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Geez GURPS was popular in this country, had no idea it was under-rated! o.OI keep hearing that it's popular, but yet I can't find a group that plays. In fact, I've been the only person in my last couple of gaming groups to actually have played it. They all knew what GURPS was, but kinda in a cousin of my friend's brother-in-law sort of way.
I've played GURPS a couple of times, but each time, I only get the sense thatt he system is solidly "Okay, I guess." It's like living in an apartment where all the steel girders and wires and stuff are fully exposed. Perfectly functional, and in some ways useful and efficient, but it is ugly to the point that it drains your soul, a little.
For point-buy systems, I think I prefer HERO.
Traveller, Earthdawn, Eclipse Phase, Dogs in the Vineyard, Houses of the Blooded and Dresdan Files (any FATE game really) are all well worth checking out.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Ars Magica by Lion Rampant/White Wolf, Undwerworld by Mayfair Games, Swordbearer by Fantasy Games Unlimited.
For its page count, SWORDBEARER is easily in my top 20 favorite games. It has a number of innovative game rules, and one of the best magic systems I've every run across.
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I enjoyed (GURPS) because everything worked. We had nowhere near the amount of homerules that we did with each of our D&D campaigns.
To go further with your analogy: Think of it as a home you got to completely customize.
I've read through HERO, never got to play.
Exactly, GURPS left things wide open to fiddle with, which turned out to be as much a blessing as a curse.
I think the difference between GURPS and HERO was that GURPS worked better at regular-human levels of power, while HERO excelled at superhero levels. Things were a bit more fast and loose with HERO, even with a bunch of stuff to keep track of. Perhaps it was the lack of my experience, but I was never able to get the same level of comfort with GURPS. And one of the drawbacks of both systems was that being well-versed with the system helped a LOT.
I, for one, loved StarDrive.Alternity (Never got a fair shake, this one)+1, and DarkMatter of course!
I hear ya!!
+6
Oh, & add me to the supporters of the Artesia RPG.
-- C.
Rolemaster and MERP for me. There is a lot of Rolemaster in D&D 3.x I forget which one of the original Devs for 3rd Ed started out at Iron Crown but the Skill mechanics are basically Rolemaster divided by 5.
Rolemaster and MERP for me.
Ahh we played heaps of MERP back in the day, fun game indeed.
Surprised it hasn't had a resurgence in the light of the movies.
Licensing issues I believe.
Once again, its the fans that miss out.
Licensing issues I believe.Rolemaster and MERP for me.Ahh we played heaps of MERP back in the day, fun game indeed.
Surprised it hasn't had a resurgence in the light of the movies.
Iron Crown had "funding" issues and Decipher Inc picked up the licence...
The Lord of the Rings RPG was ok if a little uninspiring based largely around the movies rather than the Second Age like MERP...
Decipher Inc still owns both the RPG licence for Star Trek and Lord of the Rings but they haven't done anything with them for years....and the properties are rotting in development hell.
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Rolemaster and MERP for me.Ahh we played heaps of MERP back in the day, fun game indeed.
Surprised it hasn't had a resurgence in the light of the movies.
Not really, bot RM and MERP are horrifically complicated, convoluted and unless you know the rules by heart, you will flip through pages of tables just to hit a guy. No thanks...give me GURPS any day...
Not really, bot RM and MERP are horrifically complicated, convoluted and unless you know the rules by heart, you will flip through pages of tables just to hit a guy. No thanks...give me GURPS any day...Rolemaster and MERP for me.Ahh we played heaps of MERP back in the day, fun game indeed.
Surprised it hasn't had a resurgence in the light of the movies.
Not that complicated role d100 add you bonus and consult the table - For each character we photo copied the weapons tables and the crits tables we needed - fights were much faster than D&D.
Do you have proof of that? I'd be interested in reading it. Not that I doubt you, their cybernetics did seem familiar, and I'm only passingly familiar with Cyberpunk 2020, I preferred CyberGeneration.
