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What games to represent the current main styles?

Started by Itachi, September 03, 2019, 09:49:05 AM

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Steven Mitchell

If I need to run them:

- D&D 5E - obviously.
- DCC - as OSR representative, I think it is a bit more accessible than some of the others, but still different enough to show changes in the hobby.
- Mouse Guard - will give a good feel for the quasi story game, but without as much of a learning curve as some of the other choices.
- MRQ Runequest II - would be better to pick Legends or something similar, but I'm not buying it again.   (More likely, I wait and do this one fourth, hoping that their version of Lyonesse is out by then.)

If someone else runs:

- Add Savage Worlds and Dungeon Fantasy to the list.

Rhedyn

Quote from: Itachi;1102095But do you think Vampire is relevant today? Honest question.


What do you mean by "actual RPG mechanics"?
Fate is a Fudge build. A light one, but the underlining core of Fate is a traditional RPG system.

PbtA gets rid of such silly things as stats and failure that my character would care about in character. It's a great way for 6 people to sit down at a table and barely interact with each other.

HappyDaze

Quote from: Itachi;1102032If you had a friend who wants to come back to gaming after a long hiatus (say, the 90s) what 3 or 4 games do you think are relevant to introduce him to, so he has a nice picture of where the hobby is now?

And do you think it's important to separate D&D 5e from the OSR?

What were/are his gaming interests? Even a popular game might have 0 relevance if it is outside of his interests, and that means genre, setting, and style far more than mechanics. For example, if I was that friend you'd be wasting your time showing me anything based on CoC or Dr. Who regardless of system. For one of my friends, you'd be remiss for not including the current (FFG) Star Wars games because of his interest in Star Wars (but he'd probably fall away after seeing the system).

Shasarak

Quote from: Itachi;1102032If you had a friend who wants to come back to gaming after a long hiatus (say, the 90s) what 3 or 4 games do you think are relevant to introduce him to, so he has a nice picture of where the hobby is now?

I would get him to play in my Pathfinder 2e campaign.

Personally I could not think of much worse then dumping 3 or 4 different roleplaying systems on someone who wants to get back into the hobby.  Even reading one system would be a big ask.
Who da Drow?  U da drow! - hedgehobbit

There will be poor always,
pathetically struggling,
look at the good things you've got! -  Jesus

Itachi

#19
Shasarak, yeah the idea is to run some one-shots/short arcs of these games so he gets to experience them first hand.

Quote from: Rhedyn;1102108Fate is a Fudge build. A light one, but the underlining core of Fate is a traditional RPG system.

PbtA gets rid of such silly things as stats and failure that my character would care about in character. It's a great way for 6 people to sit down at a table and barely interact with each other.


Nothing you say about PbtA reflects my experience. On the contrary actually, as most games I've played promote intense inter-player interaction. What game made you feel like that? PbtA has become a pretty wide umbrella lately.

Razor 007

I need you to roll a perception check.....

Rhedyn

Quote from: Itachi;1102116Shasarak, yeah the idea is to run some one-shots/short arcs of these games so he gets to experience them first hand.




Nothing you say about PbtA reflects my experience. On the contrary actually, as most games I've played promote intense inter-player interaction. What game made you feel like that? PbtA has become a pretty wide umbrella lately.
pigsmoke con game

But I really doubt it was just that build of PbtA. The game has little meat.

GeekyBugle

#22
Fantasy: White Box, Basic Fantasy RPG, Arrows of Indra
Sci-Fi / Space Opera: White Star, Stars Without Number, OpenD6 Space
Espionage: White Lies
WWII: Operation White Box
Sword & Sorcery: Barbarians of Lemuria, Beasts & Barbarians, Low Fantasy Gaming
Sword & Planet: Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, Barbarians of Lemuria, Tales of Gor (NSFW)
Medieval Authentic: Lion & Dragon
Edited to add
Western: Cowboy World (PbtA)
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell

