Hello Folks!
I’ve been realising in the last few years that my knowledge of games systems is fairly limited. I’m a WoD person myself, though I started out on DnD 3.5, and am adoring Pathfinder. But apart from a touch of Fudge and Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who RPG, I’m horribly inexperienced with the broad range of options. So I’m curious: what do you guys play? What are your systems of choice - and why?
I’ve played a fairly wide range of games over the years starting of with Palladium and then moving onto World of Darkness and AD&D. Now I run a DnD 5e game and a Edge of the Empire. Over the years though games like 3.5, Exulted, Reign and Last Deciphers Star Trek really stood out for me.
I used to do quite a lot of play testing and tested out Doctor Who but never got around to playing the finished game, what did you think of it?
Wow: I will need to check out most of those. Intrigued to know more about DnD 5 - I was one of the people screaming betrayal when 4 came out (probably an overreaction). What’s it like, by comparison?
I didn’t play too much of the Doctor Who RPG - just some premade stuff. I was a little underwhelmed with it - wanted more meat to it, I suppose: it felt like an RPG for younger, more inexperienced players.
I am keen to play around with it a bit more, though, and see what it’s like to make one’s own characters and adventures. A friend and I have some thoughts about a paradox-heavy time-travel RPG, and I might try going back to DW for that.
If you dig the horror stuff, check out Shadows of Esteren, too. Indie, medieval horror from France.
Oh that looks fun! I’ve just downloaded the PDF so will have a read 
I gave up on DnD when 4 came out, I really didn’t like the system and felt betrayed by it but I’m actually loving 5e. So glad my friends forced me to give it a try. It feels to me a lot like 3.5 but more streamlined so it plays faster. They also brought back a lot of monsters and stuff from the earlier games so it brings back lots of good memories of AD&D. There’s a free PDF so you can have a look and see what you think.
Hoboy…
First Game I played was the “german D&D” Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye). Didn’t really click with me but the idea of RPGs was with me.
I played Star Wars from Westend D6 when I was 14 years old till I discovered Savage Worlds, which I used for Star Wars from then on, because I hated Star Wars D20.
Now I use the Star Wars Trilogy RPG from FFG.
Besides that I played and still play a lot of RPGs based on licenses, which is kind of my shtick in RPGs. That and historical settings.
Here’s a selection of what I own and even sometimes play:
Ghostbusters International by West End Games (D6 system)
Pirates of the Spanish Main by WhizKids, made for Savage Worlds
Gaslight by Battlefield Press made for Savage Worlds
Discworld GURPS 3rd Edition by Steve Jackson Games
Street Fighter the Storytelling Game by White Wolf
Marvel Superheroes by Margaret Weis Productions
Those are the ones I own personally
I also played:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Savage Worlds
Historical Western Settings with GURPS 4
Historical Napoleonic Setting with GURPS 4
Fallout-like scenario with Savage Worlds
So that’s it. If you have any questions feel free to ask
And yes Steet Fighter is a really cool roleplaying game!
My favourite games are:
Pathfinder = BIG TIME
Call of Cthulhu
D&D Original Basic
Probably also Star Wars d6
I may need to just make a list of every system mentioned here.
@jenny, Shadows of Esteren looks absolutely beautiful. Grabbing that first free PDF right away to give it a read. Never thought I’d be much of a horror gamer, but lately it’s been my favourite part of the games I’m playing and running.
@Caldeth, could you link me to that PDF? I’m struggling to find it… It’d be nice to check it out: I kind of miss the DnD feelings.
@TheMOELANDER, those sound incredible… Can I ask what Pirates of the Spanish Main and Gaslight are like? Victoriana and Pirates are two of my favourite things.
@benjamin, if I’m ever in your area, I’m gatecrashing one of your games.
The DnD 5e PDF can be downloaded from here. There’s a few bits that you can download from there including some pre-made characters so you can jump straight in and play. Hope you enjoy it!
Also if you like pirates you should take a look at AEG’s 7th Sea. It’s out of print now but you can still get PDF’s of the rules.
Thanks, @Caldeth! I was looking at 7th Sea a few days ago… I will definitely grab hold of it soon.
Your Profile Pic is epic, btw.
Haha thanks! I was feeling a little outdone by all the other great pics so thought I better change mine 
It’s been years since I played 7th Sea but we used to love it, sadly the GM moved away and nobody else wanted to run it.
@amycgoodenough
Well Amy, first of all they both use Savage Worlds ruleset, which is a generic system intended for cinematic action in about any kind of setting. Here in Germany, many prefer it over other systems. You can buy both Pirates of the Spanish Main and Gaslight online in pdf form via drivethrurpg.
PotSM is a fantastic fun pirate-themed game. It gives you a plethora of easy to use rules for storms, carousing, ship-to-ship combat, boarding. I highly recommend the fanmade supplements found here: http://greywolf.critter.net/pirates.htm
I especially like the Cargo and Relic cards.
The game itself comes with maps of the Caribbean, with an easy to use grid, where you can track the travels of your parties crew. SaWo’s ruleset makes it easy to command your buccaneers and it doesn’t bog down. And if you want to give your players more creative control over the game you can hand out the Adventure Cards, which can influence the scenes you prepared for them.
The PotSM rules cover both real history as well as the “mythical” side of the time. If you want to fight the Kraken, there’s stats. If you want to encounter mermaids, there’s stats.
So basically you can make it real or mythical, just as you like. A great system and a great Setting. I currently have a crew running monthly (for which of course I am using Syrinscape extensively) on a Brigantine of English build in the year 1720, made up from a female german researcher, a male swedish whale hunter (different times), a female runaway african slave gone pirate and a male portuguese navigator. They got stranded together on the mythical island of Aeolus and encountered the rest of the wind cult that lived there, before a band of EITC mercs came and they escaped on their ship. Now they head to Malta to give the Maltese Falcon (a random loot drop from the cards I mentioned) back to the Knights of St. John of Malta
Gaslight uses the same system, but is set in victorian times. It too is mostly a historical setting, with the exception, that all the novels of the 19th century really happened in this world. Phileas Fogg did travel the world in 80 days, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson did bring down Pr. Moriarty’s criminal empire, Abraham Van Helsing did end the terror of Count Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein did create a monster, Peter Pan abducts orphans, Ebenezer Scrooge did encounter three holiday-themed spirits, the earth is hollow, there’s dinosaurs still around on a distant plateau and there are rumors of strange sightings of submersible craft in the seas.
If you like any of these novels I alluded to this is a setting for you. Of course it spins some stories of what happened to those heroes: Van Helsing founded an institute to fight the supernatural, Mycroft Holmes is the head of british intelligence and so on.
You can combine it with elements from Deadlands Reloaded (not the story, but the specific rules for the setting) and can make wonderful adventures in the Old West with Greenhorns, who are tougher than they look.
Playable Races in this one include Humans, Vampires, Werewolves, Wildlings (think Peter Pan in the city) and Beastmen.
Those sound amazing, Moe! I clearly need to dive into Savage Worlds…
If you enjoy high action, heroics and dashing adventures I’d really suggest you take a look at Exalted as well. It has a very anime feel to it set in a high fantasy oriental setting with flying skyships and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style martial arts. The game uses the WoD rules so you should be able to get straight into it Amy.
The stunt system is great, the better you describe your characters actions the more bonus dice the GM can reward you so it really gets players thinking and carrying out some great actions!
I know someone I know has been playing with Exalted. It’s also on my list
I started with “Das Schwarze Auge”, too. Went on to play excessice amounts of Shadowrun, threw in a bit of Midgard and Traveller, fell in love with RuneQuest and went on from there to a weird convoluted semi-homebrewn simulationist nightmare, which I played in a fantasy version first, then played in its Perry Rhodan frame and now made into an evergrowing manifestation of the Mass Effect Universe.
There was a break of a few years (eight or so) where I did only LARP, but now I’m at the table again. 
Well lets see there are bunch but currently I am playing or running…
Pathfinder
Numenera
D&D 5
But in my near future i can see
Savage Worlds
Fate
The Strange
Time Masters (yes pacesetters game from the 80’s)
Street Fighter is actually a bit like Exalted. It uses the WoD dice system and you can describe your stunts, but additionally you use combat cards for the special maneuvers like the spinning piledriver or the Hadoken.
Makes the game very tactical and combat actually really enjoyable and quick!
Hi all!
Since 1990 i’ve played Dungeons & Dragons (1st, 2nd, 3rd Ed.), then a long time 3.5 and when WotC started the 4th Ed. , i change to pathfinder rpg (i believe this is the better d&d) - it’s still running as gamemaster (with campaigns in the forgotten realms and two campaigns in golarion) and player (dragonlance)…
I plays Warhamner Fantasy (2nd Ed.) and Shadowrun (4th Ed.), too but not often…