Top Games you've never run/played that you're considering playing, and WHY?

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I've never run the James Bond 007 rpg before. I think probably because when it first came I was heavily into Hero stuff and I went with Espionage! to meet my modern spy needs. It's odd because I was a massive James Bond fan as a kid (and still am). And a lot of the boxed sets that came out for the 007 game were very, very nice.

Anyway, I've been itching for some modern black ops action and, after looking at just about every modern military/espionage game ever published I've pretty much decided to go with Classified, the 007 clone.
Classified is covered a little bit in this thread:

Sometime I'll get around to covering the supplements like For Your Information as well. Might cover the module I have for Classified as well.
 
Classified is covered a little bit in this thread:

Sometime I'll get around to covering the supplements like For Your Information as well. Might cover the module I have for Classified as well.

Thanks, I will read through the linked thread. So far my impression is that Classified does most of the things I want and does them in a way I quite like. And nothing seems horribly broken.

Edit: The only slight negative I would say is that character creation is a little involved but, once over that hump, everything looks like it plays pretty smooth.
 
That could work.

Another option would be to give Toughness increases at certain experience point 'tiers'. The game itself sets these tiers in its tables for combat encounters (which are really pretty useless). This is introducing a defacto level sytem into the game. It also would mean that you could just adjust the monsters' Toughness by a number according to their challenge level (eg. 'weak', 'ordinary', 'strong', mighty') which are already given in the game.

The issue here is that, as the game is not really based on any clear maths, it's a bit hit and miss by how much to increase PC Toughness.

There's also the case that, once you start hacking the game to be more like D&D, it might in fact be easier to just use some variation of D&D to run the setting. (Especially if you want to run an exploration, sandbox style game rather than the official adventure path as the existing scene based corruption rules work quite poorly for supporting exploration).

Another 'tool' to control character improvement is to allow the optional re-roll rule. You can re-roll one thing per turn maximum for the permenent loss of 1 experience point. I pretty much guarantee the my players will burn through at least 1 xp per session this way. I doubt we'll get through more than 3 or 4 scenes per session, so that slows adavancement by about 20-25% by offering success now, rather than character growth later.
 
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Albedo: Platinum Catalyst. I'm steam cleaning the furry out of the setting right now and planning on doing a Cold War Era Mercs in SouthAm/Africa themed sci-fi game. I like the tech and its integration, and the systems seems to work well enough to keep the focus on the characters without going into PBtA levels of vagueness.
 
Albedo: Platinum Catalyst. I'm steam cleaning the furry out of the setting right now and planning on doing a Cold War Era Mercs in SouthAm/Africa themed sci-fi game. I like the tech and its integration, and the systems seems to work well enough to keep the focus on the characters without going into PBtA levels of vagueness.


Albedo is one of my "bucket list" games. Not Platinum Catalyst, though, the earlier ones. I do NOT like furres as a rule, but what a fascinating comic, game and world.

Edit for content: I am hoping to play (read: run) Zweihänder soon, just have to find the time...
 
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GURPS.

I am utterly fascinated by the idea of GURPS, and own an entire shelf's worth of GURPS books, but I can't get myself motivated to combine this rule from GURPS Cross-stitching and that rule from GURPS Bible Stories, plus that other rule from Pyramid Volume X.X: Underwater Basket-weaving to get the effect I want. I guess what I'm saying is, yes, GURPS can be fine-tuned for anything, and that's awesome, but the system knowledge and or/ system mastery I would need to fine-tune it is... daunting.
 
I've never run the James Bond 007 rpg before. I think probably because when it first came I was heavily into Hero stuff and I went with Espionage! to meet my modern spy needs. It's odd because I was a massive James Bond fan as a kid (and still am). And a lot of the boxed sets that came out for the 007 game were very, very nice.

Anyway, I've been itching for some modern black ops action and, after looking at just about every modern military/espionage game ever published I've pretty much decided to go with Classified, the 007 clone.
I've got the James Bond 007rpg and it's curious about just how much the ruleset is similar to the 7E version of Call of Cthulhu in a number of aspects. They are both percentile systems, but a lot of the changes made in the 7E actually match up with the innovations that were present in 007 - the 'ease factor' that manipulates your base score to different percentile targets is a forerunner of the fifth/half/full scores; the Hero points are effectively used for the same things as CoC Luck points.

