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.
Mage: the Ascension. It’s the only system I’ve ever played where I really felt like I knew MAGIC, rather than just a handful of pre-scripted tricks.
Traveller seems like it would be fun with the right group
It is, tell ya.
Warhammer RPG, Earthdawn 3rd ed or Hero System is my owned top games that see too little game time.
Mutant Undergångens Arvtagare is also sorely missed on the table
Dune and Symbaroum
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.
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.
I’ve always wanted to play Cypher in the Numenera system. I have been using the Cypher items in my dnd game but I wanted to use the whole system
Dm me If you’re interested in a text game, I’m running one with three players on discord. Also there’s an official 5e-numenera conversion
Chivalry & Sorcery
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.
Grey Ranks
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.
Space Opera
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.
Psi World
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.
@HipsterTenZero Aftermath! Because I’ve always been weird. Also, Space Opera.
I really want to give masks a shot sometimes
@HipsterTenZero at this point, anything. Savage Worlds has been my jam, though.
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.
Everything on my shelf. Cyborg, Forbidden Lands, Spire etc.
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.
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 find in practice that I prefer d20hero/mutants and masterminds over GURPS. It has all the same flexibility but WILDLY less math.
Removed by mod
