Apart from D&D...

GURPS, HeroQuest, Shadowrun, Ars Magica, Unknown Armies, World of Darkness (I like Vampire but they're all good)

What's the difference between Runequest and HeroQuest?

Editions. Use the latest one (RQ6 iirc).

This guy should teach the class

Whatever you do, DO NOT put in Pathfinder, or if you do have be an example of how games SHOULDN'T be designed

also
>RPGs 101 college course
dafuq kind of college would ever allow such a class? sounds like something for dumb students to waste credit hours and tuition because they don't understand that college class-time is for study and learning and for you to actually get serious with what you both want and should be as a productive member of society once you graduate

Is this considered Classic Traveller?

amazon.ca/Traveller-Core-Rulebook/dp/0857441868/ref=pd_sim_14_1

They are completely different shit, but share the "default" setting of Glorantha.
Runequest is moderately crunchy game with strongly simulationist attitude, based on BRP - or rather the BRP was based on early Runequest.
Heroquest is light narrative game simmilar to FATE in it's philosophy but better executed.

Kind of but not really, it's an update of the system. Imo, Traveller has a lousy system anyway so it's probably better than the real classic version. Just be careful not to buy the d20 version, holy shit what a crock of fail, d20 can't do gritty and meshes not at all with the setting.

Oh, and despite Glorantha being default setting for both, Heroquest is completely "universal" system, while Runequest's universality is mostly limited to fantasy stuff.

In Finland, in addition to the different versions of D&D,

>Praedor
>Stalker the scifi rpg
>Call of Cthulhu
>Runequest
>Burning wheel
>Cyberpunk 2020
>Paranoia xp
>Twlilight 2000
>World of Darkness

Do the Runequest and Traveller core books contain the campaign setting as well, or are those separate books?

Eoris Essence

Early rpgs like that always contain everything you need in one book. D&D is pretty much the only game I know that you /have to/ buy multiple books before you can play it.

That's Mongoose Traveller, not classic. I personally prefer MongTrav over classic as far as mechanics go, but Classic obviously has more historical value if that's what you're looking for.

There have been a ton of different traveller versions over the years. See: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(role-playing_game)

I would say the ones worth playing are Mongoose and Classic. The rest are just worse versions of the same and a few oddities (one of them is the Great Depression in space and went over so poorly it was later retconned out as a dream).

>dat sheet

I kek every tiem :^)

Although the sidebar of it does remind me: Pendragon should be on any list of "must-play" rpgs, if only for it's innovative personality mechanics (but also for it's generally superb rules and top notch setting).

In case of Runequest it depends on the edition, though even those that contain setting info it isn't very detailed in the core books.
Heroquest has actually "universal" and "Gloranthan" versions of the core book.

Mongoose Traveller has very little setting info in core (and is pretty close to a generic scifi system anyways). IIRC Classic has all the info in one book.

Oh look, summer burger threads started showing up.

GURPS
Call of Cthulhu
Vampire: The Masquerade
Cyberpunk 2020
Warhammer Fantasy (2nd edition)
Paranoia
Savage Worlds
Exalted

And if by chance you are not American - go make research on your own what's the most popular game from your own country.

I like this pic but you're a faggot

Fatal should be on the list to show how far rpgs can go.

It shouldnt be played, just read for the sake of seeing, like somoene checking that hash noise music genre exist and then moving on

No, if you want a comedy rpg try Synnibar or SenZar, those at least are a fun read. FATAL is not only awful, it's terribly boring, with endless tables and no art.

OK, thanks.

Is there a separate Glorantha setting book? I'm most interested in the settings.

>People seriously advocate even touching Burning Wheel
That game cause 2nd degree autism. A fucking doorstoper full of pointless shit.

It made a pretty big splash in the indie crowd when it showed up; Fiasco is kind of its offspring. It's basically a game that takes some of the more common methods used in television writing and mechanizes them, to make a "build your own tv show" rpg.
It's a fascinating exercise and is something I think should be played at least briefly if you're really into the theory end of rpgs. It has some neat ideas.

