In Germany there's at least one other big P&P RPG called "Das Schwarze Auge" (sold in the US as "The dark Eye" iirc and not very successful). I think it's a good system and the lore is pretty nice (even though compared to my child-self I now realized a lot of it is heavily influenced by real world history/cultures).
Which makes me wonder...what are other native language systems that are popular in the country but might not be known outside? My working hypothesis would be that those exist in many countries because P&P RPGs are language driven after all and so native language systems are the most natural tool for storytelling.
Please do share if you're from a non-US country and have an interesting system (and share if it is the go to system over DnD or comparable in popularity).
In Poland there were Krzyształy Czasu (Crystals of Time) - a generic high fantasy system made by people from Magia i Miecz magazine (pioneering magazine about RPGS in Poland - it was the only such press for decades). There was also "Wiedźmin - Gra Wyobraźni" - an RPG based on Witcher franchise and targetting new players reoughly at the time that Witcher was first adapted as movie and TV series. It wasn't very good mechanically, but got some people in the hobby.
There was also Dzikie Pola (based on Polish 16-18th century - inspired by books of Henryk Sienkiewicz - Polish Dumas). If you've seen "Deluge" or "With Fire and Sword" movies you know the setting. Sabres, flintlocks, Polish nobility, Ottomans, Muscovites, Cossacs, and wide steppes of modern Ukraine :)
On sci-fi side there is Neuroshima - fallout-like setting with some quirks. It was popular a few years ago but I don't hear about it much anymore.
But the most popular was (and still is) fantasy Warhammer RPG. The first Polish edition was the first time an RPG system was marketed in Poland and it was a big deal, almost everybody to this day started playing RPG with first or second edition of that.
Apart from that the most popular is Call of Cthulhu I think? Or maybe Vampire:the Masquerade and related systems, but that's losing popularity recently I think.
D&D was never very popular, that slowly changes recently.
Very cool, I never realized that the boardgame Neuroshima Hex! (very recommendable, recently also "reskinned" as Monolith Arena) is actually based on an RPG :D
Poland is a great boardgame nation,
Ignacy Trzewiczek is one of my favorite developers :)
In my previous job we played Neuroshima RPG after work sometimes. It was crazy - the whole office participated - like 12 people including our boss and the secretary, and one of the programmers were a DM.
We never really got to the point where plot happens, because it took forever to fight stray dogs on the way with 12 players, but it was a lot of fun. The fighting mechanics was inspired by Cyberpunk 2020 - a lot of dice throwing for each attack :)
Age of Aquarius https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D1%80%D0%B0_%D0%92%D0%B... was a pretty popular Russian role-playing game back in the day. Setting is modern urban fantasy (with guns and spells), with spies and magic mixed up together. I used to play it a lot in high school in early 00s, and at my first job in the game industry I actually got to know one of the game's creators, Slava Makarov, who later went on to create World of Tanks. I didn't know the game got the second edition in 2011 until just now, though.
Ah, yes! There was also a Dutch translation of Das Schwarze Auge (called Het oog des meesters, i.e. The Eye of the Master) which got me hooked to roleplaying. There were even tv commercials for it at the time. (Talking about the mid eighties here.)
The Dutch version soon lagged behind the original, but fortunately we lived near the German border and bookstores in Germany were loaded with extension kits and prefabbed adventures. It was a great boost for my German reading skills! ;-)
My first RPG too. I have all the old books in my big RPG book case. My dad got it when I was 10, and I was hooked immediately, though the system at the time was really simple. DSA has been expanded quite a bit since then.
Incidentally, there's been a Kickstarter for a new Dutch translation that's about to deliver soon. I'm curious how recognisable it still is.
Sweden has produced quite a collection of P&P RPGs over the years, with Drakar & Demoner, Mutant and Kult probably being the three most popular. The last two I know got English translation of various versions, but I don't think they ever got popular outside of Sweden.
There is a fabulous (but sadly not well-known) RPG in the UK called "Clockwork & Chivalry" set during the English Civil War in an alternate 1640s.
This pits the clockwork machinery of Parliament's New Model Army against the magick of the Cavalier-Alchemists commanded by Prince Rupert (of the Rhine) fighting for Royal Absolutism.
Clockpunk Fantasy in a world of gunpowder, political machinations and fanatical righteousness.
It's still very popular in Germany with new adventures, boxes and also a lot of novels set in the universe being released.
As an aside: I also really like the old PC games "Das Schwarze Auge: Die Nordland-Trilogie" (Realms of Arkania in English iirc) but it's a very unique/strange adaptation. It's very close to the game system but has been criticized quite a bit for the gameplay content (I actually liked the storylines). When you selected the complex rule system it was very fun to just level the characters and try all the spells etc.
The round based combat was also very unique/interesting (imo)
Which makes me wonder...what are other native language systems that are popular in the country but might not be known outside? My working hypothesis would be that those exist in many countries because P&P RPGs are language driven after all and so native language systems are the most natural tool for storytelling.
Please do share if you're from a non-US country and have an interesting system (and share if it is the go to system over DnD or comparable in popularity).