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Best Games of the 1990s

Started by The Butcher, April 07, 2011, 11:24:39 AM

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Pseudoephedrine

Quote from: J Arcane;450688The release of the cartoon really boosted the sales of the tabletop game once all those kids got to gaming age and found out "Wait, there's a Turtles game?! Holy shit!"

Yup. I asked my parents to get me the book when I was 8 because it was a Ninja Turtles book, without any idea of what a roleplaying game was.
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The Pernicious Light, or The Wreckers of Sword Island;
A Goblin\'s Progress, or Of Cannons and Canons;
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Silverlion

Marvel Superhero Adventure Game.

Fast and loose superhero RPG, powered by the SAGA engine. It could have been terrible, but it actually made cards worthwhile in play style, adding information for more than just number-values on the cards.

Not perfect, but it was a solid RPG, that came out in the late 90's. (MSH had died off sadly in the early 90's, with I think the 1991-92 update for the GHOTMU being the last one.)
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stu2000

Let's see . . . Most of my favorites from the nineties were leftover favorites from the eighties which would continue to be favorites in the oughts. But the nineties had that explosion of different games, and I like some a whole lot.
So--for games I love that seem distinctly nineties:
HKAT! & Feng Shui.
Castle Falkenstein
TORG
CORPS
Delta Green
Millennium's End
Big Eyes Small Mouth
Over the Edge
Unknown Armies
Battlelords of the by god 23rd Century

I especally enjoyed the proliferation of little beer and pretzels rpgs like It Came From The Late Late Show and Nightlife. I took a particular fancy to a rough-hewn generic game called Duel. I'm sure thaere are some others, but these stood out as both really fun and really nineties-ish games.
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IceBlinkLuck

The games I referenced the most from this time are probably:

Kult
Vampire
Mage
Whispering Vault
Elric! (I kind of count it as a new game since it doesn't share a lot in common with Stormbringer)
Over the Edge
Castle Falkenstein
Nephilim
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Dirk Remmecke

Even though I played mainly Midgard, (A)D&D, and two homebrews at that time, I was quite enamored with (in no particular order)

  • Over the Edge
  • Castle Falkenstein
  • Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (ICE)
  • Nephilim
  • Dream Park
  • Darkurthe Legends
  • Rogue Swords of the Empire
  • Guildes
  • In Nomine (SJG)
  • Dragonlance 5th Age
  • BESM
  • Tribe 8
  • Forgotten Futures
  • Sovereign Stone
Swords & Wizardry & Manga ... oh my.
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DKChannelBoredom

Over the Edge for me; so 90s, so good.

We also played a lot of Delta Green-style Call of Cthulhu, which catches the 90s zeitgeist very well, IMO.
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jgants

Quote from: J Arcane;450688The release of the cartoon really boosted the sales of the tabletop game once all those kids got to gaming age and found out "Wait, there's a Turtles game?! Holy shit!"

It was pretty instrumental in introducing my friends and I to the older comics from before they became all kiddiefied.

Unfortunately, the boost apparently had kind of a double-edged effect, as the kiddification of the cartoon shows killed the series interest with older gamers, at least according to Siembieda, which is why they let the license die.

Oddly, I had the exact opposite experience.  I found the RPG in a comic store back in the late 80s (it was a first printing, complete with the sexual dysfunction insanities) and got a bunch of people playing it in elementary school.

A couple of years later, I was like "wow, they made a cartoon out of that strange RPG about the underground comic?"
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RPGPundit

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;450604TMNT & OS

Not sure what OS is? But TMNT was an 80s game, not a 90s game.

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Cole

Quote from: RPGPundit;450997Not sure what OS is? But TMNT was an 80s game, not a 90s game.

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RPGPundit

Quote from: Cole;450998"Other strangeness."

Ohhh, LOL; I was thinking for some reason he'd put two different rpgs in the same line, so TMNT was TMNT, and "OS" was some other rpg.

Anyways, best games of the 90s:
I would agree that technically RC probably shouldn't count, as it is something essentially a compilation of the 80s.

The best 90s game, hands down, is Amber.
Second place goes to Over the Edge and RIFTS, tied.

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ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
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The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

silva

Played a lot of 2E Shadowrun and Vampire: the Masquerade. Really wanted to play Planescape, Mage and Deadlands, but couldnt.

I think the 90´s was a very "style-over-substance" age for rpgs, if that makes any sense.

RPGPundit

Quote from: silva;451023Played a lot of 2E Shadowrun and Vampire: the Masquerade. Really wanted to play Planescape, Mage and Deadlands, but couldnt.

I think the 90´s was a very "style-over-substance" age for rpgs, if that makes any sense.

It does.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.