Era III: 1996; Singing Cowpokes, Hong Kong Action, and D6

Some new-ish ideas hit the market this year, while many tried and true systems are bought out and revamped, or simply re-issued after errata clean up.

Biohazard Games reaches folks with its supplement Killer Crosshairs (a hit location aid).

Guardians of Order publications is founded, launching their ‘Magnum Opus’ program that would license the company’s intellectual property to third parries to create new games. They founded the Tri-Stat system.

The SAGA System is introduced, using cards over dice. The cards also represent levels and the level of consciousness (no cards = unconscious).

The d6 system is published by West End Games. Also this year is published Star Wars LARP, Indiana Jones Adventures, and Tales from the Crypt by West End Games.

Deadlands is published by the Pinnacle Entertainment Group. 61 years earlier, Gene Autry stumbles upon an ancient subterranean civilization under his Radio Ranch. The Weird West comes to life. In this game, the Wild West of 1876 gets a little… undead-er.

The Masquerade LARP: by  White Wolf Publishing. Edition 2, big vamps no boffers.

Chivalry & Sorcery 3e by Highlander Designs.

HarnMaster 2e by Columbia Games. Crunchy hit-location combat rules, allows for home-brewed magic spells.

Dragonlance: Fifth Age is published as an accessory to the SAGA system by TSR. This is a box set is heavy on stylish look, a strong system, but weak on polished substance; requires the DM to literally write their own specific house rules.

Warhammer Quest by Games Workshop. Related to Advanced Heroquest, including a RPG rule book.

Blood Dawn is published by Optimus Design Systems. A d20 system where characters are humans or mutants in a 21^st century Earth timeline. Something of a mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements with a post-apocalypse feel to it.

Fading Suns by Holistic Design, Inc. This space opera RPG is set in a future medieval-analogue empire that has taken over the ruins of a much more advanced (human) galaxy-spanning civilization’s ‘relic jumpgates’. Very Dune-esque.

Marc Miller’s Traveller from Imperium Games. Known as T4, this edition was wrought with errata and suffered from cross-reverence overload.

Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game is also published using the SAGA system. This marked the third ‘Marvel Hero’ based game (including TSR’s 1984 / 1986 Marvel Super Heroes Game and Marvel Comics’ Marvel Universe RPG).

BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth) is published by Guardians of Order. This is an anime / manga-based action game based on such works as Sailor Moon, Dominion: Tank Police, Demon City Shinjuku, and Tenchi Muyo!

Hong Kong Action Theatre! by Event Horizon Productions. Hong Kong films, from gangster to wuxia, to ancient ghost stories. Crazy stunts and turbo charged action.

Steve?

GURPS 3: Alternate Earths by SJG.

GURPS 3: Dinosaurs by SJG.
GURPS 3: Goblins by SJG.
GURPS 3: Places of Mystery by SJG.
GURPS 3.5: Basic Set by SJG.

MMORPGs as defined today began with Meridian 59, innovative both in its scope and in offering first-person 3D graphics, with The Realm Online appearing nearly simultaneously. Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds in South Korea.

Night Slave was a shooter RPG released for the PC-98 that combined the side-scrolling shooter gameplay of Assault Suits Valken and Gradius, including an armaments system that employs recoil physics, with many RPG elements such as permanently leveling up the mecha and various weapons using power-orbs obtained from defeating enemies as well as storyline cut scenes. Treasure's Guardian Heroes allowed players to alter the storyline through their actions, such as choosing between a number of branching paths leading to multiple different endings and through the Karma meter which changes depending on whether the player kills civilians or shows mercy to enemies
Wiki enters the scene, eventually brining play-by-wiki games to the market.