That breakdown...

Message:

Didn't take too long to find. T'was from August and "Search on Page" for "IronMike" speeds things up.

Talk/write too much? The gang can handle that - they've put up with me for 30 years!

Pasted breakdown follows:

Crimson Cutlass is the original and, IMHO still the gold standard. If you like pirates, you should absolutely pick it up. Cutlass is unique in that all actions are generated by the deck. If you relax into it and let go of the urge to say "but I wanna do THIS!" it's a great time. Four Traits, which you have or don't, lists of Skills. "Swaggering" techniques - combat skills you gain and lose in play. "Ignobles" for character advancement - nine abstract categories you have to check off to advance. Ignobles are awesome. Like "Personal Growth." "Growth" makes Cutlass about the only game where you can level up by deciding to swear off alcohol forever - or decide you're alcoholic. Cutlass also has a master class in world building.

Original Era 10, and Barony/Rogue Swords of the Empire (and their varied supplements) use a similar mission generation system as Cutlass. The character rules are a little more traditional in that combat is broken up into phases and players choose their own actions from their skill lists. "Where Fools Dare to Tread" is a horror game using this base rule set with a few innovations for genre. Original "Era Ten" ("Battle Born") has an expanded Kindle edition with the rules for "Ground Zero," which is tactical level squad combat rather than single character. Good if you need 30 players to take a planet.

Good Guys Finish Last (on DTRPG in a new hardcopy edition published by Post World games, or as scans of the Better Games original) is the "black sheep" of Better Games. It's a Superhero game without a list of powers. You have several TRAITS (out of 13) and powers are built by intersections of Traits. These intersections have suggested combat effects, but the details are up to the player. Simple example - combination of "Speed" and "Speed" lets you get anywhere on the battlefield. That's the in-game effect. How Speed works is up to you. Did you run? Jump? Fly? Teleport? Your choice. Your choice of how your speed works might affect other actions. If your Speed is teleporting, you can use it to get through a locked door. Flying? No help on the door, but that 3rd floor window might be open. Run fast? No luck. Have Brawn? Break it down instead.

"Chronicles of the Outlands" and 2020's "Era Ten" are much more Cutlass oriented. Same deck-based everything, but expanding Cutlass's "Swaggering" concept. For 2020's "Era Ten," go right to the Omnibus edition.

Hero '31 is a game that is still based on Cutlass, but tweaks the Traits. Your Traits determine your "class" and available Swaggering, and your Traits can radically change in play. Gargoyles of' Nam, Demon Hunters 1705 and others are variants of these rules.

"Stuff O' Legends" is a Trojan War board game. Fun. Not played enough.

"Scutage" and "Cartel Royale" are games about running countries or multi world corporations which abstract the political entity into a character sheet. Not played enough. Also fun to use in fantasy/Sci Fi campaigns in between missions to change the larger game world. Give every player a faction and run one round of Scutage/Cartel Royale between missions.

Zen Fantasy and the other 2-page games are stripped down and all run off a handful of d6 Tables.

The OSR games are the most recent. All are based on the same engine.

There are a few booklets more based on fleshing out game worlds. "Temples, Cults and Apostates," or "Fantasy Baronial Lifestyles" are examples of these. Essays and tables to flesh out religion and politics.

"Satchel's Ball Game" is a standalone baseball semi-sim. Not played that, but the videos make it look pretty fun.

I'm probably missing a couple, but that's pretty much all the variants.

Yours,