Instead of traditional fantasy worlds like Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Greyhawk, the Dark Sun setting takes place in the world of Athas. It is a desert like world that is more of a post-apocalyptic setting than a fantasy setting. The world is very harsh and brutal compared to traditional fantasy games.

Magic is much less common in the world of Athas. The world has negatively altered by the destructive forces of magic. Due to this, magic is much less common among the regular population. The replacement for magic in society is psionics. Psionics are more common and accepted among the populace of Athas.

There are many unique races in Dark Sun that are playable character races. Muls are half dwarf and half human hybrids. Thri-Kreen are mantis like creatures with multiple limbs. Half-Giants are considered a playable character race as well. In addition, there are also the ‘standard’ races such as Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, and Halfling.

The mix of classes in Dark Sun is recognizable to other fantasy games, but significantly altered. For example, there isn’t any equivalent to Paladins, Monks, or Sorcerers. Spell casters are typically divided up between Preservers or Defilers. And, Priests derive their power from non-traditional sources, as opposed to deities or gods.

If you are looking to learn about Dark Sun lore, there are three book series that are great reads. The Prism Pentad is a five book series by Troy Denning. The Tribe of One is a three book series by Simon Hawke. And the Chronicles of Athas is a five book series by multiple authors. Each series will give you more information about the world of Athas.

Many of the Dark Sun resources available on the internet are free for fans to use. There is the Unofficial Dark Sun Wiki, a Dark Sun interactive Atlas for the World of Athas, the Official Dark Sun Discussion Forum at Wizards of the Coast, and many other product releases that are available if you know where to look.

Wizards of the Coast made a great selection by choosing Dark Sun as their next campaign setting. They have pleased many of the fans with this decision and the choice should prove to be a great success for the company. The world is very different from other settings currently offered. Look for the Dark Sun Campaign Guide in 2010.

• Only one game per series can be on the list
• The game must be available on the PC
• The game cannot be an MMORPG
• The game must be considered an RPG

10 – Might & Magic 6: The Mandate of Heaven – This game is considered to be one of the best of the long-running Might & Magic series. The game came out in 1998 and was praised for its interactive and detailed game world, user-friendly premise, non-linear game play, and bug-free initial release.

9 – Planescape: Torment – Although not a significant commercial success, the game won several awards for Game of the Year and RPG of the Year at the time of release. The game scored high marks with many reviewers for both its character implementation and technical aspects.

8 – Baldur’s Gate – Another game that is credited with helping the CRPG revival during its release. The game was a financial success and sold over 2 million copies. It received positive reviews from virtually every major gaming publication at the time of its release.

7 – Neverwinter Nights – The game was based off of the first graphical MMORPG that ran on AOL from 1991 to 1997. Although it wasn’t technically an MMORPG, it was based off of the same concept only it allowed the end user to host the server. NWN won awards at E3 three years in a row.

6 – Diablo – One of the most successful titles from a very successful company (Blizzard), Diablo has sold over 2.5 million copies since its release in 1997. The game is considered to be the inventor of the sub-genre called point-and-click RPGs. Many followed after Diablo but few reached the same level of success.

5 – Fable – A huge commercial success, Fable sold over 375,000 copies in North America during its first week. By the end of 2006 it sold more than two million copies. The game was well-received by critics and scored very high with game reviewers.

4 – Final Fantasy VII – FFVII has been credited with allowing console role-playing games to find a place in markets outside of Japan. This game is considered the most popular in one of the most popular game series ever. Although some consider it overrated, the game was both a critical and commercial success.

3 – Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – Winner of multiple Game of the Year awards in 2002, Morrowind was well-received and earned high scores from reviewers. It was applauded for its large and richly detailed game environment, which included real-time weather effects and a day/night cycle.

2 – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – One of the highest scoring RPGs ever, Star Wars: KotOR won numerous awards including Game of the Year, best console RPG, and best computer RPG. The game is considered to have of the best video game plot twists of all time.

