There's not enough enthusiasm here at the site today, I think it would be nice if we tried posting a bit more about stuff that we think is great, rather than stuff we think sucks.

So, Space 1889.

Space 1889 is a wargame derived ruleset, many of the rules are still quite widely used in miniatures skirmish games.  It does not have a unified rules mechanic, rather it has a different set of rules for almost every activity, including a different combat system for melee combats as opposed to firearm combats.

Chargen is brilliant, you have six stats, rated 1 to 6.  You get given the numbers 1 through 6 and allocate one to each stat, so that you have a 1 in one stat, a 6 in another and everything in between.  Thus all characters have areas of greatness and areas of weakness.

You pick two careers, they are brief and easily understood, and they give you skills.  You pick a few bonus skills and you're done, it's very fast, produces a colourful character and one with a history already in place.

There is a wonderful section on Victorian cultural traits, breaking down the same trait and showing it's good and bad side, so for example the desire to help others achieve civilisation on its good side means people risking their lives to bring sanitation and medicine to undeveloped countries and on its bad side means colonialism.  It's a very mature portrait, showing how the various Victorian traits have both good and bad in them, and are more complex than one might think.

There are then of course two different task resolution mechanics, and further rulesets for inventions and a ton of other things.

It is bizarre, anything new you try likely has a new subset of rules for it, it is clunky as hell, and it is brilliant.

In play, characters are swashbuckling heroes, men and women who fit the period but who are supported by the rules so that they can be heroic and will only die if overwhelmed by natives or falling from an ether flyer.  The book has rules for inventions, and the assumption is that the players are the people who invent the game's cool tech.  You are the ones who make the new discoveries and create new technologies.  The default setting has much of the solar system's secrets undiscovered, because the players will be the ones to discover it.

It is old school, unabashedly player focussed, fun as hell and a glorious baroque mess of a game that goes against almost everything we have learnt in recent years about rpg design yet still manages to be a ton of fun.

It is, quite simply, one of my top three rpgs.  A think of clunky beauty.  It is sheer fun in a book, and that is why it is so good.

So, let's show a little love here, pick a game you love and try to explain why.  Coherence is a bonus, but as I've shown above not required, the point is to show the enthusiasm.  If you don't have any games you can post about with such enthusiasm, then I think you need to play more.

RuneQuest. But I will let Sandy Petersen speak for me:

QuoteFew RPGs permit playing a non-human with the facility of RuneQuest even today [1996!]. In fact, the trend is rather away from playing non-humans. 'Tis not necessarily a bad trend, given the rather lame interpretations of these beings that have infested the RPG market. Partly as a result of the difficulty in playing them. You see, most games render non-humans as variations on humans. Example: "dwerlfs are like humans, but with -2 from STR and INT" or whatever. RQ nonhumans are completely independent -- you could set up a RQ game with no nonhumans at all, and never make any reference to humans, and character creation and play would be smooth. I think that the psychological aspects of this difference have had an effect on scenario designers, essayists, and gamemasters.
 There is another way in which RQ affected Glorantha. By the nature of most of Greg's early stories, plus White Bear & Red Moon, Nomad Gods, etc., Glorantha seemed to be a place where titans battled far above the level of mere mortal fodder.
 But RQ's combat system is anti heroic. A mighty swordmaster of 90% is comparatively easy meat for a trio of 50% mercenaries. The huge bad troll with tons of magic and a 3D6 damage bonus was killed by my stinking players on the first blow of the combat, via critical spear impale to his face. When a scrawny crossbow-armed guard gets the drop on a mighty-thewed (but unarmored) barbarian, the latter raises his hands in surrender. No matter how skilled your hero is, a single blow from a mediocre giant's cudgel breaks bones and maims.
 RQ combat rewards numbers and luck (criticals & fumbles) more than PC skill. Even the infamously weak RQ magic serves as an equalizer. Facing a mean magician? -- the worst he can do is zap one of your number with his Sunspear, and a simple Demoralize settles his hash just fine.
 The effect of all this was to draw Glorantha's emphasis away from the mighty heroes on the heights, and focus on the little guys on society's underside, scrabbling to maintain a meager subsistence-level ecology. RQ PCs live close to the bone.
 One result is that mercantile activities hold more interest than in most RPGs. You can make money on trade expeditions, and from Joh Mith to the Desert Trackers to the redheaded Lunar caravans across Pent, merchants have become an indelible part of the Gloranthan ethos. In most games, caravans serve only as employers (PCs-as-caravan-guards being a staple of RPGs) or as targets to pillage.
 A typical evening of play has maybe a single combat. Even a combat-crazed player perforce must use brains and tongue before going off half-cocked. In addition, tactical skill (as opposed to mere high percentiles) is rewarded -- those smart enough to do a Shield Bash at the right moment, or to close up on the halberdier reap the rewards. When's the last time in RQ you stepped back to permit a fallen foe to get back on his feet? We press our advantage mercilessly. This is hardly the stuff of heroic one-on-one duello, as each side rolls combat dice endlessly till one falls. Instead, cunning and strategem are rewarded to such a degree that the stereotypic "big strong dumb" PC is viewed as interesting and quirky instead of a dull norm.
 A tradition has arisen of prisoner-taking and ransom-paying. In many RPGs, battles end with everyone on the losing side dead. Some games have special techniques to prevent this, or cultural niceties, but RQ does it as a matter of practicality.
Finally, RQ combat is different from most other medieval or ancient RPG. A typical fight is a running skirmish, not a set-piece battle. Arrows, javelins, and spells zip across the battlefield, as both sides use available cover, dodging from tree to tree. Hand-to-hand fighting is brief, rarely lasting more than a few rounds against equal opponents. It's not the stuff of Hollywood.
I like my Glorantha PCs the way they are -- tattoos, scars, scavenged bits of armor, bristling with eclectic weapons, painted runes, muddy boots, and mangy familiars. More like something out of Road Warrior than King Arthur.          

