What RPG would you like to play more of, given the opportunity?
Bonus points for any non-D&D or D&D derivative systems.
My first RPG was Palladium Fantasy way back when my grognard uncle invited me to his groups table. I still don't really grok it, but it was pretty formative of my ideas of what an RPG could be. The lack of balance and extreme existential threats as part of ordinary encounters included.
Needless to say, I haven't found a group for this system in a looong while, eheh.
Oh I would like to try the star wars D6. I played quite a lot of the ffg star wars because at some point it was the favorite for most of the people in my play group, but I never found it very nice. I love star wars lore, but not this system.
FFG star wars is great. We did a few sessions with my current group and it was pretty fun. Easier online with the automatic counting of successes and failures
Lancer ! I did one short scenario (6 sessions IIRC) and the system and combat were a blast ! The story a little bit less, it was a homemade one for the GM. But apparently the published ones are quite good.
Played a lot of dark heresy 2 during corona online with friends. It's a bit complicated with quite a few skills, but really fun.
And because our gm was nice, we barely died :D
Oh God, Palladium. That was... A way to do things.
I fucking love G.U.R.P.S. Is it ground breaking? No. Is it fun to smash 6 different flavors together, hash out what survives, and run a short adventure or a few one-shots? Hell yeah! It's not often I run into anyone who has a fondness for the system. Hell, I get kinda excited if someones even heard of it, even if they didn't have a great experience.
Also rather enjoyed Ironclaw. I see it written off as "That Furry TT", but I had a good time with it. Would happily play more.
I was explaining to an acquaintance the reasons why I was transitioning my group to GURPS from DnD, and she said she learned GURPS first and they're the same. And I was just kinda gobsmacked that 1. she'd heard of it at all and 2. she learned it first.
For years, all our group played was Palladium (Rifts, FRPG, and Heroes Unlimited), but I don’t think I’d ever go back to the system given other options. Combat took forever (possibly bc the GM’s threw ungodly amounts of enemies at us and refused to have anyone retreat, ever) and it felt like it just generally took forever to do anything. Also, there’s not really many adventure modules in any of the books (apart from Sourcebook 1? Just random ideas for things, but nothing to tie it together). We’ve since gone to a few other systems, but I still like to run one-shots and try out new systems whenever I can. I’ve had Year Zero in my sights for awhile and I’m prepping to run Mutant Year Zero, hoping it goes well.
Blades in the Dark and Lancer for the haven't played at all yet answer. I think both sound really cool!
One system I'd love to play more of is the D6 system that the old West End Games Star Wars used. I know they made a generic version and I always liked those mechanics. It was super fun.
I played loads of this back in the 2nd edition days, but by the time 3rd edition had come out, all the people I'd played 2nd with dribbled out of my life (or I out of theirs) and that, combined with the seriously flawed nature of 3rd's publication, left me nobody to play with. Now C&S is in its 5th edition, and it's a powerhouse of a game, but I know of nobody anywhere who plays it. I play it solo only, now. I wish I could find a group.
You need to have a very special kind of player willing to play a game that's as depressing and rigidly structured as Gray Ranks. I've never found people matching those traits. I can only read the game and imagine.
Yes, it has some of the most ludicrously complicated rules ever put into a game. (1.5 pages of dense-type rules for handing items from one character to another!) Yes it feels like they just took every space-based SF conceit and crammed it into the rules. But there's a whole lot of remembered good times in those black books that very few games since have ever come close to matching.
At a time when games from almost all companies were going crazier and crazier in complexity, with FGU, the publisher of this game, leading the pack with the insanely complicated rules of (in)famous games like Space Opera, Chivalry & Sorcery, Aftermath, and even games like Flashing Blades or Daredevils, out came the small, unassuming boxed set of Psi World with slim rules that were very simple (by the standards of the time: medium complexity by modern standards) and yet contained within them one of the best systems for psionic powers ever put to paper, and had an implied setting with more depth than you'd expect from the low page count in the main rules box.
