Tag Archives: systems

Here’s a list of several RPGs and the genres fit into. Some games are harder to classify than others, so you may not agree with my placement; as always, YMMV. Also, a few games fit more than one genre. In this case, I’ve placed them in all genres I feel are appropriate.

Animals (You play animals)

• Bunnies and Burrows
• Critter Commandos
• Furry Pirates
• Justifiers
• Mouseguard
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Anime

• Big Eyes, Small Mouths
• In Nomine: Anime
• Teenagers From Outer Space

Cartoon

• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Elfquest
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Toon

Fantasy (also called “High Fantasy”, “Straight Fantasy”)

• 7th Sea
• AGE
• Amber Diceless RPG
• Arcanum
• Arduin
• Aria
• Ars Magica
• Burning Wheel
• Castles & Crusades
• Chivalry and Sorcery
• Conan
• Dangerous Journeys
• DragonQuest
• DragonRaid
• Dungeons and Dragons (all editions)
• Earth Dawn
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Empire of the Petal Throne
• Everway
• Exalted
• Fantasy Hero
• Furry Pirates
• HackMaster
• Harn
• Iron Claw
• Lace and Steel
• Lord of the Rings
• One Ring
• OSRIC
• Man, Myth, and Magic
• Middle Earth Role Play
• Palladium
• Pathfinder
• Pendragon
• RoleMaster
• RuneQuest
• Talislantia
• Top Secret
• Tunnels and Trolls
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
• Ysgarth

Historical (includes SF and fantasy firmly grounded in a historical periods)

• Adventure (1920’s)
• Ars Magica (Medieval; Fantasy)
• Bushido (Feudal Japan)
• Call of Cthulhu (1920’s; Horror)
• Castle Falkenstein (Victorian; Fantasy)
• Gangbusters (1920’s)
• Gaslight (Victorian)
• Indiana Jones (1920’s)
• Lace and Steel (Cavalier)
• Legend of the Five Rings (Feudal Japan)
• Mouseguard (Medieval)
• Pendragon (Medieval)
• Qin (China, Warring States period)
• Space 1889 (Victorian; SF)
• Vampire: Dark Ages
• various GURPS supplements, including Japan, Russia, China, etc.
• Victoriana (Victorian)
• Werewolf: Wild West

Horror

• All Flesh Must Be Eaten
• Call of Cthulhu (and it’s off-shoots such as Cthulhu by Gaslight, Cthulhupunk, etc.)
• Chill
• Deadlands
• GURPS Horror
• It Came From the Late, Late Show
• Kult
• Little Fears
• Necroscope
• Nephilim
• Nocture
• Ravenloft (AD&D and d20)
• Unknown Armies
• Whispering Vault
• World of Darkness
• Zombi

Humor

• Bullwinkleand Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Bureau 13
• Ghostbusters RPG
• HoL
• Macho Women with Guns
• Murphy’s World
• Pandemonium
• Paranoia
• SLUG
• Stuporpowers
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Toon

Modern

• Bureau 13
• Dream Park
• Dresdan Files
• Etherscope
• Feng Shui
• Gumshoe
• Immortal
• In Nomine
• James Bond 007
• Macho Women with Guns
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Nobilis
• Over the Edge
• Pandemonium
• Scion
• Stargate SG-1
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Twilight 2000
• World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith/Ghost, Changeling, Hunter, etc.)
• Unknown Armies
• X-Crawl

Near Future

• Aberrant
• Cybergenereation
• Cyberpunk
• Judge Dredd
• Shadowrun
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Trinity
• Underground

Post-Apocolyptic

• Aftermath!
• Darwin’s World
• Gamma World

Science Fiction

• 2300 AD
• Alternity
• Blue Planet
• Darwin’s World
• Dr. Who
• Fading Suns (D&D)
• Gamma World
• HoL
• Jovian Chronicles
• Justifiers
• Mekton
• Murphy’s World
• Paranoia
• Serenity
• Skyrealms of Jorune
• SpellJammer (D&D)
• Star Trek
• Star Wars
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Traveller
• Trinity
• Universe

Spies (Espionage)

• James Bond 007
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Top Secret

Steampunk/Victorian

• Castle Falkenstein
• Cthulhu by Gaslight
• Gaslight
• Space 1889

Superhero

• Aberrant
• Champions
• DC Heroes
• DC Universe Roleplaying Game
• Marvel Superheros
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Stuporpowers
• Villians and Vigilantes

Westerns

• Boot Hill
• Deadlands

Licensed Games (based on books, movies, or TV shows)

• Amber Diceless RPG (Amber series by Roger Zelazny)
• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Conan
• Dr. Who (Dr. Who TV series)
• Dresdan Files (Dresdan Files books and TV)
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Ghostbusters RPG
• Lord of the Rings
• Middle Earth Role Play
• One Ring (Lord of the Rings)
• Serenity (Firefly TV series and Serenity movie)
• Space Opera
• Star Frontiers
• Stargate SG-1
• Star Trek
• Star Wars (Star Wars franchise)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• TWERPS

Generic or multiple genres

• d20
• Amazing Engine
• Dream Park
• FATE
• FUDGE
• GURPS
• Hero System
• Rifts
• Savage Worlds
• SLUG
• TORG
• TWERPS

Of course, this is by no means and exhaustive list. I concentrated on games available in the US, mostly because I’m not familiar with any others. Even so, I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone’s favorite game; if so, leave me a comment and I’ll include it in a revised list.

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