In the over two decades I've been playing tabletop role-playing games, I've played a lot of different systems, editions, and house ruled variants. Many stuck out because the games I played in them were awesome or I really loved the characters or players. Some stuck out because the system was fantastic. Often, those two met in harmony to make magic, but I've found that I almost always have more fun when I enjoy the system. The following 5 RPGs are my favorites to run and/or play in no particular order.
When I was young, I read all of Brian Jaques's Redwall series, and the tales of brave anthropomorphic woodland creatures have been integral building blocks of my love of fantasy. Coupled a world reminiscent of Redwall with a variant of the Powered By the Apocalypse system (one of my all time favorite base systems), this is almost tailor made to be on my list of favorites. The playbooks are all flavorful and have cool abilities, the faction notoriety rules and system of item tags are great, and it lends itself amazingly to one shots, short campaigns, and even longer arcs. On top of that, the rules are simple enough that it is easy for people new to the system (or even brand new role players) to approach and quickly understand. When I played it for the first time, I was able to pick up the vast majority of the game from my Playbook and two official printed off cheat sheets, and yet buying the books and reading them lent huge amounts of insight to the game. Additionally, the physical books are digest sized, hardback, and are amazingly bound and high quality.
This is the basic bitch answer of basic bitch answers, but I really love D&D 5e. While D&D/D&D adjacent wasn't the first game I ever played, it's been the one I've played the most over the years (mostly 3.5 and Pathfinder 1st Edition), and I do love the specific brand of fantasy that D&D enables. While I don't use a lot of the canon from D&D due to racial and cultural insensitivities and the fact that I like to wholesale make my own settings, the rules set is relatively easy to understand, it has rewarding leveling mechanics, and a number of bells and whistles that make characters seem enjoyably customizable without being overwhelming. Many of the fantasy substitutions available are either more simplistic or more complicated in ways that I do not enjoy.
I'm cheating, because this is actually several games. One of the first games I ever played was Vampire: the Masquerade, and I've played most of the line since then. The 20th anniversary edition rules set is the cleanest version of those rules out there, and the hefty core books provide more than ample information to run and play a game without needing to purchase a small library. The books, as anniversary editions, are love letters from the writers to the players, and they're amazingly written with the full weight of the history of the World of Darkness lending to their gravitas. I do incorporate some (but not all) of the metaplot from Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition, because I do enjoy V5, and V5 does have some amazing systems like Blood Dice, but I prefer V20 mostly due to familiarity and the whole thing being accessible out of one book. I've played Werewolf: the Apocalypse and run Changeling: the Dreaming and Vampire: the Masquerade. Werewolf and Changeling are favorites in one of my RPG groups, and we've woven themes from Wraith, Mage, and even the Revised editions of Mummy, Hunter, and Demon into our games. Additionally, Vampire: the Dark Ages 20th Anniversary Edition is possibly one of the single best RPG books I've ever had the pleasure of owning. Some day, I will have a group that wants to delve into its depths with me.
I've been reading young adult fantasy since before I classified as a young adult (I read a lot as a child), and Beyond the Wall is a simplified d20 system young adult fantasy game with some delightful twists. Character creation is based around a series of playbooks of YA fantasy tropes such as The Nobleman's Wild Daughter, The Witch's Prentice, and The Village Hero that have a guided and easy (and randomizable) method of generating vibrant characters quickly, clearly, excitingly, and collaboratively. Character creation, even with new players, is a breeze, developing inter character connections and even giving special items or boons. GM prep is also amazing as the game has a series of zero prep campaign scenarios that can be randomly generated and give a GM pretty much everything they need to run a session or two in about 5-10 minutes or less. It is one of my favorite game to run one shots at conventions or with brand new players.
While I prefer Vampire 20th Anniversary Edition to Vampire 5th Edition, I love what has been done with the basic D10 dice pool system in 5th Edition. The original Hunter: the Reckoning also didn't quite hit the same spot of monster of the week Supernatural/Buffy the Vampire Slayer/X-Files genre that I adore running games in. Hunter 5e is an amazingly written, streamlined, easy to understand system that involves the players at every turn. Desperation Dice are one of my favorite mechanics ever as a GM, and it runs so smoothly from both sides of the GM screen. It has a few hiccups (character maps feeling a touch tacked on with little mechanical significance, for instance), but it has replaced my former go to system in this genre, Monster of the Week, despite my love for the Powered by the Apocalypse system. Part of Hunter edging Monster of the Week out is because of my love for the World of Darkness, but it's a fantastic game in general.
I do have a few honorable mentions/rounding my top 5 into a top 10.
- Monster of the Week is an amazing supernatural horror game in the same vein as Hunter: the Reckoning 5e, and its set up much better for one shots and mini campaigns. It uses the Powered by the Apocalypse system, which I adore.
- Alice is Missing is a GM less silent, text message based RPG centered around players taking on the roles of friends and family looking for a missing girl. It's a one shot and takes about two hours, but its an incredibly deep, moving, and personal game.
- Monsterhearts 2 is a modern supernatural horror game about teenagers (think Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Vampire Diaries, Twilight, or the Teen Wolf TV show). Crank the angst to 11, and enjoy the supernatural drama. It also uses the Powered by the Apocalypse system.
- 2D20 Games. Modiphius Entertainment has a series of licensed games like Dune: Adventures in the Imperium and Star Trek Adventures that use their 2D20 system. It's a solid system, and sometimes I like playing my favorite sci-fi games.
- Adventures in Middle Earth is the D&D 5e variant of The One Ring RPG. TOR is a good game in its own right, but I love the conversion to the D20 5e rules set. As a life long Tolkien super fan, I am all in on this game, and it manages to capture what is needed in a Middle Earth RPG much better than all previous attempts at a Middle Earth RPG.
Fun read. :)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever played any good superhero RPGs?
I've played and enjoyed Mutants & Masterminds, but it's a pretty crunchy system that I'm not sure a lot of my players would like. It's fun for some groups though.
DeleteI need to try Masks, which is a PBtA system, but the inspiration hasn't struck yet. The book is on my shelf though, just waiting.
I've been meaning to look into Aberrant too. I've been told it's good, but I have nothing to base that on.