Current Top Ten Tabletop RPG's

[dragonfett]

I was Stumbling the internet today when I came upon this article dated 15 Feb 2012.

http://listverse.com/2012/02/15/top-10- ... ing-games/

Coming in at number ten was Rifts. It makes me feel glad that this game is still popular enough to command this much attention that even with all the other games available, it is still in the top ten.

[Tiree]

I'm impressed that a game that has been out of print for nearly a decade. And the company has folded, that it's in the top 10

[Blue_Lion]

I'm impressed that a game that has been out of print for nearly a decade. And the company has folded, that it's in the top 10

There was no statictical basis for that list that was just his opionion. You can get real info from magazines for comics/game stores. Cant rember there name right now. But they run a monthly list of the top selling games in difrent catagories.

[jaymz]

YAY RIFTS!

[The Galactus Kid]

I'm impressed that a game that has been out of print for nearly a decade. And the company has folded, that it's in the top 10

There was no statictical basis for that list that was just his opionion. You can get real info from magazines for comics/game stores. Cant rember there name right now. But they run a monthly list of the top selling games in difrent catagories.

I was about to say...There is no way Mutants and Masterminds is more popular than World of Darkness. I don't think I have a problem with the games listed, just the order in which they are presented.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Yeah, when I looked at the list I was like "Do what?" Then went back to the top. It's just one guys fan list. Nothing backing it up but his personal preference.

It's cool to see what the guy thinks but each one of us on this board could do the same and the games would differ (( or be in different order))

[Tiree]

1. Hero 5th Edition - I also reference it as Champions
2. Paranoia
3. The Hunt (The Best Beer and Pretzel Pickup Game)
4. Star Wars d6
5. Star Wars d20 (I prefer RCR, Saga, and OCR in that order...)
6. Rifts/Robotech - You can't have one without the other!
7. The Morrow Project
8. Shadowrun 3rd Edition
9. Cyberpunk 2020 (Even though the box set did rock)
10. Dark Heresy

Now I have listed these games in no real particular order. But you can see what I have a leaning toward.

And I would toss in the ultimate game... World of Synnibarr, but people would either a) laugh or b) ask what it is.

[Damian Magecraft]

And I would toss in the ultimate game... World of Synnibarr, but people would either a) laugh or b) ask what it is.

actually I would question your sanity with that statement...
it has to be one of the worst games I have ever had the displeasure to read.

[Balabanto]

1. Hero 5th Edition - I also reference it as Champions
2. Paranoia
3. The Hunt (The Best Beer and Pretzel Pickup Game)
4. Star Wars d6
5. Star Wars d20 (I prefer RCR, Saga, and OCR in that order...)
6. Rifts/Robotech - You can't have one without the other!
7. The Morrow Project
8. Shadowrun 3rd Edition
9. Cyberpunk 2020 (Even though the box set did rock)
10. Dark Heresy

Now I have listed these games in no real particular order. But you can see what I have a leaning toward.

And I would toss in the ultimate game... World of Synnibarr, but people would either a) laugh or b) ask what it is.

Any edition of Hero is better than half the games on the original list. Call of Cthulhu? Are you kidding? Combat is filled with random non-sequiturs. "Did you use a skill? Put a mark next to it. Did you fail your skill roll at the end of the adventure? It goes up."

In particular, Hero is WAY better than Mutants and Masterminds. Mutants and Masterminds is just Hero System with no restrictions and no balancing factors, and a combat system that resolves with "My alpha strike is the most important thing in the entire combat." How the heck does this simulate superhero comics in ANY way? I've been in Mutants and Masterminds combats. They suck. You can't base your entire combat system on "Who's going to fail a saving throw first."

I don't even understand why World of Darkness made the list. The company can't even make up their mind between supplements as to exactly what's going on.

Plus, they went to POD years ago. Companies can't survive on POD.

Does Rifts belong on the list in the #10 slot? Probably in the #9.

[Ravenwing]

I'm impressed that a game that has been out of print for nearly a decade. And the company has folded, that it's in the top 10

There was no statictical basis for that list that was just his opionion. You can get real info from magazines for comics/game stores. Cant rember there name right now. But they run a monthly list of the top selling games in difrent catagories.

I was about to say...There is no way Mutants and Masterminds is more popular than World of Darkness. I don't think I have a problem with the games listed, just the order in which they are presented.

M&M Vs New World of Darkness? Hands down it's M&M. Against old WoD? Hands down it's Old WoD.

