I will not go into a long dialog, but 4E by far is my biggest disappointment in recent years. I’ve read read 4E and it just doesn’t make the grade so PathFinder gets my money hands down

Non-level and class based systems tends to result in a much more nebulous sort of story. Antagonists compete with you in varied realms. Sometimes they’re social, and will work to undermine your reputation. Sometimes they’re stealthy, and will undermine you through careful acquisition of intelligence. You rarely have a single, overpowering foe (the dark wizard in the tower, sending his goblin minions at you to provide tasty XP to level up on). In fact, your opposition may be someone that you could, in combat, crush with little or no effort. However, there are other forces that prevent that. These systems generally seem to push to richer, more complex characters and far less linear stories. And that is something that I really like about them.

I’m not saying you can’t do any story in any system. I’m just saying that if you spend three gaming sessions in D&D without ever rolling initiative, your players are likely to get irritable and complain about a “lack of plot.” However, if you do that in, say, World of Darkness, your players are likely to feel like they’re really doing something.

To be honest, and I don’t care what anyone says, or how many facts or opinions they have to back it up, no game system is any better than another in any way. It comes down to the gaming-group preference – and every group differs.

As a DM / GM who runs campaigns with several different groups, I can attest that Dungeons & Dragons is the best game system for one of them, while another group would be bored silly with the focus on combat and constant skill checks. And yet another group I run uses a “house rule” system that combines the combat system of Dungeons & Dragons (with unique rules enhancement/modifications) with a more free-form RP system that doesn’t require a constant roll of dice to “see if my character can do that”.

Some groups like to rule-crunch, others don’t want to think about it. Some like complex rules that provide balance and other groups would find that hindering. Some groups are more focused on getting treasure and leveling-up than they are developing in-depth character stories and twisting plots. It’s a dynamic, and thankfully we have the numerous different game systems with their vast difference that, as Game Masters, allow us to have fun with a verity of different groups.

Deciding what game system is “best” depends on a lot of factors: the maturity of the particular group of gamers, the diversity of the group, experience of the group as players, personal preferences of the players. Also, your experience as a Game Master, how comfortable you are, do you want/need a very static system, or something dynamic and flowing? All of these things have to be taken into consideration when determining what works best. And, then sometimes just a change of pace can be a good, and breathe new life into a game group.

This topic comes up so often on so many different mediums; I think perhaps it would be a good idea, and maybe a fun undertaking, to develop some sort of rating system with very specific presets for ranking. Something that could be applied universally to game systems that wasn’t subjective, and would help Game Masters determine the functionality of a game system at-a-glance. Not sure that on top of my employment, running multiple game groups, and developing my own custom game system, that I have the time to dedicate to it, but maybe several folks could come together to work on something like this – which would be much more useful and constructive than “My game system is better than yours,” or “That game system sucks”.

Anyway, back to the point: Nearly two decades of being a Game Master has taught me that it comes down to what works best with the particular circumstances. And, even that can change over time. Just my two-cents worth.

As far as “the Golden Rule” – Sometimes it’s imperative, sometimes it’s annoying. As a DM / GM, it’s important to keep the flow of the game session moving along, but if you sense your players are starting to loose interests or become overly annoyed at your “I rule all” concept, then just back off… It’s not the end of the world to bend the rules from time-to-time behind the screen just to let the players have a good time. – They don’t even have to know about it. ;)

– /JM

The Golden Rule, as Yax puts it, applies to most games IMHO. I don’t see any reason why it doesn’t apply. What the GM says, goes. I can’t remember a single game where we didn’t operate on that. As such, I don’t see why that should be the reason for D&D being your preference.

I prefer D&D because the mechanic makes sense to me, and I love fantasy settings. It’s just that simple. But, I’m not that complicated a guy ;)

31 years of playing D&D and it is still my favorite. While 4e changed enough [I don't feel that it is backwards compatible] that I had to start a new campaign. I have found it no different in the role-playing. My players’ even think that the monsters are too tough, I like to think it reminds me of 1e.

Other Favorites are Traveller 1e and the Morrow Project. They are utterly generic a can be used in many ways.

Gamma World while generic I also thought of as to juvenile and not gritty enough for the subject. Also juvenile are BESM, Paranoia, and Macho Women with Guns, but light hearted.

Other games or campaign settings/worlds: d20 Modern, Top Secret, Shadow Run, Cyberpunk, Twilight 2000, Aftermath, Darwin’s World, Battle Tech, StarTrek, StarWars, MERP/LotR, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara, Spelljammer, Eberron, Scarred Lands, Al-Qidim, Kara-Tur, Bushido, L5R, Birthright, Planescape, Vampire, Deadlands, Warhammer RPG, Arcanum [Atlantis], Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Gang Busters, Indiana Jones, Conan, Star Frontiers, Boothill, and both Marvel and DC superheroes all lacked this quality and I’ve would have to say they are the source of more arguments when you try to go against canon or screw-up a modern setting you’ve never been to.

I‘ve played WOW and Everquest and while I believe the new rules are more palpable to the MORPG players when it comes down to it there is no comparison.

With D&D the players can change the course of the world, nothing is routine, no dungeon the same, sitting with your fellow players and watching for the next turn of events that unfolds behind that screen. And always do you get the memories and stories of doing something that 16 million people have never done.