thanks for the hard work, sir!

love that #1-2 punch for the old school.

Quote from: joewolzSince Combining Basic D&D and RC D&D, My results are a little different, but overly so.  So here's theRPGsite's Official Top Ten:

• Call of Cthulhu
• Rules Cyclopedia (Basic) D&D
• D&D 3.x
• WFRP
• Classic Traveller
• GURPS - 3rd Edition Revised
• Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP)
• Runequest
• Hero System
• All Flesh Must Be Eaten

The Five Runners Up:

  11.  Unknown Armies
  12.  Star Wars (WEG)
  13.  Castles and Crusades
  14.  Shadowrun 3rd Edition
  15.  Cyberpunk 2020

Hm, damn fine list as it turns out.  I prefer it with Basic and RC merged, and agree that 3/3.5e should not be merged with basic/RC.

Great stuff, thanks muchly Joe, appreciated.

That's a good looking list!  I like RC and Basic combined.

I was surprised to see UA at #11!  I didn't remember seeing that many votes for it, but I guess I was wrong!

This is all very interesting (and I have no stake in this because I never voted), but you do all understand how statistics of this kind work, right?

CoC ended up #1 because whoever was compiling the stats didn't take place-ranking into account. Or if he did, he did it wrong. I'm betting that what you saw was a lot of lists like this:

1. D&D
2. Shadowrun
3. GURPS
4. CoC

...

1. GURPS
2. D&D
3. In Harms Way
4. Hearts & Souls
5. CoC

1. WFRP
2. CoC
3. Traveller
4. D&D

etc. etc...
In other words, CoC was practically everyone's 4th or 5th choice, and practically NO ONE's 1st choice, but because it was on everyone's list, and D&D wasn't, it slightly edged out to get to 1st place, although if you probably looked at the number of "top 10s" that had D&D on the #1spot, it would be WAY more than the number of "top 10s" that had CoC on the #1 spot.

RPGPundit

(Post rendered moot by updated list.)

Pundit,

It ended up number 1 because it is in fact the greatest game of all time, and as such it would have been a travesty had any other result arisen.

The actual mechanism is a side-issue compared to the evident rightness of the result

Quote from: RPGPunditIn other words, CoC was practically everyone's 4th or 5th choice, and practically NO ONE's 1st choice, but because it was on everyone's list, and D&D wasn't, it slightly edged out to get to 1st place, although if you probably looked at the number of "top 10s" that had D&D on the #1spot, it would be WAY more than the number of "top 10s" that had CoC on the #1 spot.

And your point is?

Joe figured the results according to Zach's OP proposal. 10 points for first, 9 for second, etc. So, yes, a frequent 3rd or fourth placer COULD overtake an occasional 1st placer. However, take a look at the actual votes - because CoC scored FOUR number ones, as did D&D Cyclopedia/Basic. D&D 3.x scored FIVE number ones. Not exactly WAY more, by anyone's reasoning.

Now, if you combine all the D&Ds into one, then it wins hands down. Whether or not that should be done is surely where the debate lies.

- Q

You know, I wouldn't get too worked up either way about a few ranking spots in a poll that would likely change and move around if we re-polled everyone this second.  Just them being in the top 5 is a pretty good indicator of the level of esteem both RPGs generally garner 'round here.

True. I guess I'm taking exception to Pundit's 'whoever was compiling the stats didn't take place-ranking into account. Or if he did, he did it wrong' line, because that isn't the case. Joe compiled the results precisely as you suggested they should be done. The only real issue was how many and what editions should be collapsed into one result.

- Q

PS And much kudos to Joe for having compiled the results at all - it was no easy task.

Quote from: QuirePS And much kudos to Joe for having compiled the results at all - it was no easy task.

During grad school, nonetheless!

I would have mounted my own defense, but it appears that everyone used my arguments already.  

As Quire mentioned, I used Zach's guidelines for collating the votes.  I'm not a statistician, I'm a grad student studying History.  If you have a better way of doing the numbers, Pundit, I have the data all ready and we can manipulate it until D&D is top.

In fact, if we don't weight the data, D&D 3.x got the most #1 votes, followed by CoC and Rules Cyclopedia/Basic D&D which are tied.

If we sort by total number of votes, the Top Ten list looks like this:

      1.   Call of Cthulhu      
2.   D&D 3.x      
3.   Rules Cyclopedia (Basic) D&D      
4.   WFRP      
5.   Classic Traveller      
6.   GURPS - 3rd Edition Revised      
7.   Marvel Superheroes      
8.   All Flesh Must Be Eaten      
9.   Star Wars (WEG)      
10. Over The Edge  
But that's with no weight given to the values, just straight number of votes.

Plus, Pundit, who really thought that an online community would show greater market trends? We already know that ALL of us care way more about RPGs than the normal D&D buying gamer.

Oh and thank you guys for egging me on.  It was a tough project, ultimately.  The next one will go more smoothly since I now have a template ready for "Top Ten" lists.

Quote from: RPGPunditThis is all very interesting (and I have no stake in this because I never voted), but you do all understand how statistics of this kind work, right?

The problem is that D&D didn't win and any statistical system that doesn't proclaim D&D the winner is inherently flawed and nobody loves me, nobody cares... I'm going to go and eat woooooormies.

Fixed your typo there Pundy.

And if anyone is wonder where their favorite games are, just ask.  I might compile our favorite Forge games, if I need a break from the book review I'm writing.

At first glance, our favorite Forge games are Nobilis (Is Nobilis a Forge game?), Burning Wheel, DitV and the The Shadow of Yesterday, in that order.

Well, I'd be interested in what our top small press games are in general--not just "Forge games", but games from smaller, 1-2 person operations as well--Risus, PIG's games, etc.