Your Favorite P&P RPG's

[S.L.Acker]

I got thinking about this in the D&D 5E thread, so I thought I'd ask it here. What is/are you favorite RPG(s)?

The ones I have played and would run or play in again are D&D 3.5E (With the pathfinder base classes and skills), D&D 2E, Cyberpunk 2020, Eclipse Phase (Though finding a group for that is hard), and Dark Heresy. I've got some Rifts books, but the rules and combat system always turn me off, I've also read over the newest edition of Shadowrun, but I just made some house rules for CP2020 and went with that instead, and finally D&D 4E just never caught on with my players. Of those I've had the most fun with D&D 3.5 and Cyberpunk 2020, however I'm fairly sure both are mechanically broken and that there are better systems for the same types of games.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

My group rotates around D&D (Pathfinder), Dark Heresy, and Deathwatch. I like all of them, though Deathwatch is probably the weakest mechanically.

[someone_else]

Apart from a heavily modified D&D 3.5 with some stuff from Pathfinder, I'd also play some Alternity.

ATM the alternity campaigns are on hold due to lack of time.

[Simon_Jester]

I too have a deep, lingering fondness for Alternity. There were things in the descriptions of technology and a few bits of rule detail that made me twitch, various unrealisms, but I genuinely like it- partly because it was my introduction to skill-based systems, partly because it was a decent system for SF and contemporary games.

[Edi]

I used to play a lot of DD2E at one point, but that got tossed by the wayside when I found DragonQuest. The relevant Yahoo groups are DQN-List and DQ-rules, where you can get the 2nd Edition rulebook. DQ has some fairly complex rules in some respects and the magic system starts to break down at higher ranks, but it takes a long time to get there. The learning curve is pretty steep but once you get there, it's a very good system. You don't need constantly more powerful enemies all the time, since the goblins and human opponents and others that would be staples in the beginning don't really get a whole lot less dangerous over time. Somewhat less yes, but they can still kill you quite dead quite easily even if you're skilled. Never mind the actual bigger things, which can be anything from very dangerous to absolutely lethal for even powerful parties that work well in concert.

We also played a lot of Star Frontiers (Alpha Dawn basic rules and the Knight Hawks expansion), though we modified the KH expansion to something completely unrecognizable from the base rules. Served us really well, though.

A couple of other systems I got familiar with but never played were Arcanum (from Bard Games) and Mekton Zeta. Arcanum is a D&D knockoff and MZ is a blueprint for constructing various sci-fi universes and it had a fairly well working ruleset. Though with an obviously mecha-oriented focus. Fortunately you're not straightjacketed to mecha with it.

[Bakustra]

Currently I enjoy Fiasco, Apocalypse World, Dogs in the Vineyard, and D&D4e the most.

[Darmalus]

While I have books from a ton of different systems, I've been playing GURPS 4th edition exclusively for close to 5 years now.

[Terralthra]

I played a lot of D&D 2Re, Rifts, Exalted and oWoD. As for favorite? nWoD, hands-down. They streamlined a whole bunch of everything, and the fluff has gotten better as well.

[Bedlam]

My favourite system is probably the old WEG D6 Star Wars, simple and very heroic feeling.

Setting wise I like Shadowrun and adore the oWOD mage.

Best games I've played recently probably Deathwatch and a home brew system called after london.

[Formless]

My group is pretty stuck to the d20 system, so that's the game I've had the most experience actually playing. Within that, we've done D&D 3e and 3.5, played 4e once, both Star Wars D20 and SAGA edition, and we've played D20 modern at least once. Of those, SAGA had nearly ideal playstyle in terms of feel. Smooth like 4e, worldly like 3.X.

I also found a lot of the concepts in Modern to be cool, but wish the execution was better. For instance, you have six generic classes based on the ability scores, right? BUT they only go up to ten levels before you are either forced to multiclass or qualify for an "advanced" class, all of which are more like what you would expect from your usual class based RPG. They should have either stuck with generic classes, or have archetypes take center stage as with other D20 games. Plus, the Talents tracks were boring, wasted potential. If they knew what they were doing (i.e. if I were in charge ) the talent tracks would have been where the Archetypes could be found, in case people really really wanted to play a Martial Artist, Soldier, Spy, Vampire Slayer, etc..

Of games I wish to try someday, Everway is pretty high on the list. Too bad its really hard to find...

[fnord]

My gaming group situation is a little complex.

600 km or so away, my first group, and I still play with them on occasion. These guys (3 in total) have a LOT of 3.0/3.5 D&D stuff, lots of SWd20 stuff (where, admittedly, my favourite SW games have been dark side ones with liberal rules lifted from Jedi Counselling), Pathfinder (which seems to have supplanted oldskool D&D3.x), some D&D4 (which was a bit of a bomb) and Shadowrun (one of the guys has been playing since SR1). We tried SW Saga and found it significantly wanting, but did like the stripped down skill list, which we've just about backported to SWd20.

Oop north, the second meta-group coalesced around a previous iteration of a FLGS. 20+ odd people, I've gamed with all of them. I'm currently running a mutant GURPS 3e/4e Traveller game set in 1145 Imperial, using 4e characters and 3e kit, which is going absolutely gangbusters. Spy/FantasyCraft is also quite popular, as has Shadowrun 4/4A in the past (pendulum having swung away a bit at the moment). And of course, D&D 3.0/3.5/4 and Pathfinder - with Pathfinder having recently displaced D&D 3.x, as with my group down south. The FLGS owner did run a Paranoia twice-off which was absolutely hilarious and much missed by all who participated.