Hope it helps

I love the Dying Earth RPG. Everytime I have played that game (not often enough, alas!) I have had a brilliant time, as has everyone around the table.

It is a truly character-centred (not player-centred) game. It produces all the craziness that the rules obscure in other FRPGs. It undercuts any attempt at pomposity, leetness or kewl powers. I love the pool refreshing rules because they led to a whole party stuck in a tiny tent in the rain listening to the party bore droning out a lecture all night. I love the weaknesses, I love chapter on designing an adventure, I love the sample adventure which I've run twice With Hilarious Results (tm). I love the supplements - Ka'iin Players' Guide is one of the best city supplements I've ever read, and every issue of the Excellent Prismatic Spray is packed with goodness. The supplements are easily usable in other FRPs, too.

I'm not keen on the combat rules, though, and I'm not convinced by the non-Cugel levels of play (although I've not given them a proper go, tbh).

In a just world, the Dying Earth RPG would be the standard. But sadly, there's no justice... there's just us.

Ned

Traveller rocks, because:

It´ll let you play in complex modern societies, and brings all rules and models needed for that. It´s a terrific break from character centered, scenario oriented gaming.

I'll go back to an old favorite.  Rifts rocks because:

I can run a party consisting of an Elven Hyperion Juicer, a deep-cover human supremacist scout from the Coalition, a human vagabond with only a large laser pistol, some candy, and the clothes on his back to his name, a tentacled monstrosity from beyond the deep that prefers to be called "Chad", a D-Bee Battle Magus who gears all his magic towards martial invincibility, a Nega-Psychic who laughs at him and shrugs off his spells,  a gunslinger who will likely die before his 21st birthday, and a German ace Power Armor pilot trying to repair the smoking holes in his rail gun housing from that encounter over Atlantis.  And you know what?  I have to do nothing to the setting or game to make that work.  And I can make it as cheesy and campy or as dead-serious (or more likely, somewhere in the middle) as I want.

Sorcerer rocks! It has a combat/conflict system that makes all hell break loose when you roll the dice. It has a simple mechanic (Humanity) for expressing its premise – the struggle with your demons. It's infinitely customisable like some toolkit game, but with its own distinctive agenda.

Why Exalted rocks - The thing that to me makes Exalted rock so hard is how player-centered the game is.  There is the explicit assumption that the PCs are going to be the most important characters in the world.  They may not be the most powerful, but they will be *very* powerful.  All of Creation is presented as their playground, it is assumed and expected that they will topple governments, destroy ancient evils, and carve out new kingdoms - and then save the entire world from the menaces that want to stamp it out.  And not after long months of playing either - PCs will be able to do these things immediately.  Starting characters can and do convince kings to give over their daughters' hand, defeat armies single handedly, and found religions.  They are the Lawgivers of old, lost heroes of a near forgotten age returned to the world either to save it or destroy it.

Exalted rocks my socks, the game is just so much fun to play and to GM.  You really have to be able to think on your feet though, you don't go into Exalted with some predefined plot in mind.  The characters will take that plot, wad it into a little ball, and shove it right up your ass.  The fun is in seeing characters with this much power deal with all the reprecussions of using it.  And of course they aren't the only Exalted in the world - other types walk Creation, and most of them have reason to want the PCs dead.  When Exalted battle each other it is a huge, epic fight, as two demigods clash.

That game just kicks ass.  

I'll second Classic Traveller, but keep my comments to LBB1-3.

