10 great RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons is, unsurprisingly, the biggest tabletop RPG in the world. But what if you want to try something else? Here are 10 great RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons.
Check out the follow up, 6 MORE RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons, here: • 6 more great RPGs that...
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[@dicebreaker]

Check out the follow up, 6 MORE RPGs that aren't Dungeons and Dragons, here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ2klJV-gJWJh6c 6 brand new RPGs that AREN'T D&D, what more could you ask for?

[@kullinnmeilleur-finn5734]

Can you put time stamps in the video?

[@Dracopol]

Hahah! In the bottom of the screen there is a progress bar with chapter titles but the second chapter is "Simba Room" but it should be spelled Symbaroum!

[@DumbOhioFarmboy]

I'm a farmer wrenching on a tractor in the US midwest while watching a guy talk about his favorite roll playing games across the Atlantic ocean. I love the modern world sometimes.

[@DumbOhioFarmboy]

@@loveblanket6512 Hello! you're not too far away.

[@kitmakin289]

Where as I am about 90 miles north of where he is based (UK just not London) -- and frequently chat roleplay with a friend in Alabama... And Texas... And Michigan...

[@GetGoodGirl1561]

Also Ohio and I absolutely feel this. The world can be good.

[@Tinyvalkyrie410]

I’m in bed in the Rocky Mountains recovering from my fifth surgery this year. I don’t have a body that would let me play table top RPGs in meat space, but I have an amazing group from all across the country that plays together every week with the magic of the internet and cheap webcams. Hello everyone here, I’m so happy to know you are out there.

[@calebstewart7628]

Gamer from Michigan checking when you posted this and realizing I got a LATE start to today.

[@bandthingy3885]

0:45 Blades in the Dark 5:10 Symbaroum 6:20 Dead Lands Reloaded 8:15 Song of Ice and Fire 11:29 Hot War 14:10 Cyberpunk and Shadow Run 16:53 Ten Candles 21:25 The Expanse 24:40 Call of Cthulu 27:20 Night Witches

[@FVanth]

@band thingy. Thank you, I will have to try and search for "Symbaroum"

[@Quimper111]

I've been playing rpg's since the end of the 80s and i've heard of two from the list. Lol

[@BunnyTheOverlord]

Thanks the captions called the second one Simba Room and I couldn't find it.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

@@BunnyTheOverlord Honestly, who do I have to kill to have some Champions/Hero System love?

[@stormquiver]

Sad star wars isn't listed. By ffg

[@Nick-yz9fd]

My games growing up were: 1. Star Wars The Role Playing Game from West End Games, 2. Rifts from Palladium, and 3. Vampire the Masquerade from White Wolf.

[@h3lblad3]

And if you're not into Vampires, White Wolf has a whole series of beasties. Werewolf: the Apocalpyse (for those of us who want to play eco-terrorist werewolves) Mage: the Ascension Changeling: the Dreaming (for those of us who want to be fairies trapped in human bodies) Demon: the Fallen Hunter: the Reckoning (for those of us who REALLY liked Supernatural) Etc.

[@urbandruiduk9928]

West End Games Star Wars. Quixotic jedi. Good times...

[@chadsampson5713]

h3lblad3 you forgot wraith the oblivion, for those people who thought vampire wasn’t depressing enough.

[@vladtheinhaler93]

I played two ongoing campaigns 'back in the day', one was a homebrew setting using the Rifts system, the other was a mash-up of Mage and Shadowrun, so similar background to you. Also played a bit of Werewolf, Cthulu and Kult, and also larped V:tm and Changling, currently I'm playing a homebrew fantasy game, so I have dabbled in a bit of everything, but I have never actually played DnD!..

[@hungryewok1684]

Loved Star Wars The Roleplaying Game. I just started putting out videos taking about this game.

[@gernorton7166]

“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

[@TJEverley]

Not unlike Mike Tyson's "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."

[@williamhardway6436]

I was mistaken. Cheers mate

[@BogeyTheBear]

I kind of like "This is the perfect time for Plan B." "Do we even have a Plan B?" "Nope. But this is the time for one..."

[@nimiane01]

Thank you. I first heard the line from Batman in "Young Justice"

[@onyxsong0001]

Another good one along the plans angle is... Plans are worthless, but planning is essential. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower He used many versions of this same quote over the years and it is questioned if the quote is really his.

[@alexixeno4223]

Steampunk? Purposely playing the badguys? Retcon skill checks? Excuse me I need to go find this game

[@DrakeAurum]

Plus it has a sci-fi offshoot called Scum & Villainy which is great for anything from Star Wars to Firefly.

[@macdoo99]

@@DrakeAurum There's also now a Cyberpunk/Climate fiction hack for it called Hack the Planet where you can play as cyberpunk stormchasers who can hack nanite infused superstorms.

[@zompreacher]

There's also a Fantasy Apocalyptic War one called Band of Blades where you play the last surviving human military trying to stop world ending undead/ evil demigod

[@vesperschake6241]

And Adam Koebel is making a psychedelic space wizard's hack

[@emilyredbird7497]

Do it! My friends and I have had such a blast with it!

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

Back in the day, when we got tired of d&d we switched to RuneQuest or Warhammer. I didn’t really like the Warhammer system, but they had good adventure modules - much better than anything TSR put out. We also liked the way Warhammer had dozens of occupations rather than classes, so you could start as a Soldier and then become a Bounty Hunter and then an Assassin, or you could be an Apprentice Wizard who becomes a Wizard and then an Elementalist. It worked really well from a roleplaying perspective. But RuneQuest was probably what we played the most. The game rules were similar to Call of Cthulhu (I think CoC rules were a mod of RuneQuest) - there was something about the rules that just seemed to make them more appealing than D&D - probably the skills and the fact that you didn’t have ‘levels’ - so your character only got harder to kill because they became better at avoiding attacks, which just seemed better than the weird hit point concept of d&d.

[@defensivekobra3873]

i think it is more a thing of both being based on the same system known as "basic roleplaying" but i'll have to confirm that, and what bothers me about runequest (at least personally) is the complete lack of controll, who or what your character is and how decent they are is entirely up to the dice, with the only choices you really get to make being spells

[@colbyboucher6391]

@@defensivekobra3873 You might want to look into Mythras. The modern version of RuneQuest is basically Runequest 2e due to licensing issues, plus a ton of rules that fuse it even more with Glorantha like you said. Mythras is Runequest 6e with the serial numbers filed off. It's been turned into something of a GM toolkit. Like... there are rules for firearms in a seperate suppliment and they're really good. You're almost expected to change / remove some things to fit your setting as well as possible. It's also just a more elegant system. Combat is cooler *and* a bit less clunky, and skill bloat is cut down by splitting them into "basic skills" everyone has and "professional skills" which only apply if you pick them during character creation. It's my favorite system ever and I didn't even like RQ: Roleplaying in Glorantha much. A lot of people have described it as the company's BRP house rules they've developed over a decade of refinement and I think that's pretty accurate.

[@scelonferdi]

Interesting, what didn't appeal to you about Warhammer. For me it's super interesting, partially because it reminds me of the game that introduced me into the setting. That was Midgard, a smaller german game. Two things in particular I like about both: The damage system with permanent consequences and actual need to actively heal wounds and the smaller more personal scope.

[@colbyboucher6391]

@@scelonferdi Well, those are all definitely advantages of RuneQuest / Mythras as well, in any case

[@denieruleo]

For those looking for a written list of the games, here you go. But make sure you still watch and see why you should play these games. 1. Blades in the Dark 2. Symbaroum 3. Deadlands Reloaded 4. The Song of Ice and Fire 5. Hot War 6. Cyberpunk / Shadowrun 7. Ten Candles 8. The Expanse 9. Call of Cthulhu 10. Night Witches

[@godconvoy]

I'm surprised they don't have that in the video description, along with links to them. I suppose it's due to them just having them to create this, and they are certainly cranking out content.

