Wish List: RP Games I’d Like to Be Playing

But first a preamble. There are a lot of role-playing games out there, even if you exclude computer
games from the list. It seems more are released daily. Add in the accumulated releases of years past and
you get an overwhelming abundance from which to choose. You can narrow by genre, you can
discriminate by type of rules mechanism, you can cherry-pick specific authors or settings or licenses or
publisher. How to choose? There are only so many hours in a day, a limited amount of free time in a
week, a month, or in whatever years we might still have remaining to us. Will you fritter away your
recreational time playing games that really aren’t your cup of tea? Will you?

I’ve written about how to get started with role-playing games, I’ve written about how I got started, and
I’ve written about the history of these games. After forty-something years in the hobby I like to apply
my penchant for list-making when I consider how to spend my recreational time, so I can make
informed decisions and use my time...wisely. And so I now share with you my current list of role-
playing games I’d be interested in playing. Because there is some variation depending on my mood or
whatever movie or book I’ve recently enjoyed.

I’d rather be a player than run, but running an RPG gives you the power to present that world according
to your own taste and imagination. Let me give you an example. Say you want to play some version of
Dungeons and Dragons. Could be one of the many officially-released versions, or something similar.
But that’s such an open concept that there are innumerable variations to consider. If you were to sit
down with three different random groups and play under their dungeon master, odds are you’d get three
very different experiences. You could be playing in an official setting like Greyhawk, you could be
playing in a third-party publisher’s setting, or you could be playing in a home-brewed setting. The
home-brew could be inspired by a book or movie, could be roughly based on history, or simply come
from the DM’s imagination. As a player, how likely is it that your preferences and expectations will be
met when you join someone else’s gaming group? Odds are, not very likely. Setting, style of play, rules
interpretations, and social dynamics are some of the many factors at play. So yes, being a player can be
great fun, but you usually have to compromise your preferences in order to participate. On the other
hand, if you consider running that game yourself? If you do then YOU are in charge, and the game
experience is exactly what you’ve been craving! Of course you still have to recruit players with similar
tastes who agree to play in your sandbox, but an experienced gamer will want to try both sides of the
screen, and probably spend some measure of time on each side.

I must point out a hard-earned lesson though. Although I wrote “recruit players” above, gaming with
actual real-life friends is more likely to lead to satisfying gaming. Sitting down to play with strangers is
hit or miss. But you already enjoy spending time with your friends, so indulging in gaming with these
friends as one more recreational activity? Perfect.

Now, on to the list. If someone offers to run one of these, I’m in. If someone asks me to take a turn
running a game, I’m going to suggest something from this list.

My Favorite

1st ed AD&D is my favorite game. Full stop. I have my house rules, you have yours, but let me tell you
what makes 1e AD&D special to me. This particular collection of classes, including Monks, Assassins
and Bards. The various types of non-Humans – and NOT “Race-as-Class.” The Alignment system.
Armor Class adjustments. And I want to refer to the Combat and Saving Throw tables! This
combination of Gygax rules works better for me than any other re-write. You’ve tried the rest, now try
the best. ;-)

There are quite a few settings I’d like to play 1e AD&D in: Gygax’s version of Greyhawk, Judges
Guild's Wilderlands/City States, Mystara in the Gazetteer era (especially set in Glantri), Midkemia,
Thieves Guild’s City of Haven, Blackmoor, Lankhmar, Oriental Adventures (including Kara-tur if set
on Greyhawk as originally intended), Spelljammer, Ptolus, Middle Earth (especially ICE’s version),
Dragaera, Thieves World, Arduin, Yoon-Suin, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Conan’s Hyborian Age or
Barsoom. I would also try the Classic Fantasy Basic Roleplaying (BRP) monograph from Chaosium
(NOT the re-written Mythras edition) with one of these settings.

Hackmaster's Original Edition (“4th edition”), an AD&D variant I’ve never played that always looked
like fun. Plus it’s still satisfying to flip off D&D’s 3rd edition by playing this game!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP), an OSR D&D variant that seems to provide a very
different experience. I always thought it might be more of a Warhammer Fantasy vibe. I’d like to try a
game set in Carcosa, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Yoon-Suin or Arduin. Its native semi-historical setting also
looks good, with several modules to choose from.

A game set on Burroughs’ Barsoom. Warriors of the Red Planet, or Doc’s Warriors of Mars, or Jason
Vey’s Conan (all OSR).

