Except for not being "back then" I'd have to say 5e.  Because I like a great deal of what it does, and I'm happy to see it in print and people playing it, but I've got too many other games floating around my head, and too much prep done to run out and try to convert.

4th & 5th edition D&D if they'd come along in the late 90's.

Quote from: RunningLaser;824321Over in the fanboy thread, there was line by Butcher that stood out to me (emphasis mine):



That got me thinking of games that I would loved to have tried back when I was younger and had more time, but wouldn't spend the time or effort to try and learn now.  

Champions 4e BBB would probably be at the top of the list.  Next in line would be Runequest ( I liked the art in the AH box the best).  


What are some of yours?

Runequest, D&D, Savage Worlds.

Yeah, Traveller.

Yeah, I'd probably add Traveler to that list as well.
I actually have played it off and on, but never ran it and didn't really pay that much attention to the game mechanics when I played.
At the time, for my Scifi RPG kick I was into Spacemaster.
More recently, Stars Without Number got my attention, so I just never got that drawn into Traveler and SWN now is my Scifi thing and I can't be bothered at this time to learn Traveler.
The "No real character progression" thing was a bit of a turn off for me anyway.

Still, I know a fair few people that really like it, so it I assume it's a pretty decent RPG and does what it designed to do well.

Quote from: danskmacabre;825023Yeah, I'd probably add Traveler to that list as well.
I actually have played it off and on, but never ran it and didn't really pay that much attention to the game mechanics when I played.
At the time, for my Scifi RPG kick I was into Spacemaster.
More recently, Stars Without Number got my attention, so I just never got that drawn into Traveler and SWN now is my Scifi thing and I can't be bothered at this time to learn Traveler.
The "No real character progression" thing was a bit of a turn off for me anyway.

Still, I know a fair few people that really like it, so it I assume it's a pretty decent RPG and does what it designed to do well.

Traveller is a terrible waste of time to learn really if one is accustomed to leveling up their characters and gaining XP. That's why SWN was made.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;824332I'm in a similar position, only I find that universe too depressing to game in now. As a kid all that grimdark read as pure awesome, but now the random threat of cosmic horror feels too close.

Maybe Only War, if I ran it like Black Adder, but those books are just so intimidatingly crunchy and, according to rumor, difficult to run in a balanced fashion.

If you ever run it as Blackadder and need players let me know. Heck, I'd settle for Baldrick.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;825032Traveller is a terrible waste of time to learn really if one is accustomed to leveling up their characters and gaining XP. That's why SWN was made.

I wouldn't say "accustomed to leveling up." I'd say something stronger than just "accustomed to." I'm accustomed to improving characters. After all that's what I started gaming doing. Its what 95% of my gaming has been. But I found playing a game in a very different genre made playing a game without leveling* acceptable and fun. For me that was FASA Star Trek. We played about 1500 hours of Star Trek with the same core group of PCs and in all that time any given PC had, at most, one opportunity to improve abilities. This sort of improvement is very comparable with any improvement that occurs post character generation in Traveller. I think if someone liked Traveller rules and setting, minimal improvement could be just fine as part of a different game experience.


* Here I am using "leveling" in the broad sense of improving characters over time not in the narrow sense of level based games like D&D. That way we can include games like Runequest which doesn't have levels, but which strongly includes an ability to improve characters.

Mutants & Masterminds, especially the super fiddly 3rd edition.

Quote from: Raven;825046Mutants & Masterminds, especially the super fiddly 3rd edition.

Yeah, that too. I did try.

Quote from: Raven;825046Mutants & Masterminds, especially the super fiddly 3rd edition.

I'm struggling with it too (3e).  I think I'd be OK if I just said "fuck it" and run a one shot with one of the pre-made template characters.  I think all I need to do is see it in action.  But I just can't get myself over that hurdle.

Ninjas and Superspies. I would have loved to get into that, but, I'm too impatient now to learn all the fiddly bits.

//Panjumanju

The thing about traveller is that it is a ridiculously simple RPG system to learn.  It's probably the easiest of all the old-school games, to be sure.