[@jimn4315]

Aww man no GURPS, guess he picked some super popular games and a good amount of obscure ones.

[@KisaSatoma]

Omg thank you for making this list

[@franciscofernandez8183]

Thanks for the post! Here are the time stamps: 01. BitD 00:45 02. S 05:11 03. DR 06:20 04. tSoIaF 08:11 05. HW 11:27 06. C/SR 14:03 07. 10C 16:34 08. tE 21:19 09. CoC 24:39 10. NW 27:12

[@sirien.neiris]

@@jimn4315 Today (!), GURPS is not a good system. It used to be, but from both design and gameplay perspective, it aged and continues to age badly. (I'm not saying it doesn't work nor that it doesn't serve well to those who already play it and like it - it just isn't a game to recommend to new players anymore). Also Shadowrun is great setting and its older editions were good at the time, but it's long term decline in design throughout last 3 editions (4, 5, 6) is sadly well known in its fandom. Fate Core should be in the list. So should Savage Worlds. And GUMSHOE, probably, at least in some of its iterations (personally I'd pick Ashen Stars, but Trail of Cthulhu would be a safe bet). Hillfolk too. may be 13th age? Frankly I'm not really much impressed by this list :/

[@DanielECulbertson]

Great video! Needs a part 2: Ten *MORE* RPG'S that aren't Dungeons and Dragons!

[@MK.DANABNORMAL]

Part 2 better have goblin quest

[@MikeMurrayFTW]

Best have Mork Borg in there!

[@alejandroarrieta2564]

Please!!! Part 2!!

[@barnabas_a_nezo]

I hope mouse guard will be in the presumeable second one

[@leocomerford]

West End Games' ("D6") Star Wars, Ars Magica, Feng Shui, Runequest, Pendragon, Delta Green and Unknown Armies, the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and its WH40K brother, first edition Dark Heresy ... and _of course_ The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The ASOIAF game sounds as if owes a lot to Traveller, Pendragon and Ars Magica. All of the White Wolf games are mixed bags, with uneven quality and some issues to work around, but the same is certainly true of Shadowrun and Deadlands. Munchausen is the boozy old dad of GMless, highly-structured round-table games like Ten Candles (and for that matter Werewolf).

[@perhakansson9538]

Recomendations; Everything world of darknes (just about any version): Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse etc etc Mutant Year Zero Legend of the Five Rings

[@Physigist]

Hell yes! Playing a Tremere is fucking awesome!

[@SwedishNeo]

Problem with WoD is that is require a lot of researching for the GM to get a good knowledge of the world with all it's factions and even more to create a good plot that suits his players. Some of the rules can be a bit complicated for new players as well, especially Mage: The Ascension/Awakening.

[@zachsmith1676]

@@SwedishNeo I had tons of fun as a Mind Mage in Mage: The Awakening 2e

[@beatthegreat7020]

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” -Moltke The Elder

[@johntheredeemer]

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" - Mike Tyson

[@beatthegreat7020]

I like that one even more.

[@RichtorLazlo]

I love it when a plan comes together Col. John Smith aka Hannibal

[@RichtorLazlo]

Love it

[@barneymiller7894]

My ex Army roommate says this us true AF

[@TheNerdyArcher]

I thought I had no money left after buying dozens of dice sets for D&D. And then I watched this video and .... I now have ten more RPGs being delivered next week.

[@TheNerdyArcher]

@@Glassboxgames I do play them... not as often as I'd like. But let's put it this way: if I were a dragon, tabletop RPGs would be my horde.

[@chooha]

What job do you have ?

[@Mongward]

My top three would be 1. WH40k Dark Heresy 2. Exalted 3. World of Darkness (Mage and Werewolves specifically)

[@craigb2343]

Werewolf is a great game

[@jiriz0r]

Which edition of Dark Heresy though?

[@Melwasul94]

@@jiriz0r 1°

[@davidjuranek9323]

Uff, I thought I'm some wierdo that the best games I know didnt make it to the list. Dont get it wrong, the list has quality entry but what about Fate and Burning Wheel? Sure the game released only in my country wont make it here but I mention it anyway: it's called Střepy snů which means Dream Fragments. It's narrative system and the setting is base on dreams. Or the Dreams that control life of humans, their longing, feeling and so.

[@a40kweeb36]

I just got Dark Heresy from a humble bundle and it’s so good. My friends and I can’t get enough of it.

[@leonielson7138]

The Star Wars RPG by West End Games was the first RPG I played, back in the '80's, because my mom didn't want us playing AD&D. It's a really fun system that only uses d6 and the first two books were used by Timothy Zhan when he created the Thrawn Trilogy, the first books of the Expanded Universe (Legends). Fantasy Flight Games recently did a 30th Anniversary reprint of the first two books and PDFs of the dozens of supplements can be found online. Give it a try, and may the Force be with you.

[@KabukiKid]

Paranoia! :-D Who remembers the insanity of that one? Been a few years since I played it, but maybe I need to change that. :-)

[@Artificer1911]

There is a video game coming out, soon

[@KabukiKid]

Oh man! lol I am curious to see how that plays out. :-)

[@silvadelshaladin]

I'm sorry but you aren't of sufficient clearance for those memories. Report to the Happy Center of Bliss for a gentle mindscrub. Activate a new clone.

[@KabukiKid]

LOL! @Silvadel Shaladin knows the drill! ;-)

[@DennisMoore664]

Send in the clones, baby!

[@TonySamedi]

So glad you mentioned Deadlands, truly an under appreciated favorite. I've got to mention Mutants and Masterminds. For anyone who wants to play a Superhero based campaign M&M is very much set up to be able to run any kind of superhero campaign you want. I personally prefer the 2nd edition to the current 3rd edition. The orig creator of that game also has another more rules-light superhero game called Icons if you want something a bit easier to run.

[@penwoopydo]

I wish I knew about this video sooner because there was a Hurricane Dorian charity bundle on DriveThruRPG that had games for example Icons, but also Supers Revised and have you heard of Mighty Protectors (Villains and Vigilantes 3)? There was also this watchmen/the dark night dark superhero rpg called Cold Steel Wardens. I only got this bundle a few weeks ago and it was available from 17 sep to 30 sep or something, I don’t know how much the games are but the bundle was only $25. It came with other games and supplements as well.

[@Kameth]

I'm a massive fan of Shadowrun, but that series is in need of an editor. Any editor. A single proofreader, anything.

[@patchoulimaru6369]

Shadowrun is amazing and great, but i refuse to play 6th edition, made it way way too simple

[@4saken404]

Yeah I played a recent version and it was just... utterly terrible. The rules and some other stuff was so problematic that about 2-3 sessions into the campaign we got to the point things got so bad we just all decided to up and walk away from it. Bear in mind this had nothing to do with the GM, or the story setting, or characters, or players. It was due to the game itself.

[@keithb6344]

We always played w GURPS rules.

[@BeegtymeRawkstah]

@@keithb6344 Everything on this list is better with GURPS rules

[@raphaelperry8159]

1st edition Shadowrun included a note from the author claiming that, while the matrix was a great idea, something like it would never work in real life. Aaaand they also had a Poofreading Department who (in addition to failing to spot the typo in their own job description in the credits) managed to spot the missing O in Intruder Countermeasures (which made it sound rather rude).

