Tags
CyberPunk, Dungeons & Dragons, Espionage, Fantasy, Meme, Modern, RPG, TMNT, Top Secret, Vampire, Villains & Vigilantes
Because it’s a meme, and I usually avoid memes…
These seven games have been the ones I’ve run the most – and I’m happy to report that none of them actually are in the list of games I’ve played the most.
In no particular order, for those who don’t recognize the covers off-hand, they are:
1981 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set – I’ve been running this game on and off since 1981. It remains my go-to game and I don’t think it will ever be replaced in my heart.
Cyberpunk 2020 – One of the “Cool 2” games that I ran a lot in the 90’s. The style of this game was unlike any I had run before, and it encouraged play significantly outside the standards of my prior games with lots of style, flair and moral ambiguity.
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 – One of two games on this list that I still run. This is the most popular D&D edition in my area, and since I have total rules mastery (no books needed to adjudicate grappling, bull rushing, etc) it is one I can run for just about anyone, anywhere. Especially for those heathens who prefer later editions over the masterpiece of 1981.
Top Secret – One of my big high school games, it played mostly as Commando the RPG more than James Bond, but it was awesome, it was fun, and it involved LOTS of guns.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness – Another high school game of mine. Lots of mutant animals in a semi post-apocalyptic America. Guns, mutants, ninja craziness, and flipped out octopi.
Vampire the Masquerade – Even more than Cyberpunk, this was a turning point game in the 90’s. It changed the gaming groups, it changed gaming. I freakin’ love it in all it’s incarnations and ran multiple simultaneous chronicles for years.
Villains & Vigilantes – The last of my high school games, I actually ran this in 40 minute sessions during lunch at school 3 days a week for 2 years. Quick little violent super hero scenes of awesomeness.
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
I was raised on MERP and Rolemaster, but played a lot of Cyberpunk 2020. I loved it, because it was detailed but fast and furious. What I never really liked was the netrunning part.
Hey Dyson, since you played TMNT, did you ever give Palladium Fantasy a shot? I love it, but I know it gets some hate.
I played it quite a bit. It remains one of my favourite D&D knockoffs from the era. But I’m talking the original edition here, not the one that’s being published now.
Yeah, I still have my original TMNT book. Used it to run a near-future semi post apocalyptic X-Files sort of game where most of the remaining population of Earth was mutant critters of some sort.
Ahhhh… the good ole days!
Played all of them at some point in my life. Mainly stuck to both versions of D&D:started with the “blue” boxed set (with module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands) and followed through 3.5 version, which I find more players for in my area.
Absolutely enjoyed Vampire – LARP over the table-top – especially Vampire: The Dark Ages as I was involved with a Rennaisance re-enactment group during most of the 90’s and into 2005 (my Brujah armor ROCKED!!!). Once met Mark Rein·Hagen at a White Wolf party at Dragon-Con 1993.
As stated before….. the good ole days!
That’s pretty awesome. I missed the blue basic box, I started with OD&D but the first edition I got for myself was the 1981 pink box. I played in a lot of AD&D1e games over the decades, but was never the edition I ran by choice.
And partying with the White Wolf crew is awesome. It’s one of the things I miss about GenCon.
Went to a GenCon once…. back in ’93 or ’94 I think. Something to do with GDW’s Traveller: The New Era. A former associate, Dave Newton (of Myhtus/ Dangerous Journeys fame), and I ran a demo of a module(?) GDW was introducing or something along that line. My brain gets foggy from those days; waaaaay too many pints of Boddingtons Pub Ale enjoyed back then! 😀