Pen/Paper RPG fans/gurus, some advice?

[indecks]

I've been itching to get into some board style games for a while but I don't exactly know where to start. I used to play the pnp Robotech game from Palladium books back in jr high, but this was back in 1990, so I can't remember much (if any) of it. I know there are about 400 editions/versions of Dungeons & Dragons, so I'm not really interested in that either. I don't expect to find something that I can just open the box and play a round right away, but I'd like to find something fun, yet imaginative.

I have Munchkin, which I find to be pretty fun with some beer and some friends around. I know it's not the same scale as a 'true' pnp RPG, but I want something a little more in depth, while at the same time not requiring several encyclopedias worth of rules and regulations, back up materials, supplementals, etc.

I love games like Hacker, Axis & Allies, Risk, Stratego, Carcasson, etc. But I'd like something in the pnp RPG genre. I thought about picking up MouseGuard this evening, but a couple of things held me back. First off, the price ($70) and then I youtube'ed a review and apparently it's extremely character driven. That, for me is actually a plus, I really like character driven narratives, but I don't want my friends to be bored while playing this too. I'd like something my wife and her sister and her husband can play along and enjoy it as well.

Any suggestions or advice?

[Flake]

I play Warhammer 40K. It's probably the most fun I've ever had with a table top game but if price is an issue, it's definitely a hard game to get into.

Alternatively, I used to be a huge fan of White Wolf's "World of Darkness" series of games. Think Vampire the Masquerade and Hunter the Reckoning. It's like DnD but faster paced and simpler. Oh and with a horror setting.

[marurun]

Mouse Guard is almost TOO story driven... It is, however, one of the higher-quality products of the indie games movement. In truth, it sounds like you might want to try Savage Worlds. It's sort of a simple, relatively universal D20 wannabe that actually works quite well. It doesn't get too bogged down and the basic game book is only $10. Another thing to consider exploring is the bevy of D&D retro clones. There are so many D20-based clones of various editions of D&D up through AD&D 2nd edition that you can pretty much pick your poison. Early D&D is actually pretty fast and loose and can be very character-driven quite easily. PM me if you are interested in retro-clones and I can direct you to at least half a dozen.

Remember that ANY game, even one that's rules heavy, can be made character-driven when played just so. The inverse is not necessarily so.

[Nemoide]

My all-time favorite RPG is Call of Cthulhu. It's mostly based around solving mysteries and uncovering Lovecraftian horror. The default setting is the real world in the 1920s (with options for 1890s or present era) and the supernatural elements are kept to small doses - making them a lot more significant seeming.
I always had trouble finding people who wanted to play, but it's a great game if players like horror or mystery. And if they aren't familiar with HP Lovecraft, it still works because then when they encounter some creature, they're not going to think "ah-ha, I knew a Deep One would be showing up" they're going to think "what the heck is up with this horrible sea-beast??"

There's also a really interesting supplement called "Delta Green" which adds a heavy X-Files-esque conspiracy level to things, but the core rules are enough.

[indecks]

Thanks for the tips and suggestions. I'd be willing to try any of them, but I think my wife and her sis aren't really into the horror genre. I think fantasy or Sci-Fi would be a better bet. The wife is HUGE into A Song of Ice and Fire, so Im wondering if the Game of Thrones game might be worth looking into.

[Erik_Twice]

As someone whose rpg games have always been a disaster, the key to having a good rpg experience is understanding how involved and what kind of involvement your group will have. Roleplaying games are very fragile and it's easy to play in a boring way.

So before you buy anything you should know exactly what kind of game you want and know why you don't want other 20 other games. Go to RPG.NET and ask there, they are more knowledgeable than all of us together and while they might push you towards obscure or indie games, you can easily get a good reading start there.

DO NOT CHOOSE A GAME BASED ON SETTING, THAT'S A HUGE MISTAKE!!