Here's Classic.
mega.co.nz/#F!DkdyQITY!Y1VxiiEtuqDwhHo5wEw65w
Grab the Traveller Book, as that's the all in one edition of the core rules. You may also want PDF related, as everyone used it back in the day. (So much so that this third-party houserule was made official in Megatraveller)

What's wrong with it?

There are a few of them, depending on edition.
Newest is most likely this one

GURPS, Fate, Deadlands, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Warhammer, Savage Worlds, anything from WoD (most likely Vampire)

>dat pic
It would be just softcorn with no real plot in it.

Not him, but personally I got quite interested by it's description, downloaded PDF, saw 600 fucking pages, realized it is all crunch as it has no dedicated setting, and was like "no, thanks".

I'm the guy who recommended it upthread. If I had to guess what he dislikes, I'd say that it's crunchy. Like REALLY crunchy. It's probably the crunchiest narrative system around.
I'd also say it's beautifully designed, a clockwork engine of interlocking bits that all combine to make a whole.
But you could probably go with Mouse Guard or Torchbearer, which use lighter versions of the main Burning Wheel rules.

Its setting is implied by the lifepath system, outside that it's up to you. It has a general Tolkien feel, moreso than D&D ever managed. Also the Elven Grief/Dwarven Greed/Orcish Hate mechanics really reinforce that Tolkien feel.

Too long, too much pointless stuff, too many tables, absolutely abysmal editorial work no matter the edition and printing, combat is broken in 90% of situations, setting is just meh.
And that's without mentioning the most important element - autistic subrules to subrules of underrules to subrules of rules, while being marketed as story-heavy game.

>Burning Wheel
>Nattative system
Pick one. It's just symulationist game, to the point of being obnoxious, pretending to being a storytelling system.

>I'd also say it's beautifully designed
The game is a fucking mess and you know about it all too well

What? It has tons of mechanics all aimed at emulating narrative structures. It's not simulationist at all -- it's chock full of game structures and narrative elements.

I didn't mean that I was put off by lack of fluff in the system. I was put off because without fluff, i realized that whole 600 fucking pages are going to be all crunch and that's way too much to make sense in my opinion.

>responding to a not shitpost with an even bigger shitpost

I will give you a clue. If game is narrative, but the rules take more than 10 pages, it's not narrative at all. Burning Wheel is just 600+ pages of crunch. That's not how you make a narrative game.

>Narrative game
>Barely any setting
>Barely anything to narrate
>Barely any content
>570 pages of rules
Why are you so deluded?

You describe what you want and how you want to achieve it, then you roleplay it. The fact that it has a lot of in depth explanation does not reduce that in any way.

Then what for are all those rules then? They serve zero purpose and have no reason to exist. You either make a crunchy game for roll-playing or you make rule-light systems for extensive role-playing. You don't create a fucking brick of a book for narrative-driven game that consists of nothing but cruch. For fuck's sake, the game barely has any setting, but has half a chapter about bleeding.

Seriously, can't you see what you are doing here?

Yeah, that's legit, it's not an easy system to wrap your head around.

>If game is narrative, but the rules take more than 10 pages, it's not narrative at all.

Narrative is not a synonym for rules lite. The difference between a simulationist system and a narrative one is that the simulationist one tries to emulate a given reality, and lets the mathematical chips fall where they may. A narrative system tosses out impartiality and puts its thumb on the scale and pushes things towards interesting narrative outcomes.
For example, Dwarven Greed is a strictly narrativist mechanic. It mechanizes something that in a simulationist system would be left entirely up to roleplay in a freeform manner. Instead, the DM challenges the Dwarf player specifically, waving shiny things in front of him and forcing tests of the player's greed, pushing towards the bad end where the dwarf seals himself away in a vault with all his treasures and starves rather than risk letting someone else steal from him.

>You describe what you want and how you want to achieve it, then you roleplay it
I really, really wish BW worked like that.