[@Lord_Brocktree]

My favorite RPG is Mouse Guard. It has such a fun dice system that is pretty quick and the "conflict" system that can be used up and beyond commanding armies, to having a bake off or a staring contest. What is really unique and fun about this is that each player is a mouse with unique skillsets and a core belief and instincts that will be challenged through the campaign. I highly recommend checking it out! Mouse Guard RPG.

[@andrewenderfrost8161]

Donnie Chase I second this. I really like how you’re a mouse in a world with owls and foxes. You’re society is the underdog and while you are basically screwed on the surface, some how you always pull through with sheer will alone. I played first before I read the comics and again after I read them and both times it was magical. If you don’t like mice you can also try torch bearer which is based on mouse guard but is more traditional fantasy.

[@georginatoland]

Such a good game! 🗡 🐁

[@vojtechpribyl7386]

Isn't the game system an adaptation of the Burning Wheel?

[@Lord_Brocktree]

@@vojtechpribyl7386 yep! I've never played burning wheel though.

[@red00dragon42]

*REDWALL INTENSIFIES*

[@poilboiler]

I wonder if the flashback system from Blades In The Dark could be showed into Shadowrun, it could use something to make those painful "planning" hours go away.

[@clementprassa1286]

I think it would be really easy. Just port the mechanic straight from BitD and substitute Edge for Stress.

[@clementprassa1286]

@Paul Gauthier Sure, FitD Shadowrun would be ideal, haha! I keep meaning to check out the existing FitD cyberpunk game, but can't say I was super excited by the brief description. The Sprawl is pretty good and I've used it to run the CP2020 setting with some success, but those are slightly different animals on both counts.

[@CaitlinRC]

*casually forwards this to my players*

[@bearhustler]

As a long term RPer I never thought RPing would become so popular, what's more surprising to me is that D&D is the game capturing new players' attention. Personally I loathe it.

[@ERobbo]

Caitlin RC I literally just did this

[@seanrshivers]

Lol yuuuup

[@5t3phan]

Me toooo

[@FalkaRiannon]

I tried convincing my players for ages to at least try somethign that is not DnD (or Pathfinder wich really is just DnD with a different name). Hope you got better luck than me.

[@kaushtubhchauhan]

So ten candles is like a kobayashi maru exam of table top RPG games

[@johnnysizemore5797]

@Kaushtubh chauhan-- Exactly such! Where Call of Cthullu and Kids on Bikes gives you a chance to possibly survive, you go into Ten Candles KNOWING the PC you make is gonna die. Honestly i can see where the charm lays in it. Your making a PC that you know has a finite time in the world, giving you the freedom to make a character you normally never would. That type of bleekness isn't for every game group,however, so i'd run it by your DM/players first.

[@edlaprade]

Played this a couple of weeks ago. Everything was going 'great' for us, right up 'til the end, when everything went to shit and we all died within a few minutes. It was Glorious! (But not something I'd want to play very often.)

[@JacksonOwex]

There was a few different games run from another stream, probably easy to find searching for Ten Candles, that I thought were REALLY REALLY good!

[@ArdentLion]

It SUUUUUUUUCKS. The best way to play is to throw the game in the trash and never play it.

[@DeclanFeeney]

Just a minor word of warning. The first time I played a I bought 'long life' candles. It was a complete disaster. 6 hours into the game only one candle had gone out - and that's because someone opened a door to quickly on the way to the bathroom. Test your candles - mapmaker sure they burn for about 3 hours

[@alfclarkclarkclark]

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

[@arimill1045]

Pretty sure Moltke predates Tyson

[@plazinga]

Alf Clark the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry Robert burns Predates Tyson and moltke

[@sarduchehivalshan4265]

A kick to the balls then a sword in the throat will defeat giants. - Leonidas I of Sparta, 490 B.C. Predates the Roman Empire.

[@Dracopol]

@@arimill1045 For Moltke, substitute "France" for "mouth".

[@barneymiller7894]

Note to self; Plan for getting punched in the mouth.

[@hanseathl]

Tales from the Loop. I absolutely adore the 80th feeling it conveys.... A simple system to develop a story together.

[@noelnoel88]

"You can be dogs". Say no more! 10 Candles, here I come.

[@jackyiv]

10/10 candles

[@geekwithglasses2897]

But they’ll all die

[@dragonjaw95]

Pugmire if you don't want them to die

[@noelnoel88]

@@geekwithglasses2897 Silly Geek, doggos don't die, they go to an amazing farm north of the country, with wide space, lots of squirrels and my favorite uncle, who I haven't seen in over a decade

[@FVanth]

I heard that too, and the gears in my mind started turning.

[@DamienMorphetMetalheadChef]

Rifts/Palladium RPG will always have a special place in my heart.

[@mastertwitch1]

Same here. Nothing says epic like a Titan Juicer throwing a Coalition hover tank at fire prepped Glitterboy. Once they plant that spike, they cant even dodge!

[@Grimlore82]

Damn right!

[@cody-adricharper5848]

I love the setting of RIFTS but I hate the rules. Which is why I love savage RIFTS. With savage worlds ruleset running the game is so much easier. Playing it too. I remember playing palladium rules and going back and forth between three books trying to definitively figure out how ranged combat works.

[@DamienMorphetMetalheadChef]

@@cody-adricharper5848 Part of what I like about it is the rules and character creation.

[@DamienMorphetMetalheadChef]

@Scott Whatever the setting is only as good as the GM.

[@ThePrytanis]

Rolemaster! My god, the crits! THE CRITS!

[@OneCatholicSpeaks]

I was going to cite Rolemaster myself. For me personally, it is RMSS where the system came into its own.

[@rickileesinn3944]

Rolemaster is my all-time favorite RPG. (As well as M.E.R.P.) Played 1st through 4th editions, 3E and 4E are my favorites. Greatest game ever!

[@jasonharrison9677]

Glad to see I am not the only one missing this on the list, I loved building ships in Space Master, ICE Games were great

[@swaghauler8334]

You mean "Rulesmaster." Consult 9 charts to see what your strike did. I did like the various levels for Spells and Skills though. Rolemaster's level of "crunch" would put a modern "minimalist system advocate" in a coma!

[@KargoolElvalie]

Shot goes in one ear, out the other, all earwax removed. Instant death.

[@inquisitordragon6827]

Cyberpunk 2020 Cyberpunk 2020 Cyberpunk 2020 This was the first ttrpg I ever played and haven't stopped playing .

[@nickbender9233]

Yes. My favorite RPG.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

I have used the CP2020/Fuzion rules for a number of game worlds I have created. It is a well balanced system that allows for a lot of creativity in skills and special abilities.

[@spencer2116]

This is absolutely great content for this channel. I'd love to see one-shots of each of these games to see how they play.

[@nairocamilo]

I really want that myself. The way Will talks about Ten Candles just makes me wanna see a playing-in-the-dark session

[@RuptimusPrime]

This definitely needs to be a thing. Lots of other tabletop channels have, like, long running campaigns and stuff or various game system reviews, but I don't know of any channel that spreads its attention like that and runs plenty of one shots of several games. That is definitely something I'll be into

[@darklightuk2]

A one shot of each of these would be a great way for player/purchaser 'tasters' and at least for me would go down a treat!

[@NomNom1970]

I can only give one like!!!!!!!! Yes!! For the love of 8 pound 5 ounce baby Jeeezus, please do this.

[@kohakuaiko]

@@NomNom1970 commenting because I can't like your comment twice.

[@Geekguru14]

I love GURPS. It's very complicated but you can play anything you can possibly think of. Half cyborg half vampire cat sure once I've played one. Jedi adept with no legs in medieval Europe sure. Dwarf techomancer news anchor yup.

