Saturday, August 22, 2009

Ten Great RPGs That Aren't In the Top Ten of All Time

By Vance Kapurro

This is a list of ten pen and paper RPGs that are good, but probably aren't on most people's top ten list. As we've stated, the games are good, maybe even great, but not great enough to be at the elite Top Ten level.

1. Vampire - The lead game for the World of Darkness setting by White Wolf. It's been around a long time and has spawned multiple different types of follow-up games in the same genre. Still, even with all the evil creatures out there, Vampires tend to attract us the most.

2. Mage - A pretty inventive, free-flowing magic system. I remember reading this book at a bowling alley for the first time and thinking, "Dang, you could do anything with these characters?!" If you could think it, you could cast it. Provided that your character had the ability to do it, that is.

3. Werewolf - Probably one of the toughest and baddest creatures in White Wolf's World of Darkness setting. Playing a Werewolf was badass because you could go from normal people mode to crazy killer mode in the blink of an eye.

4. Paranoia - One of the only games I can remember that you automatically get extra lives for when you die. Consequently, expect to die fairly often. This game is also one of the few games where the printed modules were often better than player generated ones.

5. Spycraft - This game advanced leaps and bounds from the 1st edition to the 2nd edition. I believe they could be poised to advance up there with WotC's D&D and White Wolf's World of Darkness. Only time will tell, but the game has a ton of potential.

6. Gamma World - This game reminds you how fun random character generation can truly be. Set in a post-apocalyptic setting, it pretty much allows you to run a Mad Max, anything goes type of setting for your characters. The game has been around forever and has like six or seven different editions of the game.

7. Cyberpunk 2020 - One of the cleanest and true cyberpunk games of all time. It has a very distinct feel and flavor to the game. And who could forget the Mr. Stud implant? Possibly the greatest and most useless roleplaying implement of all time.

8. Warhammer FRPG - Warhammer is more known for their miniatures and wargaming. Even lately they've become known for their Warhammer MMORPG. But their roleplaying game is pretty darn fun too, and has a very unique character class system.

9. Earthdawn - According to FASA, it was supposed to be Shadowrun but in a fantasy setting. The game had a pretty unique system and setting, but for some reason it always felt kind of bland when you played (sometimes like 4th edition D&D). The game did pretty well, however, and still has a small following.

10. Hackmaster - Best critical hit tables ever. I remember running this for our gaming group and just hoping that every time someone made an attack roll, it was a critical hit. You never knew what part of your body was getting mauled or completely chopped off.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment