Here is a list of ten pen and paper roleplaying games that are good, but probably aren’t in the top ten list of most gamers. These games are great, but maybe not quite great enough to crack the top ten.

1. Vampire - The first game created by White Wolf for the World of Darkness system. It really brought the Vampire genre game out to roleplayers. It also reminded roleplayers that you didn’t have to play the guys killing evil creatures; you could also play the evil creatures.

2. Mage - A pretty inventive, free-flowing magic system. I remember reading this book at a bowling alley for the first time and thinking, “Dang, you could do anything with these characters?!” If you could think it, you could cast it. Provided that your character had the ability to do it, that is.

3. Werewolf - This game was fun, especially coupled with Vampire. I loved taking my Werewolf against Vampires in 1st edition and destroying them, mostly because the systems weren’t balanced to go together. I also give the game props for having that 1st edition hard cover with the claw marks in it, great advertising.

4. Paranoia - One of the only games where the pre-made adventures were often better than player created adventures. This game had the unique idea to give characters clones of themselves so death meant even less than it normally does in a roleplaying game (which isn’t much).

5. Spycraft - This game advanced leaps and bounds from the 1st edition to the 2nd edition. I believe they could be poised to advance up there with WotC’s D&D and White Wolf’s World of Darkness. Only time will tell, but the game has a ton of potential.

6. Gamma World - I always thought this game should have gotten more props than it did. The random character generation charts were awesome. What other game could you play a poison spewing plant-thingy?

7. Cyberpunk 2020 - True cyberpunk setting in every sense of the word. This game can be absolutely lethal as well. And who could forget the most infamous cybernetic item of all time, the Mr. Stud implant. Basically a requirement for all bad-asses in the game.

8. Warhammer FRPG - Warhammer is more known for their miniatures and wargaming. Even lately they’ve become known for their Warhammer MMORPG. But their roleplaying game is pretty darn fun too, and has a very unique character class system.

9. Earthdawn - According to FASA, it was supposed to be Shadowrun but in a fantasy setting. The game had a pretty unique system and setting, but for some reason it always felt kind of bland when you played (sometimes like 4th edition D&D). The game did pretty well, however, and still has a small following.

10. Hackmaster - Come on critical hit! This game is all about the critical hit table. There is a lot of other cool stuff about the game as well, but essentially it is just another D&D clone. Not that being a D&D clone is a bad thing

Tags: Hobbies, roleplaying, rpgs

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 7:38 am and is filed under Hobbies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.