What makes it your favorite? Do you want to play it? If so, what’s keeping you from doing it?
For me, it’s Burning Wheel.
I bought it purely based on aesthetics back in 2008ish, then got the supplements, then Gold, then Gold Revised, with the Codex, and the anthology…
I blame it for my weakness for chunky, digest-sized, hardcover RPGs. :P I also like the graphic design, I like the prose (even if it’s divisive), and it has both interesting lessons you can plug into other games (like “let it ride,” letting success or failure stand instead of making lots of little rolls) and arcane systems that pique my interest (like the Artha cycle, which makes roleplay, metacurrency, skill rolls, and advancement all intersect). I genuinely like reading it for its own sake.
I haven’t played it because… well, since it’s not D&D, that immediately makes it harder to get people interested, sadly. It’s also a bit daunting, given its reputation as a crunchy system. But I have a group of players interested in trying new things, and fewer other games calling for my attention, so hopefully I’ll get a chance soon. :)
Genesys. Technically. I’ve played the Star Wars FFG system that eventually became Genesys (and loved it), but I haven’t played Genesys itself. I even own the Genesys dice, but I lack anyone else to roll them with.
Blade of Arcana, an untranslated japanese game with a tarot card gimmick. From my understanding it’s a mostly standard d20 only game but I’m really curious how they managed to incorporate the cards into its gameplay. Unfortunately I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t read it.
I want to play a lot more Chronicles of Darkness, but most people prefer fantasy or sci-fi and those who want urban horror prefer World of Darkness. They don’t market it well.
I’ve also never played Blades in the Dark game. I think I need someone else to DM it for me first. I don’t really have PBTA down, my mind hasn’t quite grasped it yet.
I’m curious… what is it about CofD that you feel is missing from WoD? I’m actually on the other boat but since I’m often the storyteller, I get to decide. And my choice is mostly because I like WoD’s lore more and because I don’t own CofD books.
Regarding PbtA, I thought I’d recommend the Dungeon World Guide. The early sections apply for any PbtA:
That’s a good question. I think I’m just more familiar with the CofD lore and rules having first come in to these lines around nWoD. But I do like a lot of their mechanics, the themes, and feel of it all. It’s very mysterious and X-Files to me, versus WoD which always felt more punk. I’m sure I’d enjoy playing in a WoD game, too, but I’ve got all these CofD books I need to use if I got the chance to ST lol.
Making characters in GURPS is so fun. A friend was running a cyberpunk game one time and I brought like 3 characters so I could pick the one that fit the party the best. Sometimes we would just roll up character concepts to see how many points it would take.
I played a lot of GURPS too, but it’s probably my all time favorite character creation system
See, one of the things holding me back is getting overwhelmed by character creation. There’s just so much to go through!
What makes me want to try GURPS is that it seems flexible (even light) in play, would adapt to just about any genre, and allows for incremental advancement. But since I’d be the one bringing it to the table, I’d have a heck of a lot to do to make it an easy entry, despite not having played the game yet.
Totally understandable. When I first started playing, the GM made us all premade characters to learn the rules on. Then he made templates for us when we played for real so we just had to pick a “class” and spend a few character points for customization.
GURPS is great for any setting and really shines in settings that involve many tech levels, like time traveling (that’s the default setting, in fact). It can be quite simple and elegant, but there are rules for just about any situation you can think of, and the calculations aren’t always simple because of it. Luckily, all rule blocks are optional. Playing GURPS “Lite” is supported/recommended in the base rulebook and it’s a fully functional system on its own.
Anyway, I just love GURPS. After playing for a while, I started loving the character creation but I agree, it can be quite the barrier to entry. Also, running games and planning sessions is a lot of work for the GM. More than most systems I’ve played. If you’re playing rules-light or don’t mind handwaving a few specifics when building enemies, it’s not as bad. But if you’re going all in and trying to make reusable stat blocks, the joys of character creation will come back to bite you lol
Pathfinder 2