Profiling, Part Two

[Ben Morgan]

Okay, here's a good one: What's the most influential game you've ever played? Or the two most? And in what way(s)? What game(s) were (or still are) most Important(tm) to the way you look at roleplaying?

For me, there are two: Amber Diceless was where I got everything I know about deep-immersion character simulationism; and most recently, Ron and his damned Sorcerer :smile: clued me in that there were different ways to play the game, and opened my eyes to Narrativism.


_________________
Ben Morgan
  ben@ad1066.com
    http://www.ad1066.com
      "Thank You, Amazing Kreskin"
              -- Dot, *Animaniacs*

[ This Message was edited by: Amazing Kreskin on 2002-01-03 15:51 ]

[Jared A. Sorensen]

I answered this question in the "Top 5" column I did for Ian's site. Read it for the reasons, but here are the games: Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set, Paranoia, Over the Edge, Vampire, Sorcerer. BAM!

[James V. West]

I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but the most influencial game I've played so far was my own game.

It was just a dice mechanic that I used to run a fantasy game about 5 years ago. The idea was a hybrid of something I invented augmented by the Wild Die idea from WEG's Star Wars. No big deal.

But it was a revolution in the way I thought of role-playing because for the first time I let go of all the rules. I had never been one to use them in the first place, but now I really cut the apron strings.

And wow. I let the player(s) do a lot of narration, really adding depth to the whole thing.

Then I sank back into rpgless oblivion for while.

But now I'm here and there are a ton of games to play that I'm sure will blow my skirt up.

(just ordered Sorcerer today!)

[Ron Edwards]

Hey there,

Like Jared's, my answers are in my essay at http://www.fandomlife.net">Fandomlife.net. The short version would be The Fantasy Trip, Champions, Over the Edge, The Whispering Vault, and The Pool.

Best,
Ron

[Ian O'Rourke]

Golden Heroes, WEG Star Wars and Vampire.
Golden Heroes because it was the first game that I ran I felt really worked for me.

As for the others....

These games allowed me to see some of the storytelling tools I was trying to integrate into my games anyway, written in the rulebooks.

As an example, I was always trying to cut-scenes, editing, framing and the like and I was always trying to reduce redundant scenes (shopping) and get rid of the minutia. I never managed it until WEG Star Wars - as players accepted it in that, so I got to practice :smile:

As for Vampire? Well it has its faults, but it did put a lot of stuff in the rulebook which before was not present - theme, mood, etc and so on.

As for the TOP 5's - Jared your article is delayed slightly because I've got no Internet access, so updates are non-existent, I'm probably loosing my audience at a rapid pace as we speak.

[unodiablo]

Interesting Question!
#1 Death Maze - SPI. Gave my younger brother and I a set of D&D style rules we could understand, and easily modify. Before this, those AD&D players seemed like some sort of bizarre geek-geniuses...

#2 Gamma World - TSR. My first RPG, and we used the rules for a Star Wars style game, super-heroes, etc. I still love this game.

#3 Champions - Hero Games. Cuz it was the first game that gave us EVERYTHING. (i.e. rules to make anything using the point system).

#4 Over The Edge - Atlas Games. The first game I read & played that said "this is all you really need", and was right! And the setting was very cool, much like fiction I was reading at the time.

#5 Extreme Vengeance - Archangel Ent. I love the dice mechanic (have stolen and modified it for my own game), and so much more.

#6 Ron Edwards, er, Sorcerer - Adept Press. Was out of gaming for several years, and probably would not have become interested again if it wasn't for Ron, and Jared as well. Ron for the conversation, online and RL, and Jared for all the freakin' cool games.

[Mike Holmes]

I thought we were only supposed to list one or two.

Well, number one for me has to be The Fantasy Trip (TFT). Why? Because oddly enough it was the first RPG I ever played. Which subsequently was the reason I found all sorts of peoblems with D&D. See, at first I thought that D&D was an improvement on TFT. After all the books were longer, and I was twelve. But, fortunately, I discovered that D&D didn't even do some things as well as TFT. Where was the skill system, fer goodness sake (secondary proficiencies?). And Armor Class?

Anyhow, that started me down the long road of designing my own games, and playing everything I could get my hands on. Which has made all the difference. Which explains the soft spot in my heart for Evil Stevie.

Mike

[Marco]

Champions was my largest impact--the clarity of vision and the rules for making normal people (well, all but for their super powers) and the implicitly non-lethal combat system were all serious eye-openers. The point-based system and its attendant concept of flexibility were ground-breaking for me.

However, before that, there was Call of Cthulhu. Here was a game with no dungeons, monsters you couldn't gun down, and a theme of eventual destruction rather than triumph. That was where we first started playing non-D&D archetypes. It also begged for character traits that weren't listed in the rules. It was, I'd say, the first time I played a role that wasn't simply an extension of "Illusionist."

-Marco

[Laurel]

Back in the summer of 1991, Vampire completely changed my life, even beyond opening my eyes to the possibility of narrativism.  Even if the Storyteller System didn't get me to true narrativism by itself, it started the impetus for me.  Its not likely any other game will have as much influence ever again.    

[Blake Hutchins]

With respect to games I've actually played....  Ars Magica.  Troupe-style roleplaying, taking mages away from the DnD tropes, innovative characteristic and passion mechanics, awesome look and feel for magic, an alternative look at downtime and the long-term development of characters and setting.

Honorable mention goes to Everway and The Pool, along with The Fantasy Trip (wish I still had my TFT copies, but they disappeared during my college years).

Best,

Blake