect, but Marvel SAGA was just plain fun. It didn't work nearly as well for Dragonlance though.
Inquisition the Warhammer 40k Roleplay.
In Inquisition Levels are replaced by Ranks. You don't gain abilities from Ranking up in this game instead you purchase abilities with your Experience Points from all the abilities available to your Rank or lower. Then after you've spent Y amount of Experience Points you advance to the next Rank giving you more abilities to choose from.
With a large amount of varied abilities between the Ranks and several different Rank paths in each of the different classes it makes for a unique and highly personalized gaming experience.
My votes are Adventure!, 7th Sea, and Fung Shui.
All three are, unfortunatly, genre-specifc. Adventure! is about that pulp sorta stuff, with the 20s, 30s, and 40s feeling. 7th Sea is swashbuckling, and Fun Shui is Hong Kong action.
They are all rediculously fun.
Rolemaster.
You know how sometimes in DnD, battles drag on and on and never seem to end because things just have too many hitpoints?
That's not a problem in Rolemaster. Absolutely deadly criticals mean someone gets their head cut off long before that happens.
Love it!
Rolemaster.
You know how sometimes in DnD, battles drag on and on and never seem to end because things just have too many hitpoints?
That's not a problem in Rolemaster. Absolutely deadly criticals mean someone gets their head cut off long before that happens.
Love it!
Same goes for PCS though right? Game where you can instantly get your head cut off doesn't necessarly sound that fun.
Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game, hands down. It's absolutely my favorite system ever.
I also really like new World of Darkness. It's well put together, without the metaplot and crossover issues of the Old World of Darkness. Plus you can run a game of straight mortals - the whole core book is set up just to play WoD Mortal.
For me the only roleplaying game out there that has roleplaying coded into it's rules. There never has been a system/background so immersive and intense with the right people and so bad with the wrong!
Maybe it's because of this that it is out of print for years but still with a strong community that spans the whole world!
Roll to Dodge ;)
It's more of a party game than a system though, but it sure is fun!
Rolemaster.
You know how sometimes in DnD, battles drag on and on and never seem to end because things just have too many hitpoints?
That's not a problem in Rolemaster. Absolutely deadly criticals mean someone gets their head cut off long before that happens.
Love it!
Same goes for PCS though right? Game where you can instantly get your head cut off doesn't necessarly sound that fun.
Actually, there's a fair chance that a PC will cut his own head off before an enemy does.
SAGA rocks.
I like M&M, but my group never wants to play it, they'd rather play their overpowered homebrewed superhero game, because "a guy with a machine gun shouldn't hurt Superman". Yeh.
Classic Battletech - same story. Their complaint on this one is legit, as it takes far too long to set up characters. Good ideas, though. Working on a point-buy character creation idea.
Conan d20 is by far the best d20 derivative I've seen.
I am pointedly not a fan of any game where it takes an hour to set up a character but only or two rounds of combat to kill them. Unfortunately, a fair bit of the d20 derivative works fall into this category.
Haven't tried it yet, but Cthulhutech looks nice.
HERO System/Champions. Hand down. It isn't even a contest, for me. The 5th Edition, Revised version is capable of doing essentially anything for any game, with fast, smooth, and fun in-game resolution of EVERYTHING. With the implementation of active power points, it's extremely difficult to make a character that is overpowered or broken.
Sure, it looks intimidating, due to the size of the rulebook. Character creation can take awhile if you aren't experienced. However, it is very swift indeed to make characters, especially for such a robust system, for either an experienced player, or with an experienced GM to help an inexperienced player build precisely what they want.
(Everything that GURPS does in 5,000 books, HERO does in one, and does it much, much better).
I also dig Call of Cthulhu quite a bit. And the original Mage: the Ascension was a wicked game. The old West End Star Wars was a lot of fun in my youth, as well. Dark Heresy is up there. The roll-and-keep Legends of the Five Rings/7th Sea AEG system is also fun, but extremely deadly (it's really easy to die). I also like the idea of the Marvel Universe diceless RPG, but the implementation wasn't polished enough (that game desperately needed a 2nd edition, and it could've easily become a classic with a proper tweaking/balancing).
ETA: I find Rolemaster to be probably my least favorite RPG of all time. Imagine a game where every single weapon, every type of spell, every type of natural hazard or creature attack, has it's own full page, extremely extensive chart to determine how effective a hit it. Then, every damage type has its own critical hit chart, again each being very, very extensive and overly detailed. Then, realize that is the tip of the iceberg. The amount of page-flipping in that game, else the sheer number of charts you'd need to bring to the table for a simple game, was just asinine. Couldn't stand if. :D
HERO System/Champions. Hand down. It isn't even a contest, for me. The 5th Edition, Revised version is capable of doing essentially anything for any game, with fast, smooth, and fun in-game resolution of EVERYTHING. With the implementation of active power points, it's extremely difficult to make a character that is overpowered or broken.