[@lunavarion]

I was wondering if this system is still viable these days.

[@svennoren9047]

The game is "front loaded"; character creation can be as complicated as you care to make it, but playing does not have to. I find it if anything easier than D&D, certainly easier than Pathfinder.

[@jerehankonen1574]

@@svennoren9047 True, in my experience a gm playing with people new to GURPS is best off making some character templates that fit setting, offer them to the players and discuss during character creation on some specifics.

[@Travlr013]

GURPS is really just a pared-down version of HERO; most of the creation, action and dice conventions of both games are identical. What Steve Jackson had was an in with the S/F-Fantasy industry which got him all kinds of resource books: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Ringworld, Vorkosigan Saga, Auto-Duel (a rift on his own Car Wars game), WildCards, The Prisoner, etc. But the game-play is really indistinguishable from HERO (i.e., Champions). And as with HERO, if you're any good a math, you can make a 75-point character that is at least as powerful as what most people would be able to make with 200 points. Good game, but there are an easy dozen that I'd put before it an any list....

[@Droid15243Z]

@@lunavarion Very much so, it can be as simple or complicated as you like. Any genre/setting, the only boundaries are set by the GM.

[@JonathanKvitky]

Props for posting about Deadlands! It's one of my favorite RPGs that almost nobody has heard of. You missed one of the big highlights though. It gives people a great reason to do terrible impressions of various American accents. ;)

[@elementalist23]

Am I the only one who has seen/played/enjoyed Legend of the 5 Rings?

[@LadyLunarSatine]

I like you, have a campaign playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PL5Rkg9d6KK79y4Qd8zMRoyLEC1IYQwxwd

[@johnbuscher]

I've heard of it but never played or looked into it. I'm still wrapping my head around learning something that isn't DnD/Pathfinder, but's still complex. Even Starfinder is slightly easier to get into than, say, Shadowrun from scratch. Lots of stats I'm not used to, lots of explanations I've not heard a million times so it's not just second nature to see in those games instead. I was also somewhat interested in City of Mist but it seems the more I read about the setting, the more I'd only run a conspiracy game and in that case, I feel like I should run Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green.

[@brianrosenberger6515]

L5R is one of my groups favorite game. I absolutely love the mix of Politics, intrigue, and combat. It's a shame what FFG did to 5th ed

[@fenkers3249]

I also love LOT5R really good RPG

[@The_Gnome_Chomskee]

4th edition was the best!!!!

[@Kyle-rq1sr]

"..and then the players fell out.." Story of my tabletop gaming life.

[@theelizabethean9446]

An absolute must-play tabletop system is Paranoia. It makes for some of the most fast paced, hilarious one shots a role-player can play. Far in a dystopian future, society scrapes by in an underground complex run by a single all powerful yet thoroughly broken AI known as "Friend Computer". The players are a team of "troubleshooters" tasked with solving some problem for the computer, such as eradicating horrible mutants or exposing a treasonous secret society. Luckily, on such a dangerous mission in such a dangerous world, each player has a series of clones for the inevitability of their demise. The catch is, every player must hide that they are one of these mutants, and also a member of a treasonous secret society.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

One shot? But you get 5 clones...

[@davidwright7193]

Kevin Sullivan The computer is your friend, the computer creates clones so that if you die a valiant hero of the city you may live on in spirit if not in body. Honest citizens run these risks freely, frequently and with great enthusiasm friend citizen. Not to do so is cowardice and friend citizen cowardice is treason. Please report for termination immediately friend citizen, have a nice day. I have known a group starting with fresh 6 clone sets need to recreate characters within an evenings play...

[@VespoLiveGaming]

@@davidwright7193 I've been in games where I've run out of clones before getting to the mission briefing... and where I was not the only one to run out of clones on the way to the mission briefing. Ironically... those sessions were the most fun.

[@tompadfoot3065]

Stars Without Number is another great game with one of the most robust world-building mechanics I've ever seen in a game.

[@deborahphillips500]

No Traveller? The original science fiction RPG. Very detailed game universe. Best version was MegaTraveller. Out of print, but still obtainable.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

He is way to young to have been exposed to Traveler.

[@sarduchehivalshan4265]

@@kevinsullivan3448 I pity the young people today.

[@sarduchehivalshan4265]

While I was fanatic for MT during its heydey, I've played/GM'd all the versions published since 1978 and switched a few years ago to the Mongoose version of Traveller. MongTrav v1 was a bit rough but MongTrav v2 seems to have polished the rough edges a bit.

[@DennisMoore664]

@@kevinsullivan3448 Then he shouldn't be making videos like this. Not mentioning Traveller because it's old is like not mentioning ST TOS because it was from the 60's.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

@@DennisMoore664 That's the best reason not to mention STtOS. If you weren't alive to watch it the first time you shouldn't sully it with your eyeballs.

[@m.edwardmcnally6802]

"No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength" - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. (Yup, I'm a pedant even at six in the morning)

[@TheDJdragonflame]

And I love that you are 😂 Never read the full quote in English before and I'm so happy I finally found a version. Kudos to you, good Sir!

[@jamesross6219]

The most fun I've ever had playing a pen & paper RPG was when a friend introduced me to "Paranoia". Set in a futuristic sci-fi world you begin with 6 clones of your character (this should be your first clue on how this game will go). Your group is provided with an apparently simple task to complete, which of course will be hindered quickly and catastrophically by each player's character, their roles within society in general, and the added bonus that competitive rather than co-operative play is highly encouraged. For example, one scientist character may innocently decide to put on a pair of experimental, nuclear powered rocket boots. While the security character begins to immediately question the scientist's intentions and attempt to subdue the scientist, the scientist inadvertently fails a skill role causing the boots to self-destruct, killing the entire group. Cue the release of everyone's Clone #2. In the end, if your group completes the assigned task and hasn't used more than 2 clones ... you're doing it wrong. If, however, you end the game with sore bellies from all the laughter, 0 clones left to use, and having failed to reach step 2 of a 3 step task ... congratulations, you've succeeded!!

[@mattmiller3191]

I agree Paranoia was one of the funnest RPGs that I have played. It’s up there with Tales from the Floating Vagabond

[@davidwright7193]

James Ross Failing to complete your assigned tasks is treason, please report for termination immediately friend citizen. Have a nice day.

[@jamesross6219]

@@davidwright7193 I knew there'd be someone from Internal Security lurking about.

[@fastpoose]

Played it once, one of the best rpg experiences of my life😁

[@NotMyRealName6]

H.P. Lovecraft is probably the _best_ example of why it's important to separate the art from the artist. Yeah, he was a terrible person, but he still created one of the greatest horror stories ever written which is why he's remembered. If he hadn't written those books, pretty sure nobody would ever mention his name.

[@DangerRifai]

People's morals are messed up. Lovecraft may have been a racist, but the Soviet Red Army committed literal genocides (before WW2) just because they didn't like the cut of somebody's jib, or because they were political opponents--and listen to how they're described in this video. It's not even mentioned. They're called "amazing". Pretty sure genocides are a worse crime than writing racist poems. Boggles my mind. 🤯

[@twentysides]

​@@DangerRifai Sorry to hear you don't think the night witches were amazing because some people who weren't them did bad things.

[@lilithh2708]

One of my favorite experiences was playing a game called Upwind. You pick your own skills by making a short phrase that describes them. I really enjoyed that one of my skills was a line from a Rolling Stones song.

[@cygil1]

Over the edge had a similar idea. You also picked your own attributes by describing three things you're good at and one you're bad at. No good for munchkins but fine for everyone else.

