If you include non-isometric Turn Based RPG's, the Might and Magic series is fantastic. I recommend starting with World of Xeen (combined install of M&M 4 and 5 leads to an actual blend of both games) - then progressing backwards to #3 and before.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/birthright-the-gorgons-alliance

The game Birthright was absolutely great for it's time. I remember spending hours upon hours with that one. You manage a kingdom in a turn based manner very much like the total war series of games, but you can also go on dungeon romps with your heroes which can yield experience and powerful items which helped on the overland map.

"Come here; I'll make ya a dead guy!"

"Ararahahrgh!"

Birthright, to me, was always the game that just could've been so incredibly awesome, but juuuuust missed.  (Of course, I've still spent many, many hours playing it over the past years.)

There are so many neat, interlocking little pieces, but so many of them just don't really do anything meaningful (like contesting non-Law-related guilds).

I also didn't like how your regent never really managed to get enough XP to go up to high levels, so that starting as a Wizard 12 regent gave you access to a lot of cool options that would never be available in even a long game when you started with a Wizard 3 regent.

Also, you couldn't play for total global domination, because you always won the game before you could conquer the world.

I may need to go reinstall this ...

what?   Battle isle (the 90s) came out way after Famicom wars (late 80s).   It only seems to be the other way around because famicom wars didn't come out in the US and europe until advance wars.

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge4/index.html

I wasn't to hot for his Avernum series, but Geneforge 4 was a great game. Looking forward to his release of Geneforge 5.

search for Mafia games

such as

all mafia.com

fallout (as mentioned above)

there are many of them. all mafia is mob based, fallout is military war based, both run by the same company and they have one other mafia based gamethat was called true crime but I can find it. maybe they shut it down.

there are many many more too. but can't remenber all the ones I used to play.

you can play for free or buy extra turns or subscriptions.

BUT be careful....all the MMORPG I have played will ban you for multiple accounts. You can only have one account, and really should limit it to logging in from ONE computer, well actually you can log into your account from any computer, but you can't have 2 people logging into their account from the same computer.

example: If you and a buddy both have accounts and are at your house, you log in and play and then let your buddy log in on your computer, even though he logs into his OWN account they consider that you have have 2 accounts and they WILL ban both of your accounts. they track accounts by IP and MAC address, NOT by registered names, emails etc...

Man, reading this made me sad...

I found myself in the mood for a turn-based rpg a couple weeks ago, and had the problem where I couldn't think of anything to play that wasn't from the mid 90's.

I loved the Might and Magic games (not Heroes, that's not an rpg) and even the Wizardry games for being so large (at the time) and unforgiving. Or anyone remember Lands of Lore? I wish a good turn based rpg with strong story elements would come out with modern and cool graphics.

After seeing how dead the genre has been from the list above though, I have little hope.

Maybe that could be Stardock's next project. Once they revive the MoM genre, they can save the turn-based rpg.

Games like x-com and others mentioned above are all also great games, and have rpg elements in them, but I think you need more one-on-one character interaction. Dialogue options and the like. And I love some of the newer rpgs like Fallout 3 and Dragonage. Just want the old school once in a while.

It would be helpful to know what system and what are some games you like but here are a few thoughts (lots of repeats from pervious posts though).  I'm a PC guy so these are all for that system.  Most of them are older, you just rarely see them being made anymore unfortunately so you'll need a certain level of tolerance for bad graphics.  Also you will probably need Dosbox or to download them from GOG.com.  GOG is a great sight for getting old game btw but the selection is still fairly limited.  There are some RPG's there that I've never played that are turn based.

Ultima series (3-7 are the ones to target).

Wizardry series (only played 6, 7 and 8 but previous ones are highly regarded as well).  Less story oriented and more hack and slash but they do have stories and conversation.  Just a bit limited.  Older ones I think are pure dungeon crawls.

Spiderweb game (Exile, Avernum, Generforge, etc).  These seem to all be highly inspired by the Ultima series.

Might and Magic games (Heroes of Might and Magic is more of a strategy game though).  Have been like 9 of these I think.  Can't really remember which are the best ones anymore.

Fallout 1 and 2

Balder's Gate series (not really turn based but can come really close to it with auto-pausing.  Can pause anytime also).  Also Dragon Age is in a similar vain but feels a little less turn based.  Might want to check that out.

Temple of Elemental Evil

Neverwinter 1, 2 (like Baldur's gate series with pausing)

Arcanum

Gold Box D&D games - there are a ton of these

Bard's Tale series (the original 3 not the new one).  Similar in style to wizardry games.

Wizard's Crown series.  Great game but very old, very combat focused but the combat is very involved.

Realms of Arcania - only played this a little so not sure of how good it is but seems good

If you don't care about graphics (they are all ascii but some now have some tilesets) you might also be interested in the rogue-like style games.  There are of offshoots so it's best to just do a net search.  Mainly dungeon crawls but they have a lot of depth and replayability.  Some popular ones in ADOM, Crawl, Angband, Nethack.

They have already said they are planning or have started working on an RPG but I have no idea if it's turn-based.  Details are almost non-existant at this point.