Your favourite tabletop RPGs?

[Vanity Evolved]

Today hasn't exactly been a fast day for me, so I thought it was time to ask some questions. =P What do you guys consider to be some of your favourite RPGs? Just a couple of mine...

Legends of the Wulin/Weapons of the Gods - Shame both of these games got off to rocky starts with publishing, because they are both perfect examples of how an RPG can emulate a genre, in my opinion. I've never seen wuxia done as perfectly as Legends of the Wulin, modelling everything from talking to people through swordplay, making people fall in love with you via killing them or wire-fuing between areas to try and prevent each other from escaping combat. And you've got to love some Daoist Sexual Alchemy. ;D

Exalted 2e - Quite eagerly awaiting 3e! Thanks to the Ink Monkeys and their tireless work on the 2.5e errata, this game has now become vaguely playable, which has jumped it instantly to the top of my list. Creation is an amazing setting, deliciously kitchen-sink fantasy, a rather grimdark tone despite it's anime-wuxia-Greek tragedy mythic heroes. Orichalcum grand daiklaives, ho!

Tenra Bansho Zero - Not so much a favourite at the moment, but the idea is amazing. I havn't read much of it since I picked up my Kickstarter pre-release, but the setting is awesome (little girls and boys piloting giant super-armours using Shinto mirrors made of mind-wiped demons, super ninjas, ultra ki warriors transformed by Samuraization surgery to become super-warriors, priests possessed by magic worms which give them everything from immortality to worm-whip arms), and it has one of the most interesting improvement systems yet to keep characters diverse and constantly striving to do new things (You're given Kiai to spend to do amazing things, which when spent become Karma. Karma is your XP, but also, if you reach 108 Karma, you become an Asura and become an NPC. To remove Karma, you have you change your Fate, either by changing your opinions on things, clearing up story hooks for your character and such. Removing Karma gets you more Kiai, which you can spend to become Karma, etc.)

7th Sea - This game had one of my favourite skill systems ever, and it was also the first game I saw where magic had a distinct flavour, while not being some amazingly good alternative to do every other characters shtick for them, but better (on the flip side, sadly, a lot of these magics were infinitely useless or highly circumstantial). Despite some poor game design, such as how Drama Points were handled, how magic was used and Drama Points as XP, it was a pretty good setting, with some rather good stuff to it. Got to love being able to make a Eizen Noble with armour and toughness so good, it takes, at minimum, eight cannonballs directly to the face to have a chance of knocking him out at character generation.

nWoD - I use this blanket category as for one, the system itself is just damn smooth, despite some oddness (sticking a shotgun in someone's face is less effective than shooting them a couple of yards away), and makes a lot of the supernatural elements still overly powerful, but keeping them grounded enough to never get too over the top (an Elder vampire can still get his face blown off by a hillbilly with a shotgun, if he's unlucky). But nWoD has some of my favourite settings when it comes to RPGs; Geist: The Sin-Eaters and Changeling: The Lost are freakin' beautiful, Hunter: The Vigil is awesome and Promethean, while it's a bit hard to actually find a group for, has a great idea.

Mutants and Masterminds - Fun fact: I have never once used this for superheroics, even before the splatbooks for other genres. Mutants and Masterminds is one of the best, most balanced games I've seen for if you ever want to play a game vaguely on tone with Western superheroics; it does shounen anime, over-the-top Devil May Cry style action, I've even played some of my best mecha RPGs in this system. Very generic, very good, highly recommended.

Eberron 4e - I tend to prefer 3.5 for my games, but 4e is the only way I can ever seen Eberron being played. Rangers shooting bows on par with Wizards throwing fireballs, who're just as good as Fighters smashing people in the face with greatswords. Awesome setting.

Cthulhutech - It plays horribly, and the writers are pretty crummy in a lot of aspects (later books involve very childishly handled plot elements taken directly from hentai films, not to mention the multiple instances of 'We've broke the rules for this NPC to give them more character, but if you ever do this with your players, you're a Bad GM and you should Feel Bad(tm), but I really do love the idea for this book. For how popular Lovecraft got within recent years, I never found his idea of Eldritch horror particularly interesting, or frightening, and the idea of playing completely powerless people getting picked off like slasher film victims never intrigued me. However, turning that idea into Neon Genesis Evangelion: Lovecraft Edition was a stroke of genius, in my opinion. Engines which abuse Eldritch chaos to create insane amounts of power, so in violation of breaking the laws of physics that looking at it's inner workings drives you mad? Awesome.