I have to disagree with this. Hero System's wide-openness makes it the most easily breakable game system around; it's very easy to make a broken character. Active Point caps don't prevent it; you need an experienced DM. You can make a character capable of destroying the known universe at well under the base point starting value.
And Hero's combat resolution is anything but fast.
My #1 favortie RPG of all time is Earthdawn.
I really like Original Deadlands and Heck on Earth and 4e
Shadowrun 4th ed is my current favorite system, with only a couple of minor house rules. (which says a lot coming from me)
Star Wars SAGA edition I love, except how they did the force (pretty big part of star wars feel...) And since I can't find players willing to cut it out entirely, I'm not running it right now. Also their book layouts are bad enough to keep me from buying anymore based on that alone. In a long process of roughing out my own star wars force system my group might enjoy better so that I can get back into it.
And my other big system of choice is Paranoia. Doesn't matter the edition, cause players aren't supposed to know the rules, and to call the GM out on making them up as he goes is treason. I own the XP main book, but use web resources from some others.
With these I've got my bases covered.
Fun one shot- paranoia
Fantasy- DND
Star wars- Saga (sort of)
Shadowrun- anything sci-fi, we are even doing a homebrewed steam-run game right now. (AKA steampunk shadowrun, no matrix)
The only thing I need is super heroes, but its a shame Mutants and Masterminds is so broken, I think I would like to run it at PL 3 and see if that reigns it in.
IF the rules for RIFTS didnt totally suck, it would make my top X list as well. Only they did, so...
My vote is definitely Alternity.
It's out of print, but its the best sci fi RPG system i have ever played, and ive played a lot.
Shadowrun 4A for me. Great setting and fairly streamlined rules, lots of char options, and now also able to integrate your hacker (aka decker) into the team properly. The system just need more cool modules/support.
Maybe I'll write something more serious now, but unfortunately you won't be able to play this game.
I played a few sessions of Neuroshima. A post-nuclear States setting, with ever increasing machine mass named Moloch in the north and ever growing Neojungle in the south, people have to survive in the wasteland. This game has really nice backgrounds and options for characters, a lot of things going on and a very good non-hitpoint health system. It sure felt great nearly dying from a shot leg just because my character suffered from hemophilia.
The downside is that it's probably impossible to find an English version.
Same goes for PCS though right? Game where you can instantly get your head cut off doesn't necessarly sound that fun.Maybe don't sound like fun to you (like 4e doesn't sound like fun to me), but some people think Rolemaster is fun; indeed, some think it is more fun than 4e...
And there are ways to mitigate the criticals delivered to you in RM(Rolemaster)... and not every one is auto-death (although some others are just as bad... severed limbs and such). Most are not deadly, but do impact the combat a lot more than 4e's rules will ever do...
IMHO of course...
Yeah not my cup of tea. Sorry going around as the one armed man just because some stupid enemy got lucky would suck.
As for Hero. Character creation takes too long for my taste, and the rules are a little obtruse, the one time I tried to play the rules got in the way of gaming because we were always looking things up, and having to stop game. For super heros the old marvel system, and Mutants and masterminds work beutiffully.
Currently, I vote for Dark Heresy. Good ruleset with excellent product quality, great artwork, and a lot of choices and options, at the same time not easy to really break.
I know the setting is not everyones taste, but I really love it, and think the rules (they share some similarities to the current edition Warhammer FRP, but are better done) support the fluff as well.
The only "downside" is there arent too many products out yet. But its the first RPG in about 10 years where I find almost every official module/adventure to be of excellent, buy-worthy quality (the freebie adventures Shattered Soul and Maggots in the Meat are pretty bad. But Edge of Darkness is free, and truly one of the best noncombat-centric modules I have ever seen anywhere)
From the past, I ll pitch in Star Wars D6. We had SO much fun with it, and it had a very nice, quick and dirty yet interesting mechanic.
I'm a fan of starwars saga, marvel and dc, shadowrun and warhammer. Ragnarok was also fun but I only played it once.
Again, some more erroneous info about RM.
It seems a lot of people do not know a lot about RM.
Seems people are focusing in on specific aspects of the game and then giving the most extreme examples... I guess to show that the game is "bad" in some way...
