RPG A Day 2015 - Day Twenty Three

Perfect game for you...

Erm I don't think I've found it yet. But in saying that...

D&D 5th Edition is pretty close but that's largely due to the knowledge I've built up of D&D and indeed Fantasy in general from the past 30 years.  I know I can pick up and run a game of D&D with very little notice (15 minutes) and I have done on several occasions in the past.

I like a game where the -

• GM has a clear role to play without being over bearing or indeed being a non-entity.  D&D has always been able to accommodate that (yes, even 4th Edition).
• math doesn't get in the way but is there for the right reasons.
• the game provides archetypes and structure for the players to make it easier for everyone (new players in particular) to give a 2 sentence summary of who their character is.  The flip side of that though is that the archetype isn't the be all and end all of what the character is.
• use of dice is optional but when necessary it is easy to determine why they're needed and what the outcome means.

So D&D 5th Edition does all of those things and more.  There are other games that do this too (Edge Of The Empire to name one) but I'm going to fall back onto D&D 5th Edition here.

There was another contender to this list which is Savage Worlds.  The benefit of Savage Worlds is that mechanically it can accommodate a variety of genres and results albeit always with a bit of a "pulp" feel to it.

But overall I like my gaming to be simple and almost effortless and for me simple fantasy is exactly that so I'll always go for D&D.