Legend of the Five Rings - I rather enjoy the setting, and the system. Not much to say, but my only disappointment in the system (which seems somewhat less prevailant in 4e) is just how constrictive your School makes your character; I never liked in 3e all Crane Bushi were super-fast Iaijutsu duelists, or all Crab Bushi super-armoured heavy weapon experts with huge penalties for going outside these niches.

[Tamhansen]

Personally I prefer oWoD over nWoD. Although the system has somewhat improved there is no longer a coherent logic to the setting.I relished the mythology, the total and utter darkness. fortunately CCP/WW is restyling oWoD for the MMO cant wait for that.

Exalted rules. Epic game liked both 1st and 2nd so also eagerly awaiting 3rd

Abberant A very dark and eerily realistic look on the superhero/supervillain idea. Sure you grew more powerful, but power comes at the cost of humanity, both physical and mentally.

AD&D prefferably the original blue on white version. Yes it's a hell to create a character, but it was less restrictive than third or fourth. Plus no stupid gridbased mathfest combat rules. If i wanted miniature skirmish I'd play warzone or warmachine, not an RPG. But AD&D had it all and Thac0's as well. Really looking forward to the finished work on 5th.

Mutant chronicles. The most random character creation system ever, but what a marvelously dark and dystopian setting. Richly detailed, beautifully coherent, and the best faction division ever.

Wheel of Time. Yes it's basically just a 3rd edition D&D but the setting is magnificent. a real must have for any jordan fan who likes tabletop

On the point of L5R. That constrictiveness had a reason, and a damn good one. In the setting of L5R every kid of noble birth is brought up on a strict regiment. If you are born a crab, than day in day out you train in the way of the crab. like the way of the dragon better, tough cookie. If a char would decide to step out of bounds he brings shame to his family, his clan and his school. And would thus be cast out and become ronin, or worse.

Now I'm not saying you must like it that way, just explaining why they made those restrictions in the pre wizard versions and the 3 ed game. Every one enjoys different things, but if you are someone who likes to stay true to the setting, the restrictions make sense.

[Kazyth]

Ok.  Quick post here since it caught my eye, then sickly tired Kaz is going back to bed.

I love Exalted, though I preferred 1st Ed to 2nd Ed.  Haven't had a chance to tool around with 2.5
In that same vein, I absolutely adored Scion, which is rather like Exalted in a modern setting, with all sorts of mythologies thrown into the mix.
Abberant was hella fun, to bad they discontinued the line.  It really did have an interesting premise and I loved a lot of the fluff that went into every sourcebook.

AD&D - 3.5 Editions.  Each one had it's own charms and fun.  4th Ed I didn't enjoy nearly as much, though I gave it a chance.  Tapping card powers and the like just felt... silly to me.

Loved Pallidium, but that might just be because I really always had a thing for Rifts, despite the power creep that happened with every new release.  The setting just lent itself so well to pretty much any sort of campaign you wanted to run.

Mutants and Masterminds was another great one, as suprisingly enough was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG.  I loved the mutant race creator that came with that game.

I too prefer oWoD over nWoD for most things, though the nWoD Changeling is really awesome.  I really enjoyed what they did with Changelings, as opposed to oWoD's treatment of them.

Arkham Horror, loved the Lovecraftian setting where your heroes were never the badasses, and running was usually the best choice for almost any situation.

Deadlands was hella fun as well.  Magic, undead, and supernatural themes in an alternative old west setting?  Yes please!

And, of course, and all time favorite... Shadowrun.  Every edition had it's quirks, but all of them were a lot of fun to play and to run.  Troll Physical Adapt 4 Lyfe!

[Vanity Evolved]

Depends on which part of the series you're talking about - I tended to prefer oWerewolf, over nWerewolf, but the majority I just found vastly improved, setting-wise and mechanically by nWoD. (I'm not sure what the logic you're talking about is - this is the same setting where you get into huge logic conflicts if you dare try to put Glass-Walker werewolves in the same game as a Technocrat. ;D Watch the fun debate of people trying to figure out how Disrupt Wyrm works on Technocrats...)

I kinda' get the point of L5R, still doesn't mean I particularly like it's way of doing thing. Even Legends of the Wulin, D&D and other such games which had rather strict pathways had choices (in Legends of the Wulin, each Fire Sutra practitioner began the same - but each level brought with it a choice of two, then three, then four choices of abilities, with the same capstone, so two Fire Sutra masters could emulate different styles of it). With L5R, it just felt weird, as the book seemed to hugely encourage having a party from a similar Clan, which meant if you had a Crane game, all three Crane Bushi in your party have the -exact- same abilities. Even D&D let Rangers choose between Two-Weapon Fighting or Archery. =P Personally, I would have made branching pathways within each School; different masters with different practices and all.

