I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up probably one of my favorite games of all time. Munchkin by Steve Jackson Games.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1927/munchkin
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If you've ever played D&D you need to play Munchkin (and if you aren't a D&D fan you still should).
The basic premise of the game is you start as a Level 1 Human with no class (and boy do they milk the no class joke for all it's worth in the many variants). The goal is to make it to level 10. You do this by fighting monsters, and collecting treasure, and being as much of a Munchkin (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchki...-playing_games) ) as you possibly can be.
Cards from the original game:
Or some from Munchkin Cthulu (all the varients are stand alone games and some have their own expansions although they can be mixed together)
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