[Colt47]

Right now Pathfinder is probably my favorite RPG to GM as it is fairly easy to build a structured and balanced adventure for, and I'm kind of happy to see it take second place on a list that includes Dungeons and Dragons.

[kaid]

Right now Pathfinder is probably my favorite RPG to GM as it is fairly easy to build a structured and balanced adventure for, and I'm kind of happy to see it take second place on a list that includes Dungeons and Dragons.

Pathfinder especially if you use the pathfinder society rules is a pretty easy one for GMS to set up and run without to much fuss or muss.

One game I have really been enjoying lately is eclipsephase if one is in the mood for some more scifi goodness its pretty interesting. One nice thing as a GM you don't have to sugar coat things to much if the players are being stupid you can kill them off without to much of a kerfluffal as they can either have their stack pulled or restore from a backup. I was always leary about killing off players in campaigns in most systems but in this one you can let logical outcomes happen without totally derailing your campaign.


And rifts is still an old favorite although I can see some of the complaints in that top 10 list. The main thing is rift the GM really needs to have a good grasp of what type of campaign they want to run and guide the players appropriately. Rift can get really wacky if people are just picking what character and equipment they want from whichever book they want. Now if you are willing to run an ultimate power type run or something like phase world go nuts but expect some crazy power house players.

My one gripe about GM'ing rifts though is it can sometimes be easy to accidentally kill the non power house players. You get somebody running around in just normal medium or light MDC armor and an errant explosion could potentially just vaporise them. If you are letting people pick whatever it can be a bit hard to get the balance of challenge for the power players and survivability for the non powerhouses.

[Faceless Dude]

And I would toss in the ultimate game... World of Synnibarr, but people would either a) laugh or b) ask what it is.

actually I would question your sanity with that statement...
it has to be one of the worst games I have ever had the displeasure to read.

I have found my copy of the World of Synnibarr invaluable over the years

It has been my favorite book to bludgeon unruly players with.

[EmeraldToucanet]

Yeah Old WOD and D&D (and you could throw Pathfinder in there with D&D because they seem to be running neck and neck popularity wise) are easily the most popular RPGs in my neck of the woods. Rifts used to be about as popular as D&D a little over a decade ago (at least in my area), but at some point started to decline, and decline. Shadowrun seems to be semi-popular, and there's patches of people playing new Wod and other systems such as Traveller.

I'm tempted to say that if Palladium could just pull together and put out an entire new edition that they'd have a good chance of earning back a solid amount of that lost popularity. But then I look at what happaned with new WOD (people mostly just want to play old WOD) and D&D 4th edition (it only succeeded in causing greater fragmentation between people playing different editions of D&D or abandoning the official D&D for Pathfinder). That makes me realize, well, they'd have to be really really careful about how they go about it. All though if they can put out a new edition with books that consistently have the quality of the Ultimate edition main book I think they'd be probably be safe.

[Damian Magecraft]

And I would toss in the ultimate game... World of Synnibarr, but people would either a) laugh or b) ask what it is.

actually I would question your sanity with that statement...
it has to be one of the worst games I have ever had the displeasure to read.

I have found my copy of the World of Synnibarr invaluable over the years

It has been my favorite book to bludgeon unruly players with.

in that respect we are in agreement.

[Ravenwing]

Man I thought I was the only person who'd ever wasted the money buying World of Synnibarr.....or the players book for the amazons.

[BookWyrm]

Glad to see Rifts made it into the Top 10. Only nine more steps to go!

[Tiree]

Man I thought I was the only person who'd ever wasted the money buying World of Synnibarr.....or the players book for the amazons.

The system isn't that bad. You can build nearly everything. It was touted that there would be only one book, and they ended up with two. Not bad for a RPG that can do all genre's. It had Super Powers, Psionics, Magic, Cybernetics, Guns, Knives and Swords.

But then again - maybe it's because the little story in the blurb talks about someone wanting a Glass of Milk, in a dirty glass... with a Broken Straw!

[Ravenwing]

Man I thought I was the only person who'd ever wasted the money buying World of Synnibarr.....or the players book for the amazons.

The system isn't that bad. You can build nearly everything. It was touted that there would be only one book, and they ended up with two. Not bad for a RPG that can do all genre's. It had Super Powers, Psionics, Magic, Cybernetics, Guns, Knives and Swords.

But then again - maybe it's because the little story in the blurb talks about someone wanting a Glass of Milk, in a dirty glass... with a Broken Straw!

