Yeah, I printed a copy a while back (lots of free prints on college), never played it but had some cool ideas like when something happens it should be in the way that makes the best story, if a mage turns someone into a pumpkin all of this clothes get turned as well, with the exception of the hat and the shoes, just because that's what makes the best description of the aftermath.
Starfinder for me is like... I love the idea of it, but I worry I'm going to chafe with it because it's less cooked compared to Pathfinder 2. Really looking forward to if they ever do a Starfinder 2e though! Especially if they unify the mechanical language of the two systems so that Starfinder and Pathfinder can become two sides of the same coin.
Mage and Vampire are my favorite systems, but I've never never got to play them (just GM), still I love them both. So IMO give them a go, for Vampire I like the new rules better (5th edition) but some people have very strong opinions against it, for mage M20 is the best, but it's gigantic so it might be very intimidating.
I loved the Bloodlines crpg, but somehow I feel that in ttrpg the vampires/PCs will inevitably end up as edgelords, much better than ordinary humans. How can GM mitigate that?
I am very curious about Shadow of the Demon Lord. But my group is "hard done" with pure fantasy settings, so it will probably take a lot of time until I can propose it.
I hope we could one day play CBR+PNK one day when someone can't make the date.
Shadowrun using my (still not complete :/) Savage Worlds hack/supplement. In all supplements I found there was always something that I didn't like. But I should have accepted it and moved on instead of dabbling in game design, it took me a lot of time that should have been spent on planning the campaign.
Ive been very very curious about GURPS for maybe a year now. Havent bought the actual book yet but i will eventually. Just seems to have so much freedom. Its hard to get my play group off DND though, its what they are familiar with.
as a newbie to the system myself I'm having a lot of fun with it! if you haven't heard of it I'd try the gurps lite version first which is free and a good starting point to add or remove rules and mechanics as needed.
I want to play Wanderhome, but one issue with it is I want someone who really understands how that style of play works to play it with me. I'm very intrigued by the game but can't quite wrap my head around how it actually goes at the table.
Next on my to play list is Reach of the Roach God but the issue there is scheduling: I have an existing weekly campaign and struggle to find time for a second campaign-length module.
I also want to play Gubat Banwa, I might try the solo rules, but I also have a massive backlog of solo games I want to try.
Mine is more an issue of time than of finding a group; we just want to play too many things.
I would concur on the Space 1889 (Savage Worlds version in my case), and add Goblonia (I've played it once but really want to try again), Numenera, The Elephant and Macaw Banner and Scherezade, just to mention a few I have and not yet tried.
I have a huge list but I think they fall in a few categories: Mecha (Lancer, Jovian Chronicles), NSR (GLOG, Black Hack, Into the Dungeon, Mausritter, World of Dungeons, 6e, etc), One pagers (Honey Heist, Orcball, The Beast, Lasers & Feelings, All Outta Bubblegum, Planted, etc), and IP (Borderlands, Mistborn, Marvel, Outlaw Star, Warcraft, Diablo, Halo, etc)
I haven't played it but I think horror can be quite tricky to pull off at the table. I managed to create a spooky atmosphere a few times but it was never controlled, it just came out so.
Do you have some pointers/thoughts about how to make horror work in ttrpg?
I think I've been lucky building an horror atmosphere, because the only one I played was for Call of Cthulhu and was with a combination of casual DnD players and new players to TTRPG in general. So, explaining to them the kind of game keep them on the mood since first minute, since CoC has pretty hard rules about sanity and the posibility of dying, and there is a lot of emphasis on not beign combat focused.
Then, the adventure I played had a lot of elements that create a build up for the sessions. Things I can identify that helped where:
That the players where given a clear objective as a premise, but then an aircraft accident happened and they were completely lost. The whole adventure is escaping from the town were they are after the accident, the premise was a lie, and this gave them a sense of constant danger and a direct problem that they can not just forget about.
In the adventure, language was a barrier. They were on a town where everyone spoke an old romanian dialect. Their only way of communication they had were trying to use their hands or talk to only one person in town which could translate their requests. This augmented the isolation factor.
With the first two points, everything else flowed, because if they found, like, signs of blood somewhere, or strange paintings, talking about them ment using this one character that could translate their requests, but they didn't trust them, because everyone on that town felt like an enemy, so everything else exponientialy grew in possible theories because trying to just grab information felt dangerous in itself.
This may be too much specific, but could be translated in other contexts by using those kind of barriers and immediate unavoidable problems that felt real, that augment a normal spooky scene you can imagine, supported by a game system that danger is a real threat in the rules.
Delta Green. I love the concept so much, and have wanted to run a monster-of-the-week campaign for years, but the tabletop group I'm in mostly have a fantasy bent.
For me it's Changeling: The Lost 2e. I tried running it once but I was struggling to write an engaging story for my players. Vampire is much easier in this regard just have the prince be a dick to the players and tell them to run.
Another game I would really like to try is the Dresden Files RPG. I know next to nothing about it but the novels where a fun read; maybe something to look into when I find the time.