[@Wezzeth]

These RPG intro vids have been my favourite part of the channel so far. The way you use editing to add shading and flavour to your own evocative descriptions of the games in this one is deftly done, and had me aching to play pretty much all of them, or at least watch them being played. A couple of things I would have like to see more of: * a few words from Johnny about his own brief experience with Ten Candles, just as an adjunct to the points Wheels brought up. * Also, both Shadowrun and Cyberpunk felt like they got slightly short shrift in terms of descriptions of their mechanics, compared to the relative depth you went into with the rest of the games on the list.

[@FedoraPirate]

For anyone who wants a full list of the games discussed, and a small summary to remember which is which: 1 - Blades in the Dark - Steampunk heist game, with 2 - Symbaroum -Dark creepy forest RPG 3 - Deadlands - 'Weird West', the wild west with creepy, crazy magic 4 - A Song of Ice and Fire RPG - Gritty medieval houses and politics in the world of Westeros 5 - Hot War - Alternate History UK, cold war gone hot. Keep society from plunging into darkness, also mutants. Dice rolls affect characters permanently 6 - Cyberpunk (2020 or Red) - It's Cyberpunk, not too distant future, corporations have major power. Hacking is a thing. 7 - Shadowrun - As above, but with magic and fantasy races. 8 - Ten Candles - Tragic Horror RPG, the sun is dead, society is failing, everyone is going to die. One-Shot RPG 9 - The Expanse - Based on the books (and show) of the same name. Sci-Fi fun times in a gritty version of the future where humanity has colonised (in every sense of the word) the solar system. 10 - Call of Cthulu - H.P. Lovecraft is problematic, but his works are spooky. Eldritch horrors are coming and you have to investigate how, and why. 11 - Night Witches - Based on actual history, be some soviet women in WW1 planes throwing bombs at nazis and maybe dealign with sexism.

[@devilsadvocate1597]

Ten Candles... wasn't it the two Ronnies who came out with the original RPG Four Candles?

[@spoonlamp]

No that was "Fork handles"

[@heathwilder]

@@spoonlamp that's what he said ;)

[@jasontryon8621]

Through the magic of Kickstarter, we got to play Blades in the Dark while it was in development. We had a truly lovely (if that word can be applied to a game of Blades) game and a ton of fun building up our crew. Blades to us always felt like we were right on the edge of disaster and hanging on by the skin of our teeth. I particularly LOVE LOVE LOVE the flashback mechanic and think it is one of the best design elements I’ve seen in an RPG in a very long time. Ten Candles is one of those harrowing experiences as an rpg player that leaves you walking away from the game going, “what just happened? Did I have a good time? Or should I seek therapy?” Another game that’s just coming out that is truly brilliant is Icarus. I got to play it with the developer and it is one of the most intriguing and novel games I’ve seen in a very long time. I highly recommend checking it out. I could ramble on about more games and the games that you talked about but people don’t really want to hear that. Cheers, JiB

[@IHateHandleNames]

"No plan survives contact with the enemy" Someone, according to who you read in the comments.

[@kenzieduckmoo]

"No plan survives contact with the players"

[@davidmouser596]

Helmuth Von Moltke the elder: No plan survives contact with the enemy.

[@pgr101]

We play a lot of the games from Whitewolf...Mage the awakening....vampire the masquerade....highly reccommend their games :D

[@patricklafontaine5969]

Havn't watched yet but he did not include White Wolf? Or Palladium books?

[@ulkem]

no cwod, no like. this video is rubbish

[@kevynhansyn2902]

I got my start in Palladium and than WW. I bring some of those rule sets into my fantasy campaigns.

[@BlueDavrial]

White wolf's systems are utter nonsense with bizarre terminology

[@DividedStates]

@@ulkem only names the old WoD... No likes either. Changeling the Lost 1e is one of the settings and rpg book ever made.

[@madebyhman7996]

Subscribed hoping for the video coverage of symbaroum you mentioned! I've fallen deeply in love with it myself, and so far I've ran the three introductory adventures and my players are now just about to head into the final encounter of the 1st book in the main campaign. So pumped!

[@garykelley9027]

Some great things I haven't heard actually! Thanks for the vid! I'm more a classic Deadlands instead of Reloaded, but I ran a game of that for several years and played in one for a few so it's dear to my heart. I'll have to be on the lookout for some of the ones I hadn't heard of before though (Ten Candles ,Hot War, Blades)

[@bandthingy3885]

Sad to not see Numenera and Cypher but hey check them out

[@Afinati]

Absolutely. Accessible system, wonderful setting

[@JoshLK94]

Me at the start of the video: “Blades better be on this list.” Me 40 seconds later: “Chiodini, you beautiful scoundrel.”

[@TheAphoticAtrocity]

3rd Ed. Shadowrun and Vampire: The Masquerade were my favorites for years.

[@blasterofmuppets4754]

I'm game mastering a Shadowrun 2nd Ed. Group for 23 Years now. Never bothered to upgrade. :-D Sometimes we also play VTM.

[@onionfield5306]

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG is awesome to play.

[@KristofferEk]

I was gona sugest Fate core but it's not an rpg its a rpg system that lets you do EVERYTHING.

[@Dyrnwyn]

It's so disappointing that Fate is on hardly anybody's radar. Are Aspects really that difficult to understand?

[@Droid15243Z]

The polar opposite yet similar would be GURPS.

[@gatherer818]

@@Dyrnwyn My group's problem with it is that it's too generic. I'm sure with years of experience we could get it to "feel" the way we want it to, but by default our two games felt exactly the same - despite one being "Supernatural" in the Old West and the other being High Fantasy tribal world.

[@JevousGaming]

@@gatherer818 I can understand the "too generic" complaint. I think it's up to the group and the GM to really narrow down the world the game is set in, carefully work out the skills you want to use (and don't want to use) and create strong aspects that define the world. So while it can feel too generic out of the box, it allows for a narrower, more focused game if you are willing to spend the time creating the necessary aspects, skills etc.

[@NefariousKoel]

@@gatherer818 If you guys find Fate Core, alone, too generic I highly suggest checking out 'Baroque Space Opera' which uses Fate. It's setting is like a mix of Dune, WH40k, and many fantastical sci-fi shows & movies. Emphasis on the 40k and Dune. 'Oubliette' is another big Fate setting (Fate rules included with this one), but it's a supernatural fantasy set in purgatory-like plane where the characters find themselves after death. Has a little mish-mash of modern & futuristic tropes blended into it's largely fantasy themes. I've not explored it thoroughly yet since it has a large amount of content in the book. In other words, there are some Fate Core based RPGs with great content out there if you dig a bit.

[@Nosferatu755]

There are three pretty good ones I can suggest, each more different than the last: Vampire: the Masquerade, Fiasco, Mutant Crawl Classics

[@emilysmith2965]

HELL YES, FIASCO! There is so much material to cover in Fiasco. You can even make your own playset, and the open source content is really wonderful.

[@LEdHeadW]

I love playing Fiasco! Excellent game!

[@tygor_tora]

@Scott Whatever I'd say that the differences between V20 and V5 are a little more complicated than "V5 is garbage". Don't get me wrong, V20 is better overall, but V5 did a decent job of updating the setting - something the game was in dire need of - and introduced some new mechanics that actually work fairly well. Where V5 falls short is in the fact that, in trying to streamline mechanics which, over 20 years of editions, had gotten a bit clusterfuck-y, they went a little overboard and simplified it too much (mostly in regards to abilities, skills, and disciplines). That said, V5 is easier to learn than V20 as a result, and is therefore a better introduction to the setting for a newbie so they're not getting bogged down by the mechanical complexity right out of the gate. The same thing happened with the progression of DnD editions from 3.5 to 4th Ed, and now 5th Ed is a happy medium - I can see that happening easily with VtM.

