And, if you're like me, you only get a chance to play one or two of them on a regular basis. The rest collect dust.
So, how do we get the most of our RPG investment?
Find a way to use them all. :D
There are several ways to approach this.
1. Use the different games for inspiration for your primary game.
Taking a look at my book shelf, my primary game at the moment is D&D 3.5. I have a few other games that can offer inspiration to my 3.5 campaigns. Notably, D&D 4th, a few AD&D 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms books, Blue Rose, Changeling: The Dreaming, Mage: The Ascension, and even a bit of Rifts. I tend to take this approach by default as I pull inspiration for my campaigns from everywhere (my bookshelf, movies, TV, music, watching passer-by as I ride the bus through town, etc).
2. Choose one game for game rules (house ruling as necessary) and creating a setting that uses it all.
The problem with the first method is that there are several games, at least on my shelf, that get left out of the equation as they simply have little in common with the default genre of the game I play most often. D20 Modern, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies and Monte Cook's World of Darkness just don't have a whole lot to offer a fantasy setting. Vice versa if I were to run a modern day game.
The idea, then, is to make a setting that you can truly use every bit of juicy weirdness in.
Rifts is a good starting point since its core concept and setting is a fantasy/post-apocalypse/ultra-tech mish-mash. But, the game system is definately not everyone's cup of tea. So, let's set that aside for the moment.
Here's the challenge:
First, what game system can truly encompass a "playing with everything" mentality?
Second, what kind of setting can one come up with that would allow supplements from any given RPG to be used without restraint?
Here's a few setting models to get us started:
Take the core setting idea of Rifts and tweak it, using a different game system. The core idea of Rifts is that magical dimensional gateways (Rifts) open up on a post apocalyptic Earth in a fairly random fashion, unleashing creatures from other dimensions on the world.
Tooting my own horn for a moment, my Shadowstorm concept takes an approach of magical storms that change reality when they pass over an area with the PCs being immune to the storms.
Another possibility is a "Sliders" approach in which the PCs are the ones doing the travelling, going from one universe or dimension to the next.
So, have at it. :D What game system would you use and why? How would you fit it all together in one setting?
First, what game system can truly encompass a "playing with everything" mentality?
Dream Park :D
OMG!
I don't believe I forgot to add this game to my OOP list!