Yeah, I do actually. Not just the fact that the Wasteworld entries are word for word copies of the CP2020 text, but I was also submitting writing for RTG at the time, and was informed when Mr. Pondsmith finished getting off the phone with his lawyers regarding it.
I'm glad you liked Cybergeneration. I don't think it ever got a fair shake, because people saw it as "kids with super powers busting up the world" rather than "kids being hounded every minute of every day because of who they are and what they can do" - People saw it as more of a power-gamer's paradise, rather than a clever re-telling of Akira, in levels of roleplay potential.
Ah, well. Such is life. :)
Not really, bot RM and MERP are horrifically complicated, convoluted and unless you know the rules by heart, you will flip through pages of tables just to hit a guy. No thanks...give me GURPS any day...
Players only needed 1-2 tables, 1 for your weapon and 1 table for crits. It was the GM that was screwed.
Rolemaster version 1 was actually a great game, because they kept it simple. The skill system is pretty much like D&D 3.X and Pathfinder, just divide by 5.
Unfortunately, the Standard Edition of RM came out and the skill system, while more "realistic", became too complex.
I played it for many years, you have to be really fast with your calculator to make that game work, and being ok with random PC death, because it's going to happen eventually.
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Microlite20.
I also enjoy Microlite20: Purest Essence, kinda a "expert" version with expanded classes and such....
I liked RM, but I have that beat. The party was in a fight, and I had just finished my character. I joined the fight, got critted, and died in approxiamately 6 seconds of real time.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Not really, bot RM and MERP are horrifically complicated, convoluted and unless you know the rules by heart, you will flip through pages of tables just to hit a guy. No thanks...give me GURPS any day...
I don't want this thread to steer into "No, you're wrong; yours is a terrible game, well deserving of its ignominity!"
It's been my experience that an enthusiastic maven of a game, willing to walk new players through a set of rules, can make all the difference between a game everybody likes, and a game that everybody finds clunky and frustrating.
I think Jeff Grubb logged 1000 hours at all sorts of conventions the summer that the original MARVEL SUPERHEROES game premiered, making sure everybody had a gret demo experience. It's probably one of the reasons SJG instituted the "Men in Black" program to provide evangelists for their games.
Sometimes, as I can attest to personally, it would have helped.
Artesia: Adventures in the Known World
Best game book I ever bought. Not only does it look beautiful from start to finish, but the system is genuinely interesting, if not perfect. However it has the hands down best character advancement system of any game ever.
Wraith
Wraith is also on my top five of under appreciated games. No one seems to play Wraith anymore, but it was hands down the most awesome of the world of darkness games. I am actually rather glad that it doesn't really appeal to most, because it makes it a very private and personal game. One about fear, and loneliness, goth boys and punk girls, blasted industrial landscapes, passion and pathos and horrible things inside your head. One day I will find a group who I would actually trust playing this game with.
I liked RM, but I have that beat. The party was in a fight, and I had just finished my character. I joined the fight, got critted, and died in approxiamately 6 seconds of real time.
LOL.
The worst crit result is paralyzation, because you could rez fairly easily (a herb?) but if crippled it was difficult. One of my friends had a character, he always created Rangers, that was crippled from the neck down 3 different times from 3 different GMs, two of those times from a pit trap. He had a pretty good reason to quit, lol.
My character had his hand cut off at the wrist and was bleeding 6/round. I still kept on playing. I asked my GM if I could simply change my name on the top of the sheet and not have to create a new char., and he agreed. I played the game for years under various GM's and enjoyed playing the game.
RM and MERP were great fun, echoing everyone else here but the Combat system was great and as 8th Dwarf said - were alot quicker than d20 combats!
Adding to that 1E Space Master too... Action on Akaisha Outstation... heh good times!
Honourable mentions also to Golden Heroes and Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game [original edition]
I'll echo the praise for Unisystem, particularly the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. Easy to learn, easy to run. The spell creation system is also a lot of fun (although it can definitely be gamed by a min-maxer, but a GM with a good sense of balance can offset that problem).
