There is a lot of comments on game design over on the Frank Trollman thread. Here why don't folks list some RPGs with good designs and why.

I am not asking about bad design because I think that will led to massive complaints about various items. Try to focus on mechanics and games you think are good.

And forget change the damn title. Oh well.

As much as i rail against it, the core d20 mechanic seems like a good design to me. It was an easy way to make attacks more intuitive for some people in d&d.

This isn't so much mechanics but I have always been impressed with the Harn setting design. Detailed, rich and well mapped.

I hve always liked the Ravenloft powers check mechanic. A simple percentile roll when you commit an evil act to see if the dark powers take notice and bestow a blessing and curse. Always fun to watch a pc transform into a monster over the course of a campaign.

Changed the title of the thread for you, Rob.

I believe most mechanics can be inherently "good" at what they do, and what they are meant to represent in the context of the ruleset in which they are presented.

They can only be qualified as "bad mechanics" if they are compared to other systems.  Are we talking only about D&D here?  

In response to the OP, I have always felt that pretty much all the mechanics are good ones.  Bad or unnecessary ones I don't use.

If we're talking about favorite mechanics, and we're only talking about D&D, I've always been fond of various systems of starvation and drowning, particularly 3e.

Also, Ben:  I love the Mordenkainen motif you've had lately.  You kinda look like him anyway.  I pretty much live on Oerth, so it's nice to see.

i always loved the task system from late classic trav & megatraveller.  easy to remember difficulty grades, combined with (usually) one stat bonus and one skill level.  an elegant and straightforward mechanic, IMO.

d&d-wise, the stat bonuses for ability scores in moldvay basic (never read holmes) also qualify.

In Nomine always worked well for me, despite how it was perceived by pretty much everyone.
Castle Falkenstein's magic system is very good.

All games have their flaws but I'd single out Barbarians of Lemuria as one of the best designed out there. I love the efficiency of it, the fact that very little bulk it does create some amazingly complete feeling characters.

It's also very true to it's S&S inspiration and everything about the rules just just works to reinforce the genre conventions. The magic system, the careers, the experience system, the boons and mook rules are very clever but without drawing too much attention to the mechanical aspects of the game during play.

I'll also agree that when it came out D&D 3e was a very impressive design feat (pun intended). It's not really my sort of game but I always thought it was very well designed and and it the impossible job of modernising AD&D while still respecting it's heritage (apart from the halfling feet thing).

Fan Mail, from Prime Time Adventures. It's a limited resource that players can draw from to reward each other for doing fun, entertaining things. Fan mail that you've won can can be spent later to give bonuses to conflicts. It's a limited resource, so there's some competition for it and it encourages players to play for each other.

Any limited resource that allows the player to add more dice to a roll after the result has been seen. Fate artha from Burning Wheel is an example, but there are plenty of systems that have some implementation of this kind of thing. It almost always adds tension to a failed roll along with the chance for a reversal. This kind of mechanic is especially fun when players are headed off against each other.

Fallout, from Dogs in the Vineyard. Consequences from conflicts immediately become traits on the character sheet, often troublesome traits (low dice amounts). Watching a fallout trait trait grow over multiple sessions from a troublesome drawback to a defining feature of the character is cool, and makes advancement feel organic and relevant to the character's history.

Oh gotta hurry:
The "we owe" list from In a Wicked Age.
The oracle from IaWA.
The conversation mechanic from Storming the Wizard's Tower.

BRP. Special credits to Sanity mechanic in CoC, the OG of literary emulation mechanics.

On the subject of CoC - mention goes to my luvvie of late, ToC. It just feels really well - it needed some houseruling for me, but with that done, it's perfect Lovecraftian game for me. The mechanic does support investigation - superheavy game, and I like my CoC investigative.

Mechanics-wise, there have been two systems that I am very pleased with how well designed they are.  Epic RPG by Dark Matter Press did very well in creating a good system.  The other is the D6 system for me, due to its simplicity and adaptability.

Does a combat subsystem count?

Because Silhouette's combat system is pretty fucking awesome.  It's the best I've ever seen, period.

Actually the Silhouette system generally applies across the board and it itself is pretty good.

The core of AD&D's combat system - roll a d20, consult the chart - is almost insanely wonderful in it's simplicity.  We can argue until the heat death of the universe about how Surprise and Initiative are supposed to work but the d20, then check the matrix?  Love it.

