Unexpected, but here it is.
What follows is a list of RPGs which, in my limited and human judgment, are frequently used as (or maybe just recommended as) rules toolkits: i.e., the mechanics are used or tweaked to run games in genres or settings other than those presented in the rulebook. For some games, like GURPS, that’s sort of a gimmie.
If you like a system, but you just use it for the setting(s) it was written for, italicize it. If you like a system and it’s one of your go-to tools for running games in random settings, bold it. If you like the game world but don’t care much about the system, leave it alone – you wanna identify the systems that you can practically teach from memory.
Copy to your own blog and repeat as desired. If there’s a game you’d bold that isn’t listed, add it. (I like Unknown Armies a ton, but it’s not one of my generic systems, so I wouldn’t add it.)
Amber Diceless Big Eyes, Small Mouth (and variants) Burning Wheel Chaosium Basic Role-Playing (Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest) Cinematic Unisystem (Buffy, Angel) CORPS D&D 3rd edition (3.5, any D20 variant) D&D 4th edition D6 (Star Wars WEG) Dogs in the Vineyard Everway Feng Shui FUDGE (or FATE) Fuzion GURPS Hero System HeroQuest Legend of the Five Rings (and variants) My Life With Master One-Roll Engine (Reign, Godlike) Over the Edge PDQ (Dead Inside, Zorceror of Zo) Risus Savage Worlds Sorceror Storyteller (any version; Vampire, Adventure, Exalted, etc.) The Fantasy Trip TORG Traveller (1st edition) The Window Wushu