Other OSR games for science fiction, like Hulks & Horrors, Tales of the Space Princess, or
Machinations of the Space Princess. I’d even be willing to try Mothership (the original) just for a lark.

Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing 1st ed (but not The Enemy Within campaign, which I've already
played). I’d love to explore Tilea, Estalia, Cathay, Nippon and especially Lustria!

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader from FFG (I also have a conversion to Classic BRP). Possibly played
without the actual “Rogue Trader” giant ship and mission, more like an adventuring party as in other
games.

"Classic" 2nd edition Runequest. Not in a “slave to canon” anthropologist manner, but in its original
gonzo adventure style – I’m a fan of Pavis and Prax (and Damon Runyon). NO 7th edition Runequest
(RQG), not interested.

Old editions of Chaosium’s Stormbringer (nothing later than 3rd ed). Or 1st ed Hawkmoon. Or Corum
(published by Darcsyde Productions).

A Classic BRP-based Middle Earth. I recommend Age of Shadow, a Chaosium monograph. Or one of
the fan conversions available from BRP Central. I’d love to play out some of the old MERP adventures
and settings using BRP.

"Classic" Call of Cthulhu: By Gaslight, 1920's Jazz Age, WW1, WW2 (including Achtung! Cthulhu
and World War Cthulhu), or Cold War (Berlin ‘61). I’d also play Berlin ‘61 without the mythos, for a
Smiley’s People spy thriller. I’d love to play Mountains of Madness or Orient Express. I already
ran/played Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth and various other shorter adventures back in the 80s. NO 7th
edition Call of Cthulhu.
Pulpy-Action, probably based on Classic BRP/Call of Cthulhu. Crimson Skies, Sky Captain, Indiana
Jones types of games. Or even Cold War spies. But not superheroes. A good book for this would be the
Astounding Adventures monograph book published by Chaosium, driven by Classic BRP. But NOT the
7th edition Pulp Cthulhu rules.

Warbirds, from Outrider Studios, also looks to be a good pulp game.

Jackals RPG from Osprey, an historically-inspired Ancients game.

Gamma World 1st ed / Metamorphosis Alpha 1st ed, still loads of fun.

Fading Suns 2nd ed. Maybe ported to Classic BRP or Classic Traveller, because I’m not too fond of its
native rules system.

FASA Star Trek 1st or 2nd ed, or ADP’s Prime Directive – Original Series era only. There’s nothing else
like it.

Space 1889, maybe ported to Classic BRP or Classic Traveller, don’t know. This particular Victorian-
inspired science fantasy always looked good to me.

James Bond 007 (Cold War, please, shaken but not stirred). Never got around to playing this back in the
day.

A swashbuckling game, one of the older ones: En Garde, Flashing Blades, Privateers & Gentlemen,
Lace & Steel, or even the more recent Honor + Intrigue. Possibly set in Steven Brust's Dragaera, the era
of The Phoenix Guard (aka The Three Musketeers). Possibly using 1st ed AD&D, or Classic BRP.

An Oriental game. Flying Swordsmen or Swords of Wuxia (both D&D-based), The Celestial Empire or
Dragon Lines – Guardians of the Forbidden City (both Classic BRP-based). Maybe even Land of Ninja
(an old 3e Runequest setting, but I’d want to use 2e RQ or Classic BRP). I’d love to use Mad Monks of
Kwantoom too. “They’re monks! And they’re mad!”

Classic Traveller (1981 edition) in one of the published classic settings (including things like FASA,
Gamelords and Judges Guild, but no Mongoose, no “shattered Third Imperium” and no “Virus”). I ran
The Traveller Adventure and have run/played various other published adventures. I'd also be interested
in EC Tubb's Dumarest setting or Andre Norton's Free Traders / Scouts / Rangers universe. Or maybe
even David Brin's Uplift Wars, which got a GURPS book. I would love to try playing in Zoser’s
Kosmos 68 setting, with a healthy dose of the Hostile setting too (as competitors to the Soviets).

Zaibatsu – a cyberpunk RPG from Zoser based on Traveller, or a Classic BRP-based cyberpunk game
(references available), or even the original Cyberpunk RPG (2013), maybe along with the Hardwired
supplement.

Firefly/Serenity. I own these but I don’t know if I’d like the rules system. Anyway I’d be willing to give
it a try.

And there you have it, today’s list of favorites I’d like to be playing! Maybe some of these will end up
on your list too...