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Saturday, February 18, 2012

What is Your Favorite Non-OSR Game?

Obviously, if you are not a big fan of the OSR, this is probably an easier question to answer.  For the purpose of this question, I'm going to define OSR and OD&D, it's immediate offspring, their derivatives and clones.

What is your favorite Non-OSR type RPG and why?

For me, the answer would be probably have to be Savage Worlds.  It's a pretty flexible system that can cover most any genre.  It played much better than I expected (when I playtested for the guys at White Haired Man) and I'd gladly play it again.  Might even consider running it down the line.

For a less flexible system, I'd say Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy, but I'm not sure if it's because of the system itself or if it's because it's the first game I played when I returned to gaming.

So, give me your answers if you would.  I'd like to learn about (and maybe learn to play) some of the other RPGs out there.

31 comments:

  1. We started playing legend of the 5 rings and I'm liking L5R system and setting quite a lot. Also atomic highway was fun. Atomic highway is based on apocalypse setting and you can get a free PDF at rpg now. It had exploding dice but wasnt as unpredictable as savage worlds in my experience. I endorse them both.

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  2. @Todd - i really liked the read thru of Atomic highway. Looked damn fun. Never tried L5R

    @Beedo - Have lots of CoC stuff - never played or ran it

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  3. I GM both 1e AD&D and 4e D&D, but I wanted to bring up something else -
    I'm loving the Pathfinder Beginner Box, and the reason is that it feels like a great mash-up of Moldvay/Mentzer Basic simplicity with 3e D&D (and some 4e D&D innovations, eg in how monsters are presented). It's not intended to be an Old School game, but by stripping away the cruft - Attacks of Opportunity and suchlike - it's no more complex than RC D&D, and runs incredibly slickly. Lovely game.

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  4. WFRP (1E or 2E only).

    L5R 1E was an eye-opener too though. Never before or since have I had so much fun with a dice pool system.

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  5. @s'mon - I love the PF Beginner Box! PF that I can understand, I almost wish thy could run it as a second line.

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  6. I'm with you on Savage Worlds. In fact I'd gladly give up D&D altogether to play it, but my group does not agree with me on that front.

    The initiative system in Savage Worlds is amazing. I have often considered porting that part at least over to D&D.

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  7. I too love a bit of Savage Worlds if I want a break from Labyrinth Lord. Our group also plays an ongoing Dragon Warriors campaign as befits UK gamers of a certain age. We'll almost certainly move on to a WFRP 1e or 2e game after that.

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  8. You know what I'm going to write before I even scribble it. ;)

    World few Darkness, yo!

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  9. @crusty one - I have the PDFs of the recent edition of DW - I'd love to play it, but not sure I'll ever be able to drum up a group for it

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  10. @Christian - aye, that was an easy one ;)

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  11. Amber Diceless RPG! I think I might be the only one in the blogosphere talking about Amber DRPG, it's getting lonely :-(

    Anyway, great game that I had a lot of fun with in the past. Now and then I think that I might need to get my current gaming group into it someday. I also have been wondering if I need to write more about it on my blog...

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  12. I know this is going to be a cheesey answer, but true. My favorite game is what ever I am playing.

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  13. Pathfinder. I DM'd it last year and we had a lot of fun. It's so opposite of the old games that it was a fun change of pace. But it's more of a "break game" not my go-to game.

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  14. Mayfair's UNDERGROUND, Atlas' OVER THE EDGE and WASTE WORLD are my 3 favorite RPGs.

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  15. Lady Blackbird, but I've only played it once. I'd like to try In a Wicked Age, never had the chance.

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  16. Vampire: The Masquerade 2nd edition - corebook only. (Don't be tempted by the other material; it sucks.)

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  17. I'm with Beedo. Call of Cthulhu is my #2 after D&D. Warhammer FRP (1e/2e) is a close third. All other games pale in comparison to those three IMHO.

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  18. Ghosts of Albion.

    I love magic, horror and Victorian games.

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  19. as an aside - I wonder if anyone actually plays WFRP 3e?

    I have it, can't see ever playing it...

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  20. Hi, I posted earlier and mentioned that my vote is for Amber Diceless RPG. Maybe Blogger ate my comment?

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  21. possibly @Drance - I never saw it

    That's a blast from the past. heh

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  22. @Tenk: yeah, Blogger's a bugger, literally. Anyway, so, you ever play Amber DRPG? I spent a few years playing a lot of it. I discovered the game through the ads in Dragon magazine. It was so mysterious that I had to get it! Then I read the novels and was blown away! I've been thinking that maybe I need to talk to my current gaming group about playing some Amber!

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  23. @Drance - worked up a character for it for a play by email game, but the game never got past recruiting and character creating. interesting rules that need a mature group from what I remember.

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  24. Yeah, it does indeed take a mature group, and I would say a fairly close-knit group. Hey, you ever read the novels? If not, give them a try! Start with Nine Princes in Amber, of course...

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  25. I'm putting in a word for Dangerous Journeys. Does a good job of presenting the world of the old adventure stories and pulp fiction magazines, with worlds you can get involved in.

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  26. I play only SW but I was thinking about how to make it more deadly, almost throw-away like an old-school game. I like the Gritty Damage rules in the new edition (each wound also garners an injury) and the first iteration of incapacitation: the number of wounds that incapacitates you determines what happens. 1=stunned, 2=unconscious, 3=dying, 4+=dead. It's clean and easy, and hopefully quite deadly...

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