And I'll also agree that 4th Edition D&D is underrated - or at least, the system itself anyway. My experiences with 4E are much the same as they are with any other game - it is a lot of fun if you have a good GM, and a monotonous combat-heavy clusterscrew if you have a bad GM.
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I'll echo the praise for Unisystem, particularly the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. Easy to learn, easy to run. The spell creation system is also a lot of fun (although it can definitely be gamed by a min-maxer, but a GM with a good sense of balance can offset that problem).
Thirded (or fourthed, or whatever). Buffy's actually one of the best systems I've seen for actually representing it's source material mechanically. The Classic Unisystem is wonderfully simple and (for the most part) realistic while the Cinematic version used by Buffy is perfect for, well, more cinematic things.
Adventure! is also wonderfully done and somewhat underappreciated.
I mentioned this over in the Over-Rated thread, but I always rather liked the Earthdawn setting. I wasn't a fan of the system (it felt too much like they were trying to be unique and innovative without actually realizing that players hate constant chart lookups - even if you have a cheat sheet), but what little I played of it, it really impressed me with feeling a lot more polished and integrated than it's predecessor, Shadowrun. I would have liked to have seen it survive with more support and a revised system (to be fair, I still miss FASA something awful).
I mentioned this over in the Over-Rated thread, but I always rather liked the Earthdawn setting... I would have liked to have seen it survive with >> more support and a revised system <<(to be fair, I still miss FASA something awful).
I mentioned this over in the Over-Rated thread, but I always rather liked the Earthdawn setting... I would have liked to have seen it survive with >> more support and a revised system <<(to be fair, I still miss FASA something awful).
Well goodness me! I'll have to check that out! Thank you!
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Decipher Inc still owns both the RPG licence for Star Trek and Lord of the Rings but they haven't done anything with them for years....and the properties are rotting in development hell.
I don't know about Star Trek, but Sophisticated Games/Cubicle 7 has the license for a Lord of the Rings RPG now, which I think is coming out at GenCon.
As for my picks, Star Frontiers (even with the Universal Table), Heavy Gear (more for the setting than the rules), and Underground.
I'll echo the praise for Unisystem, particularly the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. Easy to learn, easy to run. The spell creation system is also a lot of fun (although it can definitely be gamed by a min-maxer, but a GM with a good sense of balance can offset that problem).Thirded (or fourthed, or whatever). Buffy's actually one of the best systems I've seen for actually representing it's source material mechanically. The Classic Unisystem is wonderfully simple and (for the most part) realistic while the Cinematic version used by Buffy is perfect for, well, more cinematic things.
Feng Shui. I still buy Robin Laws a drink at every con I see him at for that one.
Unknown Armies. I cannot stand the genre (Modern Occult Horror, as opposed to Buffy, which is Modern Occult Ass-Kickery). But it is brilliant in terms of how it fleshes characters out with very little rules cruft.
Godlike/One Roll Engine. Some truly lovely work there. I've been tempted so many times to convert NuWoD to this engine.
To me, Hero and GURPS are the epitome of "simulationist" games. Whatever you want to do, there's probably a detailed rule for how to do it, or a set of approximations that can sort of do it, all in the name of "realism" or "character options".
I greatly preferred GURPS before it had the Compendium. I ran a lot of gritty fantasy games in it. Anyone who wants to run 'low magic' fantasy should seriously look at it.
Seconding the recommendation for FATE.
The Riddle of Steel: The attention to detail on how medieval weapons do mayhem to meat-sacks is impressive. The throwaway idea that you accumulate bonus dice based on your motivations - and that winning fights is as much about getting your motivations involved - is like a skipped pebble in a pond, with rippling interactions.
I'm also seriously biased towards the WEG D6 engine just for its simplicity and wide range of results.
I don't know about Star Trek, but Sophisticated Games/Cubicle 7 has the license for a Lord of the Rings RPG now, which I think is coming out at GenCon.
Thats Interesting news I wonder if it will be better than Deciphers version?
Well goodness me! I'll have to check that out! Thank you!I mentioned this over in the Over-Rated thread, but I always rather liked the Earthdawn setting... I would have liked to have seen it survive with >> more support and a revised system <<(to be fair, I still miss FASA something awful).
You are quite welcome.
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I'm going to also add Amber Diceless to my list. Not only was it a great game in and of itself, but the book itself was a great primer that can be applied to running any sort of rpg game as well having some good exercises in roleplaying, such as the questionaire.
Creating attributes by auction was also the prime win.
+1, Amber DRPG gets some hate in some quarters because if you have an 'adversarial' GM he's free to kick over your sandcastle whenever he wants, but with a 'cooperative' style GM it's pure magic. Best campaigns I've ever had the pleasure to play in, hands down.
Mongoose's Conan RPG was great and too short-lived - best solution for low-magic (as in magic is rare, not magic is impotent) D20/3.5-style fantasy I've run into. Armor system was win. Too bad about their licensing woes.
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Anything by Palladium (Rifts,Robotech,Heroes Unlimited)
And Warhammer Fantsy Roleplay 1st or 2nd editions (IMO the best fantsay roleplay game)
I disagree on the first part. But agree with you on the second.
I use the Palladium background stories and what-not, but as for an actual game system...I shudder at it. It was god-awful.
It worked okay for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/After the Bomb, but yeah, it was terrible for most anything else.
I always thought that a smartly-selected subset of Rifts would have made a hell of a computer RPG.
But god, did that game ever bog down in play. The group I was playing with at the time stuck with it for a goodly long while with all the players being pretty veteran with the system and a combat would still consume a full game session usually.
My vote for underrated system: Torg. Flawed, yeah, but the parts that were brilliant...
My votes goes to Trail of Cthulhu which has excellent production values and the best take on the Mythos I have seen. Also the publishers at Pelgrane press are really helpful and nice people.
Another forgotten gem is the original Deadlands. Although it became bloated with to many options (in some peoples opinions) the core setting and unique game mechanics requiring a deck of cards and playing poker as well as rolling dice, was really fun.
The old school alternative history western game Aces & Eights has some really interesting ways to resolve combats and the Hackmaster inspired character generation system can be really fun.
Last but not least I will mention an old game called Mutant Chronicles which, despite being horribly unbalanced, had one of the funniest character generation systems i have ever seen. We could spend hours just rolling up characters instead of actually playing the game.
Edit: An honorable mention goes to the indie game Operation fallen reich a game about eccentric British special agents and occult Nazi conspiracies. The game itself is a pretty basic D20 system, but the games truly unique feature is that you play a board-game when you create your character going through all the events of your characters adult life to get your skills, quirks and flaws until you end up as an agent of the British Empire.
Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT)/Tekumel
+1000
A very under-rated game world. It was the fourth system I played (after D&D, Star Frontiers, and Morrow Project). It was the first fantasy game I encountered that broke out of the Tolkien-esqe elf/dwarf/halfling rut with races like Pe-choi, Shen, and Ssu... Here's the other Races.
I soooo wish that I could get my group to try it out. Whenever it's put out as a possible campaign I usually get a collective "meh" from the group. =\
It's been 25 years since I last played.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st edition): I'm going to throw Warhammer into the mix as well, not for its combat or character creation system (which isn't that good), but for the work done fleshing out the game world, the art(!), environment, campaign, and other "fluff" details. Awesome.
Paranoia (1st edition): Great game for 1-shots imo and can be incredibly funny. Once you get to know the secret parts of the game (after several long campaigns), it loses some of it's luster though.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st edition): I'm going to throw Warhammer into the mix as well, not for its combat or character creation system (which isn't that good), but for the work done fleshing out the game world, the art(!), environment, campaign, and other "fluff" details. Awesome.
Paranoia (1st edition): Great game for 1-shots imo and can be incredibly funny. Once you get to know the secret parts of the game (after several long campaigns), it loses some of it's luster though.
First ed's combat had some issues(largely sorted byt second) and major issues on the skills front, but how can you not love the character creation system?