There are as many Role Playing Game (RPG) manuals out there, it seems, as there are gamers to play the games. This is my guide to some of the more-popular RPGs out there.
This guide will be sorted alphabetically by publisher. It is a work in progress, and will be updated as time goes by.
For publishers not listed here, check out Darkshire.org for their list. It may not be very current, but it is more complete.
And for games not listed, check out Darkshire.org for their list. It's complete enough to include games like Bunnies and Burrows (a game set in the genre of the children's novel Watership Down) and The End (which has to be the worst system I have ever had the privilege of playing a game in!), a game where The Meek have inherited the earth... and the player characters are The Meek: not bad enough for Hell or good enough for Heaven.
Here, without further ado, is my list:
Atlas Games publishes Ars Magica: The Art of Magic, Furry Pirates and other games.
Chaosium publishes Call of Chtulhu, Pendragon, Elric, and Nephilim. They used to publish Runequest.
Far Future Enterprises is the NEW publisher for the original Twilight 2000, Traveller, and 2300 AD games by author Marc Miller. This is his personal publishing company.
Flying Buffalo publishes Tunnels and Trolls and Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes.
Hero Games publishes Champions, a super hero RPG.
Mayfair Games publishes Chill and used to publish DC Heroes, but that has gone out of print. You can still find copies at Darkside Gaming, a purveyor of out-of-print gaming books.
Palladium Books publishes Rifts, Beyond the Supernatural, Palladium Fantasy, and Heroes Unlimited.
Pulsar Games publishes Blood of Heroes (which uses the same mechanics as the old DC Heroes system) and Battlelords.
R. Talsorian Games publishes Cyberpunk and Mekton among other anime-based RPGs such as Bubblegum Crisis.
SSDC publishes Battlelords of the 23rd Century, a space-based RPG and Blood Dawn, a post-apocalyptic RPG.
Steve Jackon Games publishes GURPS (The Generic Universal Role Playing System), and Toon, a fun gaming system wherein the players are cartoon characters. SJG also publishes GURPS Traveller and is licensed to do so by Far Future Enterprises.
West End Games publishes DC Universe and Metabarons.
White Wolf Games publishes a series of horror-genre RPGs, among them: Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Ascension.
Wizards of the Coast bought out TSR (who first published Dungeons and Dragons back in the 1970s) and was in turn bought out by Hasbro. They still publish Dungeons and Dragons, now in its third edition, and have added a few other RPGs as well.