Just off the top of my head.

Empire of the Petal Throne. The original TSR boxed set. Bear with me for a second. There's this crazy baroque exotic Southeast-Asia-meets-Mesoamerica science fantasy setting, right? With Cthulhoid deities and ray guns and secret societies and shit. There's an underworld. And the PCs are foreigners who, like their players, know jack and shit about this crazy setting, have no clan affiliation and are worse off than thieves and offal carters on the social totem pole. So the natural thing to do? Raid the underworld, get rich, buy yourself clan membership (=citizenship) and eventually claw your way to whatever heights of temporal or spiritual power interest you. It's a classic D&D campaign starting with armed malcontents raiding tombs and ending with personages of real power and influence on the setting. The antics of Prof. Barker's group are a textbook example on how high-level old school PCs can change the setting.

Traveller. Genius genre emulation. Space is fucking dangerous. Education and technical competence are paramount to success. Space is fucking dangerous. Tech is not magic and has limitations, it enables those who can use it, but not necessarily creates competency where there's none. Space is fucking dangerous. Free trading as a way to explore the Universe on your own terms, for fun and profit. Did I mention that space is real fucking dangerous?

Runequest. Today no one in his right mind would marry a gritty, lethal combat system with a high-minded Campbellian approach to myth and heroics, and animistic metaphysics. Like so much in our hobby, the end result is much bigger than the sum of its parts. Like Traveller, having a default setting that was too good might have hindered its acceptance and diffusion a bit. But it's a great design and I haven't even touched on its use of a unified percentile mechanic and cherry-picking skill system.

Call of Cthulhu. Sanity. 'nuff said. Used it for all sorts of horror scenarios, non-Mythos included, for 15 years (SAN really makes your zombie apocalypse scenario come alive, BTW. Pun intended). Never even bought a supplement for it, ever. It's one of these games that just feels better and better every time I return to it.

Stormbringer/Elric! Shit, another Chaosium game. I see a pattern here. Yet again they do a great job of genre emulation with the magic system.

Castle Falkenstein. Never got to play this one as much as I'd like, but I loved the card-based resolution. It felt very fitting, especially with the in-game "explanation". The "it's a game, and a novel!" part was kind of annoying at times, but I think we have yet to see a better steampunk (or "gaslight") fantasy RPG, both setting- and system-wise.

D&D 3.0e. It's got all sorts of problems, I know, but it's a robust engine. I dislike some things (the full-fledged Skill system, the Feat trees, breakdown at high levels, caster supremacy etc.) but I feel they might have been the best possible implementation of demands from the fanbase, some which dated back to the 1980s.

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Evolved. Take D&D 3.0e, create a bunch of new races and classes that fill the same niches in different and interesting ways (and yet feel just as archetypal to the fantasy reader as D&D's usual ensemble), throw in some nice new mechanics that fit your setting (like Truenames), and you have a new and exciting, yet fundamentally familiar, fantasy game. Pity Iron Heroes never got to do for low-magic S&S what AU/AE did for high-magic, high-fantasy d20 gaming.

Savage Worlds. I'm kind of burned out on this one, but I've got to admit, combat moves fast, is full of surprises, and supports miniatures if that's your thing (never used them, though). Gimmicky, but in a good way.

Adventurer Conqueror King. Possibly the best combination of old school principles with modern design sensibilities that I know of. Proficiencies offer a nice way of customizing a character, with more "bite" than AD&D 1e's Secondary Skills or 2e's Non-Weapon Proficiencies, but without falling for the Feat trap of trees and the CharOp slippery-slope. Also the domain system, including treating vassal rulers as henchmen. And mercantile ventures. And rules for PC mages and clerics to create monsters. And... and... the list just goes on.

Ad&d 2e spheres and 3e's domains.

Best design decisions in both editions.

Quote from: Grimace;514316Epic RPG by Dark Matter Press did very well in creating a good system.

Epic RPG has a very workable encumbrance system, weapon reach, and weapon speed (all things I would normally hand-wave away). The magic system is robust with degrees of success boosting the efficacy of the spell. I've also found the lifepath chargen a treat; ending up with a number of interesting characters I hadn't played before.

Quote from: Benoist;514246Changed the title of the thread for you, Rob.

Thanks, and the there looks to be a lot of good comments.