Lol! I love the Mutant Drakes in that Game!

My only real issue with WoS was the massive amounts of math involved. I swear it always felt more like algebra class then a game.

[Damian Magecraft]

Man I thought I was the only person who'd ever wasted the money buying World of Synnibarr.....or the players book for the amazons.

The system isn't that bad. You can build nearly everything. It was touted that there would be only one book, and they ended up with two. Not bad for a RPG that can do all genre's. It had Super Powers, Psionics, Magic, Cybernetics, Guns, Knives and Swords.

But then again - maybe it's because the little story in the blurb talks about someone wanting a Glass of Milk, in a dirty glass... with a Broken Straw!

Lol! I love the Mutant Drakes in that Game!

My only real issue with WoS was the massive amounts of math involved. I swear it always felt more like algebra class then a game.

dont forget the rules on how hard one can exhale; etc...

[Tiree]

Synnibarr is truly a Game System to rule them all!

I will say this, the worst thing about the book, is the back cover. Where the Game Designer is pictured in full plate, pointing as if he's going to kill your character next. Very, very, creepy!

But other than that, I love how they have rules on changing material components in weaponry. Then of course, you can't go wrong with a super strong character with a Sling and Shot. Faster and more damaging than a bullet!

[Ravenwing]

Man I thought I was the only person who'd ever wasted the money buying World of Synnibarr.....or the players book for the amazons.

The system isn't that bad. You can build nearly everything. It was touted that there would be only one book, and they ended up with two. Not bad for a RPG that can do all genre's. It had Super Powers, Psionics, Magic, Cybernetics, Guns, Knives and Swords.

But then again - maybe it's because the little story in the blurb talks about someone wanting a Glass of Milk, in a dirty glass... with a Broken Straw!

Lol! I love the Mutant Drakes in that Game!

My only real issue with WoS was the massive amounts of math involved. I swear it always felt more like algebra class then a game.

dont forget the rules on how hard one can exhale; etc...

I forgot that rule!

[Balabanto]

Hey, in D+D 3.5, everything's bigger in Europe.

The European version of the game uses 2 meter squares instead of five foot squares. Five feet is 60 inches. Two meters is 78.74 inches. Therefore, European versions of the same character build better buildings, fall greater distances and take the same amount of damage, and run further in the same amount of time.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Because it's alot easier to tyoe '2 meters' than something like 1.78meters'. I'm chalkin' that one up to lazyness.

[Dead Boy]

1. Hero 5th Edition - I also reference it as Champions

There we go! I was wondering, "What, no love for Champs?!?" Love that game, even though I have still yet to get the latest version (I have it backordered and paid for; just waiting for them to get a fresh supply of books in from HERO).

[Colt47]

Hey, in D+D 3.5, everything's bigger in Europe.

The European version of the game uses 2 meter squares instead of five foot squares. Five feet is 60 inches. Two meters is 78.74 inches. Therefore, European versions of the same character build better buildings, fall greater distances and take the same amount of damage, and run further in the same amount of time.

Honestly, no one I've played with ever got bothered by the whole board game set up for combat. It made things extremely easy to play and outside of combat, movement speed could be calculated however you wanted to do it. Palladium and it's take on tactical movement is... less then stellar. A GM basically has to house rule how tactical movement would work on a play mat as I don't think there are any official board rules for movement beyond a given number of yards/meters per action.

[Ravenwing]

Hey, in D+D 3.5, everything's bigger in Europe.

The European version of the game uses 2 meter squares instead of five foot squares. Five feet is 60 inches. Two meters is 78.74 inches. Therefore, European versions of the same character build better buildings, fall greater distances and take the same amount of damage, and run further in the same amount of time.

Honestly, no one I've played with ever got bothered by the whole board game set up for combat. It made things extremely easy to play and outside of combat, movement speed could be calculated however you wanted to do it. Palladium and it's take on tactical movement is... less then stellar. A GM basically has to house rule how tactical movement would work on a play mat as I don't think there are any official board rules for movement beyond a given number of yards/meters per action.

Not that I'm aware of, which really bugs me.

But I've found using the rules for movement from D20 games works great!

[Tiree]

1. Hero 5th Edition - I also reference it as Champions

There we go! I was wondering, "What, no love for Champs?!?" Love that game, even though I have still yet to get the latest version (I have it backordered and paid for; just waiting for them to get a fresh supply of books in from HERO).