CT, as many old-school designs, definitely shows its wargaming roots.  Play can be reduced to something resembling a boardgame on a subsector map if you wanted to go in that direction, with various sub-games - trading, starship combat, etc. - to play out tactical/small scale situations.  This can be a bonus because such a format lends itself well to solitaire play.  However, the rules are robust enough to support full-blown group RPG play.

Character generation is still a revelation after all these years.  True, your PC can die during generation, but this is another charm of the ruleset.  Like every other part of the rules, chargen is its own little game.  You're gambling when you try to re-enlist for one more term in the hopes of picking up a new skill or bonus...is the risk worth it?  Every character who survives the process comes out with a ready-made backstory with twists and turns I probably never would have come up with on my own.

The starship creation rules offer the same sorts of pleasures to folks who like designing Car Wars cars, albeit in a much simpler fashion.  Similar things can be said about planet generation.  The trade rules satisfy those who want to pursue a mercantile path to success.  And all of these very different parts fit together well, exhibiting a surprising degree cohesion.

Overall, I've found the game to be wonderful because it's so wide open.  You have rules for creating galaxies and starships and bribing customs officers, all within the covers of three slim books.  The rules are spartan in nature, only detailing what is absolutely necessary for play, a virtual invite for individual GMs to tailor the game to their liking.  Sure, it has its wonky aspects (every skill operates under its own rules, frex), but they don't detract from the wide-eyed wonder and excitement exuded by those three black books.

Quote from: MaddmanWhy Exalted rocks - The thing that to me makes Exalted rock so hard is how player-centered the game is.  There is the explicit assumption that the PCs are going to be the most important characters in the world.  They may not be the most powerful, but they will be *very* powerful.  All of Creation is presented as their playground, it is assumed and expected that they will topple governments, destroy ancient evils, and carve out new kingdoms - and then save the entire world from the menaces that want to stamp it out.  And not after long months of playing either - PCs will be able to do these things immediately.  Starting characters can and do convince kings to give over their daughters' hand, defeat armies single handedly, and found religions.

Yah, all of that applies to Nobilis, as well...

QuoteThey are the Lawgivers of old, lost heroes of a near forgotten age returned to the world either to save it or destroy it.

...unlike that, in general. But hey, if someone wants to play the reincarnation of Moses or Hercules, I'm not stopping them.

Quote from: GrimGentYah, all of that applies to Nobilis, as well.

Well, Nobilis rocks too.  

Quote from: MaddmanWell, Nobilis rocks too.  

This thread, this is the thread for saying "hell yeah" or "if you love that you might love this too".

And not that anyone has, but to be clear, this is not the thread for "hah, that sucks" or for "how can you like that?  You must be some kind of utter fucktard?"

This is the positive thread, share the love.

In that case...

Classic Traveller - hell yes!

Ned

Artesia rocks.

It's rather unbelievable that one guy is able to produce a core book that fantastic. It helps that he's a comic artist, so we've got a big selection of fine interior art. By which I mean half-naked warrior women. It also helps that he's standing on the shoulder of giants and used the rather decent Fuzion system. But he expanded it quite a bit. There is a lot of crunch in the book, over 20 divisions for gaining experience for example. But it's all very nicely integrated.

This is a world that combines the best of the ancient world with medieval flavor. You've got pantheons, folk magic, gothic plate armor, undead warriors, blood, gore and shattered empires.

COLD SPACE rocks out with its cock out.

It is one of a slew of recent games that has really inspired me, and made me think about what good game design could say about the world that inspired it.

Having grown up in the last years of the Cold War, and being a sci fi fan to boot, there was a lot in this tale of cold war politics in the age of faster than light travel that I could hang my hat on: the race to dominate the universe's resources while teetering on the edge of destruction resonated all to well for me.

The character generation system is rich, with a good balance of player choice and randomness resulting in a believable, multi-faceted persona. It made me think of Classic Traveller's character generation process, without it being derivative.

The combination of alternative history and believable science filled me full of great adventure ideas for my group.

It's teh awezzome.

Quote from: mattormegCOLD SPACE rocks out with its cock out.

It is one of a slew of recent games that has really inspired me, and made me think about what good game design could say about the world that inspired it.

Having grown up in the last years of the Cold War, and being a sci fi fan to boot, there was a lot in this tale of cold war politics in the age of faster than light travel that I could hang my hat on: the race to dominate the universe's resources while teetering on the edge of destruction resonated all to well for me.

The character generation system is rich, with a good balance of player choice and randomness resulting in a believable, multi-faceted persona. It made me think of Classic Traveller's character generation process, without it being derivative.

The combination of alternative history and believable science filled me full of great adventure ideas for my group.

It's teh awezzome.

Gah, the more I hear about this game, the more I realize I have to get it.

My wallet weeps....