Not any of the previous user, but this post seals it for me.
You are a masochist.
You openly state all the flaws of the game, then proceed to say they are ok and perfectly fine, because that's just how it should be. Meanwhile, my experience with Burning Wheel tells that narrative game most definitely shouldn't require constant page-flipping. Want a narrative-driven game? Check Numenera. Want a monument to autism? Check Burning Wheel, that turned fucking narrative into rolls.

Mutants & Masterminds for at least trying (and mostly failing) to make point buy less awful.

Mouse guard, cause it's everywhere.

Okay, let's take the book in hand?

The system takes 190 pages, with all the rules, including the optional ones.

They all are meant to assist and provide structure to roleplaying. I can understand if you don't want to read the tome, not everybody has the time or interest reading trough a brick just to play role playing games.

But for me, it works. It accomplishes what it set out to do. Plus I don't mind reading bricks.

GURPS
A TSR-era edition of D&D
Possibly Savage Worlds
Possibly Apocalypse/Dungeon World

dumb shitposter

>DM challenges the Dwarf player specifically, waving shiny things in front of him and forcing tests of the player's greed, pushing towards the bad end where the dwarf seals himself away in a vault with all his treasures and starves rather than risk letting someone else steal from him.
>Narrative game
It would be, if the player and GM woldn't roll constantly to see how the story is going instead of simply role-playing this and using rolls when they see fit.
The game fucking orders you to prepare a script and then railroad through it with dice. Combined with lenght - sorry, one of the worst game out of the market.

>Possibly Apocalypse/Dungeon World
Possibly kill yourself

>190 pages

>You are a masochist.

Now you're just going full-on "stop liking what I don't like."

>They all are meant to assist and provide structure to roleplaying.

Exactly. I recc'd Burning Wheel because it's an example of a rules-heavy narrative system, which is outside most people's experience range, and so is a good thing to have run through at least briefly if you want to consider yourself well-versed in the medium.

>shitposting possibly intensifies

>Apocalypse/Dungeon World
I recommend making an effort and acquire some fucking taste. Literally Pathfinder of out times when it comes to cancer

Unknown Armies

>Suggests Dungeon World
>Defends Burning Wheel
Next thing you will say 3.5 is the best ed

Hey, all I can say is that I like reading. Especially RPG rules.
I've read the whole brick. Many times. Not just the 190 pages of rules.

Thank ye again.

I had the same reaction when a friend loaned it to me, to be honest.

>Dungeon World
That's one of the last games anyone should even know about

Savage Worlds.

I suggested Apocalypse World, but thanks for playing.

>I had the same reaction when a friend loaned it to me, to be honest.

It is admittedly a huge and intimidating system. But OP didn't ask for a good time beer'n'pretzels system to play with friends, he asked what games he should know to consider himself well-versed in the world of RPGs, and for that, I think Burning Wheel should be on the list.

>Dungeon World
And you complain about shitposters?

>Obscure shit nobody plays
>You should totally read it to be well-versed!
It's not working that way, user. OP clearly asked about "game-changing" titles and highly influential stuff, not 3rd rate games that at best are knows as "how not to make a game"
But it's cool you have a game to play. Just please stop insisting it's anything else than niche title for very, VERY specific demographic.

Not him but Burning Wheel is "big" at least in Finland.

But then again, it's a country of about 7 million people, so take that how you will.

>he asked what games he should know to consider himself well-versed
He asked for "must-have RPGs that a well-rounded roleplayer should play - or at least read". That's not the same, aspie

Welp, this thread is over. It was interesting up until the shitposters arrived.

Yeah, and Warhammer 2nd ed is big in Czech. Roughtly a thousand people plays it.

This thread started with shitposting

>It is admittedly a huge and intimidating system. But OP didn't ask for a good time beer'n'pretzels system to play with friends, he asked what games he should know to consider himself well-versed in the world of RPGs, and for that, I think Burning Wheel should be on the list.

Fair enough, not everything worthwhile is easy.