We've already seen the espionage and horror genres crossover in several games: Delta Green, Night's Black Agents and The Laundry. Indeed, Charles Stross wrote an essay somewhere noting the similarities between espionage and horror fiction - in either action (eg James Bond) or thriller (eg Le Carré) mode. Both genres actually feel the same for the most part, with only the supernatural elements of horror being replaced by the Soviet Union or other more clandestine groups (like Spectre). I see no reason, in lieu of any official licensed RPG, for you to use the CoC system in order to run James Bond style adventures. Regarding that licence, it was something I was hoping that Cubicle 7 may have done after they had already picked up the other iconic British IPs of The One Ring and Doctor Who - but they didn't - while the orginal Victory Games license ended in some acrimony IIRC.
 
GURPS.

I am utterly fascinated by the idea of GURPS, and own an entire shelf's worth of GURPS books, but I can't get myself motivated to combine this rule from GURPS Cross-stitching and that rule from GURPS Bible Stories, plus that other rule from Pyramid Volume X.X: Underwater Basket-weaving to get the effect I want. I guess what I'm saying is, yes, GURPS can be fine-tuned for anything, and that's awesome, but the system knowledge and or/ system mastery I would need to fine-tune it is... daunting.
GURPS 3rd edition is much easier. Rules in the main text, optional rules in the sidebars. Simples. Get the Basic Set and the two Compendiums and you've got everything you need.
 
Hârnmaster used to be on this list for me, but I've recently rectified that!

Pendragon - I've owned the game on and off for twenty years, and recently (like, yesterday) got 5.2 in the mail. I'm interested in finally getting it to the table!

Vampire the Requiem/Masquerade - Another recent pick-up. I started listening to the LA by Night YouTube show, and that got me interested in the new VtM. I got VtR 2e a few months back, as an extension of my love for CofD. But I've never played either. I think I'm leaning towards the latter, for its lack of metaplot.

HARP - I don't own it, yet, but was thinking of trying to pick it up at Gen Con. The positives I've heard about the game outweigh the negatives. It has me intrigued.


GURPS.

I am utterly fascinated by the idea of GURPS, and own an entire shelf's worth of GURPS books, but I can't get myself motivated to combine this rule from GURPS Cross-stitching and that rule from GURPS Bible Stories, plus that other rule from Pyramid Volume X.X: Underwater Basket-weaving to get the effect I want. I guess what I'm saying is, yes, GURPS can be fine-tuned for anything, and that's awesome, but the system knowledge and or/ system mastery I would need to fine-tune it is... daunting.

I understand exactly how you feel. I don't know which version if GURPS you have, but I would suggest that you start with GURPS Lite. I did, even though I had a shelf full of books, too. It allowed me to get a handle on the game and rules before tackling more. GURPS Lite is just enough of the rules to get started, in my opinion. Personally, I prefer 4th, as it made combat a bit more easy, took out some clunky bits, and I feel it's more streamlined overall. But if your shelf full is 3rd edition books, stick with that - at this point it wouldn't be worth spending the money, unless you have go play the newest edition! :grin:
 
For reasons best left unexplored, I've been flicking at my D&D 3.5 books and rediscovered Elder Evils.

Sure, it's got issues (name me a book from this time that doesn't), but I'm wondering why I never used Atropus or Zargon as campaign fuel.
 
I understand exactly how you feel. I don't know which version if GURPS you have, but I would suggest that you start with GURPS Lite. I did, even though I had a shelf full of books, too. It allowed me to get a handle on the game and rules before tackling more. GURPS Lite is just enough of the rules to get started, in my opinion. Personally, I prefer 4th, as it made combat a bit more easy, took out some clunky bits, and I feel it's more streamlined overall. But if your shelf full is 3rd edition books, stick with that - at this point it wouldn't be worth spending the money, unless you have go play the newest edition! :grin:

I actually have a pretty even mix of 4e & 3e GURPS books, but my core set is 4e.

