Pnx mentioned in the happy thread about putting together a gaming group with a friend, but not knowing what to run. I started putting together a list of unique games in my collection as potential inspiration and decided this deserved its own thread.
I'm just going to compile a list of interesting tabletop rpgs that don't get nearly as much attention as they deserve, mostly by virtue of being anything other than D&D or White Wolf.
The Burning Wheel -- Fascinating system. It's a little cumbersome, but all the rules are geared towards interesting storytelling (on a far broader scope than what cool combat stuff you can do), rather than crunchiness for its own sake. I think it's genius and desperately want to play it, but have never had the opportunity. The base system is low fantasy taken almost directly from Tolkien, but there are books for fitting the game into a feudal Japan setting, a space marine type thing, or the world of
Mouse Guard by David Petersen.
Amber is a great diceless system and a crazy awesome setting for roleplay, if you're familiar with the source material.
Obsidian: The Age of Judgement is kind of a Doom-like setting. Apocalypse came and earth got taken over by demons. The final remainders of humanity are holed up in a giant steel cube cyberpunk fortress city that is slowly being infiltrated by demonic cultism and such. Very grimdark.
Little Fears -- A really neat little game where you play children and stuff like the boogeyman is real. There's even a dimension of evil that is accessed through the closet. Your favorite toys and security blankets and stuff have real powers by virtue of your belief. Adults are incapable of recognizing all this stuff is going on. You know... it would be perfect for a Slenderman story.
Gumshoe System: A detective mystery game. There are multiple settings and books for it, including Trail of Cthulhu. The Book of Unrelenting Horror is one of the most amazing rpg sourcebooks I've ever read. Their writing style in general is very immersive and inspiring.
Underworld -- This is one I picked up many years ago. I think it was Gencon 2001. Written by a group of designers that split off from White Wolf and made their own company. I've never seen them after that year, and I'm guessing this book is probably a super obscure item now. In fact... holy shit,
this is the only reference to the book that comes up on a Google search of the company's name and book title. It's an interesting system, though. The only coin-flip system I've ever seen. It's based on subterranean New York, where the superstitions and urban legends of the massive population above literally seeps into the ground and coagulates into a mystical living world in the labyrinthine sewer and train tunnels beneath the city. Very open ended, imaginative, and fun character creation system. I once made a graffiti artist who was just a weird sentient megaphone/spray paint/propeller contraption.
Reign: Enchiridion is a neat thing. According to the author, it's designed to be an add-on to any game, providing rules for large-scale/long-term strategy and politics. On a quick skim, it looked mostly geared towards fantasy kingdom management and mainly compatible with the author's other games, but like it could be used for just about anything with a little extra work. Some good ideas.
Dread -- This is a game that's earned some notoriety. It's a horror game. The hook of it is that the rules system revolves around a game of Jenga. Whenever you perform a check for an action, you remove a block from the tower. When the tower falls, you fail... horribly. Supposedly, it's an absolutely amazing mechanic for slow tension building. I know little else about it... really need to give it a read.
Unhallowed -- This game takes place about 200 years after a zombie apocalypse happened in the Victorian era. It markets itself as Frankenpunk. It's kinda like steampunk... except there's less technology and more fucked up necromancy-type stuff.
Outbreak: Undead -- A zombie game that just game out last year. Big and beautiful source book. I've barely looked through it at all, so I don't know much about it... other than it's highly detailed and attempts a more serious tone than All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which always felt half-assed to me.
Qin: The Warring States -- A high quality game taking place in China's warring states period.
The Seventh Seal -- You play a Sentinel, which is basically a soldier of god. Six of the seven seals holding back apocalypse have been broken, and you have for some reason been chosen to wield divine power to prevent the seventh seal from being broken. Modern setting. I bought it several years ago, and don't remember it well... other than it was decently interesting.
Got any more interesting games? Write a little about them and add them to the list. Personal experience with any games already on the list would be awesome as well. I'll try to flesh this out some more later.