And yes! Forgot to add Scion to my list. It's a shame it's completely unplayable, even by Exalted standards, because I freakin' loves my Scion of Hachiman. D:

[Avis habilis]

Over the Edge. Simple system, fractally mind-bending setting - as in every time you look deeper, there's another layer of weirdness, which contains another layer of weirdness, which contains another layer ...

Final Stand. A freebie, indie game about cliched martial arts movie characters. I don't think I've found another combat system that's more like actual sparring. (Do I throw more punches or keep a better block up? Do I kick or keep using footwork?)

[Lilias]

My tabletop experience has been about 90% White Wolf, and of that, about 90% was oWoD. I'm a total sucker for Mage, any edition and any setting. I love the Dark Ages subset and really wish I could find more people willing to take it up.

Second best game WW have ever made, in my book, is Wraith. Virtually unplayable, unless you land a dedicated group, but oh so fascinating to read. No other game meshes real world with mechanics so well.

Same, to a lesser degree, goes for Ravenloft. Great setting, makes for absorbing reading (especially the 'collateral' sources), but I loathe d20.

[Vanity Evolved]

My tabletop experience has been about 90% White Wolf, and of that, about 90% was oWoD. I'm a total sucker for Mage, any edition and any setting. I love the Dark Ages subset and really wish I could find more people willing to take it up.

Second best game WW have ever made, in my book, is Wraith. Virtually unplayable, unless you land a dedicated group, but oh so fascinating to read. No other game meshes real world with mechanics so well.

Same, to a lesser degree, goes for Ravenloft. Great setting, makes for absorbing reading (especially the 'collateral' sources), but I loathe d20.

I loved my some Dark Ages, if only for True Brujah - Temporis was either hilariously gamebreaking, or completely useless. I had similar opinions on Orpheus, which I'm saddened didn't become bigger than it was.

I kind of want to like Ravenloft, but I've never been particularly big on big crossover games. Spelljammer I do want to try.

[Tamhansen]

Depends on which part of the series you're talking about - I tended to prefer oWerewolf, over nWerewolf, but the majority I just found vastly improved, setting-wise and mechanically by nWoD. (I'm not sure what the logic you're talking about is - this is the same setting where you get into huge logic conflicts if you dare try to put Glass-Walker werewolves in the same game as a Technocrat. ;D Watch the fun debate of people trying to figure out how Disrupt Wyrm works on Technocrats...)

Actualy, as a long time camarilla member, and working on great many setting pieces for the various camarilla afiliated LARP's I've never had any conflicts there. Technocrats are agents of the weaver, so problem solved. Technocrats after all strive for stagnation, not destruction. Ergo weaver. But like i said. People who take the canon as law would run into difficulty said. That's why rule 1 was always pick what you like throw away the rest. It's like that in any core book. Also the nWoD vampire is basically crippled. but that would take a very long post to completely lay out.

I kinda' get the point of L5R, still doesn't mean I particularly like it's way of doing thing. Even Legends of the Wulin, D&D and other such games which had rather strict pathways had choices (in Legends of the Wulin, each Fire Sutra practitioner began the same - but each level brought with it a choice of two, then three, then four choices of abilities, with the same capstone, so two Fire Sutra masters could emulate different styles of it). With L5R, it just felt weird, as the book seemed to hugely encourage having a party from a similar Clan, which meant if you had a Crane game, all three Crane Bushi in your party have the -exact- same abilities. Even D&D let Rangers choose between Two-Weapon Fighting or Archery. =P Personally, I would have made branching pathways within each School; different masters with different practices and all.

And yes! Forgot to add Scion to my list. It's a shame it's completely unplayable, even by Exalted standards, because I freakin' loves my Scion of Hachiman. D:

Again. That is not true in the setting, but then again I've been playing L5R for 16 years including the card game and the clan wars miniature game. Rokugan is Tradition, and honor. As my grandfather did, so do I. No deviation, no change. Now does variation make for better gameplay, perhaps, although personally I love the strictness. It's a challenge. But deviation is not what the setting designers were aiming for. So yeah. Other games do. But the designers have changed over the years, and they believe less in the constricting strictness, so I guess it will come around more to what you prefer.

My tabletop experience has been about 90% White Wolf, and of that, about 90% was oWoD. I'm a total sucker for Mage, any edition and any setting. I love the Dark Ages subset and really wish I could find more people willing to take it up.

Second best game WW have ever made, in my book, is Wraith. Virtually unplayable, unless you land a dedicated group, but oh so fascinating to read. No other game meshes real world with mechanics so well.

