Well okay, but I'll only include one iteration of any system here because Traveller would have at least three slots otherwise.

1. Traveller 4th edition, I really want to love five more but fourth for all its faults is my favorite.

2. Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes.  Really a beautiful, tight little game.  I wish they'd integrated its improvements with Tunnels and Trolls.

3. GURPS 1st edition, I never liked the Speed / Range table third introduced and fourth kept.  Indeed I don't think I've seen a feature on any other game that turns off new players so quickly.  First had its faults but it wasn't as big and cumbersome as third and fourth.  If they did a fourth edition medium book that cut maneuvers from the core it'd probably edge into first place.  I'd "fix" the Speed Range table by adding four to all the chances and reinstating the snap shot penalty for not aiming.  Yes it's the same thing but people wouldn't whine so much when they see the modifiers.

4. Rolemaster Standard System / Spacemaster Privateers.   I'd have loved to have seen a cleaned up and evolved version of this that integrated Training Packages with levels a bit better and eliminated some of the redundant stuff.  Bump the whole unskilled -30 to the Skill and remove the -15 from the Category while at it.  Totally remove the sliding skill discount from races and cultures and training packages and replace it with an experience point penalty.

5. Wizard's Realm a tight little fantasy game that I've always found inspirational.  It's got lots of stats and skills and spells but the core system is dead simple.  Oh the rules could be a bit better but I have a deep love for the little, obscure games that were pure labors of love.

Adventurer Conqueror King

WFRP2e

Marvel Superheroes RPG (FASERIP for LIFE!)

Space 1889 (More for the setting though, I am really looking forward to the Ubiquity version)



This is really hard to choose a top 5... I cant think of what #5 would be. Dragon Age, GURPS, RuneQuest 6e, Hackmaster 5e, Swords & Wizardry Complete, and DCC are all games I like and really want to play.


EDIT: I'd have to through MERP in there somewhere as well. I loved that game so much. Maybe a Top 10 list would have been better lol

Preferred edition(s) in parentheses

BRP (Runequest 6e)
D&D (AD&D 1e)
Ubiquity (Hollow Earth Expedition)
Gamma World (2e)
GUMSHOE (Nights black agents)

Honourable mentions to: call of cthulhu, B/X, and Blood & treasure as variants of BRP and D&D. Also enjoying EABA and Edge of the Empire, but those games are on-going so I'm reserving judgement for now.

1. HERO System (edition doesn't matter as much with this as other games).
2. HERO System* (I'm giving this a 2nd entry to note my 2 favorite genres - supers/Champions & fantasy/Fantasy HERO)
3. Amber Diceless
4. Star Wars WEG
5. AD&D 1e

*HERO is notable that there are large numbers of fans that have never used it for supers (they instead focus on any of the other supported genres like Fantasy Hero or Star Hero). Of course the reverse is also true.  There are large numbers of fans that have ONLY used HERO for supers.

No particular order after CoC:
Call of Cthulhu (and various other iterations of BRP)
WFRP
Classic Traveller
GURPS
Gamma World (original)

AD&D
Classic Traveller
Shadowrun 2e
Star Wars D6
Call of Cthulhu (4th edition is my favorite, thought it mostly doesn't matter)

Oh, jeez, ummmm...

RuneQuest 3
D6 system (prepping a Heaven's Shadow game)
WarpWorld
Blade of the Iron Throne
D&D

Traveller (Classic/Mongoose/4th/5th)
2300AD (both)
WEG d6 Star Wars (all)
Mekton (Zeta/II)
Basic D&D/Labyrinth Lord

ACKS
Savage Worlds
L5R 4e, used to be 1e, but 4e is a better game
Pendragon
WFRP

Call of Cthulhu
Traveller (Classic/Mega)
RuneQuest (2nd, 3rd, MRQ2)
B/X D&D
Heavy Gear (2nd)

Quote from: David Johansen;756691.  If they did a fourth edition medium book that cut maneuvers from the core it'd probably edge into first place.

I've been begging SJgames to make a "GURPS Medium" for ages.

They and their fans are violently opposed to the notion

Basic D&D and its many iterations.
Marvel FASERIP
AD&D 1st ed.
Star Frontiers
Burning Wheel/WFRPG

pendragon
wfrp
call of cthulhu
ad&d
dungeon crawl classics

Too damn hard! So I'll cheat, of course.

1. TSR-era D&D and OSR variants. The D&D RC is my favorite TSR D&D. As far as OSR games are concerned it's usually DCC, ACKS and AS&SH vying for the spot.

2. BRP. CoC5e and RQ6e are my favorites, though I've got mad love for Stormbringer/Elric! and RQ3e. Also, does Aquelarre count?

3. Traveller. Classic and Mongoose.

4. WFRP. 1e for fluff, 2e for crunch.

5. WoD. Old and New. I've had tons of fun with OWoD and would play again in a heartbeat, but NWoD generally suits my GMing style better.

Runner-up: Savage Worlds. I know a #6 is extra cheating but I've played a hell of a lot of SW and I feel it should be here somewhere.

If you press me into choosing one game and one game only for each spot, without cheating, today, you'll get:

1. ACKS. B/X D&D reconstructed from the ground up for maximum BECMI/RC-like empire-building endgame awesomeness. I have half a dozen ideas on how I could run it, from the Hollow World Boxed Set sitting in my shelf to waiting for the Auran Empire Campaign Setting to come out. But when I run it I intend to stick to it for a looong time.

2. RQ6e. This is the game I want for every sword-and-sorcery scenario that D&D won't quite cover. When I get to run it I think I'll set the game in the 16th or 17th Century CE with players as Spanish conquistadors... on Monster Island. I foresee a lot of grisly deaths and dismemberments.

3. L'Appel de Cthulhu édition de 30ème Anniversaire. If you ask me to whip up a game in 10 minutes, I'll produce a copy of CoC and run you through some horrific monster-of-the-week thingie. And the French version of CoC, for some reason, has a bunch of subsystems and GMing tools missing from the English version. Fun fun fun.

4. Mongoose Traveller. I rank it right up there with the D&D RC and CoC in the "absolute goddamn best core rulebook ever." Also second most likely candidate to fly off the shelf when I have to run something with short notice.

5. WFRP 2e. Ordinarily it would be NWoD and/or Hunter: The Vigil here, but I've been reading some WFRP 1e adventures (Drachenfels, Lichemaster) and I'm in a huge WFRP kick right now. Also, last week the players commented on how much fun they had the last time I ran it.

Homebrew
Diceless - Amber setting or others
D&D
James Bond 007
Daredevils

Call out to Savage worlds as a great genetic system but my homebrew is now solid enough that I don't need SW any more although happy to play it whenever.

I find these sorts of questions funny when people answer with 4 versions of D&D and another d20 game which plays liek D&D in a non fantasy setting.