I had loads of fun in this game playing weak psis, strong psis (verging on abusive), and psi cops. And now nobody's even heard of it.
My first RPG was called "Het Oog des Meesters", translated from the original German "Die Schwarze Auge". It was probably pretty bad compared to AD&D but I loved it as a kid. In the one hand I'd love to play it again. On the other hand, playing might ruin my memory of the game. Like rewatching a bad cartoon from your childhood.
The Dark Eye is still alive and well. The current edition is still a pretty crunchy and traditional RPG experience compared to say dnd 5e but it's a lot more modern than the older ones.
And the world building is still one of the best out there for any TTRPG imo.
Any of the crazy, mostly-single-page, mostly-free RPGs made by Grant Howitt. They start off sounding almost sensible (Death was the Only Road Out of Town, System Shutdown), then start pushing the boundaries (Honey Heist, TRAMFORCE), before going all in on the madness (Seans Bean star in: A VERY NORTHERN CHRISTMAS, Jason Statham's Big Vacation). Great for a last minute one-shot with zero planning required and maximum laughs produced.
World of darkness (Vampire: the masquerade/Werewolf: the apocalypse). I've never played it, but a friend of mine was really enthusiastic about it and from what she told me it's really fun.
I am from that player generation who played the WOD games in the early 00's. Like nobody around was playing D&D, it was VtM, Dark-age, Werewolf, Eastern-Vampires, Mage, hunter and so on.
These games are greats, the system has a good balance between light and crunchy, the setting is amazing with a shit ton of secret, and the idea of playing power struggles as the apocalypse comes was pretty cool.
That said, these games also have their own issue. A big one is their tendency to behave like D&D with tons of sourcebook. Moreover each sourcebook/game are written by different people leading to contradiction in the lore, not a big deal except when everyone pretends to be an expert on the lore. Another big one is that you sell a game where you play monsters struggling to keep their humanity and political power game, and you end up having a system about killing and fiighting I believe the 5th edition solved some of these problems. A last one is that it's really hard to get player to cooperate, not necessarily a big deal if everyone is aware of it, but there is the point where No, I don't see why I'd play that quest, especially with these people comes to the table.
Numenera, far future setting for Cypher System. I'm the forever DM and I haven't been a player since I played the Skein of the Blackbone Bride oneshot at GenghisCon that got me into it at least 5 years ago.
Genius: the Transgression. A world of darkness fan game. I started running it in the hope I'd be able to play in a game some day. No luck. My favourite game, and I've never played in it.
@spittingimage@HipsterTenZero
I loved the rulebook to this - the narrative chunks illustrating the “enlightenment” experience were terrifying and beautiful.
I would love to play a retro clone like Old-School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry. I wanted to try the old school DnD mega dungeon system.
For non-Dnd system I would like to Apocalypse World system like Monster of the Week. I downloaded a new system called Coyote and Crow that seems very interesting. It is set in a North America that was never colonized with some cool magic elements. The setting looks dope but I have no idea about the mechanics. I didn't get that far in my reading of the rules yet
I know nothing about Dragonbane (though I’m familiar with Free League’s other stuff), but I’d be interested in playing online if you’re looking for people and the timing works.
Right now I'm playing Lancer and I really wish I had another campaign to try a different build/corpo. Not that I am unhappy with my choices or anything, but the more I build into what I want, the more I look at other mechs going "Hmmm...kinda want to try that too"
For something that's not as ridiculous, I really want to play some goddamn Masks. I've been thinking of running it, after the book gets a proper publishing in my country, but I also really want to play.
I almost always want to play some Masks, but still.
Cyborg and all the Mork Borg games are so great. I want to play and run them more too. I did a few months long Pirate Borg campaign and it was such a blast. I really want to give Vast Grimm a go too.
These games are just so fast, fun, random and wild. Such rich tools for great storytelling. Love, love, love them.