The 90s were "interesting times" for RPGs, in the Chinese saying sense.

TSR set out to sell a family-friendly, bowdlerised AD&D, while "basic" D&D came to a close with the RC. White Wolf showed up bringing in an influx of new gamers, with its new games which nominally prized "storytelling" but relied on fairly traditional mechanics. Storylines and metaplots were all the rage these days.

Since this forum seems to have a strong 1980s bias (AD&D 1e, Call of Cthulhu, Classic Traveller, Runequest 2e, etc.) with a sizable contingent of 2000ers (D&D 3.Xe and OGL-derived games), I'd like to know which 1990s games and settings, if any, have a following 'round these parts.

It's interesting to see it put like that because now, in retrospect, I realize that most of the games I played in high school (early-to-mid-90s) were from the 80s and the new, hot games of the 90s (Vampire, etc.) didn't do it for us.

Although we did play plenty of 2e AD&D...we just added back all the stuff they took out to make it family friendly!

Chronologie of games (don't need to understand French to understand the dates and titles): http://www.legrog.org/chronologie/jeux

(Excluding INS/MV which is from 1989 in French), some games I really like from the 90s:

Vampire: the Masquerade
Nephilim
Bloodlust
Dangerous Journeys
Stella Inquisitorus
Scales

Quote from: Benoist;450601Chronologie of games (don't need to understand French to understand the dates and titles): http://www.legrog.org/chronologie/jeux

(Excluding INS/MV which is from 1989 in French), some games I really like from the 90s:

Vampire: the Masquerade
Nephilim
Bloodlust
Dangerous Journeys
Stella Inquisitorus
Scales

Did they/I miss Empire of the Petal Throne in the late 70s?

Mage the Ascension
Alternity
Heavy Gear
RC D&D
TMNT & OS

Though not the only games I played in the 90's, these were some of my favourites. I started gaming in the 90's, so I don't have nostalgia for the 80's.

Heavy Gear

Legend of the Five Rings

I know it was out at the end of '89, but I think of Shadowrun as a 90's game also.  At least, that was the last time I played it.

Quote from: Lawbag;450602Did they/I miss Empire of the Petal Throne in the late 70s?

Some games have no description and do not appear in the list because nobody wrote one (The GROG, Guide of the Galactic Role-Player is basically a non-profit association with content that is submitted by volunteers). If you go on the Tekumel entry and scroll down to the list of books that are wanted, you'll see the 1975 Empire of the Petal Throne there.

Mage the Ascension. I wasn't playing much RPG in the 90s, just the odd game here and there, but I had the 2e MtA and I really liked it. I liked the setting, I liked the way Magic worked (or perhaps was supposed to work--not so sure about how it happened at the table. My understanding was that it was a bit of a mess with a lot of GM fiat required.) I loved the art. It was just a lot of good all over.

I didn't play any rpg games at all during the 1990's and early 2000's.

Though with that being said, some of the 1990's era rpg books I picked up over the years, were semi-amusing/interesting reads like various splatbooks for 2E Shadowrun, RIFTS, 2E AD&D Forgotten Realms, etc ...

Hypothetically if I had played any rpg games during the 1990's, I could see myself playing a lot of 2E Shadowrun, 2E AD&D era Forgotten Realms, and maybe even RIFTS (using the first several RIFTS splatbooks from the early 1990's).

Quote from: Benoist;450601Scales

This one was a complete mystery to me. I didn't own the core book, an old friend did, which might explain why I didn't get it: maybe he failed to convey what was the game about. Did you have memorable sessions running this game?

Quote from: The Butcher;450599The 90s were "interesting times" for RPGs, in the Chinese saying sense.

TSR set out to sell a family-friendly, bowdlerised AD&D, while "basic" D&D came to a close with the RC. White Wolf showed up bringing in an influx of new gamers, with its new games which nominally prized "storytelling" but relied on fairly traditional mechanics. Storylines and metaplots were all the rage these days.

Since this forum seems to have a strong 1980s bias (AD&D 1e, Call of Cthulhu, Classic Traveller, Runequest 2e, etc.) with a sizable contingent of 2000ers (D&D 3.Xe and OGL-derived games), I'd like to know which 1990s games and settings, if any, have a following 'round these parts.

I actually preferred 90s AD&D to 80s, but I realize that is generally a minority viewpoint. Was a big Ravenloft fan. Thought the explosion of settings like Dark Sun, Birthright, etc was great. And I liked that 2e was less high fantasy, more naturalistic than 1E (IMO). The various blue and green books were also things I enjoyed. The family friendly stuff never really bothered me. I guess I would have prefered that 2E kept stuff like demons and devils, but I felt it brought enough to the table that I felt it was okay.  

Was never a huge fan of White Wolf and things of that nature, because I was a huge horror fan, and didn't care for the anne rice introspective/tortured vampire thing. However I did play in a number of WW campaigns, and still had fun.  

That said, I like a lot the games coming out now, and I still think 1E rocked back in the 80s.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;450604TMNT

Wasn't TMNT from 1985?

Quote from: misterguignol;450616Wasn't TMNT from 1985?

My copy is from the mid 1980's.

Quote from: ggroy;450617My copy is from the mid 1980's.

I came out in 85. I have a feeling a lot of people were introduced to it in the 90s for some reason. I started gaming in about 85-86, but didn't hear of TMNT (the rpg) till 1990.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;450619I came out in 85. I have a feeling a lot of people were introduced to it in the 90s for some reason. I started gaming in about 85-86, but didn't hear of TMNT (the rpg) till 1990.

Ah, cool.  Thought my mind was playing tricks on me for a second there as I distinctly remember playing it before 2e AD&D came out!