I played a bit of some earlier version of D&D before (but not 1st I guess), which was a lot of fun as the GM was brilliant in the way he brought NPCs to life. That harlot table, well, a thing like that marks a proper RPG system! XD

Tentacle bump, seriously. Listened to Cthulhu for a while, now I have Tomb of Empires running. Vast environments underground to explore, post-apocalyptic cityscapes & much more instantly pop up in my head. Their stuff is gold, this IS going to get used in upcoming sessions! Cheers, iippo.

Webbed Hand Records I have more exploring to do on, this ambient piece sat in the room with us during play before:
spoonPhase - Nightmare

I looked at Dogs in the Vineyard, thanks for mentioning it! The conflict resolution is unique, I wonder if the bidding mechanic adds to the atmosphere or will detract from it when playing? Sure looks like a good read indeed, dig the alternative west background.

"Atrium Carceri" and "Sabled Sun" are the original stuff by the owner of Cryo Chamber, Simon Heath. But i think he has plenty other projects too. Anyhow, i do recommend try out especially the Atrium Carceri stuff which are preety damn haunting.

"Horror soundscapes and soundtracks for movies that are yet to be" ;)

Sabled Sun is then more scifi. Thats how i found the page. Few albums were part of some Vodo bundle i think.

Oh boy, now you asked The Question that must not be asked. :)

Its the art from the cd album of my all time favorite band "CMX". Album "Talvikuningas" -> translates as "Winter king"...its album long scifi epic (story), with some very deep, poetic lyrics and lotsa different sorts of music. Each song being fragment of story experienced/told/written/foretold by someone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70_Tikoa36k&list=PL654D2AB8BC631F47
http://www.cmx.fi/levyt/index.php?album=talvikuningas&type=album

Its naturally in finnish, but official english lyrics can be found here: http://www.cmx.fi/en/reader.php?file=talvikuningas_english

The whole picture and official music video with the same guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdEX_q31_-g

The song is "Punainen komentaja" (Red commander) - but the video itself touches most of the songs in the album.

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CMX has been doing music since -85, and done pretty much everything from the early punk to heavy, obscure art, and everything else. Like scifi epic :)

Just when you think concept albums don't get produced anymore. I was looking at your avatar and initially thinking, is this from a game I should be aware of? :)

So have you decided what you're going to get? :D

:) I think it will take us a while longer to decide, mostly due to life (my buddy has a demanding change in job responsibilities right now on top).

Eclipse Phase is a hot contender for me, drivethru has a couple of the books incl. the quick start rules in print form, so that's likely one thing. That Coroporation: Bloodstorm card game I mentioned could be another, as Cyberpunk/card play always sounds swell. But still digesting what you guys recommended in here, and my friend needs to chime in too when he has some time on his hands. Enjoying the process of researching, also because I plan to find material that's not too complex rules-wise and will give us lots of room to easily come up with our own scenario ideas. Material that ideally will see constant use.

If there are still suggestions, please keep them coming, if you are not sick of this thread already :)
For instance, has anyone tried a Wushu/Chinese martial arts system (Feng Shui was one already listed above)?

the only Wushu thing I can think of other than Feng Shui is Jadeclaw. I haven't played it but it is an offshoot of Iron claw so it's a furry game where the characters are Anthropomorphic animals. I really liked Ironclaw myself so Jadeclaw's probably good.

I'm also going to Recommend the current game I'm in, Mekton Zeta, you can still get it at DrivethruRPG and it looks like there's going to be a new version, Mekton Zero coming soon. It's by the guys that did Cyberpunk 2020 and has a similar rule set. It's mostly for an anime mecha theme but it's quite fun. There's a great Mech creation system and has an interesting optional lifepath where you roll on tables that can give a hint on your character's history, friends, lovers and enemies.

Well Weapons of the Gods comes to mind.
The HERO system also has a Martial Arts book. The WoD has Armory Reloaded which contains rules for martial arts.
Legend of the Five Rings takes place in a fantasy Japanese setting with some martial arts in it. Although I don't think the rules are anything particularly creative.
Another possibility might be Qin: The Warring States which actually takes place in (a fantasy version I think) ancient China.

Cyberpunk 2020 (obviously :) )

Nephilim - Nephilim loosely based on the creatures from the bible(the game has one of the most complex systems around)

In Nomine Satatnis/Magna Veritas - About angels and demons(the english version is In Nomine, if you know french you can find the original french version online for free)

If you pick Durance, you will at least have an unique system that probably not many know yet but is of high quality, in times of "stagnancy" like what you describe, it is good to get a new system as you have enough time to read up on it and get to know it

@chevkoch have you looked at Covert Ops yet? It's as crunchy/rules-lite as you want it to be. If you go with the original rules, all you need are 4d10s to start playing. What I really like about this system is that you can do almost any modern setting, and even sci-fi wouldn't be out of the question with some houseruling.

Cheers all for throwing in your ideas, appreciate it much!

Furries? That's unique, looking at Jadeclaw, the illustrations remind me of old fable stories, which I dig. Due to its very particular style I can't quite see getting the other guys interested in this though. Cool nevertheless.

I have watched the Mekton Zero kickstarter preview, and read that it will have streamlined rules. Building mechs sounds fun, I figure with some tinkering this might work alright too if you don't wanna do Anime-style mechs. Making a mental note of Zero.

Weapons of the Gods, read a great (and amusing) review on rpg.net. Sounds like a solid system. The world reminds me of the excellent Heaven Sword & Dragon Sabre comics.

The Hero System I looked at, but shied away as it's described as needing a large number of dice at times and a lot of mathematical yardwork.

L5R, alas indeed the rules: dice pools, one veteran of the game stated, that the system is unituitive, with a mechanical learning curve for beginners and 4-5 (!) sessions needed to fully grasp it. Setting: neat, but I get a headache already thinking about how much work this would entail getting into.

Qin, I like the idea of the 2d10 Yin/Yang dice and the simple-enough ruleset. Love the Eastern flavor! Will remember this.

Cyberpunk, I recall watching some group on YouTube playing this, which looked super-fun. Seems to feature straightforward rules, is such a classic, I've loved browsing through the line's Chromebooks online before and there is a print version on drivethru. Thanks for pointing out the obvious ;)

Nephilim, the setting reminds me of the movie Constantine (love it). Uses BRP, which I know, a plus. This would just need the right group of people to play...

In Nomine, even more Constantine, neat ;)

The only issue often is for me to find a focus and not spread my energy too wide with all that diverse cool material available. Durance sounds good :)

I did originally look at Covert Ops, right when you mentioned it. Had a closer look now due to your strong recommendation. My fear was that it's too tight a corset of a theme to only really make possible espionage & paramilitary scenarios, but you sell it as a system that can do other modern genres as well.

Hm, read parts of a couple of reviews now (e.g. this), people like it. You talked about "bennies" before, the "bones" in Covert Ops? I'm not a fan of tokens to modify your dice rolls, but I assume that feature can be easily left out without breaking the game. Will keep this in mind (perhaps this is our solution for a generic, lite system?), drivethru has a nice print set edition on top. Thanks for your thoughts!