While MegaTraveller was a somewhat serviceable second edition of Traveller, I still prefer CT.

And I'm in the camp of preferring D6 Star Wars to the D20 or Saga versions.

Quote from: PremierEDIT: Oh, and D6 Star Wars. The first one was simple, quick, pulpy, elegant and sexy. The second one tried to be all grown-up, added some stupid shit about sensors in spaceship combat (come on, it's STAR WARS!

Yep, however I think SW: Saga got it right this time around.  It plays simple, quick, pulpy, elegant, and sexy.

Re: Paranoia - Again, I think Paranoia XP got a whole lot right.  I think it plays better than 2nd edition, while keeping the whole feel of the game.  No comparison to 5th Edition, since as far as I know, 5th edition never existed.

-O

Quote from: obrynRe: Paranoia - Again, I think Paranoia XP got a whole lot right.  I think it plays better than 2nd edition, while keeping the whole feel of the game.  No comparison to 5th Edition, since as far as I know, 5th edition never existed.

Well, for what it's worth, I think Paranoia 1st ed. was the best of the lot.  While the rule system was overly complex for the setting, it wasn't imposible to use.  The great thing about the 1st edition is that ist was a sort of horror/psycho/satire game.  2nd edition turned it into silly slapstick that really killed the validity of the game and it went downhill from there IMHO.

I agree with a lot that's been said here already: Classic Trav, pre-Zebulon Star Frontiers, 2nd edition Rolemaster/Spacemaster.

I greatly prefer 1st and 2nd edition Gamma World over 3rd.  I've not closely enough examined later editions to make the same claim.

Vampire.

V:TM was a much better game than V:TR. Although I like some of the system changes they managed to hack the setting apart.

I totally agree with the assessments of Vampire, Traveller, D6 Star Wars, Cyberpunk and Rolemaster, and I'll echo jrients' preference for 2nd edition Gamma World. Nothing I've seen of the later editions is good. I'd include Paranoia, except that the latest edition is very, very good (it acknowledges that different people want different things from Paranoia, and gives decent options as to how to tweak the rules to suit your style - that's more than any previous edition offered).

I'm going to throw out Empire of the Petal Throne/Tekumel. Sure, sure, it's really a bunch of different game systems attached to the same setting, but ultimately I think that everything after the original EPT suffered from either a) a sloppy system, b) relying too much on the GM absorbing MAR Barker's background information or c) both of the above.

What else... RuneQuest springs to mind. 2nd edition was pure gold: sleek, lean, without any fat. 3rd edition tried too hard to disengage itself from Glorantha and ended up feeling flavourless, and MRQ has been appallingly mismanaged. I recently managed to pick up a copy of 1st edition Champions dirt cheap, and I have to say it's tidier, more focused and more managable than the current bloatbeast which is the HERO system.

Rolemaster 2e was so much better than Rolemaster Standard System that ICE revitalized the line and is reprinting it.

Quote from: WarthurI'm going to throw out Empire of the Petal Throne/Tekumel. Sure, sure, it's really a bunch of different game systems attached to the same setting, but ultimately I think that everything after the original EPT suffered from either a) a sloppy system, b) relying too much on the GM absorbing MAR Barker's background information or c) both of the above.

For what I personally want out of an RPG, I totally agree.  EPT provided a crazy great backdrop for cool fauxriental* pulp adventure.  Somewhere along the way the setting took over.

*Did I just make up that word?

Part of me ("Skill systems are neat" Pierce) agrees with Slaadman. That MT UTP(?) is teh beauty.*

Another part ("Skill systems killed RPGs" Pierce) loves CT, or the idea of it. What even that part can't ignore is the brokenness of close combat (too deadly and, given that deadliness, too abstract) and the arcane nature of starship combat (hardcore wargaming stuff). But if you replace those with Mayday and Snapshot, or with range band combat from Starter Trav, you may have something.

*Yet another part ("gratuitous hair splitter" Pierce) will point out that the MT UTP had already been published for CT, in the Traveller's Digest.

Quote from: MelanI am still wondering who thought up fifth edition. :raise:

Citizen, rumors about a supposed "Paranoia Fifth Edition" are treasonous; no such edition was ever released. Among other treasonous assertions, this would imply that there was a fault in the Computer's math processor chip and we know this is not true because Friend Computer has told us it is not true.

Remember, rumors are treason and repeating rumors is also treason. Report all rumors immediatley!

Yours Sincerely

Internal Security

3rd edition Shadowrun trumps fourth edition pretty easily in my book.

Personally I think V:tM sucks compared the V:tR. I like the whole nWoD compared to the clunky, bloated oWoD.

Systems I find to be better via old system:
* Star Wars d6
* Hero System 4th ed.
* Shadow Run 3rd ed.
* Cyberpunk 2020

-=Grim=-

Hong Kong Action Theater 1st.
Top Secret 1st.
I'm torn on T&T. I like several things about 7th, but I keep a lot of 5th.

Quote from: GrimJestaPersonally I think V:tM sucks compared the V:tR. I like the whole nWoD compared to the clunky, bloated oWoD.

Please note, though, that people here are referring to 1st edition Vampire: the Masquerade, which existed before there was an oWoD.  Really, it was kind of a cool, neat little game before they got going on the whole proto-metaplot that eventually gave way to full-on metaplot.

!i!

Heroes Unlimited vs. Heroes Unlimited revised.  Granted 85% was exactly the same but I liked the "old school" flavor of the 1st edition better.  Seriously, I just realized this the only RPG outside of D&D that I own multiple versions of.