I've tried to get a handle on GURPS Lite a couple of times. One evening at a con, I sat down in my hotel room intending to read & comprehend GURPS Lite. Made some progress but got to a part I couldn't quite wrap my brain around (don't recall specifically what), so I put GURPS Lite down, wandered the hallways, and ended up at a party where I met the woman I would end up dating for two years. We're no longer together, but it was a great, if occasionally troubled, two years that had some positive effects on both of our lives, and we remain good friends. So in that sense, GURPS Lite really worked for me, haha.
 
Albedo: Platinum Catalyst. I'm steam cleaning the furry out of the setting right now and planning on doing a Cold War Era Mercs in SouthAm/Africa themed sci-fi game. I like the tech and its integration, and the systems seems to work well enough to keep the focus on the characters without going into PBtA levels of vagueness.
Sorry for the necro, but there is a version of these rules called Magenta, that is furry-free and PWYW on DTRPG.
 
Sorry for the necro, but there is a version of these rules called Magenta, that is furry-free and PWYW on DTRPG.
Yup, I've looked at it; it felt kinda.. lacking a bit by comparison to the stuff in Albedo. I wanted all the hardish sci fi stuff, and that was really just the skill and combat system. And it was pretty poorly formatted to boot. I got the impression they lost the license with the cartoon artist and went with trying to keep something from the base system.
 
We're thinking about wrapping up John Carter 2D20 and finally switching to Symbaroum. I appreciate the heads up on this thread about some of the issues (toughness/rocket tag) and will plan accordingly.

I've had Symbaroum since day one because of the setting and art, but it's time to give it a go.

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I'm still planning on running Against the Dark Yogi at some point, despite never having either run or played it. I'm still feeling a bit uncertain on how to portray mythic India properly. I have read up on some of the mythology, and that helps some, but still, it's all kind of distant. I really don't want it to be generic you-all-meet-in-an-inn fantasy with a few Indian names thrown in, but I have no idea where people are supposed to meet in ancient India. :tongue:

Also, God help, I am actually considering CthulhuTech. I'm starting to think that it might be a way to get all the good bits of Werewolf: the Apocalypse without having to include all the ones that drive me crazy. Just as long as I stay away from the published modules, because those really do seem to be kind of dire...
 
Barbarians of Lemuria: I ran a very short play-by-post version of it. I really liked the use of Careers, and the fact that Wizards were the bad guys. This is one of the few games where I'd run the setting pretty much as written (though some of the racial archetypes are a bit strange for me).

Marvel Heroic: The use of dice to indicate how well/poorly a character played with a duo/on teams was appealing. But I never could fully grok character creation.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Fowl: Man, do I like how characters are put together (and use of the d12, which the book called something like the red-headed stepchild of dice). I'd like to attempt it, but I don't think I could ever get anyone to play it (the name, for example, doesn't exactly roll off the tongue). I think there's room for a micro version of this, since it just boils down to (basically) tags with step-dice .

Freebooters on the Frontier: I might have been able to port my Dungeon World group over, but I moved out of state before that could happen (and our DW campaign was pretty awesome, honestly--major changes to the campaign world, by the time we'd finished. The characters were turning into movers & shakers). I liked the old-school feel, the moves (particularly the names), and the fact that there was a definition endgame for a character, which appeals to players like my wife, who still has issues with the fact you don't really "win" in an RPG.
 
Talislanta. I like the fluff. The system looks dead simple, and since I usually run the games, simple appeals to me. Also, it's all been made free. The magic system seems fun, too.

There are a lot of others on my bucket list, but taking the thread title literally, this is one of the only ones I'm actually likely to run, as opposed to just "wanting to".

I ran it for the first time recently (4e), and I am in looove. It's got to be one of the smoothest, simplest games I've ever run/played. For my players, it didn't hurt that they had a handful of high rolls at just the right times right out of the gate for our first few encounters, which set an appropriately heroic/pulpy tone.

I'm seriously bummed we don't see the system get more widespread use because it could seriously be my "universal" game engine of choice.
 
