Marc Miller (of Traveller fame) is posting his top five great RPGs on FB and I thought it would be good to post and discuss here:

Five Greats: Role-Playing Games (1 of 5)

I gave some thought to "important" role-playing games and came up with a list of five.

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Original Dungeons & Dragons

Gary Gygax's very first edition of Dungeons & Dragons shows clearly the roots of his revolutionary concept: he wanted his players (and they wanted) to be able to wander through a fantasy universe, unfettered by the pre-determined plot or structure. There's an argument that he intended his game to be universal, applicable to any fantasy universe, but those who first played it understood it for what it was: a way to be play within Tolkien's Middle Earth, spiced with dashes of L. Sprague de Camp, Jack Vance, and others. There were hobbits and ents and orcs, elves, balrogs, the mines of Moria (becoming the dungeons of the game title) and, or course, dragons.

At the time (1974, Dungeons & Dragons appeared in January, 1974), role-playing was an unstructured psychological group therapy technique, or an educational exercise with some ulterior pedagogical motive. Gygax made role-playing an end unto itself: players truly assumed their new roles--their characters--subject only to the game rules in front of them, and to the rulings of their Game Master.

Gygax's co-author (Dave Arneson) had a master stroke in the game, a concept that has influenced all of the role-playing games that have followed: he made characters digital rather than analog. A character had an attribute called Strength with a numerical value, and another called Intelligence with a different value. Suddenly, a smart player could be forced to play a dumb character; or a relatively dull player could have a genius character. It turned traditional role-playing on its head, divorcing the player from the role and opening up grand new possibilities that players were quick to seize.

The game literally changed the face of recreational gaming: adding a personal element to what had previously been divided on boardgames and miniature figure wargaming.

Watch for my next selection tomorrow. And by the way, my criterial is Great, not Best.

Five Best: Role-Playing Games (2 of 5)

I gave some thought to "important" role-playing games and came up with a list of five. Not best. Not necessarily even favorite. But great. Here is number 2.

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En Garde

Wargame designer Frank Chadwick was one of those early pioneers who saw the grand entertainment potential in role-playing games. When his friend Darryl Hany showed him a rudimentary sword-fighting game, Chadwick collaborated with him in 1975 to produce En Garde! a Three Musketeers-style role-playing situation. Where other designers basically rewrote the D&D rules for other genres (space, pirates, cowboys), Chadwick tried for a different gaming result. He structured En Garde as a single evening's session with each player creating (with dice) the values for a variety of characteristics, the most significant being Social Standing. The players then spent the evening role-playing the social interaction of swashbuckling 17th century adventurers, toadying up to companions with higher social status (because it rubs off on their friends), inventing slights as an excuse to fight duels (because that also brings higher status), carousing in taverns and clubs, and occasionally going off to fight in a war for a while. Chadwick's genius insight created a situation where less socially-dominant players could have their moment in the spotlight while the group's social leaders were reduced to entourage. Everyone loved it.

(I have carefully not chosen my own titles for inclusion in this list).

Five (Other) Great Role-Playing Games (3 of 5).

I gave some thought to "important" role-playing games and came up with a list of five. Not best. Not necessarily even favorite. But great. And Andy Baker says I needed to add "Other" to my header because I am not listing my own titles. Here is number 3.

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Call of Cthulhu

Sandy Petersen's vision of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos demonstrated how even a small adjustment to game rules can achieve great results. Taking a set of generic and simple role-playing rules (Basic Role-Playing from Chaosium), Petersen added a new characteristic: sanity, and thereby dramatically changed to focus of the game. In other genres, players concentrate on building wealth or power or reputation. Here, players in search of the secrets of the Cthulhu mythos face the very real danger of going mad as the truth unravels before them. Role-playing games, by their nature, do not lend themselves to the cinematic techniques of horror, but Petersen's sanity gambit achieved comparable and equally satisfying results. The player watches helplessly as his character encounters new clues leading to new knowledge and ultimately new horrible truths, each of which chips away at his sanity. The player knows his character's sanity is slowing declining, and finds himself in a race to discover that one last secret before he descends into madness. Yet he has to continue, because his only other choice is to not play the game.

Fun! And I'm delighted to see En Garde! getting a call-out. It has an absolutely inspired approach to campaign play and DM-free play (i.e., players only and solo).

He is being too modest in his exclusion of
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but it's still interesting to see what he chooses.

Quote from: Dumarest;987652He is being too modest in his exclusion of

Standard reviewer courtesy. If people were allowed to include their own work, then they would almost have to, in which case all top fives by people in said industry would just be top fours, etc.

But yes, Traveller has a place in any positive RPG list.

Well, he's managed three....

Wonder if he'll mention an SJGames game.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;987842Well, he's managed three....

Today was his birthday so he's probably out enjoying himself.

I just thought he couldn't think of any others!

Harn, and something else.

Whoa! Is the Osprey En Garde a re-print or new edition of the GDW one? Or just a similar new game with the same title?

AFIK the Osprey rule are miniatures skirmish completely unrelated to the RPG.

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;988077Whoa! Is the Osprey En Garde a re-print or new edition of the GDW one? Or just a similar new game with the same title?

It's not the same; it's one of a series of miniature skirmish games they make. However, there is a new version of En Garde available; I forget who makes it but I saw it on Amazon a while back.

Quote from: Dumarest;988089It's not the same; it's one of a series of miniature skirmish games they make. However, there is a new version of En Garde available; I forget who makes it but I saw it on Amazon a while back.

Latest edition of the game (2005) is here.

History of the game here.