I thank FapFapFap for pimping my works out
I started with freeform roleplaying as I imagine many did, though I got into THAT from MUDs and Wargaming (and Hero Quest at 6-7ish, which is basically a simple RPG/board game crossover, like D&D4E
OH SNAP)
From there it was Palladium (TM) RIFTS (R)*. This system started as "some dude's houserules for AD&D2E" (like many games did back then), but he refused to refine it, so it has just grown into a bigger and bigger mess. But it's fun despite that (because of that), because you can begin play as a lava-magic wielding martial artist mutant wolverine from the moon who pilots robot armour. From the moon.
I dabbled in a few D&D games, always taking the "You make the character, just tell me what to roll" approach, before finally sitting down and really learning the rules, at University age (when 3.5 was just on the horizon). We played a campaign where one player taught the rest of us the rules, and since then I basically achieved mastery and have been modding and adding to it - it's my go-to system of choice, and any time I want to create my own "Like D&D but _____" game, 3.X is the one I take as the baseline. (Having made entire "replace all the classes and feats and equipment - but the rules work the same and you fight the same monsters!" mods for both Disgaea and Warhammer 40k. Don't mix the two**. Especially don't mix the two with the spanking supplement.)
But I have recently learned the rules for AD&D2E and enjoy it with the right group, I learned the rules for 5Ed/NEXT, but found it kind of disappointing, I learned the rules for Pathfinder but found it to be disappointing, and I
tried to enjoy 4E, I really did, but in the end I just regret that trees died in order to produce those books.
I had a lot of bad experiences with World of Darkness (old). Became quite aggressive towards it, and to the kind of person who likes it. Then I met a better crowd and actually had
fun with it - in that case with New WoD. The trick was to accept all the flaws in the system and setting (Old and New, they both have a lot of problems in both aspects) and just play to the strengths of the game. Play characters that aren't strongly tied in to "the supernatural world", but who are people in their own right and have interesting normal lives (but are also a vampire or mage or whatever). Exalted... I love it in theory, but in play a lot of problems crop up. Still, there have been fun games of it.
Briefly played Dark Heresy and hated it for a number of reasons. Played a few sessions of Shadowrun and had a blast. Played a campaign of SLA Industries and that was amazing.
Other than that it's been small stuff - Mutants and Masterminds, BESM (back before the newer edition fixed some of the big problems), Ars Magica. I've played little bits of a lot of games, but only played a lot of a few well-known ones.
Oh and I also wrote my own "not related to D&D" game system+setting, of course,
Bakuhatsu Gakuen.
*The creators are really oldschool about suing anyone for any reason and being rabid about "protecting their trademarks". It's insane - they even pursue cases they can't possibly win. So it's best to make fun of them by putting the (TM) (R) after all their stuff. If they complain, then hey, it means they frequent AOTK so we can expect the next book to be
Coalition Caning (TM).
**DO mix the two.
