Short Circuit's Journal: RPG: Favorite RPG system

What RPG systems have you played? What did you like about them? What didn't you like?

Finally, what advice would you give to newbies?

Have your own questions and subjects to talk about? Email me and I may post them.
Don't miss other RPG-related journal discussions. and resources. Also, check out mkcity, a D&D city generator.

NOTE: I'm going to be doing a new "resources" entry Wednesday. Email me your favorite RPG-related tools and webcomics. :)

A list:

[Zirnike]

1) AD&D: Good, basic system. A lot of neat spells and character types. A bit hard to find some rules in... it can be complex.

2) 3rd edition: Same as 1, except better organized, characters are more powerful but more ballanced between the types, and more freedom in making unusual characters. Prestige classes rock.

3) GURPS: Con first... A LOT of rules. Advantages: Well, nearly everything else. It works better in high and ultra tech levels, but earlier techs aren't bad. Rule books for every setting, so no matter what you're interested in, you can use it... that makes it easier to learn the rules (you can not read stuff on melee weapons in an ultratech game, and you can have a D&D level, WW2, and cyberpunk game using the same system). Characters can be COMPLETELY customized. Probably my favorite.

4) Paranoia: Only good occasionally. But it's fun to mess with your friends and kill off their clones.

5) Toon: Another fun occasional game. You need to be even more silly than paranoia.

6) Mage: The Ascention: Mages done right. You need to be very creative, but you can do some interesting things. System is a bit clunky. A bit dark for some people's taste.

7) Vampire: The Masquarade: Vampires done right. System is clunky, and yep, dark.

8) Vampire LARPs: Fun. An excuse to dress in costume. Depends on the group you play with, though... It's better to have a group more interested in the equivilent of political and social maneuvering than fights. Rock-paper-scisors is the primary 'dice'.

9) Feng Shui: Never played, but it looks interesting. Gotta love a game where there's an entire class of people that are designed to get beat up by the main characters. (there are named and nameless villians).

Just a few

[bahwi]

My favorite RPG is Shadowrun.

Fav. System is Hackmaster, the rules of AD&D finally taken for how ridiculous they are, and turned into a damn fun game anyways. =)

Gurps

[FortKnox]

Simply because it is the most open ended. I've played a GURPS game in fantasy setting (D&D like), and I've played a GURPS game in heavy duty sci-fi. You can do pretty much anything with this system, but you need a real experienced GM, cause the game is just full of tons of rules.

Re:Gurps

[Zirnike]

Experianced players help, too. I don't think it's a good system for newcomers. Too many rules...

Have you ever read GURPS: IOU? Not real useful as a sourcebook, but it's really funny.

RAVENLOFT

[arakon]

Happens to be my favorite setting. Dark is good and when the players have a good dose of I as the DM *MAY* not let them win at all, and they could end up walking zombies or something less desirable adds a bit of stress and more human responses. Players tend to be more self-centered and less heroic when there is a good chance that they'll lose that level 8 wizard they've been working on for 4 weeks. Becoming an undead zombie tends to put a hamper on spell-casting.

I did have a player purposefully try to c

rolemaster

[ralatalo]

I miss playing rolemaster

Re:rolemaster

[sixide]

RMSS/whatever they call it these days is a badass system. If they provided rules for extensibility, it would dominate.

Warhammer FRP....

[Cryptnotic]

I really liked Warhammer Fantasy Role Play (Warhammer FRP or WFRP), mainly for its career system. Your character could start out in a "basic career" like soldier, rogue, et cetera. There were even some mundane basic careers like "shopkeeper". They would have opportunities to enter a new career (e.g., "targeteer, animal tamer, bodyguard") at certain points in the game, spending accumulated experience points to do so. I liked the way that system worked because you really got the feeling that your charact

I forgot a big one.

[Zirnike]

Earthdawn. [thefreedictionary.com] One of the best fantasy systems available. At one time the first edition rules were downloadable. At the least, I have a CD with them on it.

A lot of interesting classes, magic items are done interestingly (they cost XP (legend points in ED) to power up to various levels of power, and you need to research... they may need quests, etc.)

WarpWorld

[oddmake]

Blacksburg Tactical Research Center's too-detailed-and-realistic-to-be-acceptable-on-mar ket game.
Now out of print.
I don't think the system is playable for most people without computer aid or something.But it's great.

For playable game,GURPS is my favorite system;I longed for 4th ed.

Oh, gawd!

[Politas]

That's a big question:

Let's see, in no particular order, just as I remember them:

D&D Basic/Expert sets
AD&D
D&D 3rd Ed.
DragonQuest
Runequest
Space Opera
Superworld
Cyberpunk 2020
Hunter Planet
Rolemaster
Spacemaster
GURPS
Metascape
Shadowrun
Torg
Vampire/Werewolf/Mage/Wraith/Cha ngeling
Timescape
Albedo
Toon
Paranoia
Heros Unlimited
Palladium
Tales from the Floating Vagabond

and several assorted systemless games at cons over the years. I'm probably forgetting one or two. There are a few other RPGs that I own, b

Amber Diceless Roleplay

[Grrrrrrr!]

The best, IMHO. Well at least the best for those of us who consistantly have dodgy dice rolls :) Though needing a good GM it encouraged roleplay, rather than rollplay.

After character creation you would never be sure of your own stats, or those of the other characters. The only problem was the paranoia would end up with excessive note passing, and people ducking out of the room, which could slow things down - of course you would just use this time for the crafting of your own plots.

The rules are simple, bu

A generic rules system

[tqft]

http://loewald.com/foresight/
Is mostly geared to sci-fi or now role-play

Find a copy of Hindsight for fantasy/magic/religion

Good rules system

Though if you play well in any system you should hardly ever need the rules (or die)