[@Susrek]

Dread?

[@robertrosenthal7264]

I've never actually found the White Wolf system (Vampire, Mage, Changeling, etc) all that good. The setting is interesting, but when I've played, the rules have some serious issues and some of the stuff is so vague it's always causing "fights" in the group. Though to be fair, I haven't seen the latest 2 versions, so who knows. But with WW now being a dead company, who knows what the future of their properties will be like.

[@carlstewart7844]

I'm genuinely surprised that Monster of the week wasn't somewhere in the mix, but man there are some titles I need to check out now!

[@krum1985]

Great video! =D Would love for you guys to do more of these to promote some other less known RPG's as well ;) I would recommend Dungeon World, Stars Without Number, Hack the planet and Zweihänder. For the more experienced I would also recommend Burning Wheel and Torchbearer. I also have some role playing games I haven't gotten around to play yet that seems interesting to me: Numenera, Mouse Guard, Saga of the Icelanders, Apocalypse World and Conan - Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of

[@cyranojohnson8771]

Fun fact: The Expanse actually began life as a play-by-post RPG before it became a novel series.

[@jamesthrice2253]

I was about to say this same thing. :D

[@Freikinator]

I thought it began as a design idea for an mmorpg

[@brettdibble2763]

play-by-post?

[@Spikeba11]

@@brettdibble2763 play-by-post is when you play an rpg on an internet forum whenever people get around to posting throughout the week rather then everyone playing at the same few hour block of time.

[@CorwinAlexander]

Play-by-post originates in snail mail. You would join a group, mail in your planned activity, then receive the results a bit later. It was adopted by BBS, Usenet, and forum members in the time real-time computing wasn’t capable of hosting multiple players at once. Play-by-mail games backed by mainframes (often a university’s “powerful” mainframe) were also called “batch games” since all the player turns received in a certain time frame were input into the mainframe all at once (in a batch) and the results calculated and sent out to the players. (Showing my age: mail and post were interchangeable prior to the 1990s: hence “post office”)

[@Jondelius]

Shoutout to Numenera. Amazing RPG.

[@KevinSigman]

I love the cypher system. The games of Numenera I’ve played were like being in a story that would’ve been drawn by Moebius in the pages of Heavy Metal. And the system made everything flow nicely without too much crunch. Great for focusing on roleplay and storytelling.

[@MrOfcourseitsme]

I like the world, haven't played it yet. Interested what Dicebreaker thinks

[@louislaforest7717]

Through the Breach by Wyrd is easily my favorite although being a relative newcomer in the pool. Conceptually different enough that it feels fresh. Game play is relatively easy to understand. No dice, just fate decks. Character creation is not as straightforward and easy to understand as I would have liked, but once you figure it out, it is VERY entertaining.

[@devonsmith9519]

Surprisingly...helpful. I have heard of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk and Call of Cthulu, but the rest of these I have never even heard of. Being new like 5 years into TTRPG's and even less actual playtime; This has given me some food for thought. Specifically the refence to a Drama Die which can probably be added to any game system to help tie down descriptions. Very informative. Appreciate it. Earned a Sub.

[@devonsmith9519]

I will say this much though. You do seem to have a bias towards Atmsopehric heavy systems. Which, while not a bad thing does limit the scope of possible suggestions. Only cure for that is experience though. So not really a complaint. More an observation.

[@thadurnsilicious1]

For that quote Mike Tyson’s version is my favorite: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”

[@zrailtheauthor6611]

Shout outs to my favorite tabletop games. Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars RPG - the buy in is a little hefty but i LOVE the narrative dice system. And Mutants and Masterminds - anytime i can play a Super Hero/ villain i am there. Crunch is hefty though.

[@Thwarten]

Definitely was hoping to see FFG Star Wars on this list! Would love to hear Johnny's opinion of it. The narrative dice is my favorite dice system just because of the scenarios it can create and how well it captures the essence of the Star Wars movies.

[@Fyre11]

@@Thwarten I was hoping to see it too, but he did make a point of saying he wasn't a big one for RPGs in established properties, so that may have been a barrier for him moreso than The Expanse and SoIaF. But who knows, if enough people ask for it, he might give it a proper review on here.

[@alexdiaz155]

Edge of the Empire is definitely my favorite RPG because nothing can beat the fun factor of force points and the utility of the scene as opposed to long/short rest system. That and skill trees are muy nice to track character growth.

[@zachgaskins3731]

Along those lines I'm sad to see Genesys didn't make the list.

[@CaptRapticon]

"From the depths of hell in silence Cast their spells, explosive violence Russian night time flight perfected Flawless vision, undetected" Sorry couldn't help myself.

[@skillganon606]

Hmm an excuse to play Sabaton during a game.

[@ethanviktor]

Good music taste right there.

[@Baughbe]

Two we loved were Traveler and Gamma World. Those were fun and not too massively complex will still having a nice level of detail. We even merged the two for a campaign. I still have my Traveler books.

[@mc_180]

GURPS: generic Universal role-playing system, is a role-playing system developed by Steve Jackson which you can play literally anything there are tons of other sourcebooks that you can play it's a really fun RPG.

[@AspelShuyin]

Yeah, but it's also not very good.

[@kabronex9877]

@@AspelShuyin sorry you can't do math

[@AspelShuyin]

@@kabronex9877 it's not the math that's the problem. If anything, the character creation is the part I like, even though the auditing and number crunching is way more than necessary, as are the billions of skills and how they might transfer to other skills. Where the math is a problem, the issue isn't the difficulty, it's the volume. But no, it's the core mechanics that I'm not fond of. I don't like the way combat is a bunch of missing unless you explicitly never use the basic attack, and I don't like the division of traits, and I don't like the need to budget character points, or the way that the same character concept can often be created in more and less efficient ways. I don't like how players have the memorize it look up tables, like how strength correlates to damage, or more obscure things. I also don't like how the base magic system uses Fatigue, meaning wizards are better when they're beefy. I don't like how do much of the game that you're expected to spend money on is a bunch of needless mechanical garbage that won't ever get used, and so much of what does get used is just minor variations of other things, or it's overly complicated stuff that all but the most annoying GMs who get turned on by recording dice rolls will simply handwave. I don't dislike GURPS because I can't do math, I don't like GURPS because I don't want to do math when the end result is a game with too many rules that doesn't do enough to make one setting feel different from another.

[@kabronex9877]

@@AspelShuyin lol wat r u? Casul?

[@AspelShuyin]

@@kabronex9877 Yes. I want to have fun, not balance a budget.

[@incognitomosquito3246]

Paranoia was always one of my favourite d&d's

[@FedoraPirate]

Have you seen the new edition by mongoose? It's pretty dang cool.

[@dragonjaw95]

Friend computer is always right. Saying otherwise is treason. Knowing the rules (which edition) is a treasonous activity and should be terminated immediately. Here is your ticket to self termination booth.

[@Nagi2100]

Jovan Adriel Have a nice daycycle!

[@persadies]

@@dragonjaw95 Friend computer?

[@queenambrosia]

No Vampire: The Masquerade? C'mon dude! It is one of the most iconic RPGs. Keep up the great vids, but I'm so bummed it didn't get a mention; it's focus on in-depth storytelling and roleplaying makes it such a joy to play.

[@MrElliptific]

It was filmed during day time, vampires couldn't make it :D

[@tzimiscelord8483]

I'm guessing he didn't mention it because it's already getting some ridiculous spotlight right now from the game

[@patrickdoyle2510]

Great video. Thanks for the synopsis. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about Numenera.

