Bonus points for any non-D&D or D&D derivative systems.
My first RPG was Palladium Fantasy way back when my grognard uncle invited me to his groups table. I still don’t really grok it, but it was pretty formative of my ideas of what an RPG could be. The lack of balance and extreme existential threats as part of ordinary encounters included.
Needless to say, I haven’t found a group for this system in a looong while, eheh.
Call of Cthulhu.
Bonus answer: Star Wars D6, our main game back in the day and a lot of great memories.
Oh I would like to try the star wars D6. I played quite a lot of the ffg star wars because at some point it was the favorite for most of the people in my play group, but I never found it very nice. I love star wars lore, but not this system.
FFG star wars is great. We did a few sessions with my current group and it was pretty fun. Easier online with the automatic counting of successes and failures
Yeah I had to make an android app for that because one person in the group was taking ages to proceed each rolls …
I would say that the game as a whole is fine but it’s carried by the franchise. The system is not for me, but no doubt a lot of people like it. I cannot even explain why I don’t like it specifically, it just didn’t work for me.
Lancer ! I did one short scenario (6 sessions IIRC) and the system and combat were a blast ! The story a little bit less, it was a homemade one for the GM. But apparently the published ones are quite good.
Mage: the Ascension. It’s the only system I’ve ever played where I really felt like I knew MAGIC, rather than just a handful of pre-scripted tricks.
Oh God, Palladium. That was… A way to do things.
I fucking love G.U.R.P.S. Is it ground breaking? No. Is it fun to smash 6 different flavors together, hash out what survives, and run a short adventure or a few one-shots? Hell yeah! It’s not often I run into anyone who has a fondness for the system. Hell, I get kinda excited if someones even heard of it, even if they didn’t have a great experience.
Also rather enjoyed Ironclaw. I see it written off as “That Furry TT”, but I had a good time with it. Would happily play more.
Scion (White Wolf). Maybe Eclipse Phase. Mutants and Masterminds.