This ought to be easy.  Sometimes we just like a game for very little reason.  In fact, I have a couple of RPG's I like because they have one feature that just piques my interest, and I'll overlook a shed load of faults because of it.

For example.  Palladium Books.  I actually like the system for three stupid reasons.  It's not the easiest game to learn as many times there are contradictions and unclear wording, or just the newer games have more or modified rules compared to the older ones.  Yet, I love the system.

1.  Its not D&D.  Look at me, I'm a hipster.  I don't go with the flow, guys.  I don't like the best there is because I'm special.  Yeah, it really, really is pretentious, but it happens to also be true.  I liked the system because I'm going the road less travelled.

2.   I like RoboTech RPG from PB because it has the Wasp BattleMech on the cover.  Yup. we got into it because we started with BattleTech, and the RPG has the same art.  I know the entire story in detail, so no need to go into how the two exist side by side, but when I was 14, it was just because of the cover art.

3.  Palladium Books had more than one game genre using (nearly) the same rules.  I didn't need to relearn anything to play super heroes, or space fighter pilots, or their magnum opus, the Rifts melting pot where all of the above come together.  How is this stupid?  It stopped us from playing other games like D6 Star Wars or ShadowRun.  We owned those games.  We couldn't get the rules down in 30 minutes, so we ditched them and went back to Palladium.

I've got a few more, but I want to just make posts for fun and see who says what.

Do you have a game you like more than others because of some obscure reason?

The art. I hate to say it but Art is often what draws me to buy a game I have not played... and art has nothing, absolutely thing to do with the game being good or not. Some of the worst games I have in my collection have great art. Stll without good art I just skip right over things.

Probably the number of options. Always loved RPGs with zillions of options.

I used to play GURPS but now I cannot stomach the hundreds of skills, for example.

Used to love having rangers and paladins but now I thin the best way is just having four basic classes and a few feats to choose from.

I used to love complex chargen, now I want to start playing faster.

I'm not sure that specializing in certain weapons makes any sense, except in very specific games.

I still love monster books with 500+ monsters but now I'm using premade modules and the monsters in B/X are enough for me during the hexcrawl.

Also, I used to love reading everything that was not D&D. 3:16, Fate, Kult, UA, etc. Nowadays I only play D&D and I might play something like Runequest or CoC, and that's it.

  Because it's fun to pretend to be somewhere wonderous. I know, shallow and droll.

Art is a big factor, though it's probably more accurate in my case to call it the DUMBEST reason I don't like a game.  This applies to computer and board games as well, books, etc.  For many years I refused to even look at Warhammer Fantasy or 40K because I didn't like the art (it was usually technically accomplished, but just not my style).  Luckily I have friends who are more open-minded about such things than I am, and they convinced me to give these things a try.  I did and I got hooked.

Right now I am seriously considering buying Mutant Epoch even though I need another RPG system like I need a hole in the head.  Zany Gamma World-style post apocalyptic is not really my thing, but the art and just the whole look of the game has me on the verge of spending $200+ on the core rules and and most of the supplements.

I have a bit of a soft spot for "edgy" games, whether it's black metal grimdark stuff like LOTFP or Xas Irkalla, blood-and-boobies pulp like Tales of Gor or old D20 Conan, or plain old childish nonsense like The Book of Erotic Fantasy or F.A.T.A.L.. They appeal to the 16 year-old in me.

I seek these games out in the full knowledge that I will probably never play them. When it comes to the grimdark stuff, my players have expressed repeatedly that they aren't interested, (though I might sneak some of it into a general fantasy game). When it comes to the sex stuff, I don't even want to play it. It honestly sounds pretty cringe. It just makes me laugh that it exists.

While cover art can be a factor in choosing a novel or magazine, it doesn't factor into my RPG purchases at all. Unless it looks expensive, and the book is expensive. Then I won't buy, on principle.

I won't buy a softbound core rulebook unless there is absolutely no other option. I'd rather buy a PDF and have it printed as a hardbound.

I tend to like RPG products that are "old school." In MY opinion, because the labels are abused. Doesn't mean I'll buy any old OSR crap though. I really have to think I might have a use for it.

Cover art - the high fantasy Larry Elmore covers on BECMI D&D are a huge pull for me, even though the game at low level is still basically OD&D Fantasy Fucking Vietnam. Luckily BECMI is easy to drift in that epic fantasy direction. I offered my 5 year old son a choice of art style for his first ever D&D campaign, Frazetta or Elmore. He went Elmore, so we rolled up a level 4 Magic-User riding a white dragon!  In his first adventure he saved Karameikos from an evil red dragon rider, and married the princess.

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 01, 2023, 11:14:00 PM
blood-and-boobies pulp like Tales of Gor or old D20 Conan

Yeah, I bought Grim's D6 Gor pretty much entirely for the prurient interest.  If it had any maps in it I might actually have run it, though! I did finally get some use from it by repurposing some of the art for my Dragonbane: Xoth S&S game. And if I run Mini Six: Primeval Thule again I'll look to see if it has any useful crunch.

Another cover art one - I love the cover of 1e Dark Conspiracy by Games Workshop. I really want a game of teenage monster hunters fighting zombie Michael Jackson! Sadly the game inside the book is not that game. But I occasionally mull over putting together a game like that, maybe using some of the DC background info with eg Mini Six rules & templated PCs.

The dumbest reason: I have several perfectly average games I love because their mere existence pisses off the right people.

Quote from: S'mon on May 02, 2023, 03:22:40 AM

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 01, 2023, 11:14:00 PM
blood-and-boobies pulp like Tales of Gor or old D20 Conan

Yeah, I bought Grim's D6 Gor pretty much entirely for the prurient interest.  If it had any maps in it I might actually have run it, though! I did finally get some use from it by repurposing some of the art for my Dragonbane: Xoth S&S game. And if I run Mini Six: Primeval Thule again I'll look to see if it has any useful crunch.

Interesting. I haven't bought it but have considered it because of the number of friends I have in the Gor scene (two parts: the re-enactment adjacent groups like the TuChux and the S&M scene part). Not sure if that would be a dumb reason or not.

Then again, it would qualify for the main dumb reason listed above.

All the reasons I have for liking games are brilliant! Only other people's reasons are dumb 

Quote from: PulpHerb on May 02, 2023, 10:34:01 AM
Interesting. I haven't bought it but have considered it because of the number of friends I have in the Gor scene (two parts: the re-enactment adjacent groups like the TuChux and the S&M scene part). Not sure if that would be a dumb reason or not.

Then again, it would qualify for the main dumb reason listed above.

Unless you're into D6 System I'd suggest https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/216179/Art-of-Gor-Michael-Mannings-Vision?src=hottest_filtered plus https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210277/World-of-Gor-Gorean-Roleplaying-World-Encyclopaedia?src=hottest_filtered

Quote from: Opaopajr on May 01, 2023, 10:16:20 PM
Because it's fun to pretend to be somewhere wonderous. I know, shallow and droll.

Not at all, hoss.  I think that's a great reason!