If I had to pick 10 games worth playing just to understand RPGs, I'd choose:

>Shadowrun
>Call of Cthulhu
>Traveller
>World of Darkness
>Unknown Armies
>Feng Shui
>Star Wars (FFG)
>Savage Worlds
>GURPS Transhuman Space
>Apocalypse World

It's just Virt doing his usual stupid stuff. Ignore him and it'll be fine.

This thread isn't about discussing the merit of each and every system. It's supposed to be a list of lists and that's it.

Shadowrun
Traveller
Something by White Wolf
FATE
Call of Cthulhu
Paranoia
Warhammer
Maid
Mutants&Masterminds

>Yeah, and Warhammer 2nd ed is big in Czech. Roughtly a thousand people plays it.
As far as I understood, that's ok.

We all are from different places, so our opinions of what RPGs are important should differ.

>Virt
As far as everyone is concerned, Virt ceased showing up roughtly half a year ago. But legacy lives and everyone is paranoid.
Since it's July, I would rather suggest summer as an excuse for people that don't suit your own tastes.

>Big in Finland
Wow, that totally makes it one of the most influential games that were created for past 30 years

>It's just Virt doing his usual stupid stuff.

Yeah, I've noticed him back, posting his same stupid opinions again. (And I don't just mean "le dungeon world is shit", I mean weirdly specific ones I've only ever heard him spout)
Can't the mods just talk to his ISP's abuse department? That's what we do on IRC. Most ISPs take it pretty seriously when an IRC network threatens to k-line them, I can't imagine how they'd feel if Veeky Forums did so.

Warhammer 2nd ed is big pretty much anywhere in central-eastern Europe. It was top RPG in Poland until D&D 3.X arrived and was shilled by heavy marketing and popular vidya. It was quite a big community and despite general regress in recent years it still is noticeable.

I know it is also popular in other countries in the area.

So I wouldn't say it is exactly the same tier of "local popularity with no bearing on the global scale".

Yes, in Finland. Context is everything.

>Paranoia continues
Funny how "Virt!" is only a thing during American daytime hours, while the guy was posting mostly when it was late night/early morning in Clappistan

Why Maid?

>M&M

Good point, the list should include one superhero game, though I would argue that Heroes Unlimited was more popular during its heyday.

Different user, but the joke was clearly about the scale, mate. I know first-hand how 2nd ed is popular in Poland, but there are less than 5 thousand people playing tabletops in Poland at all. I can fucking list most players from my administrative region, covering roughtly 1/8 of the country. Being popular in country X or Y means shit, when you don't compare it with the number of players in that country.

That;s very pessimistic measure, I think there's more people playing. And even if not it's still order of magnitude more than Burning Wheel in Finland

Well, what else would you need us to do?

I personally am not going to start a gallup on what is the worlds most important role playing games, like some scientist.

We're posting on a Veeky Forums thread, so you just have to accept that context. Nobody here knows more than what they personally know from their own countries, and some don't know even that.

If you can't accept that, then I don't know what to say. Sorry that we can't feed you universally correct information?

Dude, Virt is a comic store clerk from the American midwest.

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/43816020/

>That;s very pessimistic measure
That's reality. Polish market for TTRPG pretty much ended when the biggest publisher decided to drop it. There are pretty much no translations since '02. Local companies making games didn't publish anything new since '08 and don't even want to, since there are literally two games that still have support and each in hands of different company, so they've splitted existing market among themselves and enjoy this semi-monopoly with expansions being printed once per few months.
Last year another company published their game and made a MASSIVE scene about selling entire printing within 2 months. You want to know the size of it?
100 books.
Average RPG player in Poland is roughtly 25+ years old and that's only because the market didn't collapse completely with MAG going out of business - otherwise it would be 30+. Fresh blood is non-existing or you end up with caricatural pick-up kids that want to be just like their "Western counterparts", thus painting themselves as super-nerds - while pretty much entire player scene is old-ass metalheads, so they are completely alien.

RPG in Poland is dead and every player in Poland knows that.