I haven't moved from 5th Revised to 6th Edition. I did take a look at it the other day, and it's in all color glory. I have to admit, I don't like it for the most part. The book weighs half a tree. The 5th Ed and 5th Revised feel like it's a feather compared to it.

But I digress - Champions I have been playing since 2nd Edition. And Aaron Allston was one of my favorite writers for it, and now has moved on to novels. You can't beat that!

[Ravenwing]

1. Hero 5th Edition - I also reference it as Champions

There we go! I was wondering, "What, no love for Champs?!?" Love that game, even though I have still yet to get the latest version (I have it backordered and paid for; just waiting for them to get a fresh supply of books in from HERO).

I haven't moved from 5th Revised to 6th Edition. I did take a look at it the other day, and it's in all color glory. I have to admit, I don't like it for the most part. The book weighs half a tree. The 5th Ed and 5th Revised feel like it's a feather compared to it.

But I digress - Champions I have been playing since 2nd Edition. And Aaron Allston was one of my favorite writers for it, and now has moved on to novels. You can't beat that!

His Star Wars Novels rock.

[Dead Boy]

But I digress - Champions I have been playing since 2nd Edition. And Aaron Allston was one of my favorite writers for it, and now has moved on to novels. You can't beat that!

Totally with ya! Though AD&D was my first exposure to role playing (like pretty much everyone, I suspect), Champions was the first game that really sucked me into another world in vivid detail. The fact that my first game was in a small 6x8 camper filled to capacity with second-hand pot smoke rivaling something you'd expect to see in a Cheeh & Chong movie might have had something to do with it, but I love the game on its own merits just the same. Best game mechanics of any RPG ever!

[flatline]

But I digress - Champions I have been playing since 2nd Edition. And Aaron Allston was one of my favorite writers for it, and now has moved on to novels. You can't beat that!

Totally with ya! Though AD&D was my first exposure to role playing (like pretty much everyone, I suspect), Champions was the first game that really sucked me into another world in vivid detail. The fact that my first game was in a small 6x8 camper filled to capacity with second-hand pot smoke rivaling something you'd expect to see in a Cheeh & Chong movie might have had something to do with it, but I love the game on its own merits just the same. Best game mechanics of any RPG ever!

I've only played AD&D once. My first RPG was either TMNT or Rolemaster (don't really remember which came first).

I've got a soft spot for Champions because the character generation is so amazingly flexible that you really are limited only by your imagination and point budget. However, I found actually playing the game was pretty horrible since the system is so crunchy.

--flatline

[Colt47]

My first RPG was 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons, with my second being 2nd Edition via the Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale computer games. I got into Rifts in early college when someone introduced me to the RUE. After that I kind of checked out all of palladiums games because Rifts links them all together into a single continuity. I love the creativity that the game makers have put into the various settings, though I greatly prefer the tighter movement and tactical rules of D&D over palladium.

[Balabanto]

But I digress - Champions I have been playing since 2nd Edition. And Aaron Allston was one of my favorite writers for it, and now has moved on to novels. You can't beat that!

Totally with ya! Though AD&D was my first exposure to role playing (like pretty much everyone, I suspect), Champions was the first game that really sucked me into another world in vivid detail. The fact that my first game was in a small 6x8 camper filled to capacity with second-hand pot smoke rivaling something you'd expect to see in a Cheeh & Chong movie might have had something to do with it, but I love the game on its own merits just the same. Best game mechanics of any RPG ever!

I've only played AD&D once. My first RPG was either TMNT or Rolemaster (don't really remember which came first).

I've got a soft spot for Champions because the character generation is so amazingly flexible that you really are limited only by your imagination and point budget. However, I found actually playing the game was pretty horrible since the system is so crunchy.

--flatline

Then focus on roleplaying and learning the combat system and build simple characters. It's what we do in my game. And I write for this system. You can find my products at www.blackwyrm.com

Foxbat For President (5th)
War of Worldcraft (6th-If you're trading up, this is an intro adventure)
Unkindness (6th)
Pretty Hate Machines (6th)
King of the Mountain (6th)

Imaginary Friends. Coming soon.

[Shorty Lickens]

Thats how I know I'm out of touch. I much prefer older stuff like D&D Rules Cyclopedia, Twilight 2000 (D10 version), Shadowrun 2nd Edition, Rifts before the Ultimate Edition, and D6 Star Wars.

[Pepsi Jedi]

It's not about being out of touch. The 'top ten' were just one guys preference. It's not based on anything like sales or most played or anything. It's just a dude that listed off his top 10. Your top 10 are just as valid as his.