Games I need/want to play

At the top of the list: Apocalypse World. Just way too many awesome AP reports I have seen for this game. Post apocalypse is a great genre and I love the source material to death (Road Warrior anyone?). Strangely, I don’t think I’ve ever really run a full-on PA game (even Twilight:2000). Need to remedy that!

Delta Green – Yeah, really.  I played in a very short-lived DG campaign maybe 15 or 16 years ago, and as I recall it didn’t go well (my character got shot early on and spent the bulk of the session unconscious – I spent a lot of time reading the GM’s comic book collection that day…)My buddy Cam did a very cool DG game a few years back that was a riff on 24 (it happened in one day of game time). I could probably do a really wicked DG game based on something similar, or the totally awesome Hastur stuff in Countdown.

Burning Empires – I’ve only run a single demo session of this, and when I did I could instantly tell BE would absolutely shine in full-on campaign play. But, BE definitely takes commitment from all involved to learn and grok those rules, and get their heads around the way BE does things. After running Mouse Guard, I feel suitably prepared to tackle Burning Empires full on. I would SO love to run Burning Empires!

2300AD – My favorite old school sci-fi game. Unlike the other games on this list I have run several campaigns of this within the last five years and got more out of it than I did when I originally played it 23 (!) years ago. With its relatively hard sci-fi setting and 80′s sci-fi movie vibe, it’s obviously something I’d pick up and run with little hesitation.

Weapons of the Gods – I’ve only run the intro adventure for this game (about 4 or 5 times I think), but each time I’ve run it everyone at the table has had a total blast. I love love love the Lore Sheets in that game and the way they hook the characters into the setting and provide built in character prompts and motivations. The kung-fu system is cool and the secret arts, while confusing as hell to figure out, promises awesomeness for those who crack the code.

Anyone out there down for any of these?

Too much awesome ! (?)

I haven’t done an inventory of my game shelf for a while (and I probably should), but the last time I did I had something like 325 game books on it, IIRC. I fairly certain the number has crept up since then and maybe I’m pushing 340 – 350 now.

When I look at my shelves and see all those games, I sometimes feel overwhelmed…by all the potential there. The cover copy on most of those games promises to blow your mind with awesome adventures just waiting for you and your crew to get the dice and character sheets out and get to gaming. And for the most part, I think that’s justified. I see awesome campaigns in nearly all of my game books.

I turned my head and looked just now, and my eyes came to rest on Castles & Crusades, a D20 lite system that attempts to capture the feel of Old School D&D. I’ve played it, and yes, it does hit that mark. I would like to play it again too, running old, ancient-assed TSR adventure modules from the D&D 30th Anniversary Collector’s Set (Hall of the Frost Giant King anyone?)

Awesome. Let’s try that again. Turn my head…

Weapons of the Gods. Oh yeah, this one is awesome on a stick! I’ve only run the intro adventure (3 times) and rocked it every time. I come out of that introductory oneshot totally jonesin’ to keep playing with those characters, to keep tear-assing around Only Six Devils city bashing mooks and evildoers. And I would so love to get deep into the Secret Arts system in that game, which is a total headache to try to grok just by reading but seems to be an iceberg of awesome just floating there waiting to be found.

One more. I’ll look at an upper shelf.

Maid: The Role Playing Game. This game is so awesome it crates a singularity of awesome around itself. Actually that’s more like a singularity of madness (because this game is totally batshit crazy). I’ve only run this once, but I swear I have not laughed so hard playing any other RPG ever. Giving yourself to the random charts in this game is a leap of faith but boy does it pay off. I also found it a huge challenge to GM, but I mean that in a positive way. Because everything that happens is so random, you just totally have roll with it, adapting on the fly and laying down beats for the players as fast as you can hammer them together. I actually had to stop a few times and tell everyone to just give me a moment so I could figure out what to do next. The game is totally awesome!

I love that I can find something awesome in all these game books. I just love the promise of it all. And when I actually get to play or run something (awesome), it’s like a drug I can’t get enough of!