This year at Gen Con, panelists Greg Stolze, Wolfgang Baur, Ryan Dancey, Stan!, Daniel Solis, Will Hindmarch, James Ernest, and Jeff Neil Bellinger gathered together with seminar attendees to discuss the best games EVER! (just as the seminar name says). Each panelist had a favorite or two, as did several of the attendees. The choices named ranged from board games to card games to computer games to roleplaying games. (More beyond the jump.)
As the discussion continued, some topics that came up regarding what makes a game a “best game EVER!” include the following:
- A game can be fun despite its weaknesses.
- Games can depend a lot on your fellow players. Interactions with friends and family can make a game fun.
If you’re looking for a great game that suits your playing style, you can use social networking to help you discover what will work for you. Additionally, attending conventions (such as Gen Con) can provide you with a way to try out a game to see if you’d enjoy it.
So, what game is your best game EVER? Please do comment below, and tell us why!
I believe Talislanta 4th edition is one of the best games ever. (Amber diceless ties it for the number one slot, IMO.)
Talislanta is a rules-light system with a deep and detailed setting. Seriously, you can learn the basics of the rules in just a few minutes, and character creation only a few minutes more, if you know what character you want to play.
That’s the rub, though, since there are dozens upon dozens of races to pick from, and none of them are the stereotypical, mytho-european, Tolkienesque races so popular in other RPGs. Instead of elves, dwarves, and orcs, you’ve got Mandalan Mystic Warriors, Xambrian Wizard-Hunters, Phantasian Dream-Merchants, Kharakhan Giants, Aamanian Warrior-Priests, Sindaran Alchemists, Thrall Warriors, Jaka Manhunters, and on and on and on. Each race is given pages of cultural details, history, religion, naming conventions, etcetera.
The game mechanics are simple, yet sufficiently versatile and flexible to cover any funky combat move or tricky use of magic the players may come up with. The magic system is similarly flexible, with a bunch of magical skills, called Modes, each encompassing a broad category of spells.
I’ve been playing RPGs since 1978, and I got started with Talislanta in 1989. I have played many RPGs in that time, and Talislanta is one of the few that I return to time and time again. In fact, I just started a new Tal campaign just a few weeks ago, at the request of some of my friends.
My personal favorite is Traveller, but more specifically the Megatraveller incarnation of it that was around in the late 80’s to early 90’s. I still have all my hard-copy books from it, and while it is not a rules-light system I find it ideal for creating just about any type of space opera campaign you could ever come up with. It’s the system I plan to use whenever I finally get around to doing my Firefly/Serenity themed campaign. I also liked another short-lived GDW product quite a bit: Dark Conspiracy. One of my favorites from a thematic standpoint.