HappyDaze

Quote from: GeekyBugle;1102125Fantasy: White Box, Basic Fantasy RPG, Arrows of Indra
Sci-Fi / Space Opera: White Star, Stars Without Number, OpenD6 Space
Espionage: White Lies
WWII: Operation White Box
Sword & Sorcery: Barbarians of Lemuria, Beasts & Barbarians, Low Fantasy Gaming
Sword & Planet: Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, Barbarians of Lemuria, Tales of Gor (NSFW)
Medieval Authentic: Lion & Dragon
Edited to add
Western: Cowboy World (PbtA)

That's a list of games that is almost unrecognizable to me even though I have interests in about half of those categories. I'll give them a look, but I will pretty much scratch out anything that's OSR without a second thought as I've never found OSR products to be interesting.

GeekyBugle

Quote from: HappyDaze;1102127That's a list of games that is almost unrecognizable to me even though I have interests in about half of those categories. I'll give them a look, but I will pretty much scratch out anything that's OSR without a second thought as I've never found OSR products to be interesting.

Then you can scratch everything but Opend6 Space, Barbarians of Lemuria, Beasts & Barbarians, Tales of Gor and Cowboy World. The rest is all OSR at it's finest.

Edited to clarify: OpenD6 is IMHO OSR since it's based upon WEG's Star Wars.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell

HappyDaze

Quote from: GeekyBugle;1102140Edited to clarify: OpenD6 is IMHO OSR since it's based upon WEG's Star Wars.

I have WEG's D6 Space (along with D6 Adventure and D6 Fantasy) from sometime around 2005. Is this the same as Open D6, or is that a newer version?

GeekyBugle

Quote from: HappyDaze;1102147I have WEG's D6 Space (along with D6 Adventure and D6 Fantasy) from sometime around 2005. Is this the same as Open D6, or is that a newer version?

I think they are the same or almost, if anything changed it was very little, you can get the PDFs for free legally.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell

cranebump

Quote from: Rhedyn;1102041D&D 5e - it basically is the hobby

PbtA - the top story game right now.

Stars Without Number - both Sci-fi and OSR and has a free version.

Savage Worlds - with all the supporting books, this is basically a genre in of itself for traditional RPGs.

DCCRPG - I consider this representative of fun RPGs with that old OSR aesthetic.

A good list, but I'd use or include Swords & Wizards to represent OSR clones, etc.
"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows..."

jhkim

Quote from: S'mon;1102038In rough order of relevance:

5e D&D obviously

Some Modiphius 2d20 thingy, probably Conan. Feel the Pain! :D

Call of Cthulu (current version with the crappy x5 stats) :(

Pathfinder 2e for the gearheads

If PF2e does badly then replace it with Savage Worlds I guess.

A few years back would have been FATE and WH40K stuff like Dark Heresy but not been hearing from there recently.

I am an OSR guy but I can't see ACKS or Labyrinth Lord cracking the top 4. Swords & Wizardry would come closest due to its spinoffs. I guess Stars Without Number for most 'relevant' OSR game. Would have been Lamentations of the Flame Princess but I think that ship may have sailed.

Sales numbers should be taken with a big grain of salt, but for what it's worth, here's ICv2 top sales from the spring:

1. Dungeons & Dragons
2. Starfinder
3. Star Wars RPG
4. Vampire
5. Pathfinder

https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/43732/top-5-roleplaying-games-spring-2019

That fits my impression is that FFG's Star Wars is more relevant than Modiphius. For another view, one can sample the games run at Gen Con:

https://www.gencon.com/event_finder?category=Role+Playing+Game


This shows that there's still a lot of Call of Cthulhu play, for example. For the OP, though, one might pick to show a broader range of styles rather than just the top 3-4 most popular RPGs. I could see running a Powered-by-the-Apocalypse game on the one hand and an OSR game on the other, for example.

Mankcam

Dungeons Dragons 5E
Dungeon Crawl Classics
Modiphius Conan
Fate Core - Shadow of th Centuy
PbtA - Dungeon World, Blades In The Dark
Call of Cthulhu 7E
RuneQuest Glorantha
Star Wars Edge of Empire
Vampire The Masquerade 5E
Numenera