Paring the List

After some further thought, and some one-shot adventure concepts that sank like lead balloons, I have rethought the list of games I'm going to be running. It turns out that the list has been pared down to five:

• D&D: Of course, D&D is one of those standouts. It looks like I'll be giving 5e a bodyswerve, as the more I hear about the game, the less I like it. That means sticking with 3e for the foreseeable future, unless I can come up with a system that does essentially the same things, only better. I expect to use D&D almost exclusively for campaign play, although may run the occasional demonstrator one-shot, or introductory session.
• Star Wars Saga Edition: Of course, Star Wars is always popular, as is a good game for introducing new players. So that stays. As noted previously, I won't be buying in to the new FFG edition (three reasons: no PDFs, use of custom dice, and the fact that after six previous editions, I really can't support a new one). So, again, I'll stick with SWSE. I expect to use SWSE quite extensively for both campaign and one-shot play.
• Serenity: This will almost certainly be superseded by the Firefly RPG when that gets released. It's another game that never seems to lack players. I put that primarily down to the setting being just fleshed out enough to be compelling, and yet sufficiently open to give GMs real space to play in. I can only really foresee using Serenity for one-shot play, though Firefly may be different.
• Black Crusade: The latest idea I'm rolling around in my head is the possibility of an open campaign structure, where lots of GMs run adventures in the same system, and where players come and go as they will, keeping the same characters. Black Crusade is probably the best candidate for the system to use for that one. It's also a game that seems to have no problem getting players, despite my own love/hate relationship with it. So we'll see.
• Hunter: the Vigil (World of Darkness): Probably the single best game I've run in years (perhaps ever) was a WoD one-shot based on the "Ultraviolet" TV series. That being the case, I'm keen to play some more of the system, either as a one-shot or as a campaign. (For one-shot play, I'd be inclined to stick with the base WoD rules; for a campaign, I expect I'd prefer the greater depth of the HtV expansion.) However, unlike the other games on this list, Hunter doesn't seem to have quite the same built-in fanbase - it made for a really great one-shot, but I fear it might struggle for players.

And that's it. Five games, four for (potential) campaign play, and three for one-shot play. It's almost worth thinking about clearing out my RPG shelves - there's a huge amount of stuff there that will simply never be used again.