So what is everybody playing?

[Slant]

Okay, let me ask the most basic of gaming questions: what games are people out there playing right now?  Also, what are some of the BEST games you've ever played?  Right now my group (there are 8 of us in total, but it is difficult for all of us to get together at the same time) has gone retro and we are playing the tried and true BASIC version of D&D, the same as we played when we were ten, and we are loving it.  We are also playing D&D III, Supermegatopia, and Obsidian.  I am right now reading through the Lord of the Ringd game and will be starting up a campaign after the holidays.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Hoody Hoo!   Basic D&D rocks!  Nothing like having elves and dwarves as classes.

Currently I am playing in a Hackmaster campaign where our adventureing party, The Iron Trifecta +1, is currently clearing out the Mines of Chaos in B1: Little Keep on the Borderlands.  Our GM is awesome and the players are really experienced.  We tend to spend the majority of every session just role playing in the Keep and it is only in the last session that we got into some real dungeon hijinks.  I'm having an absolute blast.

I also run a D&D 3E game that is kind of on hold (I think my profile has a link to the campaign site I put up).  My group for that game has been together for over 6 years.  We just finished up a year long campaign and have started this new one...which is not going very quickly.

In addition to that, I'm currently trying to modify AD&D 1E with some of the rules from Hackmaster and from 3E.  Not a huge makeover, but a few rules to smooth out gameplay (spontaneous cures for clerics, HM initiative and skill system).

As for the best game I've ever played in...that's actually hard to pick as I don't play all that often.  The best game I ever ran was a Deadlands (my favorite RPG) one-shot that literally gave people nightmares and everyone had fun...that's my high-water mark.  
This post has made me think of what a huge rpg collection I have and how few of the games I've actually played....  It might be time to clean out the closet  

[Fellfrosch]

I'm currently GMing an email campaign of Decipher's new Star Trek game. It's a lot of fun, though Mustard never participates. *hint, hint*

[Slant]

Yep, I've been there Mr. P.  I got into gaming at around 10 and by the time I was ready to move out on my own I had literally hundreds of games, books, supplements, etc.  The vast majority were of the "Hey, that looks cool; I'll buy it and maybe run it some day" variety.  When I moved in with my girlfriend, space was at a premium, so I ended up (shudders) THROWING OUT about 90% of my collection.  But, dammit, I still have my very first set of dice, which includes a d20 that has been used for so long that it is now a perfect sphere.

The game must go on...

 

[Tage]

EUOL, Sprig, and I have just started a new 3E D&D game. I enjoyed our last one, and this one looks to be equally promising.

I've also made attempts to start a 3E Shadowrun game, but haven't been able to get through the book yet. Ah well....

[Slant]

Actually I'm rather curious: what changes have they made in the new edition of Shadowrun? I've always loved the background, but I don't recall ever having actually played the game (although I'm sure I did at some point).  I remember at one time there was an "unofficial" supplement that included hobbits into the game, but I doubt they were ever made official.

[Tage]

I only ever played non-3E Shadowrun once, and it was over a decade ago. So I really can't compare them.

I can tell you one thing they didn't fix: party coordination. The "classes" in Shadowrun are really cool and imaginitive, but they don't make for very good group gameplay. When you're fighting, only the fighters really do anything. When you're hacking, only the deckers really do anything. And so on, and so on...

[Slant]

Yes, but when you are fleeing an angry dragon, EVERYBODY gets to die equally.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Shadowrun is one of the (seemingly) few major RPGs I don't own and have never really gotten into.  Had a great concept though.  Maybe someday I'll pick up the core book.

How's the system though. Earthdawn was a wonderful setting with one of the most complicated dice mechanics I've seen.  Is Shadworun the same system (since they were set in the same universe, just many centuries apart)?

[Slant]

The rules were quite different.  The big thing that kept me from following Shadowrun was the complicated rules system.  It required a lot of rolls, tended to be ambiguous, and was simply needlessly complex.  This is one game that would truly benefit by being converted to d20.  This is an incredible, imaginative game marred only by a clunky system.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Ah, so it does suffer the same fate as Earthdawn.

I ran a one-shot Earthdawn-esque game using Wheel of Time d20 rules a while back.  It went quite well...might have to think about following it up sometime.

[Tage]

If Shadowrun 3E fixed anything, it was the ambiguity factor. In the new book they give great examples of when to make what kind of roles, and basic rules for when you have to make things up. However, much of the system is still needlessly complex--especially combat. A single attack can need a half-dozen roles by both combatants. Comparatively, you'd make a single d20 role and a damage role in D&D. Also, there are TONS of modifiers; way too many to remember, and probably too many tables to even fit on a DM screen.

There's a d20 conversion of Shadowrun on the net, but it didn't look very refined. Maybe the Shadowrun system could benefit from some simple trimming. Hopefully we'll get around to trying it sometime. (Although I'm much more excited to play a BESM game.)

[Slant]

Do you mean a BESM version of Shadowrun?  That might work, although it would lose a lot of the gritty feel.  I think the game engine used in Obsidian would work well for Shadowrun, but it is a far safer bet that it will end up d20 if anything.  I still can't believe that they came out with a d20 version of Traveller, one of the most unique and elegant game systems of all time (Perhaps the only game I have ever played where your character could actually die during character generation).  I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

[Entsuropi]

because all of my friends are too non-geeky to play RPG's, im playing online only. im supposed to be part of a online DnD 3E game, set in the forgotten realms, but i keep on missing sessions (me bad). im also GMing a CoC D20 game with a mate (solo). its looking pretty cool, especially since my online gming style is best described as "wordy bastard", which is pretty appropriate for CoC. atmosphere is king.

[Slant]

The Lord of the Rings RPG:

    Buy it.

         Read it.

              Love it.

                   Run it.

It really is one of the coolest games I've seen in a long while (I was afraid it was just gonna be a big rip-off to squeeze more money out of Tolkien fans).  I have read the entire rulesbook and have mapped out the groundwork for a campaign that will take place early in the Fourth Age.  My players made characters this weekend and they are all revved up to play.  I'm running my first session the Sunday following the release of the new movie.  I strongly recommend the game to all serious gamers.