[@oldmanharley4018]

nothing from World of Darkness? Vampire the Masquerade? Changeling which has probably one of the most unique settings and worldbuilding? :(

[@skyracc2992]

Agree! I can't believe they left these out!

[@sufreco12]

Too childish

[@jamiefultz3921]

WoD is my go to..... can't believe that it was left out.

[@oldmanharley4018]

@@jamiefultz3921 i went to me rpg store yesterday and of all the games listed to start soon there was NONE from WoD. it was all shadowrun, dnd and star wars. i asked why no WoD and the naswer was a simple "there are no GMs interested". im seriously thinking on starting a table now, this scorn cannot continue

[@lawabidingsins1846]

I run Mage the Awakening every Saturday myself

[@Greatdictator]

I love the fact that your first RPG was Deadlands as this was my personal intro to Tabletop RPGs as well :D

[@ryanswartout7311]

My favorite moment from any role play was when my new girlfriend was RPing for the first time. She slipped into character and started talking about her growing up and her family, normal stuff. And then her pet Hippo died and she took it very hard. The other players did not notice that she was in character and honestly believed that she had a Hippo as child. Oh by the way we live in the American Southwest. It was very funny.

[@aintdiscoenough3852]

Awesome video! I'll definitely check out some of these! As for my favorite non-DND RPG, I really like the Mass Effect N7 5e system. It's made by a small group of people but it's a lot of fun and the realm of possibilities is so open! Also, guns are great and amazingly powerful which is nice! The cantrips can actually *deal* good damage too which is something I really appreciate. I ended up playing ME for the first time because of this setting.

[@Duke_of_H3ll]

Shit more good RPG table top games but I can't AGAIN find friends to play this with

[@carolinelabbott2451]

Online there is RoleGate. Or there is Discord.

[@mar_speedman]

Roll20 is a pretty good online medium. I made some great friends, there

[@carolinelabbott2451]

@@mar_speedman Thanks. My brain was noping out of what that one was called. 😊👍

[@CottonCandySharks]

Same!! ):

[@mar_speedman]

Caroline L Abbott No prob. Just adding what little I can to the community :)

[@rathgul1]

Rolemaster by I.C.E is amazing, surprised its not even mentioned.

[@lordboof1]

I played Spacemaster for about 5 years. The Rolemaster systems are still one of my favorites

[@FeralFibreFarm]

Rolemaster is my all time favorite, beating out DnD, in my mind, back in the 80s. It also had Tolkien's Middle Earth as a setting available, so double win.

[@brentr926]

Loved Rolemaster after my group "graduated" to it from MERP in the late 80's - early 90's. If I did it again I'd probably leave out every Companion past 3, maybe even 2 though.

[@conradswadling8495]

i had to modify the armour so it gave protection, otherwise, great

[@666wurm]

Hate those damage tables though

[@charliethemagpie523]

Now that I've started DMing, I've learned to love games that make it easy to improvise - frequently rules-light or narrative-heavy games. I've run a few sessions of Masks: The Next Generation, which is a fantastic Teen Superheroes game running on the Powered by the Apocalypse system. It's so easy to run and to play, and characters build really interesting stories and interrelationships. Love & Justice is a magical-girl game built on the Lasers & Feelings system, which means characters are incredibly simple to build, which is excellent for one-shots - but there's nothing stopping you from having a campaign, either! I've also just discovered On Mighty Thews, which is made for pulpy fantasy in the Conan/Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser style, and looks like heaps of fun. Just need to find someone to run it for me :P

[@Styxtalmeek]

Great video. You hit on several systems I am really fond of. Dead lands is one of my all time favorites though I prefer the classic rule set over the savage worlds one. One I didnt see but has been around forever (in some languages) is The Dark Eye. What are you thoughts on it?

[@thegreatgabsby7617]

Thank you for the video!! I want to get into pen and paper RPGs, and this channel will be great help.

[@Torso]

The World Of Darkness games have been my favourite, with vampire at the top of those! Also picked up a game called Cavemaster recently which plays using stones, which seems really evocative with the setting in the mechanics. In the same way that Fate Of The Norns: Ragnarok does by using runes instead of dice!

[@craigb2343]

Yes, I had an ongoing World of Darkness group in high school. We played Vampire, Werewolf and Changling. I still have about 30 books from the 90s that I wish I could get more use out of.

[@TheOnyxPath]

Thanks, Torso!

[@Sunstreaker2k5]

For a game with a contemporary setting and a heavy focus on roleplay it's hard to beat the WoD stuff. Vampire was always my favorite. Very political to begin with and it was easy as a storyteller to scale your campaigns. Did you want more intrigue than combat tonight? Simple to do. More combat focus tonight? Also easy. I was never a stickler for dice, though we rolled a fair bit, but I always felt it was a strength of the game because it was just as fulfilling to have a single night mission as it was to have a year long campaign.

[@shonuffmofo997]

Great video! Kudos on bringing up 10 Candles. I love that one. Also, Tales from the Loop has just broke into my top 3 RPGs. Super light and I am a HUGE fan of the alternate 80s universe.

[@rud3m3chanical]

I'd nominate Mouse Guard (I'm a massive fan of its "fail-forwards" mechanic), and Fate Accelerated Edition (story collaboration and world creation done on the fly with minimal rules).

[@ikekobrinsky5517]

rude_mech I picked up the original MG box set. It’s worth like 600 dollars now!! What a great game!!

[@deebernaers137]

Me, every time you two post a new video: "Ooh, I should get that."

[@barrytalksaboutstuff]

Just saying: go look up Grant Howitt. He's produced a ton of strange little RPGs with neat ideas and light-hearted theming

[@nairocamilo]

Also, one page!

[@jefferycarter7169]

Spire is glorious and has is one of the most evocative settings I've ever read. The Appendix for Goats is gold and I love the Art Deco inspired designs they used throughout the book.

[@aklchoda]

Great content as always Johnny! TWO (2) GREAT Tabletop RPGs BELOW! I'd love to recommend two new-ish tabletop RPGs that I've had fun playing over the past couple of years. I would strongly encourage anyone who is a fan of Superheroes, Anime, or just Tabletop RPGs in general. I discovered them on Kickstarter and feel they both offer unique and fresh experiences and gameplay. 1. AMP: Year One ... (a powers based RPG ... think 'X-men' meets 'Heroes') 2. The Ninja Crusade: Second Edition ... (Ninja based RPG ... think Naruto, Ninja Scroll, etc) 1. Set in our modern world in the year 2015 where people suddenly start manifesting powers. The timeline has advanced (through AMP: Year Four) with each year getting a new book complete with timeline, new powers, etc. This was also one of the most friendly games for 'newer' players as well. 2. Set in a fictional ninja world where all of the surviving, rival ninja clans have had to band together to fight a common enemy intent on wiping them out (kinda reminded me of Fire Lord Ozai from 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'). You are a ninja from one of these clans and the customization for your character will ensure that everyone in the party is a unique character in the story. PS Johnny: Hey mate, I have the SIFRP books and have been dying to play. If you ever need a player to play that campaign you spent the 20+ hours creating I'd love to participate (Cheers to Roll20.net) ... I love to RP and am willing to create a character to fill any role needed :P

[@g.i.e]

Great list! I want to play Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, and Deadlands so badly. Some of my favourites not mentioned are The World of Darkness games, Mutants and Masterminds, and GURPS. I ran a GURPS campaign years ago with the cyberpunk and vampire books, the system is so flexible and character creation is so much fun. I also design my own completely houseruled ttrpg's. My pride and joy is a rules light cyberpunk system set in a world I've been developing for over a decade, I hope to publish it eventually.

