The primary reason I steer clear of [i]Pathfinder[/i] is that so much of it is piddling content and trap options. Third Edition [i]Dungeons and Dragons[/i] had no shortage of this either but [i]Pathfinder[/i] took it to a new level, particularly with all the endless once per day abilities, single modifiers to highly specific circumstances, and then of course the fact that in many ways monsters were made stronger against martial classes than those magical. As a result, I most often just permit players to convert [i]Pathfinder[/i] content back into the original edition it was born from as there are some creative mechanics, concepts, classes, and themes, but overall nothing that really moves me much.

Comparatively, Fifth Edition for [i]Dungeons and Dragons[/i] I find vastly superior in most capacities except the one which I care about most, options. The sole flaw is that Fifth Edition is so narrow in its choices with so few supplements that I cannot begin to really enjoy it. It is trying to make mechanically distinct, novel, unique characters when there are so few classes, so few archetypes, so few spells. This has improved with time but as a Dungeon Master and player who only ever is permitted to use officially published material? It feels relatively empty still and that is my issue with it. Balance and play wise it is leagues better than prior editions, likely the best ever written through and through. "Homebrew" content, however, will likely never see any existence for myself or others. It is too unreliable and often poorly written by people who do not have a strong grasp on the system and I am one of those who spent no shortage of time mastering Third Edition and its mechanics; I "min-max", as people call it, to make my roleplay and character concepts viable.

As for other games outside the two listed, the old [i]World of Darkness[/i] setting put out by White Wolf Publishing is perhaps the only one I have ever cared about at all. [i]Werewolf: The Apocalypse[/i] and [i]Vampire: The Masquerade [/i] are more or less what comes to mind when one talks about modern horror and the supernatural in roleplaying for myself, particularly since I have a love-hate relationship with the mechanics and core concepts of the material versus its themes and narratives. It drives me mad, for example, that it becomes statistically more likely for a severe failure the better a character is at a skill due to how critical failures work, yet at the same time the mythos is dark, savage, and extremely morally ambiguous.