I ran it for the first time recently (4e), and I am in looove. It's got to be one of the smoothest, simplest games I've ever run/played. For my players, it didn't hurt that they had a handful of high rolls at just the right times right out of the gate for our first few encounters, which set an appropriately heroic/pulpy tone.

I'm seriously bummed we don't see the system get more widespread use because it could seriously be my "universal" game engine of choice.
You might pick up the Omni system PDF which is the universal base for Talislanta.
 
Hmm, somehow I missed this thread...

I'm honestly not sure I would ever run something outside my small stable of games under consideration to run, though I'd be more likely to play in something (for example, I played in a Revised TFT campaign that we just put on ice, and I play in a PbP L5R 1e game).

From things folks have listed, I have run Burning Wheel and am very actively running and playing Traveller (running 2 PbP, playing in 3 PbP (one an age of steam game), and just started a Roll20 game). Talislanta is on my "gee, I would love to try this out sometime" list, and having played L5R I'm really tempted to get Bushido (would love to get my hands on a Tyr Games edition for that original game feel I like so much these days). Empire of the Petal Throne is also on my "gee, I would love to try this out sometime" list.

I'd also love to give Thieve's Guild a good solid try (I've run a few sessions before). If I could get the time to read some Moorcock, it would be cool to give Stormbringer a try to compare it to RuneQuest, though I'd have to fight against my dislike of relying on piracy for actual play because again, I'd love to try 1st ed (I own 4th and 5th).

Beyond that, hmm, I dunno. If someone I liked as a GM ran an LotFP game I could try that out.

Sadly my days of buying lots of games and wanting to give them a spin are over. People used to hate when I showed up to the MIT games club with a new game... People in college were a bit more tolerant... A one shot of Fantasy Hero led to a yearish long campaign (though with almost none of the one shot players... the one shot was on Friday evening, the next day was the first games club meeting of the new school year and due to our getting a notice in the first edition of the school paper, the room was mobbed, I still had Fantasy Hero in my backpack and declared I was ready to run, no one else in the room was as ready to run though one other group at least formed around a GM who had a D&D campaign ready to run, he just hadn't showed up with books).
 
Does any know how different the Tyr Games and Phoenix Games versions of Bushido are!?
 
Rolling characters for a Savage Darwin's World this Saturday.

Alien rpg from Free League is on my short list of Darwin’s World interludes. Still reading Destroyer of Worlds.

As to why? I have been looking forward to a break from fantasy settings.
 
So many games, so little time. Since I moved to the hinterlands of the arctic I don't have a lot of gamers available other than my teenage kids. They're great and all, but they only really want to play D&D. I haven't had a chance to try Alien yet, and I'm dying to play Swords of the Serpentine.
 
Paranoia
Was going to join a session when younger. I ended up spending the session making a character only to somehow die during character creation.
Next scheduled session fell through and the group disbanded.
 
Paranoia
Was going to join a session when younger. I ended up spending the session making a character only to somehow die during character creation.
Next scheduled session fell through and the group disbanded.

Of all the one-shots I've played, I've enjoyed the two Paranoia one-shots the most. In the more recent one, I died 9 times, including 4 or 5 TPKs! Everyone survived character creation, though.
 
Waste World by Bill King - Never played because I've only ever found one supplement from the line at a tag sale, (The Shogunate) and never saw it on Drivethru. The name is actually kinda of misleading because the setting reads a lot more like a high powered post- postapocalyptic space opera of Romance of the Three kingdoms or at least it did to the kid version of me. Just as well I suppose no way it could live up to my expectations after all these years.

I actually have all of the books and supplements, and it's pretty awesome as a background. As a game, a lot less. But the ideas are pretty golden. And it is very much post-apocalyptic in some places, but a lot of it is, as you put it, post-post-apocalyptic.

And for me at this point, the name of the game is Pathfinder. I have a lot of the material, mostly from bundles and such. But I purchased them more for ideas and such, and am just starting to play because that's what the group that I found decided on, and what the GM is willing to run. It doesn't appeal that much, other than the fact that playing something is better than playing nothing.
 
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