10 Best RPG Games – Pen and Paper

Here is a list of the ten best pen and paper roleplaying games of all-time. Although there is no scientific way to prove the ‘best RPG games’ ever, this list takes into account the overall popularity of pen and paper roleplaying games since the industry was first created.

10 – Gamma World – A science fantasy roleplaying game that was first published by TSR in 1978. This game was the first roleplaying game to be created in the post-apocalyptic genre. So far, it has seen publication in six different editions over more than thirty years of gaming.

9 – Vampire the Masquerade – Some may argue which is the best World of Darkness product. But Vampire the Masquerade was the game that put White Wolf on the map. Vampire the Masquerade has also become the number Live Action Roleplaying Game in the world. Go LARP’ers!

8 – RuneQuest – This game was considered as one of the ‘Big Three’ at some point. The big three being D…D, Traveller, and RuneQuest. It provided a different setting and system than other fantasy roleplaying games at the time.

7 – Champions – Comic books and super heroes defined this game. It was the first roleplaying game to allow the player to play a comic book super hero. Some of them were heroes that the players were already familiar with, and others were super heroes of their own design.

6 – Tunnels … Trolls – Also called T…T, this was the second modern roleplaying game ever created. It was published in 1975 and was created to be an easier to play game than its predecessor, D…D.

5 – GURPs – The Generic Universal RolePlaying System is able to adapt itself to any game environment. Any setting you can think of has been created for the system. Its creator, Steve Jackson, is one of the most well-known game designers in the industry because of this game.

4 – Star Wars – May perhaps be the most popular roleplaying setting of all time. It definitely is the most popular setting that was derived from a movie and placed into roleplaying game form. You have to pick which edition you like though! There is d6, d20, and Saga Edition.

3 – Traveller – Although not the most famous space opera setting (See #4), it is the ‘original’ space opera setting for pen and paper roleplaying games. Traveller was first published in 1977 by Game Designers’ Workshop, but has been printed by other companies since then. It still remains one of the longest running and best RPG games of all time.

2 – Call of Cthulhu – The most famous horror-themed pen and paper roleplaying game. This setting is based off the horror fiction writings of H.P. Lovecraft. This game has many different editions, using many different systems, and has won multiple awards.

1 – Dungeons … Dragons – Love it or hate it. If you’ve gamed, odds are you’ve played it. There are editions wars over rapid roleplaying fans. But one thing they can all agree on is that Dungeons … Dragons is the grandfather of all roleplaying games. Even people that have never roleplayed in their life have heard of Dungeons … Dragons.

If you count the different editions from each game as separate games, then this list would turn out to be a very different list. In general, there were specific editions to each game that were vastly preferred over others. Sometimes it was the newer edition and sometimes it was the older edition. But this list is a good representation of the best pen and paper roleplaying games ever.

Hans Verbeck writes about Role-Playing and the Best RPGs.