We played lots of games after years of AD&D but the one we always liked was Marvel Super Heroes RPG.  Innovative, bright, fun, horribly unbalanced, and with no real guide for game masters we really loved it.  The problem was you couldn't really have a meaningful campaign, but it was still a lot of fun to play.  Despite this, it really changed the way we looked at RPGs, and made it easier to see the innovations in other games like Vampire, WHFRP, Champions, and GURPS.

Recently a new super heroes RPG was released on Kickstarter called Sentinels Comics RPG, and we've play-tested, and played that.  It takes a lot from Marvel, including the green-yellow-red intensity theme, but uses ideas from the Cortex RPG System.  Campaigns are easy to build, there's still some imbalances but it's a lot of fun and easily the best super heroes RPG I've ever played.  It's VERY easy to recreate other super heroes using this system.

Traveller - OMGerd, we're in space...with guns and swords? Okay, we got a space ship, let's go and shoot people and take their stuff. Wow, those firefights are dangerous. Oh well, roll up some new dudes while we order pizza. We loved Traveller insanely as teens.

Champions was very big with our crew. For some reason, it overtook Marvel Super Heroes and Heroes Unlimited for us.

Personally, the big click 2nd RPG for me personally - apart from our gaming group - was Call of Cthulhu. That was one-shot heaven and allowed me to really dig into my love of HPL's work via a system that was barely there in actual play. While not to big in our group, it was something I ran and played at every con for many years.

I spoke with my brothers about this and we think Villains & Vigilantes was the next game we played after D&D. We started with 1e but 2e quickly came out. We've played V&V for probably 40 years, on and off, but are now giving Icons a whirl.

Boot Hill was a close third for us. One of my bro's is planning on running a Boot Hill campaign in the near future.

I played Boot Hill and Gamma World 1e specifically because of its references in the DMG.

Good times. Boot Hill never stuck but Gamma World most certainly opened up my gaming to new vistas and forever changed things at my table.

Quote from: Spinachcat on February 17, 2022, 02:10:24 AM
Champions was very big with our crew. For some reason, it overtook Marvel Super Heroes and Heroes Unlimited for us.

Champions was the first character build system that really blew me away. Remarkable number of permutations, and I found myself inspired by it to imagine new supers devised vis-a-vis creative combinations of the build widgets.

One of my favorites was Whiplash, whose whip attack would slow opponents while speeding her own attacks, using the "steal dex" ability (whatever it was called).

Call of Cthulhu, I believe 2nd edition.  Boxed.  I loved the BRP system and from there went on to Stormbringer and Runequest.  Why?  The percentile-based system I felt was perfect for the sort of low-fantasy game that D&D did poorly. Dragonquest (1st ed. boxed set) was actually the second RPG I ever got, but while there was a lot to love about DQ, I found the rules pretty obtuse and to this date haven't really figured out how to play that game, although I still own it and have used it for source material in other games. So, since Dragonquest didn't "click" for me, I don't consider it to be the answer to this question.  With BRP you could start out with a decently powerful character from the outset, yet that character always had to worry about getting killed in every fight.  In D&D, your low-level characters were weaker than mosquitos but became ridiculously overpowered superheros at high levels.  Which is fine for a high-fantasy game; it allows a player to run characters like Achilles, but I enjoy different types of rpgs with a distinctive feel between each one.

Quote from: tenbones on February 17, 2022, 07:57:48 PM
I played Boot Hill and Gamma World 1e specifically because of its references in the DMG.

Good times. Boot Hill never stuck but Gamma World most certainly opened up my gaming to new vistas and forever changed things at my table.

Same.  I remember reading about them in the DMG and it was like I discovered some lost bit of history.  We also played both Boot Hill and Gamma World 3e.  I fell in love with Gamma World ever since.

RuneQuest 2 back in 80 or 81.

Runequest.

This one is easy.  It's because I'm 46 years old and proudly say that I've NEVER played D&D to this day.  And I never will.  I was already well invested into my game of choice when I saw my first D&D game played by some classmates, learned about some bizarre things called THAC0 and Armor Class that my interest soured immediately. 

My game of choice was RoboTech/Rifts/Palladium Fantasy/Heroes Unlimited.  Opposed rolls just seemed more logical, as does starting out with lots of hit points, but never getting that many more. 

These days I'm softening up a bit.  I'll play an OSR, but not official D&D.  The closest I want to play right now is RPG Pundit's Star Adventurer.

The ones I'm playing now are Pocket Fantasy and Dungeons and Delvers dice pool edition. 

Quote from: weirdguy564 on February 21, 2022, 07:20:41 PM
This one is easy.  It's because I'm 46 years old and proudly say that I've NEVER played D&D to this day.  And I never will.  I was already well invested into my game of choice when I saw my first D&D game played by some classmates, learned about some bizarre things called THAC0 and Armor Class that my interest soured immediately. 

My game of choice was RoboTech/Rifts/Palladium Fantasy/Heroes Unlimited.  Opposed rolls just seemed more logical, as does starting out with lots of hit points, but never getting that many more. 

These days I'm softening up a bit.  I'll play an OSR, but not official D&D.  The closest I want to play right now is RPG Pundit's Star Adventurer.

The ones I'm playing now are Pocket Fantasy and Dungeons and Delvers dice pool edition.

Ok, who wants to be the one to break it to this dude that the Palladium system started as a heavily houseruled D&D...

Quote from: Eirikrautha on February 21, 2022, 11:18:58 PM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on February 21, 2022, 07:20:41 PM
This one is easy.  It's because I'm 46 years old and proudly say that I've NEVER played D&D to this day.  And I never will.  I was already well invested into my game of choice when I saw my first D&D game played by some classmates, learned about some bizarre things called THAC0 and Armor Class that my interest soured immediately. 

My game of choice was RoboTech/Rifts/Palladium Fantasy/Heroes Unlimited.  Opposed rolls just seemed more logical, as does starting out with lots of hit points, but never getting that many more. 

These days I'm softening up a bit.  I'll play an OSR, but not official D&D.  The closest I want to play right now is RPG Pundit's Star Adventurer.

The ones I'm playing now are Pocket Fantasy and Dungeons and Delvers dice pool edition.

Ok, who wants to be the one to break it to this dude that the Palladium system started as a heavily houseruled D&D...

So are a bunch of other games that aren't D&D either. And it's still distinct and plays differently enough, with a different feel and features that didn't exist in D&D, that it doesn't really matter what the game supposedly started out as. It isn't really D&D and you couldn't port almost anything from it to D&D without modifying the crap out of it.

Quote
Ok, who wants to be the one to break it to this dude that the Palladium system started as a heavily houseruled D&D...

I actually find that funny.  To be fair, I did know Kevin Seimbieda's game was based on his extensive house rules for D&D. 

But after changing so much, is it D&D anymore?

One other game I've played was The Black Hack (The Anime Hack actually), which is  supposed to be an OSR based on D&D.  I can safely say that it's so heavily changed to not fall under OSR.  The Black Hack family are their own thing. 

Same with Palladium with it's Blocks and Parries you roll instead of fixed AC rating.  Or Armor that is essentially extra hit points, not more AC rating.  Hit points that don't really go up with your level, but your dodge and parry bonus does.  Those are the core changes that Palladium does differently enough that I don't think Palladium is in the OSR either.  And smaller things like classes that make sense like Soldier and Knight, but not Fighter.