Ten Good RPGs That Are Probably Not In the Top Ten
This is a list of ten pen and paper RPGs that are good, but probably aren’t on most people’s top ten list. As we’ve stated, the games are good, maybe even great, but not great enough to be at the elite Top Ten level.
1. Vampire – The lead game for the World of Darkness setting by White Wolf. It’s been around a long time and has spawned multiple different types of follow-up games in the same genre. Still, even with all the evil creatures out there, Vampires tend to attract us the most.
2. Mage – A pretty inventive, free-flowing magic system. I remember reading this book at a bowling alley for the first time and thinking, “Dang, you could do anything with these characters?!” If you could think it, you could cast it. Provided that your character had the ability to do it, that is.
3. Werewolf – Probably one of the toughest and baddest creatures in White Wolf’s World of Darkness setting. Playing a Werewolf was badass because you could go from normal people mode to crazy killer mode in the blink of an eye.
4. Paranoia – One of the only games where the pre-made adventures were often better than player created adventures. This game had the unique idea to give characters clones of themselves so death meant even less than it normally does in a roleplaying game (which isn’t much).
5. Spycraft – When Spycraft came out with version 2.0, it was such a huge leap over the previous version. It has become one of the best modern pen and paper roleplaying games of all time. It is also one of the best skill-based roleplaying games ever created.
6. Gamma World – This game reminds you how fun random character generation can truly be. Set in a post-apocalyptic setting, it pretty much allows you to run a Mad Max, anything goes type of setting for your characters. The game has been around forever and has like six or seven different editions of the game.
7. Cyberpunk 2020 – True cyberpunk setting in every sense of the word. This game can be absolutely lethal as well. And who could forget the most infamous cybernetic item of all time, the Mr. Stud implant. Basically a requirement for all bad-asses in the game.
8. Warhammer FRPG – I don’t know which came first, the miniatures game or the roleplaying game. But the Warhammer roleplaying game is a nice alternative to D&D. It also has a lot of backing with being the biggest miniatures game out there, as well as tons of video games and computer games further enhancing the world.
9. Earthdawn – According to FASA, it was supposed to be Shadowrun but in a fantasy setting. The game had a pretty unique system and setting, but for some reason it always felt kind of bland when you played (sometimes like 4th edition D&D). The game did pretty well, however, and still has a small following.
10. Hackmaster – This game has the best critical hit tables ever. If there ever was a reason for crazy hit tables, this game has figured it out. I honestly would play this game just to get into combat and try to critically hit people and see what happens.
You may notice that two of these games, Vampire and Gamma World, made our own top ten in an earlier post. However, these two games are often left off of other top ten pen and paper rpg posts I’ve seen before. You can make the call though. These are all great games, but often not in the top ten for other top RPG games lists.
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