To answer the OP's question, the
best RPGs were the people I played with and the stories we shared, not any particular game's mechanics.
But since i'm not going to talk about my old friends, I'll instead talk about the best
designed RPG, which was Traveller
(and MegaTraveller). Unfortunately it had a flaky company
(Game Designers' Workshop, aka: GDW) that refused to deviate from its projection of small booklets until much later, and then GURPS and other companies somehow got a hold of it and posed rewrites that cruelly undermined the beauty of the system.
Traveller was one system that could easily have been converted into computer games
(in fact, I programmed a star system generator ages back, using their format). Probably the best thing they had going was a single 2d6 die-roll system that differentiated between "hitting," "penetrating" and "damage." In other words, roll 2d6 and with that number
(2-12) you determine hit, penetrate, and damage. Elegant is what I would call it. Included were aim/target modifiers. So, as far as mechanics was concerned, it was great and covered primitive to star-faring technologies, without going too far. I never saw a game then, or since, that turned physics into simple dice rolls. Oh, and it included rudimentary ESP that ensured ESP
(telepathy, telekinesis, etc) was a subtle addition, not an overriding power.
Traveller was the "first" space-oriented RPG, inspired by many of the great sci fi novels. Marc Miller, the lead designer, created it in 1977 after deciding he wanted to make a D&D type game in space
(D&D was first created in 1974 underwent a split in designs in 1977). Just as D&D was the original, and standard by which all fantasy RPG games were judged, Traveller was the original, and standard by which all Sci-FI RPG games were judged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(role-playing_game)
http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Traveller_Wiki
Another fun one was Space Opera (
click here). That was just plain reckless fun, but I think it was more due to the GM and our outright abandonment of common sense that allowed that game to hold so many ridiculous memories. And then there was Paranoia, which was intentional chaos (
click here). Hard for a GM to run that game right, the characters are doomed from the onset. But it's okay -- they have clones, hehe.
A Wikipedia excerpt about the Paranoia game setting:
Wikipedia said:
The game's main setting is an immense and futuristic city called Alpha Complex, which is controlled by The Computer, a civil service AI construct. The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially Communists). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. Player characters are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles.
The player characters frequently receive missions that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory, or fatal, and side-missions which conflict with any other instructions the players may have received, and are issued equipment that is dangerous, faulty or "experimental" (i.e. almost certainly dangerous and faulty). Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and/or a secret society member, and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Thus, missions often turn into a comedy of errors, as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a "six-pack," which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. The game lacks a conventional health system; most wounds the player characters can suffer are assumed to be fatal. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed, yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family. Additional clones can be purchased if one gains sufficient favour with the Computer.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.