So yeah, what the title asks. What's your favorite tabletop game, roleplaying game system and why should others play it?
For me, it's Marvel Superheroes. Though you can probably blame that on my GM. To me, MSH requires a good GM because of how story-driven it is. You can spend a whole session never rolling dice or you can spend the whole session rolling. So, if you like story-driven and/or games requiring lots of creativity, I highly suggest Marvel Superheroes.
Wayfarers. But I am biased, because I wrote it. I am still working through a final rewrite. Here's a review of the Player's Manual. The structuring of the game takes those risky, exciting early levels of a characters in OSR games and manages to expand that into high level play. By making healing less accessible, increasing damage, and reducing hit point growth, characters will find combat a risky proposition, but the game provides numerous ways for characters to interact with the world to bring about more subtle means of negotiating a challenge than simple combat. PM me if you want some comp PDFs.The RPGnet user Simple Man stated that Wayfarers is the spiritual successor of AD&D 2e, and I find myself in agreement, but there's more to be said than that.
NO SHIT!? I've never actually played Wayfarers, but when I was looking to get into roleplaying, I came across Wayfarers and was seriously considering trying to find a group to play with. I, unfortunately, wound up going with Pathfinder because it was easier to find a group and all/most the information on it was easily available online.
FATE is one of my favourite now, also tried the Superheroes game app from the apknite. Anyone like to join?
I really like GURPS. It's incredibly flexible. Unfortunately, it's not balanced. The GM has to be on your side, because if she "tries" to kill you within the rules, she will. Which is why none of my friends like it. Everyone I know wants combat-focussed, minmaxed DnD. So ist das Leben.
Personally I've really enjoyed Fate. I find that the system rewards the kind of playstyle I like from PC's when I GM, and it gives people power, while making sure that they will pay dearly for failure. That said, I did a straight homebrew once and it was the greatest game I've ever ran, deep sea, deep horror, basically Sphere but with big spooky mythological elements.
I love FATE. It's a very smooth, easily modifiable system that rewards in-genre play. Have you tried Diaspora? It's my favorite implementation. "Hard" sci-fi, with multiple interesting subsystems like social combat.
Shadowrun. Magical cyberpunk teams of experienced badasses planning Ocean's-style heists, then executing them and reacting to whatever it was their decker couldn't find out by hacking the system, hoping they're not going to be double-crossed by the client or their fixer, and if all else fails, blasting their way to safety with fireballs and huge guns.
Pathfinder strikes me as an interesting system, but I've nobody to play it with. I have played some D&D though, which was usually a bit of fun.
Ah, thanks for the recommendation for roll20, but I'm a traditional sort. Nothing like gathering around the table and rolling the dice, even if it's rarely done.
I have been having a hankering for something tabletop along the lines "tri-corner-folded-dollar-football" from elementary and middle schools. I think they are referred to as "dexterity tabletop games" although large floors are required I think in reality. I have always wished to play and get good at Subbuteo ... but I have wanted to since I was a tike. I assume that it would be a bit disappointing by the decades of build up. I am also way intrigued by PitchCar and another one called Catacombs. I would have to say that all of this was seeded in my childhood experience with Crossbows and Catapults.
Years ago I played in a system called Chivalry And Sorcery. It was definitely a combination of a great GM, a great group of players, but also an engaging system that felt like it had lots of flexibility to fuel extremely interesting character stories and interactions, that made that hands down the best role playing game I've ever been involved in. I was genuinely sad when the GM moved and that group drifted apart.
Hard to say what is my favourite, but I love Elder Sign. It's a quick way to get someone into an Arkham Horror-esque game without the 2 hours of setup and explanation.