1 – Fallout 3 – An action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 3 sold over 610,000 units during its initial month of release. It has won awards for Game of the Year, Best PC Game, Best Xbox 360 Game, Best RPG, and many more awards.

1. Vampire – This game, as well as other World of Darkness games, should probably be ranked higher on the overall list, but never had a ton of experience with these games. It still is the number one LARP’ing game in the world though, since there are people out they LARP’ing the game that don’t even know it (Goths, or Vampire LARP’ers? You decide).  This game made number nine on our own personal list, but I’ve seen it miss the top ten on many others.

2. Mage – A pretty inventive, free-flowing magic system. I remember reading this book at a bowling alley for the first time and thinking, “Dang, you could do anything with these characters?!” If you could think it, you could cast it. Provided that your character had the ability to do it, that is.

3. Werewolf – Probably one of the toughest and baddest creatures in White Wolf’s World of Darkness setting. Playing a Werewolf was badass because you could go from normal people mode to crazy killer mode in the blink of an eye.

4. Paranoia – One of the only games where the pre-made adventures were often better than player created adventures. This game had the unique idea to give characters clones of themselves so death meant even less than it normally does in a roleplaying game (which isn’t much).

5. Spycraft – When Spycraft came out with version 2.0, it was such a huge leap over the previous version. It has become one of the best modern pen and paper roleplaying games of all time. It is also one of the best skill-based roleplaying games ever created.

6. Gamma World – This game reminds you how fun random character generation can truly be. Set in a post-apocalyptic setting, it pretty much allows you to run a Mad Max, anything goes type of setting for your characters. The game has been around forever and has like six or seven different editions of the game.  This is the second game that made both this list and our ten top RPG games list ever.  Although we put it on our top ten list, it often isn’t on many others.

7. Cyberpunk 2020 – A very lethal, near future game. The game is cool because it is pure cyberpunk. No trolls, orks, or magic, just pure guns and chrome. Yet another game which system completely falters in the face of the world setting, but a great game.

8. Warhammer FRPG – Warhammer is better known for their MMORPG and their tabletop wargaming. However, they have a pretty good pen and paper roleplaying game as well. Their character class system is one of the most unique systems in roleplaying games.

9. Earthdawn – Now has a Third Edition being produced by RedBrick Limited. The game is a great alternate fantasy setting with a lot of background and support. It also has a very unique and streamlined dice system and combat system.

10. Hackmaster – Best critical hit tables ever. I remember running this for our gaming group and just hoping that every time someone made an attack roll, it was a critical hit. You never knew what part of your body was getting mauled or completely chopped off.

As I stated in the article, the majority of these games are very good and you won’t see on other people’s top ten lists.  Vampire and Gamma World are the two exceptions.  Every once in a while those two will creep onto top ten RPG games lists, but for the most part they often do not.  All ten of these games are great games though and deserve their kudos.

Skills Matter - Whenever I played D&D, Star Wars, or any other d20 game, skills always seemed like an afterthought. In D&D, the combat powers I received from leveling were always more important. In Star Wars, feats and powers always seemed to be more important.

In Spycraft, your skills are the lifeblood of your character. The skills are extremely well thought out and designed. There are really no ‘must have’ skills. There is a more level playing field with the skills and each one seems to have good overall value. It isn’t like every other d20 game where everyone in the group has to get Perception and Stealth because everything else is worthless.

The skills do matter more in the game because the game makes it that way. The game makes skills more of a focus. It will take players and gamemasters time to figure out how to use these skills properly. But we discovered several sessions into the campaign that the skills start to come together better and better.

Unique Gear System – The gear system is Spycraft is one of the most unique gear systems of any roleplaying game. The system is very versatile and allows players to choose both specific items for their character, as well as design specific and unique items for their characters.