[@chrisanderson7820]

Ermagerdddddd .. Palladium, Rifts, GURPs, FUDGE, Paranoia, Space Opera. First RPG I ever played was Metamorphosis Alpha.

[@adamwelch4336]

I'm a fan of paranoia funniest time playing a game!

[@swaghauler8334]

@@adamwelch4336 Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend. If you don't trust the Computer, you will be used as reactor shielding!

[@RandomPerson-xf9yn]

Definitely going to try and run Ten Candles, I just looked up the rules and it seems amazing

[@ColonelSchafer]

That is a very incomplete analysys of the Night Witches, but I'm hyped that anyone is even talking about the game.

[@hariszark7396]

I didn't know that game. As a flight combat simulator and RPGs lover I am interested in war planes pilot RPGs. Can you tell me something more about the witches game?

[@hopefulhyena3400]

I LOVE The Expanse and all the AGE games. Edit for context: The Expanse RPG uses what's called the Adventure Game Engine, which is a system that the company who made The Expanse RPG also used to make 4 other games. They're all 5 of them (mostly) compatible with each other, which means if you're playing Modern AGE you can have a weird one-off quest where you meet a character from The Expanse who somehow ended up in modern day chicago and you have to get them back into their proper world/time. I like some of them better than others, but they are all really fun. Please if you are reading this comment, do as the video says and check out The Expanse and its sister games. The Expanse, Modern AGE, Fantasy AGE, Dragon AGE, and Blue Rose.

[@Potato-Dono_and_Molasses]

My two quick entries; Dungeon World - If you want something super super simple. Mate of mine never done any TTRPG before (player or DM) ran this fine - so nice easy start here Through the breach - Cards and fate! Mixes things up with no dice and I really enjoy the character creation, just the character classes in general too - having a prologue and jumping around depending on the focus of the session, plus ten candles reminded me of the destinies - though less set in stone...and potentially not as fatal

[@StalkerMike1987]

I love shadowrun so much. I miss playing it. I love the transition quacks you've used for each entry and the ending.

[@O-D-X]

I love Shadowrun, but I don't really like the newer editions after 3rd or maybe 4th. They need to reboot and get back to the roots of the game, it has become to fantastical in the story and world they have built with the newer editions and lost a lot of the gritty cyberpunk feel in my opinion.

[@StalkerMike1987]

@@O-D-X i haven't played in over 10 years but always wanted to get back into it.

[@portlandshomlessproblem1728]

OD-X I played a homebrewish version of the newest shadowrun. In it we were the police and it was just corruption left and right on multiple occasions we would get notes from higher ups telling us to ignore something or stop looking into a case. One time we didn’t follow the suggestions and we almost got blown up

[@homelessboynate1607]

Thanks for the recommendations! Subscribed!!!

[@PrGratesnif]

Great video. Just one thing, I'd split that video in two. One for the games with great mechanism, and one for the games with great lore. I'm personally a fan of games where your proficiency is described by words rather than numbers (like Fate or retrofuture) and I'd love to see a video dedicated to mechanisms!

[@jonstachon4921]

I was a huge fan of Legend of the Five Rings RPG from AEG. So much fun.

[@chronosschiron]

you could jsut say d20 and get trek , star wars , that five rings and much more....in fact even dnd went d20 for a spell

[@number1sun]

The old Marvel role playing game had an amazing system that really worked well! You should check it out sometime...it's amazing they created a workable system that can handle such a diverse universe full of different power types and sets. They also had a karma system so good characters lost karma when they did bad things and gained it when doing good things...like experience points that can also be taken away; you could also spend karma in an emergency to modify a role as a last resort. Amazing system from top to bottom.

[@DennisMoore664]

FASERIP - The best acronym of stats from any RPG.

[@MarquisLeary34]

Only problem I had with it was the complete reliance on so much randomization of powers and stats. Every party I ran with had two or three near useless characters and one who had Monstrous level stats and universally useful powers.

[@zenaudio108]

Great list with some games I have not heard of before! One of my favourites from my early days of playing TTRPGs is Paranoia. I don't know if it is still around but it was set in a dystopian world in which everything is controlled (or not!) by a deranged computer. It is comedic and played in a light-hearted way but with nods to Orwellian futures with slogans such as Trust the Computer, The Computer is your Friend, and players and citizens encouraged to betray each other for their own advancement. There is also the neat idea of coming across current (or historic) cultural artefacts such as Rubik's cubes and video games which players then get to roleplay as if they have never seen them before. Definitely an original and fun addition to the RPG market.

[@meikahidenori]

Interested in your opinions on the world wide wrestling rpg. Was thinking of introducing it to my group to break up our heavy fantasy sessions and give those less inclined to fighting monsters some interest in joining in instead of just watching from the side. Awesome stuff as always, looking forward to trying some of these out too.

[@mandoschMUh]

Night Witches: also an absolute great song of the band Sabaton. Shadowrun is the only P&P I played so far, it's very good fun. Ah, I've played also another game: Earthdawn. But what that one is is basically Shadowrun minus the cyber elements, set in a Medieval-esque timeline. But it plays in the Shadowrun universe, created by the same guy(s) afaik. I'd love to get back into roleplaying... Do you also know other systems, like The Dark Eye or The World of Darkness (Vampire and Werewolf), and if so, could you address these? Thank you for this video, it's one of the formats I looked forward to the most when you started the Dicebreaker project.

[@humanbean67]

true, there are strong hints that Earthdawn & Shadowrun are set in the same game universe. just that these settings are separated by 6000 years(or is it 12000?). one thing though, game mechanics very, very different from each other. for example, with Earthdawn, a player needs, at most, 2 each of ALL the types of dice(d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 & d20). Shadowrun, you MUST have the infamous 'cube of dice'. holds 3 x 3 x 4 d6's. 36 in total. pretty sure Shadowrun is the main reason why these cubes are sold most if not all gaming stores.

[@gqsnowman]

Blades is amazing and it seems that I'm now running a yearly Halloween Ten Candles game. Great list. I REALLY want to get Spire to the table. I'm a big Eclipse Phase fan as well and I can't wait for the second edition to be printed soon.

[@TheOriginalHairyDave]

Eclipse Phase is my unicorn - love the setting and the possibilities of it but I've never had a chance to play it. My gaming group tended to play Friday evenings, and after a long work week most of us were too shattered to really dive into something that complicated.

[@gqsnowman]

@@TheOriginalHairyDave The universe of EP is ridiculously cool. I read Altered Carbon forever ago and was fascinated with the concept, then found Eclipse Phase. I've run a couple super short sessions but I'm planning on either pushing hard for my weekly group to play or starting a new group once I get the second edition book. It alters your priorities as a character so much just by the nature of the setting.

[@StephenWebb1980]

The blades in the dark planning in reverse is very similar to part of a system I've been working on for a little while - but rather than it applying to "runs" or quests, I use a similar approach to describing how characters acquire traits from "feats". Never really liked how during character creation in RPGs that a character could "buy" a feat - takes all the fun out of describing how the character came to accomplish the feat. That said, I'm gonna check out the Blades in the Dark game. seems cool

[@franciscomarsan6651]

Great video! I would add as personal favourites... -Apocalypse World -Agon 2nd edition -Masks a New Generation -City of Mist -Scum and Villainy -Mage the Ascension -Amber Diceless -Castle Falkenstein -Action Movie World and I personally love Blades in the Dark, is one of my favourite RPG from all times!!!

[@973daydreamer]

Also thought I'd mention another game I've played, Iron Kingdoms, which is basically the tabletop RPG version of Warmachine.