First you must ask yourself how much you are willing to put into the game. GURPS is an amazing system, you can use it for any situation, any kind of game, time period or setting and you can make it as simple or as complex rules-wise as you want but so much flexibility and nuance also makes for a long preparation time and you can easily get overwhelmed with it. On the other hand, something like Inspectres has absolutedly no preparation time and is very well suited to one-shots no longer than an evening but it won't last you for years and isn't too flexible. Don't fear playing multiple systems but go slowly.

Then you must think if you prefer your game to be mechanic-based or roleplay based. GURPS and D&D are mechanic-based while Vampire: The masquerade and Fiasco are roleplay based. The end result is not different but the approach is, a mechanic-based game will give tools for players to act while a roleplaying based game will player plot leads or other narrative mechanisms so that it's easier to act.

As a rule of thumb, a game like GURPS is more frontloaded but requires less judgement calls while a game like Vampire requires many judgement calls but have better flow. (Note that this is an aribitrary divide I make, not something accepted in the rpg community, these are just my personal feelings)


But if you want a real tip, have this one: Go to RPG.NET and ask there. Write as much as possible, don't be lazy!

[indecks]

Awesome. I'll definitely go there.

[fastbilly1]

RPG.NET is a great asset, RPG Geek (part of BGG) is a good one aswell. And I agree almost completely with General Norris, except that I tried out a couple rpgs on premise alone and they were solid finds - Paranoia and Three Sixteen are the two biggest (now atleast).

Id say the most important part of this is finding a good GM that can roll with the punches and a good group of people to play with. Ack and I use to play in D&D campaigns with this guy who was the best I have ever played with. He had one campaign for us to follow with a couple thousand variants of what he wanted to do if the game went different ways at different times. He hated that I thought outside the box, but it made him really play by the seat of his pants.

That said, if you have ever played D&D, Pathfinder is a solid Fantasy title.
If you like laughing and sabotage, Paranoia or Three Sixteen are excellent scifi titles.
If you like loopholes and Mad Max - CAR WARS - though technically a boardgame, it is really an rpg with campaign rules and lots of neat things you can do in it:
http://boardgamegeek.com/image/233146/car-wars
One of my favorite campaigns in Car Wars was a convoy from Florida to New York with a couple of buddies. As we traveled up the coast we were attacked by various gangs and another convoy team. One of the gangs came in with a helicopter and ended up crashing into a overpass so we had to reroute through surface streets (after losing a car into said overpass). We had a Rand McNally map so we had a rough idea of where we were going - nowadays I would use Google maps...now I have a project to tinker with.

Though if you want a quick to play title, Appliance Adventures - who doesnt want to play a Blender and relive that horrible experience of the Air Conditioner killing itself?

[marurun]

Steve Jackson games is considering a Kickstarter project to revive and republish Car Wars. They just wrapped up one for OGRE and it went so well that Car Wars is pretty much a given for Kickstarter. They won't say that, of course, but I can't imagine that, after OGRE, they'd just let Car Wars stay dead.

[fastbilly1]

Steve Jackson games is considering a Kickstarter project to revive and republish Car Wars. They just wrapped up one for OGRE and it went so well that Car Wars is pretty much a given for Kickstarter. They won't say that, of course, but I can't imagine that, after OGRE, they'd just let Car Wars stay dead.

Per the Ogre Kickstarter

$700,000 - GOAL ACHIEVED! - Drive Offensively! We will launch a Kickstarter project for Car Wars! We *think* this will turn out to be a refinement of Car Wars Compendium 2.5, but you'll tell us. Our supporters at the [new] $23 level and higher will be invited to join an exclusive Car Wars forum, where we’ll build the new edition from the ground up - issues like "which classic cover do we use?," "10 phase, 5 phase, or 3 phase movement?," and "do we include boats?" Once the project launches, surveys will be open to the public, but only supporters of the current project will get in on the preliminary planning. And we'll take everything we have learned from our Ogre Kickstarter project to make the Car Wars project even better. If we make this goal, the private Car Wars forum and surveys will launch before the end of 2012. The game will be published in late 2013.