Same, to a lesser degree, goes for Ravenloft. Great setting, makes for absorbing reading (especially the 'collateral' sources), but I loathe d20.

on that last note, you might wanna try the original raven loft for AD7D the rules system is a lot different.

On the first part. Mage rules. Though i prefer the awakening to sorcerors crusade. I enjoy really having to think to avoid paradox. cause paradox is a b*tch

[Silverfyre]

Orpheus was slated as a six book limited run from day one so I can see why it was sort of pigeon-holed into obscurity.  I have all the books and it remains a strong setting if you ask me.  I'd love to run it some day for some players who have actually heard of it.   ::)

Oh, favorite tabletop RPGs... I have so many.  I will always love Palladium Fantasy and AD&D because they were my first tabletop experiences, even if THACO will remain one of the worst mechanics ever introduced into gaming.  I do love the 3.5 d20 system and Pathfinder really turned it into a pleasurable gaming system if we want to talk DnD still.

Outside of that, Vampire the Masquerade and Wraith are fantastic.  I love NWoD's Geist too; such a great melding of the Wraith setting and combining it with the best of Orpheus and new elements.  I highly recommend that game for you White Wolf/Wraith/Orpheus fans.

Serenity the RPG is amazing for RP purposes alone.  The combat is a bit clunky but it is still one of my favorites to run.  And Pendragon (4th edition) is the best for Arthurian roleplaying.  That system's personality system and passions system is top notch.  I'd love to adapt it to other systems.

[Vanity Evolved]

Again. That is not true in the setting, but then again I've been playing L5R for 16 years including the card game and the clan wars miniature game. Rokugan is Tradition, and honor. As my grandfather did, so do I. No deviation, no change. Now does variation make for better gameplay, perhaps, although personally I love the strictness. It's a challenge. But deviation is not what the setting designers were aiming for. So yeah. Other games do. But the designers have changed over the years, and they believe less in the constricting strictness, so I guess it will come around more to what you prefer.

Yeah; I tend towards general competance (if you hadn't noticed from my game selection =P Hehe) rather than niche characters who have one very specific thing they're good at, and 'completely average or below par' elsewhere. It's not fun playing a Crane Bushi, my favourite, only for your GM to never put in any Iaijutsu. :/ But yeah, later editions have fixed this somewhat; if I recall, in 4e, Crane is now 'speed and samurai' rather than 'Iaijutsu master'. Bonuses for acting first, bonuses to act first and all these abilities work with [Samurai] weapons, rather than just a katana. I know it's intended to be a design feature, but I still think it's a rather poorly implimented and unfun one. ;D

[Avis habilis]

Spelljammer I do want to try.

Man, what I wouldn't give for some Spelljammer 4e stuff. The two were made for each other.

Another favorite - Blue Rose (or I guess by extension True 20). Interesting magic items! Even a dagger is dangerous to anybody at any level! Plus a neat "falling to the dark side of the Force" mechanic. (I mean, they've even got Force Choke with the serial numbers filed off.)

[Vanity Evolved]

Was that the True20 one which was kind of supposed to be 'epic fantasy romance' or something like that, where you took feats each level, had no XP and just had stuff like 'Feats for 1d6 sneak attack' and such?

[Avis habilis]

It was a dry run for True20, inspired by Mercedes Lackey & Tamora Pierce. I don't remember how often you got new feats, but you're right about the no XP part. The PCs level up when the group decides, however it's going to, that they should.

There was definitely nothing about a "1d6 sneak attack" since there were no dice other than the d20.

[Tamhansen]

lol hence true20

[Vanity Evolved]

Hmm, must have been mixing up two seperate games then... silly me~

[Callie Del Noire]

Right now it,s Pathfinder, since I've been busy helping set up the local organized play lodge. 

But there are a fair few games I'd like to try

-Shadowrun4e
-Eclipse Phase
-Cthluhutech
-Ironclaw

And others

[Tamhansen]

Oh, favorite tabletop RPGs... I have so many.  I will always love Palladium Fantasy and AD&D because they were my first tabletop experiences, even if THACO will remain one of the worst mechanics ever introduced

Hey!!!! Don't bust the thac0 at least is was better than the d20 infinite AC class. Oh yes I'm a level 1 monk with no armour, but I have AC 22. The first monster that can hit me without a nat 20 is a CR 6 drow.

[Chris Brady]

Let's see.  Some oldies mixed with the goodies. 

FFG's Dark Heresy, Deathwatch.  40k that I can run and play my way!  Looking forward to their new Star Wars RPG, funky dice and all.

Speaking of Star Wars, the old West End Games Star Wars, yes the D6 system has its issues and quirks, but the sheer amount of stuff they had for it was amazing, well written and useable beyond the system.  But then, I am a Star Wars nut.

