I thought it might be nice to set up a thread in which we can recommend game systems to one another. What do you like? Why? Give us a quick blurb about a game you like and why you think others might like it. Maybe call out if you think it would be good for absolute beginners or folks new to the OSR/NSR. Oh and the genre too. If this gains some steam, I’ll pin it to the sidebar for easy access.
Seconding the X Without Numbers series. I don’t even play Worlds Without Number but it’s a goldmine of tools for sandbox campaign-building for an OSR D&D game. Cities Without Numbers is shaping up pretty well too. I’d certainly rather play that than try to wrap my head around the Shadowrun system.
They all have free versions too, which is nice.
Oh yeah, CWN is absolutely playable already. I’ve been GMing a campaign since version 0.9 of the beta - well, we already agreed to start playing with 0.7 but didn’t play our first session until the day after 0.9 came out. And it’s been going very well. Much better than any other beta game I’ve ever played before. I do run it in a very Shadowrun style way too. Never was a fan of CyberpunkRed (too crunchy) or Shadowrun (just an absolute mess).
Nice! I’ve just been using it to build a campaign world for fun but I haven’t had a chance to play it with people yet.
Are you finding it works well as a sandbox? I’ve never played any kind of cyberpunk rpg like that before, it’s always been super-railroady because as players we understood that the GM spent time crafting some mission/plot in advance, so we might as well just go along with it.
It’s less sandboxey than my fantasy games, but I typically generate the missions using the tools in the book. If you use the tools to have your city, your districts and your factions in place, all you need is a quickly generated hook and I can easily proceed with a randomly generated mission.