I'm just not a fan of page upon page of crit charts personally. It really slowed the game down to a point that we strived to our utmost to never get into combat. Percentile dice are fickle things, but we did play more MERPS than RM
ETA: I find Rolemaster to be probably my least favorite RPG of all time. Imagine a game where every single weapon, every type of spell, every type of natural hazard or creature attack, has it's own full page, extremely extensive chart to determine how effective a hit it. Then, every damage type has its own critical hit chart, again each being very, very extensive and overly detailed. Then, realize that is the tip of the iceberg. The amount of page-flipping in that game, else the sheer number of charts you'd need to bring to the table for a simple game, was just asinine. Couldn't stand if. :D
If you don't like charts, specific hit locations, and a tremendous variety of different attacks and types of damages, then no, Rolemaster is not for you. I'm not sure I'd call people who like that sort of thing asinine though.
I like both. My current group has played both DnD (3.5 and 4.0) and Rolemaster, and the Rolemaster went just as quickly, if not more so, than the DnD. Yes, the DM has to look up things in charts in Rolemaster. On the other hand, you never find yourself fighting a monster that you literally cannot kill for five rounds or more. One good roll can take out anyone and end a battle instantly. So things balance out.
I and my players found the added unpredictability of the combat in Rolemaster to make the combat simultaneously more exciting, more realistic and faster.
But as I said, to each his own.
If you don't like charts, specific hit locations, and a tremendous variety of different attacks and types of damages, then no, Rolemaster is not for you. I'm not sure I'd call people who like that sort of thing asinine though.
Then I suppose it's a good thing I didn't call the people who like that sort of thing asinine, but rather that I found the act itself of bringing that many charts to the table asinine, eh?
Story: Changeling: the lost. While i never got a chance to run the system it seemed like it would work. however i feel in love with it for the feel of the characters. its designed so you can have any sort of demi-human you can possibly think of.
Combat: Dark Hersey. Combat is lethal and over the top. combine that with the gritty setting and a universe where hand-crossbows, chainsaw swords, and plasma explosives share the same eqipment list... its awsome 
For me, hands down, the best RPG was TSR's Marvel Superheroes Role-playing Game (MSHRPG). Not the Saga/Sega version that came out later. The original FASERIP, d%-for-everything game. Loved it! Still do.
THIS was the game that got me into gaming. Right in the middle of my 1992-93 Love of X-men phase. So much fun.
I have moved this thread at VCL request. 
Removed
Well, I really like World of Darkness, Mage the Awakening, Geist the Sin-Eaters and Eclipse Phase.
I've also ordered a copy of Pathfinder, since my old group are playing with it and I'd like to join up. It'll be an experience to see how it actually plays.
The OVA RPG (Open Versatile Anime): I find the Ricochet dice system (which is similar to L5R's Roll&Keep but with d6s) pretty amusing. There are no core stats or classes; you choose your own traits depending on what stands out most about your character and are assumed average in anything unsaid. Because the system was designed with anime tropes in mind, these traits/stats aren't just abilities but also backstories and character relationships and quirks. It's super-easy to learn, play, and express things in game mechanics, so the most work for the GM is just thinking of a story. I find this is a good system for running fighting-game type stories, character dramas, and science-fantasy or other genre-benders (because the system isn't tied to a genre so much as it is to character-centered storytelling). A rules revision is coming up sometime in the future.
Pathfinder. Love it personally.
Rolemaster.
You know how sometimes in DnD, battles drag on and on and never seem to end because things just have too many hitpoints?
That's not a problem in Rolemaster. Absolutely deadly criticals mean someone gets their head cut off long before that happens.
Love it!
Same goes for PCS though right? Game where you can instantly get your head cut off doesn't necessarly sound that fun.Actually, there's a fair chance that a PC will cut his own head off before an enemy does.
Never played it, but a friend once told me he died trying to fish. Like, with a fishing pole.
HERO System/Champions. Hand down. It isn't even a contest, for me. The 5th Edition, Revised version is capable of doing essentially anything for any game, with fast, smooth, and fun in-game resolution of EVERYTHING. With the implementation of active power points, it's extremely difficult to make a character that is overpowered or broken.
Sure, it looks intimidating, due to the size of the rulebook. Character creation can take awhile if you aren't experienced. However, it is very swift indeed to make characters, especially for such a robust system, for either an experienced player, or with an experienced GM to help an inexperienced player build precisely what they want.
Absolutely. A few years ago, a friend who is a very experienced 5th ed. GM ran a short campaign for our group and it was a Blast! I gave him a quick rundown of what I wanted over the phone, and he showed up on gameday with my Brick Street Preacher/Biker Dude all assembled and ready to play. The game ran smooth as silk (though he was kind enough to handle the calculus.)
