• We are looking for you!
    Always wanted to join our Supporting Team? We are looking for enthusiastic moderators!
    Take a look at our recruitement page for more information and how you can apply:
    Apply

Best RPG Ever?

DeletedUser1084

In your honest opinion what is the best RPG you have ever played?
Can be table top (or paper) or on the computer...

Be specific, not just D&D.. what version..

And most important WHY is it is the best?
 

DeletedUser3

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.
 

DeletedUser1862

As the first responder mentioned, it tends to be the people you play with and not the actual system you use that makes the 'best RPG'.
I DMed for a D&D 3.5 group and we had more fun with the characters and their interactions than with the actual system. When the half-orc goes for an attack and the rest of the team runs for cover (he'd almost always kill whatever he hit, and you just hope it's not you :p [and me as the DM would almost always make it splatter]), you know you're having fun.

Although I played D&D 3.5, it was mostly for the ease of getting new players into the game. I played 2.0 and 3.0 of the system as well, CCGs could be played as RPGs, and even online games like this one have their appeal for the RPG elements, so it's a little hard to pin down a 'best'.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DeletedUser

The original 3 booklet box set of D&D (Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasures, Underground Adventures) was by far THE BEST system. It had enough game mechanics to structure roleplaying, but was only limited by the imagination of the Dungeon Master. Add in a couple of the supplements Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Gods, DemiGods & Heroes and you were off! Once packaged adventures started coming out, the game started its downhill trek. Nothing is more fun than a world created by your DM with enough passion to make play conform to his world's milieu. Check out Empire of the Petal Throne. Although marketed as a different game (own mechanics) you can see how intricate the worlds became. Aids like the "Citystate of the Invincible Overlord" also shows the detail that was created by imaginative and thoughtful DMs. Without it and its predecessor "Chainmail" ther would probably still not be any RPG. Many thanks to E. Gary Gygax for hours of enjoyment.;)
 

DeletedUser

Gygax was ahead of his time, creating computer games before computers were accessible to most. I had all the books but rarely used them, it was all about having fun, sometimes at the whiners expense (you know the guy that took the game waayy to seriously). when it came to board games though i think risk was the best strategy game, especially when playing with 3 or 4 people.
 

DeletedUser1084

I think beyond the game set... the rules... the knowledge base of the players... their mind set... The best comes down to the best group of "chemically" compatible people :)

Dosent mean they all get along all the time.. sometimes controversy and some conflict is good... but its the people that make the game.

I loved playing all table tops i got a chance to play. Most were with the same group though.
I remember trying to play with a new group, me being the outsider... and i just did not get into it. i had played the game many times but with that groups it just did not work for me.

I like AD&D 3.5... i like the books and what not for Rifts but never played a full game.
My all time favorite computer RPG was Dark Sun and Dark Sun2.. DOS games based on AD&D.
Though Never Winter Nights was very cool. love the graphics and game play and the online was pretty cool while it lasted :)

These posts have made me think though.. never a good thing ;)...
Are the days of table top (paper) group based, social group RPGs numbered?
And what is the future of RPG going to be..????

~DA
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DeletedUser1862

These posts have made me think though.. never a good thing ;)...
Are the days of table top (paper) group based, social group RPGs numbered?
And what is the future of RPG going to be..????

~DA

I sure hope not, but the world of networks is becoming larger. The group I mentioned above was scattered across the country, so we still had the 'feel' of the tabletop without an actual table.I haven't played the CRPG versions of any of them, not very interested in being an electronics gamer since consoles started to go the 'FPS' route, but I did have a slight interest in learning about the RPG games that used them (Final Fantasy and the NWN series), are they any good? I kinda feel like the DM is a major part of the experience, and CRPG's just seemed to take that away :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DeletedUser1084

I kinda feel like the DM is a major part of the experience, and CRPG's just seemed to take that away

I do agree with this.. since in a CRPG the DM is basically the story line and for the most part its set.. unlike a tradition DM/GM where the story can change as he see the person and or character change and based on what they do or feel like doing.

There are some CRPGs that when you do one thing you get one reaction if you do another there is a different one. Those are the best but still dont always compare. For example: you could talk to a merchant and if you ask for item B he gives it and you move on but if you asked for C he may tell you something that would lead you to something else.. and so on... basically having multiple story lines that you can follow based on what you decide to do. not just what your suppose to do to fulfill the one or few lines of the story. Fallout was like that too.

I really enjoyed NWN. There was a lot of single game play that was cool but then there was a free online community. Where ppl hosted their own.. Since the game came with an editor where you could make your own worlds.. add in scenarios and all. PPl use to use that editor to play "table top" games using it as the visual for the game.. I like it a lot and sort of want to play right now.. wish the online community was still there though..

~DA
 
Top