How to Select an RPG (A Chart)

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Updated (3.1.2011): The chart has been updated again (added Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire, 7th Sea, Marvel Saga, as well as a few other changes.)  The chart has also been elevated to a page on the site instead of just this post: http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=1187

Updated (25.1.2011): I’ve revised the flow to Warhammer based on all the comments received.  I’ve also added Basic Role-playing, GURPS Transhuman Space, Chivalry and Sorcery, Warhammer 40K Roleplay and Talislanta.

Updated (24.1.2011): Several more games have been added including: Pendragon, FATE, Nobilis, Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, Feng Shui, Fringeworthy and a few others.  There are now over 90 games listed! There are still several more games I plan to add which have been mentioned in comments.

Updated (22.1.2011): Added a couple of Tunnels and Trolls options and an EarthDawn option. Also added D20 Past and D20 Future, Exalted, and Hackmaster Basic.

Updated (16.1.2011): Added a few westerns (Boot Hill, Aces and Eights, Deadlands), several Mecha games (BESM, Mechwarrior, Robotech, GURPS Mecha), moved the Low Fantasy games and added Hârnmaster, also added Castles and Crusades, some more FATE games (Spirit of the Century and Dresden Files), Bushido, Gangbusters, Hollow Earth Expedition, and a few others.

Updated (15.1.2011): Several games (Cyberpunk 2020, Fading Suns, Legend of the 5 Rings, a couple GURPS and Hero variants, Rolemaster)  have been added and a few other fixes have been made.

I threw this chart together just for fun.  Start in the green diamond which is roughly in the center.

Please excuse any slights that may be part of the chart.  Some may be my biases, but most are based on consensus opinions of various message boards. There are 44 games listed currently.

If you have suggestions of games to add, please suggest them in the comments! But please also include one or two things that differentiate the game you’re suggesting.  Also feel free to mention more/better ways to differentiate the games already on the chart.

There are lots of games that could be added, but there will have to be some cutoff to avoid overload.  For example, I may add some D&D retro-clones, but I probably won’t do more than the 5-7 most popular clones.

Also, while you’re here take a look at the square graphic links to the far right for a slew of other useful free RPG tools (a coat of arms design tool, random map generators for cities, villages, dungeons), inn menu/patron/floorplan generators, magic item shop generators, full featured RPG Map Software for hex/wilderness maps as well as dungeon/building maps, etc.) hosted here.  —->

By the way, hot-linking directly to the image is turned off so you need to link to the page.  (A while back a picture of my grandma was the #3 result for “grandma” on Google’s image search and that seemed weird so I turned off hot-linking to limit that.)

54 Comments on “How to Select an RPG (A Chart)”

  1. Hi,

    Thanks for putting Earthdawn on the chart, but I think there is a better way of describing the system. It’s a high fantasy, high magic, post-apocalyptic game. The post-apocalypse may be here the key.

    So maybe:
    Fantasy –> high fantasy –> high magic –> post-apocalyptic –> Earthdawn

    The Cthulhu-type myths and monsters could also be something that distinguishes Earthdawn from other fantasy RPGs.

    Anyway, I would be more than grateful, if you could include that somehow in the chart. Thanks!

  4. Just for the hell of it, add F.A.T.A.L.
    See how many people actually end up playing it because of this chart.