Hello everybody peeps.
I've never posted anything on a forum before but i think this is the time :-)
I've been roleplaying since about 1980 when Dungeons & Dragons turned up thanks to my mother.
Since then I have tried quite a few games...I'm just going to do a quick list of the ones I can remember:
D&D, AD&D 1st and 2nd (fantastic but perhaps of their time now), AD&D 3rd (for about 2 games, just didn't get our juices going), D&D 4e (got to about 7th level then the game just becomes a slog) - that's the boring bit done, now onto the 'other games'...
Runequest, Call Of Cthulhu, Stormbringer (Call Of Cthulhu was by far the best Chaosism game)
Hero System and Champions (Great fun but the rules for character generation are not for the faint of heart, very versatile though, i agree, great variation was Dark Champions - a lower power level Batmanesque type of setting - cool, very enjoyable)
Alternity (Great system but we didn't play it for too long, don't know why because it's good)
Star Frontiers (same as Alternity, good game)
Palladium (Had some fun with this one, back in the day)
Shadowrun (seem to remember it was too easy to powerplay and dominate with a mage)
Deadlands (Great fun till the DM killed my gunslinger Deadly Headly, that card mechanic is cool)
Cyberpunk (Played some good games, not a bad game for a bit)
Earthdawn (Very Good! until you get to about 5th level then it gets samey but cool setting and rules)
Vampire (we just couldn't get on with it but seemed well done)
GURPS (is it just me but the first edition was the best, they went a bit too mad with all the options. We had some good games with this one though)
Marvel - Original Version (had some fun with this one)
MERP (we played Rolemaster with the merp stuff, more on this in a minute)
En Guard (anyone remember that one?)
Powers & Perils (nearly a good system but not quite, confusing to say least)
Paranoia (what was going on? I remember something about wetsuits)
Twilight 2000 (blah blah blah)
Tunnels & Trolls (get those 60d6 ready - awesome fun)
Warhammer Fantasy (one of the best EVER systems and settings-try it)
OKAY enough of the list....the point being I have tried a few games, more than these but on to the point....ROLEMASTER and to some extent it's little brother HARP.
Rolemaster is a truly great system. We don't play it anymore as it's very time consuming in terms of character development etc. BUT, if you have the time and you are young and fancy free and willing to try new things...it can be fantastic. Yes, it has tables....loads of them. Yes, you can get butchered easily on the roll of a dice....but the flipside is a VERY engaging game. Characters feel different everytime. You can make up a wide variety of heroes to play, combat and non-combat action is exciting because of the great descriptive help of the tables (trust me our group doesn't rely on these alone, we have learnt how to roleplay in our many years playing but they can really help). It's hard to DM and i think that's what puts people off. If your DM is good enough and can hack it, you won't look back....it's great).
They made a few versions of it and we tried them all...the second one (Standard System?) was the best I think...it had the best most interesting character development system i ever saw.
The game's little bro HARP was good but had this flawed combat mechanic, it just didn't seem to be 'right' somehow in terms of the balance of when you hit and missed etc, i think the maths were a bit skewed or something...that said the magic system was cool.
I'm not saying it's a game for everyone. But trust me, it can be one of the best out there if your group can handle the 'crunch' factor. You need to be decent at maths and the like and in all honesty you have to put time in to learn how to get round it all but it was good fun when we used to play it....We used it for about 5 years as our only game before we felt we needed a change. GREAT GAME!!
I would say Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (Original) and Cthulhu come in close behind...if not slightly out in front on a given day. I freely admit we didn't bother with D&D3e but that's because it just didn't cut it in comparison to Rolemaster. I am currently considering trying Pathfinder to give the d20 rules another go. Other games that look interesting are Burning Wheel and Song Of Fire and Ice if anybody has any opinions?
I fully expect to be shot down and trodden on for my horrific love of such a table heavy game as Rolemaster but i might add it's not Rule heavy like other popular games i could mention, the core mechanics were simple really....open ended rolls, add skill bonuses and consult table...then get cool results descriptions and resolution.
Have i made any sense?
Peace, love, beads to you all :-)
i was always a fan of traveller
Right now it's probably 2e D&D.
While I was initially quite enthused with 4e, I find myself finding more and more flaws in the system that should have been removed (IMO) with the edition switch as well as some new ones. I still find it better for what I want than 3e, but still too clunky.
I'm really liking what I'm seeing from the previews of Warhammer FRP 3rd edition so far, it just might be close to what I think D&D should be.