100 RPGs to Try Before you Die

The good folks over at gamesinfodepot.com have put up a very nifty “100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die” list on their site. It’s very nice, broken out into different categories, and includes a whole bunch of games I’ve never even heard of before. There’s actually a post-apocalyptic role-playing-game where you play a mutant cockroach? Sweet gorilla of Manilla!

Some of the descriptions are rather perfunctory, and others are downright brief to the point of being dismissive (c.f. the entry for Gamma World, which states rather snarkily, “You fight mutants instead of orcs.”). (Which brings up the inevitable question, why Gamma World rather than Metamorphosis: Alpha?) And for some incomprehensible reason, they chose to link a post from this blog to the entry on Hackmaster, rather than the actual Hackmaster site. Much as I appreciate the compliment, it’s a bit bizarre (unless, as the cynical side of me keeps insisting, it’s just a gimmick to get more traffic on their own site, but I must keep a better opinion of humanity, or so I keep telling myself), but certainly welcome. Perhaps they simply had too many links to Kenzer games already, and needed something else for variety.

For all my silliness, it’s really a great list (they give much-deserved recognition to 2300 AD, my own current favorite scifi RPG), and well worth the time to check it out. I will definitely try to peruse some of the lesser-known items thereupon myself.

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

8 thoughts on “100 RPGs to Try Before you Die

  1. What an odd list…aside from missing a couple classics (Teenagers from Outer Space, Mekton, Ars Magica – No ARS MAGICA?!), they put in Prime Directive instead of an actual Star Trek RPG like Last Unicorn’s (my all time favorite game).

    I also find it interesting that I’ve played at least 85 of the games listed. Maybe a bit more. What do I do with my life now?

    AD
    Barking Alien

  2. BA, I do like the Last Unicorn Trek game, but I confess I’m a FASA fan from way back. Stems from my love affair with their Starship Combat Simulator; that game was so good it sucked me into the RPG for quite some time. Ars Magica seem an odd lacuna, I will agree.

    Eric, did you hear that they’re coming out with a Savage Worlds version of Space: 1889?

  3. You know, I feel pretty bad about leaving out Ars Magica actually. At one point I had it on my list along with Ron Edward’s game Sorceror, which are both terrific games, but they didn’t make it to the final draft. Probably a mistake on my part.

    I didn’t link to the Kenzer site because I thought it would be more fun to give some exposure to some of the bloggers who are writing cool stuff. I figured guys like you could use the exposure more than someone like Wikipedia or Kenzer.

  4. Deadlands was #36 on the list.

    Really?

    *runs back to check the list*

    Damn! That’ll teach me to post thoughts when I’m only half awake!

    But they still missed Alternity, which is a crime.

  5. Hey wow I never knew they took another shot at Traveller: 2300. (But with D20? Yuck.)

    I remember when I finally realized I would never, EVER be able to find anyone willing to play it. Sad day indeed.

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