Savage Worlds, in general, it's great for Pulp style games from steam punk, to Roaring 20's to 30's and Sword and Sorcery.  It also does a mean Pirates of The Spanish Main.

Anima: Beyond Fantasy, very front loaded on the character side (all the heavy lifting is there which is pretty intimidating) but once you have all that work done, I does Exalted better than any system out there, including Exalted's version of the not very functional Storyteller System (it's good for what it was:  For running low powered supernaturals, namely Vampires.  Everything else kludges or out right borks it, no matter how much they tinker with it.)

Mutants and Masterminds, all editions, for me the damage saving throw mimics and models Super comics to a Tee.

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game by Palladium Books.  As much as I love the ideal of Rifts, it's just too bloated and unwieldy compared to most modern games, but TMNT is he only game that I will willingly and quite happily run and play.  Even have some house rules for it.

As much as I love my fantasy, I haven't found a system, or rather played one that does high fantasy close to how I would want to.  D&D is playable but so many quirks and issues for me to fully accept it.  And I've read and now played (at least one game) from Rules Cyclopedia to 4e.  On the D&DNext beta, so hopefully that will work better for me.

And as always, this all has been my opinion, no statement of fact is implied or admitted.

[Vanity Evolved]

Hey!!!! Don't bust the thac0 at least is was better than the d20 infinite AC class. Oh yes I'm a level 1 monk with no armour, but I have AC 22. The first monster that can hit me without a nat 20 is a CR 6 drow.

Not possible. ;D Max would be about 19, including splats; that's assuming you had two 18's in Wisdom and Dexterity, and used your one feat for the special Gnome 'Armour which isn't armour' in one of the Completes. Still, if you were playing a Monk, having AC22 would be about the only thing you'd get before being one-shotted... ;D

(Worst would be Fighter, methinks. You could just about push your AC to 22, but not to begin. If you could get full-plate at first level, Dex 12 and a tower shield, you're up to about AC21-22.)

[Oniya]

Most of my experience was with home-brew AD&D 2ed.  I've also played Amber (the game where the players revolted and took over the game!) and a multi-race  oWoD (which had some character-driven plots worthy of Elliquiy.  The phrase 'rolling dice on the headboard/nightstand' was a running joke.)

[Silverfyre]

I loved Amber. Great game, wonderful world.

I also love West End Games' d6 Star Wars system.  I was contemplating running a game in the next few months using that.

[Tamhansen]

Not possible. ;D Max would be about 19, including splats; that's assuming you had two 18's in Wisdom and Dexterity, and used your one feat for the special Gnome 'Armour which isn't armour' in one of the Completes. Still, if you were playing a Monk, having AC22 would be about the only thing you'd get before being one-shotted... ;D

(Worst would be Fighter, methinks. You could just about push your AC to 22, but not to begin. If you could get full-plate at first level, Dex 12 and a tower shield, you're up to about AC21-22.)

Actually try gry elf monk max dex 20 and max wis 20, as well as monks in 3rd being allowed to use a shield. Got changed in 3.5 I think

[Vanity Evolved]

Actually try gry elf monk max dex 20 and max wis 20, as well as monks in 3rd being allowed to use a shield. Got changed in 3.5 I think

I dunno about 3e, not got my books handy, but yeah. Monks can't use any form of armour in 3.5, except for this ONE esoteric piece of armour in one of the books. I'm assuming Grey Monk has a level adjustment? Which in that case means it's not first level. ;D But yeah.

[Chris Brady]

I loved Amber. Great game, wonderful world.

To be honest, the game had some of THE WORST GM advice ever.  I liked the idea behind it, but the implementation... 

[Moraline]

My favorite?  For me it was the entire Palladium set of books.

Although we dispensed with the rule system early on and just gave it our own rules that heavily favored a more story telling system (Thank you, WhiteWolf for that concept.)  WhiteWolf's old World of Darkness was my 2nd favorite.

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game by Palladium Books.  As much as I love the ideal of Rifts, it's just too bloated and unwieldy compared to most modern games, but TMNT is he only game that I will willingly and quite happily run and play.  Even have some house rules for it.

The trick with RIFTS to really make it a great game is to focus on one specific region at a time and narrow down the focus of the scenario so all the characters and living in the same set of circumstances. That way you can make them deal with the same stuff (inside a coalition city, out in rural mystic china, living on Atlantis, out in the wilds of north America..)

RIFTS falls apart when GM's try to mesh all different types of characters together - there is very little balance in the system so you as a GM need to impose balance by limiting character class choices for each campaign (or finding alternate methods to bring balance.)