Game Changers

EricfromNJ

OK, what game or engine made you change the way you think about games and why exactly did it do that?
For me it was PbtA because I was very traditional with setting up the world and then the players would explore it. Occasionally I would have player help in setting up a region ("Oh, you are from the barbarian tribes. Tell me what that is like.") but generally once we started playing the collaboration like that stopped. With PbtA games the collaboration doesn't stop now at the table, with players filling things in all the time. I learned how to share more with the storytelling.

nafzib

EricfromNJ I think Savage Worlds and FATE were major changes for me. I haven't even played SW, but hearing the Stu-Crew talk about it on the podcast for years and learning about the "mooks" way of running basic enemies was a kind of "mind-blown" moment for me since I grew up on plain old D&D 3.x where everything has a full stat-block in a book somewhere. Then reading about the simple way to make different enemies in FATE Core expanded on that with the idea that they don't all have to be just one and done enemies with nothing special, but I could just pick what's important about them and stat that one part out (like mook henchman having a Shoot skill value, but no other defining traits; or the BBEG's lieutenants having an aspect and a few skills).

Prior to exposure to these ideas I basically just always imagined I'd only ever pick enemies out of a book and make them all the same for each individual encounter so I wouldn't have to flip between pages to find their stats/skills/abilities. I love the aspects in Fate; even in other systems you can still start with that method for enemies/random NPCs and just stat them out fully if you need to later on.

EricaOdd

Savage Worlds to help me re-invigorate myself as a GM. I'd gotten so into D&D3.x and then Pathfinder that finding a system like SW was a breath of fresh air. A game doesn't have to be complicated and mathy to be good.
Also PbtA for much the same reason as @EricfromNJ . I don't know if this is a regular thing across all PbtA games, but Monsterhearts in particular has a section about disavowing decision-making. i.e. Letting other players fill in the details when someone fails a roll or something. It's such a simple concept, and with good players it really can enhance things. It's something I might bring to other non-PbtA games I run.

BattleMatt

10 Candles definitely made me look differently at prep (since there barely is any), and at player contribution and GMing overall (since "yes-and" is basically built into the rules). Although it is kind of weak in its end game, it was such a rewarding GMing experience overall, and it changed my mind about sticking to rules transparency as much as possible (which had been my MO since way back).

Azhrei_Vep

Rhapsody of Blood made me want to stop mooching off of others and actually run a campaign, does that count?

Fredrix

PBTA - Though not really for the mechanics, which are fine but not particularly interesting. It was the four word philosophy of those games “play to find out”

Ignatious

Palladium really let me know what kind of system I didn’t enjoy. Played it growing up, but once story sophistication increased, the system became more of a hindrance.

BattleMatt

Yeah, my big wakeup call was playing the games from my childhood and going: "Oh my god, these are all horrible games! Why did we do this? We sucked!"

EricfromNJ

BattleMatt I hear you. My teenage years were one gigantic dungeon crawl it seems.

OFTHEHILLPEOPLE

The Dungeon World GM Fronts changed how I run games completely. Offloading game decisions to the players has done amazing things for my games.

JoeGun

Savage Worlds did it for me. It was the first system I played that didn't have Hit Points. The idea that no matter how much more skilled you got, getting hurt was getting hurt. Acing dice, Extras vs wild cards, and the fact that you could quikly just say, you get jumped by x number of people. They are all extras, they have d6 in everything. It just made running a game that takes a left turn soo much easier.

It really just clicked for me and really pushed me to be a more player driven GM, not afraid to drift from the script, as well as just telling more cinematic stories.

hoobuk

PbtA has become my go-to thing, but it was not the story-game that changed me. That was Primetime Adventures. I had a friend run a game that was actually a mix of Primetime Adventures and Dogs in the Vineyard (I couldn't recreate this homebrew if I tried!). But I ended up reading both and Primetime Adventures just opened up my brain to a whole new way of thinking about gaming. It just made me realize how those long-held beliefs about crunchy rules being required for authenticity were not law. They were just a different way to game.

Primetime Adventures was so simple and elegant and fun, I just couldn't help but grok it. That's what opened my mind to be ready for all the other interesting systems that were to follow.

Vyrrk

3 things changed my DMing forever...
1) DnD 5e: Advantage/Disadvantage. It was so elegent and easy and cool. It is now basically in all games I run in some form.
2) Savage Worlds: Bennies. The idea of giving players power over the game for doing awesome things... I loved it. Again, all games I play have bennies of some sort.
3) HappyJacks Podcast: Don't come up with solutions to problems, let the players do that and roll with it. Not only did my games get better after that, but I enjoyed DMing so much more because I was constantly surprised.

Honorable mention to PBTA for "Succeeding with a cost".

Kimi

For me, it was Wild Talents. @fray introduced me to it when we co-GMed a crazy convention game years ago. It was the first system that I felt had the freedom to really improv as a GM. If the players went down a different path it was no big deal for me to make up some bad guys on the spot since stats are so easy. I also fell in love with the chaos and group dynamics of the combat system. To me, it still feels like one of the most realistic fight simulators because of how the dice rolls create interaction between the PCs... for better or worse!

I think most of all, it was one of the first systems that I played that I could EASILY skin to be whatever I wanted. D&D and even Savage Worlds already seemed pre-flavored (I didn't know SW as well then as I do now!) but for whatever reason, when I learned WT it was the same feeling as when I see a pile of beautiful fabric. I might not know what it's going to become, but there is SO MUCH POTENTIAL!

It was a game changer to figure out I could learn the rules for one game and play ANYTHING with it.

Kairaku

For me it wasn't any one system it was listening to Happy Jacks play a variety of systems and the exposure to a range of new concepts.
Most of all it was listening to Kimi & Tappy take such joy in turning their characters' failures into epic disasters.

fray

I'm with @Kimi here. Wild Talents became my favorite super hero system. On top of what Kimi mentioned above, the part I like the most is the One Roll Engine for combat, initiative, turn order, damage, and to hit. It's simple, once you understand it, and yes, it's confusing sometimes but once you get it. You get it.
Plus I like rolling d10's.

fray

Prior to Wild Talents there were two other systems that changed my gaming world view. Castle Faulkenstein, for using playing cards to accomplish actions and AMBER, for being a diceless RPG.

whodo

This is a bit of a difficult one for me to answer, when I first started I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a wide variety of games from the get-go, so I never felt entrenched in a single way of thinking or playing.

As a GM the original Demon Hunters had a big impact, outside of the core book there was very little published support so I was thrown into having to come up with everything myself. It helped that the setting supported pretty much anything, from the supernatural down to the outright weird and wibbly slapstick. Having that freedom really helped my improvisation skills, I could just throw elements in as they popped into my head without worrying that they would be in conflict with other parts of the setting.

Greatwyrm

FATE's aspects were a big thing for me. I try to look for a way to graft them onto just about any other game I run.

The other big one lately was called Other Worlds. It's probably more of a story game, but we really enjoyed it. There were a number of things I liked in there, but the rules about when you roll dice were something I never really thought about before.
-- Is there an interesting consequence for failure? If not, don't roll.
-- Is there something worth gaining in success? If not, don't roll.