I watched High Fidelity the other night with my wife. It's a movie in which the main character, played by John Cusak, is a music geek in love with vinyl. The movie's peppered with his top five lists (both of music and break-ups) and it got me thinking about my own top five lists with regards to gaming. And so here's the first of them: my top five, all-time unfilled dream RPG campaigns.

1. Spycraft d20


The d20 game of spies and espionage had me hooked from the first page. It shares the same base mechanic as the game that inspired d20 -- Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition -- but it's been updated for the modern world. It's over-the-top, James Bond-inspired action is supported by first-rate rules, rules that illustrate the d20 concept at its best.

My dream spycraft campaign would involve a private organization waging a secret war against all manner of threats. It would combine the cyclopean horror of Delta Green, arch-villains, and more traditional militant threats. Some of it would be drawn from the source book Shadowforce Archer, but it would be mostly of my own design.

2. Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game


Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber are some of my favorite fantasy novels of all time, and the game created to support it is almost as inspired. As its name implies, there are no dice rolls in this game -- everything basically comes down to a