My Top Games of All Time

Firstly, I should note that these are the games that I, personally, have had the most fun playing. I don't claim this as a definitive list of the best games ever! Still, with that caveat in place, here are my top five RPGs of all time:

1. D&D (in its various forms): Of course this had to be number 1. Ranging from the heady days of the BECMI Red Box back in high school, through the dark times of the cancellation in the late 90s, the resurgence with 3e, the dark times of 4e, and then the resurgence with 5e, this is the game I've always come back to. It's the game I've logged the most hours of play with, and the game that has given me most of my best campaigns. So, #1 it is.
   
2. Vampire (in its various forms): The game I played in university, and for years afterward, Vampire caused a fundamental shift in my thinking on how an RPG should be played, how a campaign should be structured, and so forth. Great stuff - even if I find I have no real desire ever to play it again.
   
3. Star Wars: Another obvious big-hitter, for me Star Wars has two flavours of 'good' RPGs - the original d6 incarnation (mostly as expressed in the very first edition), and then in the final d20 "Saga Edition" version. These are very different, and do different things very well, but they're both great fun to play.
   
4. Firefly/Serenity: The newest game on the list, this one gave rise to several wonderful "Christmas Games" and also the "Lost Episodes" open tabletop campaign. This game has the particular distinction that the rules fit the setting almost perfectly - playing this game feels like running an episode of the show. It's just good fun.
   
5. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: I've run two good campaigns with this game - the "Path of the Damned" trilogy of published adventures, plus a homebrew "Company of the Black Hand" campaign. The latter went particularly well - it seems that for playing a game that feels like the "Black Company" series of novels WFRP cannot be beat.

And that's it; the top five. An honourable mention should go to "d20 Modern", and perhaps also to "Exalted".

I don't have, and don't intend to compose, a list of games I don't enjoy. I've only had a small number of bad experiences, each of which can be mostly explained by other factors than the choice of game - my policy still remains that if someone wants to run a game for me, I'm willing to play just about anything.