Quote from: Rincewind1;514308BRP.

Yes.  An intuitive core system (everybody grocks percentages) flexible enough to cover a staggeringly wide range of genres.  Essentially unchanged for over 30 years for a reason.

Quote from: One Horse Town;514330Ad&d 2e spheres and 3e's domains.

Best design decisions in both editions.

Mmm, indeed. Domains were great for reflavouring of clerics.

Quote from: One Horse Town;514330Ad&d 2e spheres and 3e's domains.

Best design decisions in both editions.

I didn't like either of these. They just struck me as invitations to min-maxing.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;514707I didn't like either of these. They just struck me as invitations to min-maxing.

RPGPundit

Well, Spheres basically restrict your choice of spells.

I can just about see it with Domains, as you get a Domain power also - but i think the different feel that it gives Clerics of different religions is worth the price.

An example of good design? Ascending armor class. It's far more intuitive for most people than the alternative.

To-hit charts. No math beyond one digits additions to deal with on the players' side of the screen, and I have everything right there stappled on my side of the screen.

Class disparities in TSR D&D. You want to have few rules to worry about, do stuff and kick ass? Play a fighter. You want to play with some resource management of powers and shit? Play a Magic User. You want a little bit of everything? Play a Cleric. Etc.

The Dungeon as the frame of adventuring in D&D. A concrete, endlessly customizable frame for the worlds of your imagination. Very simple to grasp, with some neat approach like mapping and such. It's one of the true secrets of D&D's brilliance, to me.

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;514724An example of good design? Ascending armor class. It's far more intuitive for most people than the alternative.

QFT.

Roll d20, add number, compare to AC. No matrix, no repeating 20's. Better in every single possible way.

Pendragon's personality traits.

My favourite part is that it lets me ask my character questions. I can frame a situation in the form of an opposed trait check, and then let my character decide (By rolling the dice, natch). And it's simple, you couldn't make it any simpler under the Pendragon rule system.

Of course, I'm the type of player who doesn't feel that they should have control over their character all the time, and is quite willing to concede control in the interest of making the game more interesting.

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BRP. It's barely changed in 30 years because the designers got it right the first time. It might not be exciting, but it bloody works.

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WFRP's career system. It immerses the characters in the setting (By giving them roles and responsibilities), gives the player a class-like advancement path, but doesn't absolutely limit them.

Amber attribute auction.
You need to set some parameters on how to run the rounds but no other char gen system sets the terms of play as successfully.

As a concept Travellers lifepath is great totally random skills and the chance of death maybe a step too far but the concept is fantastic.

I will aslo add a vote for CoC Sanity.

Paranoia's clone replacement and color coded ranks.

Savage World's powers system. While its a bit lacking in colour it is so hugely adaptable for anything. I built a Strontium Dog using them for mutant powers and he conversion took an hour all in.

Quote from: One Horse Town;514709Well, Spheres basically restrict your choice of spells.

I can just about see it with Domains, as you get a Domain power also - but i think the different feel that it gives Clerics of different religions is worth the price.

Spheres let you give up a bunch of spells you don't want to cast, in exchange for getting more of a bunch of spells you do. That's min-maxing.

RPGPundit

D&D hit points.

Elegant. Emulative.

Quote from: RPGPundit;514783Spheres let you give up a bunch of spells you don't want to cast, in exchange for getting more of a bunch of spells you do. That's min-maxing.

RPGPundit

Nah.

Quote from: Benoist;514727To-hit charts. No math beyond one digits additions to deal with on the players' side of the screen, and I have everything right there stappled on my side of the screen.

I must admit that I hate to hit charts.

Quote from: Aos;514793I must admit that I hate to hit charts.

I concur, that's one thing that I don't miss from older versions of A/D&D.

When I first started playing D&D, I actually liked the charts used for combat (to hit, weapons vs AC, etc ...).

The descending AC didn't fit into any easily remembered to-hit formulas, that I could figure out at the time.  Easier to just look at the charts.