In your average game, players are going to choose a primary weapon and a set of armor. Those are often your most important pieces of gear. After that you will get your adventuring gear which comprises all of your non-combat stuff. That is what most games do, but not what Spycraft does

During the first session of play, the player character were attempting to get into a sold out championship hockey game. They had many options on how to try and get in, but one player used one of his gear gadgets and was able to acquire tickets to get the group into the game. He spent his gear pick, got the tickets, and they were in.

There was another piece of gear that one of the characters had. He used gear picks to get a cane that was capable of injecting tranquilizing toxin into a target. This gear wasn’t something that was listed in the book. It was something that the player was able to design for his character using gear picks.

You Can Have Fun Without Combat – Spycraft is completely capable of being a game that is fun without combat. It definitely has the rules and crunch to do a lot of combat, but it also has rules for other types of games. If you’re creative, you can run session after session, never get into combat, and still have a ton of fun.

During one part of the first session, two of the player characters encountered two armed NPCs. They were able to use their skills to convince some people working in the law enforcement arena that the other NPCs were there to cause problems. The security and law enforcement personnel took care of the two armed NPCs, and the player characters continued on their way.

Overall – I am fairly impressed with our first taste of Spycraft v2.0. I was a little concerned that there would be too many rules for me to deal with, but the game is very well thought out and put together. The more I read the book, the more I realize they really designed the system to fit a modern spy setting. I believe it does this exceptionally well, and I’m looking forward into delving deeper into the game.

1 – Dungeons and Dragons – If you only know of one game, or have only played one pen and paper RPG; Dungeons & Dragons is probably it. It is the grandfather of all pen and paper roleplaying games. And it remains the top dog to this day.

2 – Shadowrun – Maybe they’ll be able to balance this game a little better in 5th edition. Other than that, the world has spawned a pen and paper RPG, a first person shooter, multiple other video games, and there are even talks of a movie. Great setting, great game.

3 – Star Wars (D6) – I think there is only way to play Star Wars and that is using the D6 system. It is simple, short, sweet, and to the point. The system gets the job done and lets you enjoy the wonderful universe that George Lucas has created for us.

4 – Call of Cthulhu – The ultimate game in providing player death. This game is the number one horror genre game ever created for pen and paper roleplaying games. The only time I’ve ever been truly scared was during a session of Call of Cthulhu.

5 – Delta Green – One of the most underrated roleplaying games ever, in my opinion. Anyone who hasn’t got this game owes it to themselves to pick it up. It’s a great conspiracy theory game with a bit of an X-Files feel towards it.

6 – Deadlands – This old weird western game was designed on the precursor to the Savage Worlds system. Eventually, it became the flagship product for that system. If nothing else, the game has a unique setting and is helping popularize a great rules-lite system.

7 – Mechwarrior (Battletech) – I rank this game so high because it was the first roleplaying game that I ever played. I loved the miniature combat in this game. The actual roleplaying rules weren’t that great, but for a newbie they worked just fine.

8 – Palladium FRPG – A great storyline and background shrouded in a horrible system. Maybe sometime before I die Palladium will upgrade and completely overhaul their rules system… but I doubt it. Regardless, the game is great even with all the rules problems.

9 – Marvel Superheroes – This game will remind you why you like random character generation. It’s so fun to randomly create superheroes and see what you come out with. Plus, you can play some of your favorite Marvel superheroes as well.

10 – Rifts – Holy overpowered classes and items. Someone needs to work on rebalancing this game, unless that is what makes it so popular. It pretty much is a kitchen-sink game that has everything in it.

Honorable mentions: Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, Paranoia, Spycraft, Gamma World, Cyberpunk 2020, Warhammer FRPG, Earthdawn, and Hackmaster.

I only put games on this list that I have played. There are some other great games that I have heard of, but if I haven’t had a chance to play them I can’t vouch for them. This is my own personal list of the top RPG games of all time in the pen and paper genre.