My overall favourite for a while has been GURPS 3e/4e, with Spy/Fantasycraft a close second. I'm not a big fan of D&D up north due to the excessive powergaming, but conversely enjoy it a lot down south due to the focus on the backstory that they tend to prefer.

[Tasoth]

Don't Rest Your Head and 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars. Monsters & Other Childish Things gets a solid shout out.

[Batman]

Define 'favourite', please. For playing, D&D 3.0/3.5 or DSA 4, but for the universe they were parked in, BattleTech and ShadowRun. The rules made no damn sense but the universes were awesome.

[Agent Sorchus]

Actually Formless forgot a major D20 game that our group is slowly working through and that was the DragonLance 3.5 rules-set. Why not go back to one of the classic settings for DnD? The biggest problem is that everyone seems to know the story, but we kinda solved it by setting the players in the "middle" of the continent and setting up the black/ green dragonarmies as the real bad guys, since there is a gap in ownership for they're high-lords. Currently on the backburner though to make way for a almost freeform epic D20 based Star Wars campaign.

By the way does anyone have any ideas for ending a epic star wars campaign quickly? I'm kinda tired of it.

[Stofsk]

By the way does anyone have any ideas for ending a epic star wars campaign quickly? I'm kinda tired of it.

rocks fall, everyone dies a wild death star appears, and shoots the planet you're on

For myself, I've tried D&D 3rd Edition, SW Saga Edition, Traveller T20, Mongoose Traveller (though I've barely played it) and some White Wolf systems (I think they were White Wolf), and Exalted once.

I prefer Saga Edition specifically or d20 in general, because it is structured in a way that I think makes sense even if there are some mechanics which are bizarre or poorly worded. Of them all I dislike White Wolf the most. Nothing about it appeals to me or makes me want to play it. I'd like to give Mongoose Traveller a proper try, also I'd love to try out Pathfinder, but I'd need friends who actually play these games.

[Simon_Jester]

Sorchus-

Heroic sacrifice goes down well. And/or if you've got any persistent villains who've really pissed the players off, you can do a 'Reichenbach Falls' scenario where Our Heroes have to take the villain with them for some reason, to end the campaign. That's if you're in too much of a hurry to craft an "all lived happily ever after" ending, at least in my opinion.

[Agent Sorchus]

The problem is that we have esentially become the villains of the setting. We have a Mandalorian WarKing, A Sith from the future, and basically an entire wing of the gangster evolutionary tree.

Though there is still Palpatine and Vader we are doing more of the moving and shaking. (I actually like the idea that the next hero's of the galaxy track us down and take a swing at us.)

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. Well, if you're the bad guys, try setting up an inverted story- the seemingly unstoppable heroes who take the party with them.

[R.O.A]

I play a whole bunch of things. If I am DMing I like to do New World of Darkness, Dark Heresy, and Hero System 6E. I have played ADnD, DnD 3.X, and 4 but they are not my favorite. I have also done Wushu and Teenagers from Outer Space before.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Exalted. Because I love it. It's just insane. I DM Exalted and have lots of fun with it, and I've played it once and had plenty of fun with that too. I'm also a pretty big fan of most of the oWoD stuff and the Storytelling system in general even though I know it can be horendously imbalanced. if you ever have less than five dexterity then you're already failing as a combat character, and it's kind of ridiculous to make combat so dependant on one specific stat.

But I still love the system and Exalted especially, despite all the flaws with the system and the uh... well frankly White Wolf sometimes writes some pretty fucked up fluff, but Exalted has enough awesome stuff in it that I can just ignore the terrible shit instead of getting turned off by it completely.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

This is 'favourite', not 'everything ever', so I will restrain my long rambling rant and say two things only.

Paranoia, Second Ed. A game of doublethink, confusion, chaos and creative anarchy, where the players are actually not allowed to know the rules, but that's all right, because they're insane anyway. Survival in a universe ruled by artificial stupidity and human fear and greed- I simply do not think there is a roleplaying game out there that is better for encouraging all the things that are good about gaming, for demanding and expanding lateral- thinking skills.

Issaries Industries' Heroquest. The original property finally comes home to a game company actually run by the creator. Not the latest version, but far and away the most interesting, freeform and improvisational version of the system. A rich and detailed background, rules and abilities that emerge from and support the background- for a game universe as a living thing and a place to go and visit, wonderful. A genuine sense of the mythic.

[Feil]

Mechanically, L5R's 4th edition is the best I've seen, although I don't care for the setting.

[SylasGaunt]

Lets see..

My group and I loved Exalted's setting and idea but weren't fans of the system.

The 40K RPGs come in right after that though we haven't gotten to play a Black Crusade game yet.

We recently had fun doing a short adventure in Wu-Xing: The Ninja Crusade which had the added benefit of letting us get a handle of the system since it's used in all the company's other games (and we really want to try Part Time Gods and Apocalypse Prevention Inc. because their settings sound great).

[Havok]

I've never had it in me to actual do the R in RPGs. It's just too fucking nerdy and awkward.

However, I love character and level design and I remember making TMNT, Heroes and Rifts characters, vehicles and maps for hours.

[Spoonist]

I've never had it in me to actual do the R in RPGs. It's just too fucking nerdy and awkward.

However, I love character and level design and I remember making TMNT, Heroes and Rifts characters, vehicles and maps for hours.

It's like that co-worker I talked to. When I mentioned being a gamer he went into a tirade about the nerdiness of it. So I asked him what he did as a hobby. The answer; "Folk-dancing".

The Irony - it buurrnnsszzzt.