What kinds of RPGS do you like?

[Josh]

I was so excited to get 4th edition because the claim was that they fixed all the big problems.  And I think they did.

However, They also removed almost everything interesting or cool.

[Tazendra]

My biggest problems with it were that so much stuff wasn't finished. They left huge gaps in the rules and just said apply GM Fiat. Of course its the GM's job to fill in the gaps that the rule book missed, but did they need to leave so many holes?

I did like what they did with Magic ratings. I like that if you want to play a character that dabbles in magic you can do so, no automatic starting Magic attribute of 6. In the end I think they did a decent job with the game, but it was so different from the previous editions, it just didn't feel like even remotely the same game. Also, while a bunch of problems were fixed, just as many new ones were created.

If I had never played the game I might have liked it better.

[pfooti]

I think you hit the nail right square between the eyes, Taz. SR felt like it was evolving from v1 to v2 to v3. Strange and stupid things were phased out (like how staging worked in 1e, it was easier to kill people with holdout 4L1 pistols than some of the heavier 5M3 pistols), and combat and skills were simplified. If you had some 2e stuff, you could easily adapt it to 3e. But 4e was a whole new mechanic, and as far as I could see, it was entirely gratuitous. The core sr3 mechanics seemed reasonable to me, and I didn't really see any reason to change them.

Now, I have to admit something: I've never actually played SR4. I moved away from my SR group into the cold wastelands of Northern Delaware before the 4e of shadowrun came out. I bought the core rulebook and read through it, but haven't been able to convince my group to give any version of it a shot.

One change that I like at least in principle is the change to Decking. Fluff or no fluff, Decking has always been an issue in SR. You set up your systems as GM, and at some point the rest of the players go on a Pizza and Beer run while you and the Decker deal with the computer stuff. I ended up simplifying it immensely, just using basic computer rolls, and adjudicating all Decking in a few short rolls. I also gave lots of bonuses for decking from within the system, encouraging the group to bring their guy along, rather than trying to hack in. I figure: there have to be some isolated systems, right?

Anyway, like I said, it's a bit moot. I've not had the chance to play SR4, and it's not looking like I will have that chance in the near future. Too bad, it was one of my favorite games, especially for Modern/Magic combat. Good fast gunfight rules that struck just the right balance between lethality and fun.

[SillyRobot]

I use lots of different systems, depending on the genre and feel for the universe.

As a DM I tend towards games with a reasonable mix of action/investigation and a wide latitude for player action.

I tend to avoid heavy humour (though I ran a Teenagers form Outer Space campaign for 2 years) and unwinnable horror.

As a player, I appreciate any game with strategic choices for the character.

[Tazendra]

I agree with you about Decking. The 3rd edtion matrix rules were very cumbersome. We always just played it that we had an NPC decker played by the DM so all of it could take place behind the scenes and not take up game time.

Unfortunately Decking (or hacking, as they call it in 4E)  is one of the places where the new rules have big holes. I really hope they fix it with the new matrix sourcebook they are coming out with called Unwired. At the moment, there are many parts of the matrix rules that have to be house ruled.

[DavidWL]

I look for:

Elegant and Simple game systems - Everway: Visionary Roleplaying.
Games that encourage a sense of ... anything. - Nobilis is a great example of this (a sense of the mythic)
Games that encourage fun or interesting stories - Shock: Social Science Fiction shoots for this (I don't know if it succeeds as I've never played it).
Games with interesting mechanics (all of the above).

Etc.

Best,
David

[felirc]

I've collected a few different RPGs over the years:
AD&D
D&D 3.0/3.5
BESM 2ndRe/BESM D20
World of Darkness
Vampire the Requiem
Star Wars RCR/SAGA
(Looking into GURPS)

I'd have to say that while I started with D&D 3.0, I lend myself to more open systems such as BESM and WOD. I'd comment more on what kind of game I enjoy, but to be honest it's been difficult to get a game going here (using any of these systems). Even when I get people excited about trying a game in one of these, they just loose intrest before the game starts. So I guess that would make me more of a rules lover than a gamer at this point. 


  -Felirc-

[Josh]

I'd have to say that while I started with D&D 3.0, I lend myself to more open systems such as BESM and WOD. I'd comment more on what kind of game I enjoy, but to be honest it's been difficult to get a game going here (using any of these systems). Even when I get people excited about trying a game in one of these, they just loose intrest before the game starts. So I guess that would make me more of a rules lover than a gamer at this point. 

As Logan9a would tell you skype is a great resource for finding gamers.  Heroic Cthulhu is played with people all over the world.

[rampant_dice]

_{(First post, good to be here.)}

-Rampant Dice

[SagremorTheUnruly]

I like games that can be adapted to almost any setting or type of character, and provide flexible rules for almost anything you could try in combat. A certain heroic core is also important to me. Hence D&D 3.X has been pretty damn good for me.

However I also prize game balance highly. D&D 3.X has not been so good there. However by hook or crook I've always personally managed to either houserule or narrate things into a balance, or as a PC overcome challenges.

These days I feel I am slowly moving off of D&D and yearn for something very simple that allows a decent amount of freedom in building a character but that has much quicker and simpler conflict resolution. Something skill based rather than class based. So I made a RPG like that and will be using it to try and get my wife into roleplaying.

D&D has been the only thing I've ever really played, everything else I make an offshoot of D&D or make-up entirely. It's worked pretty well for me.

[AndyJames]

To be honest, I like any system that can give me a sense of... epicness. Granted that this is more a function of the DM's storyline than anything else, but so far, I have only come across this style of storytelling in DnD and Classic Battletech (the tabletop wargame, funnily enough). Because of that, these two remains my two best loved systems.

