[DL] Re: Top Five Favourites

[Xotzil@aol.com]

>>I was just wondering what everyone's Top Five RPGs of all time might be (in
>>order or not).

1.   Deadlands/HoE.

One of the only RPGs I've encountered that manages to balance setting w/mechanics. Before all of you who are unhappy with the combat dice-heaviness jump all over me about that, I'll say up front that it doesn't bother me. Using cards, poker chips and dice together so fits in well with the setting, and like any system you use, it gets easier the more you use it. The mechanics behind Hucksters was clever enough to make me stop breathing for a moment when I read about it the first time and mutter (in a Wile. E. Coyote voice) "Genius. Pure genius."

And as for the setting? Breathtaking. 'nuff said.

2.   Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green (with a little Conspiracy X thrown in for good measure).

CoC was one of the first non-D&D games I played, and I absolutely loved it. D&D never gave you a sense of mortality for your character like CoC did, and that really appealed to me. I never got paranoid going through Tomb of Horrors in the same way that I gritted my teeth and bit my nails at playing Spawn of Azathoth.

Delta Green (one of the two games to get a 10 out of 10 from the now defunct "arcane" magazine) is perhaps one of the best written, best thought out and best designed...I hesitate to even know what to call it. Setting? Game? Whatever...brilliant. THIS is why I got into this hobby. And Countdown was even better than the original setting book was (Tiger Transit was an astounding piece of writing). If you haven't picked up Countdown yet, Do So At Once. Now. Seriously.

I throw ConX in there, because I like the basic idea behind ConX, but DG does it so much BETTER. And what's REALLY cool about it, is that you can dovetail the two setting bits together almost seamlessly.

3.   Storyteller (Vampire/Werewolf/Wraith only).

Say what you will about White Wolf...and today's D'arqraven/Bloodripple (is lurch still here?) goth wannabes are certainly a good reason to say what you will about White Wolf a majority of the time...the original intent behind those three games still really affected me. The idea that Character was more important than Statistic wasn't something I had really encountered before, even in a CoC game. 

I ran a non-goth Vampire game for nigh on five years, and had a blast every time I played, and my players were from the Hackmasters of Everknight school of roll-playing. Vampire twisted all that inside out, and every one of them was bending that last "l" into an "e" during every session. I was so unhappy to see that troupe come apart, but I still really remember those games with a great deal of fondness.

I think I liked those three because they fit in with various facets of human nature that don't get poked at often enough in RPGs...the ideas of hubris (Vampire), social strata/tribalism (Werewolf) and regret/temptation (Wraith). Those three games made me think about those things [with regard to the game...I am not a navel-contemplator by nature...not unless I've drank enough, anyway...] not only when I was making up scenarios for these people to get involved in, but when I actually got to play, too.

4.   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and other Strangeness).

I've never played Rifts, and what little I've seen of the Palladium world I really haven't liked, but a group of us played this for a short time and had a fun time with it. Just for silly, non-sensical fun. Lots of leaping up high with your mutated Antelope, and bringing unpronouncable Asian weapons down on mooks with even more resoundingly unpronouncable sounds being the result was a great way to waste a winter afternoon up here on the frozen tundra in the dead of winter.

5.   AD&D.

It was the first thing I ever did, and even though I abandoned it to move on to other things, and even though I do look down my nose at it a lot of the time, it still was my first, and I have to remember it with a great deal of fondness because of it. Sloghing through the Caves of Chaos, and somehow managing to deal with all 537 orcs in one room without breaking a 1st level sweat still makes me smile.

*sigh* Now I wish I had a group. Maybe John can patch things up with me ex so I can move to Richmond after all. :-P

--Jacques