#RPGaDAY2015 is the brainchild of game designer Dave Chapman. Basically, each day in August there is a question about RPGs. This is day 17.
Favourite Fantasy RPG: This should be an easy answer, but it’s kind of not. One of the reasons I design games is because I am unsatisfied with the games available. Further, what kind of fantasy? Swords & Sorcery? High fantasy? Science fantasy?
I’m going to go with Old School Hack. It’s got that D&D vibe, but it’s a super simple system that has always delivered really fun games in my experience. It’s generally delivers over-the-top games with crazy action, and is abstract enough that it can pretty much do everything from low fantasy to science fantasy.
D&D 5E gets the nostalgia vote – the majority of my gaming time has been spent with D&D, and I like 5E the best of any of its versions. D&D 5E is also a fun game. I enjoy it. The problem is the amount of prep time it takes. Still, for the D&D experience, 5E is my favourite taste.
Honourable mention goes to Jaws of the Six Serpents. This is as close to an off-the-shelf sword & sorcery game as any I’ve played. It was the inspiration for Sword Noir.
And back in the day, I really enjoyed True20 for fantasy. It’s the best complex (or semi-complex) RPG out there, and I had a lot of fun running my historical/fantasy Viking campaign with it.