On the plus-side, D&D never was big in the country and PF wasn't even published.

Thread isn't about what's the most popular game out there, we can already get that from the Orr Group statistics and other surveys.

Thread is about which RPGs were most important/influential/hobby-changing for any variety of reasons. So even if they had a small player base they may have been very influential on other designers and games, the same way a niche author who only sells a couple thousand books may have strongly influenced Stephen King. Lovecraft (up until the 2000s) comes to mind. Same thing for RPGs.

... only that we are on Veeky Forums and talking globally, so local, marginal variations mean shit.

>He thinks Lovecraft got only popular in '00s
Call of Cthulhu, the first edition, was published in '81. Which means even back then it had to be big enough to get a game out of it.

>D&D never was big in the country and PF wasn't even published.

Except it was. D&D was hardly existent before 3.X translation come out, but after that it was so heavilly shilled when it come out, with page-sized commercials in vidya magazines and stuff, and the old crpgs still fresh, that it gained ground. I know more players of D&D than other games combined. On any forum or whatever D&D part is the biggest, D&D sold fuckton of supplements, with half of 3.X splatbooks translated and published. PF and later editions didn't gain any ground, but 3.5 is huge, at least as i see it. Though majority of it's players are ultra-bad and don't play anything else, so they hardly contribute to wider community.

Bitch please, nobody but handful of people from Warsaw play 3.X. Which pretty much tells me from where you must be to even know anyone playing D&D.
Silesia rejected D&D roughtly by mid 00s. That leaves Cracov and Tri-City. And Tri-City plays Cyberpunk 2020, so go figure. Lublin's community died out few years ago, since it was always based on students and at this point freshmen no longer play.

>D&D sold fuckton of supplements
Bullshit.
3.X had literally 4 expansion published in Poland. There could be more, but after abysmal 4 ed, WotC literally packed and left.
Want best-seller? That's Neuroshima. NOTHING sold as well as Neuro, mostly because nothing had support for so long. Maybe Warhammer 2nd ed was bigger, but it was pretty much all bootlegs.

Whether it's virt or some other guy trying really hard to be virt, it makes no difference in the end. If it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, it doesn't matter what its particular species is, it still shits all the same.

>3.X had literally 4 expansions published in Poland
Yea right rebel.pl/category.php/1,14/Dungeons-Dragons-3.5.html
rebel.pl/category.php/1,347/Forgotten-Realms-Zapomniane-Krainy.html
And there were more than that (I used to play this shit actually so I know) they're just out of stocks by now. I explicitly remember having some translated books that aren't listed here physically in my hands.
>but after abysmal 4 ed, WotC literally packed and left
That's true, but I'm not talking about 4e. 4e was dissed at the start, and the 3.5fags were most
I am not from Warsaw, though i know players from there, I share my life between Greater Poland and Lower Silesia. Most RPG groups I see there are D&D.

Still, if you want to consider yourself well-versed in rpgs you also have to know of the more obscure systems. I mean, you wouldn't consider yourself well-read if you only ever bought the biggest bestsellers, right?

*and the 3.5fags were loudest about it

>D&D 3.X
>Big in Poland

You've miss-spelled AD&D, which indeed was big roughtly between '94 and mid '96. EVERYONE was playing it, only to quickly drop it due to realising how badly designed it was as a game when compared with "modern" stuff.

3.5 was printed in 2k copies. They never sold entire stock of it. It's not accessable due to liquidation of Polish branch of the company, not because selling out all of it. I know that, because I did a research about 4 ed sales and WotC leaving the market. 4 ed was printed in 1k copies and it still didn't manage to sell enough to cover the costs of translation (!), while the assumption for 1k copies was based pretty much on "2k was still too many for heavily hyped 3.5".

And just like the other user said, barely anyone outside Warsaw played D&D nowdays, regardless of ed. With so little copies of the game in the circulation and regional sentiments to different games, D&D simply died out outside the capital. Where fucking 3.5 is played as a "hipster game".
Oh the sweet irony.