[Fox Lee]

• Balance. Solid mechanics are the only good place upon which to build good fluff.
• No gender restrictions. That kind of stuff has no place in my fantasies.
• Very few, if any, racial restrictions. I don't care how flavoursome it is, I'm always the player who craves exceptions.
• A clear distinction between rules and fluff. Reading White Wolf gamebooks has always been a slight headache for me, because there are too many places with overlap.
• Fun, not realism.
• A game where the character is more important than their equipment (or has the choice to invest in equipment or self, as they like). The only place D&D really lets me down.

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head.

[Tazendra]

A game where the character is more important than their equipment (or has the choice to invest in equipment or self, as they like). The only place D&D really lets me down.[/li][/list]

My biggest complaint about D&D as well. I really like Earthdawn for that reason, items are limited, and you can't even use them until you bond with them, which takes effort and XP. Its a shame the game never really took off.

[sumodawg]

D&D 2nd because 3rd pandered to kids too much.
SR 3 nothing finer than Ares Predator with smart link. 
Mechwarrior, who doesn't love mechs?
Rifts, kewl idea, nice crunch, but mechanics from hell and a GM's nightmare!!!

And when you need something different: Gamma World.
or Marvel SuperHeroes, sometimes you just need to bash somebody with a light pole to improve your day.

[Squash Monster]

• Consistent tone - a realistic medieval world, or an over the top anime medieval world are both fine by me, but only if the whole system fits it
• Verisimilitude - when I do world building, I actually pay attention to things like ecology and trade networks and farmer/other ratios.  I know better than to expect this from a published setting, but I would like to be able to construct adventures without ignoring these things
• Streamlined combat - combat is the most system-dependent thing we do in RPGs, I'd like it to hold my attention
• Interesting combat - more options than move and swing is nice
• Interesting character creation - I'm here from CharOp, what do you expect?
• Starcraft balance - even more picky than the person who wants the fighter and the wizard to be equals, I want them to be equals and very, very different
• No scaling numbers - the obsession with numbers that go up is what causes almost every broken thing in D&D

If anybody tells me a system that gets most of these, you will be my hero.

[AndyJames]

Consistent tone - a realistic medieval world, or an over the top anime medieval world are both fine by me, but only if the whole system fits it

This is a DM's work, not the system's


Verisimilitude - when I do world building, I actually pay attention to things like ecology and trade networks and farmer/other ratios.  I know better than to expect this from a published setting, but I would like to be able to construct adventures without ignoring these things

Same as the above.


Streamlined combat - combat is the most system-dependent thing we do in RPGs, I'd like it to hold my attention

Roll one set of dice per round only, check.


Interesting combat - more options than move and swing is nice

Only limited by your imagination, check.


Interesting character creation - I'm here from CharOp, what do you expect?

You can be anything (skills based, not class based), check.


Starcraft balance - even more picky than the person who wants the fighter and the wizard to be equals, I want them to be equals and very, very different

Everyone gets the same points, and being class-less, everyone would be fairly similar in terms of power, check.


No scaling numbers - the obsession with numbers that go up is what causes almost every broken thing in D&D

Skills gains geometric scaling according to level achieved means that people tend not to have uber high numbers, so check.









And the system you are looking for? Mage: the Ascension, part of the World of Darkness series from White Wolf    

[Josh]

• Consistent tone - a realistic medieval world, or an over the top anime medieval world are both fine by me, but only if the whole system fits it
• Verisimilitude - when I do world building, I actually pay attention to things like ecology and trade networks and farmer/other ratios.  I know better than to expect this from a published setting, but I would like to be able to construct adventures without ignoring these things
• Streamlined combat - combat is the most system-dependent thing we do in RPGs, I'd like it to hold my attention
• Interesting combat - more options than move and swing is nice
• Interesting character creation - I'm here from CharOp, what do you expect?
• Starcraft balance - even more picky than the person who wants the fighter and the wizard to be equals, I want them to be equals and very, very different
• No scaling numbers - the obsession with numbers that go up is what causes almost every broken thing in D&D

If anybody tells me a system that gets most of these, you will be my hero.

I would like to tell you that I know a game that fits most of those needs, but I don't.  I know 2.

Burning Wheel and Savage Worlds (in particular Solomon Kane and Pirates of the Spanish Main).

Savage worlds is kinda like DnD, except balanced and streamlined with a focus on Awesome.

Burning Wheel is unusual in how simple most of the game is, yet at the same time the really interesting bits are quite complex. 

Both are inherently balanced and quick to play.

[Dragon Snack]

Savage worlds is kinda like DnD...

Interesting.  How so?

I'm not sure I would compare the two myself (but I agree about SWs focus on awesome).

[Optimator]

I enjoy D&D 3.5 and SWSE a lot, and I always had fun with 2nd edition Heroes Unlimited.  I remember playing Twilight 2000 in fourth grade and having a blast, but I couldn't tell one if it was a good game or not now.

[Josh]

Savage worlds is kinda like DnD...

Interesting.  How so?

I'm not sure I would compare the two myself (but I agree about SWs focus on awesome).

When some guy on the street says "oh you play rpgs, like DnD?" you say "yes"
When some guy who has mostly played DnD asks "whats Savage worlds like?", you say "its like DnD"

Both are action adventure games so they are essentially in the same genre. 

DnD is more focused on Dungeon crawls and class roles.

SW is designed by a guy who said, "DnD is good but let me fix the problems I have."
SW plays faster, handles groups of people better, initiative is better, Every character has more options, it better incorporates cinematic elements, it better incorporates social elements and it is easier to add new ideas to.