What rules from games have you liked so much that you adopted as default, where possible ? For me it is:


1) Initiative from Marvel Heroic Roleplaying,

2) Resolution from Apocalypse World/Edge of the Empire/Warhammer 3e.

3) Sandbox structure from Apocalyse World.


How about you guys ?

The standout to me is Wound and Vitality points from d20 Star Wars.

"Take 20", from d20 D&D, adjusted to whatever game I'm playing.

RuneQuest's resistance table in my AD&D game (depending on specific situations). Not in other RPGs though.

Character Modelling from FASERIP

I have no idea where a roll of 1 equals a fumble comes from, but it's been ubiquitous in my game groups from the beginning. Lost a bet once as to whether it was in the AD&D players handbook. I always assumed it was.

I've used Unknown Armies' sanity system in many a game before coming up with my own a few years back. I still think UA's is the best.

I wouldn't consider playing a battle in outer space with any system besides that in Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks.

The mass combat rules from the Army of Darkness rpg.

oh, and I dont know which game implemented this but..

"Ignore emcumbrance rules"

is a great one too.

Reaction rolls and morale for systems that do not already include them.

Quote from: silva;682047oh, and I dont know which game implemented this but..

"Ignore emcumbrance rules"

is a great one too.

And is absolutely a terrible idea in a dungeon crawl.

Quote from: robiswrong;682080And is absolutely a terrible idea in a dungeon crawl.

Maybe Silva ain't such a big fan of the Torchbearer story game, after all.

The basic action economy from d20:  unlimited free actions, two substantial ones or one monolithic one.

Phase chargen and aspects from Fate. Even if I don't use Fate points, these are fried gold for fleshing out who a character is.

Talking is a Free Action.

Quote from: silva;6818982) Resolution from Apocalypse World/Edge of the Empire/Warhammer 3e.

Eh? The Apocalypse and FFG systems work in different ways - Apocalypse doesn't have a "no, but" option, and not much "yes, and" (7-9 tending towards "yes, but", while not many moves get a 13+ and it has to be specifically taken as an advance), while FFG decouples the "yes / no" and "and / but" axes entirely.

There's ancestry from the Vortex (C7 Doctor Who) system in there, too, but I'm sure that wasn't the first system to use "no, and" through "yes, and" as it's check results.

Quote3) Sandbox structure from Apocalyse World.

That's not a rule, that's a game structure and GM aid.

Anyway, talking is a free action (But only a little bit of it) should be everywhere, so now it is for us! As is not really bothering with XP, and XP for RP'ing.

I am thinking that the Dungeon World "end of session" questions are a better method for awarding XP - did your character actively follow the alignment you chose for them, did you learn something new and interesting about the world, did you acquire a notable treasure, and did you defeat a notable enemy - requiring some explanation as to what you did and why it counts. We've used a similar "what did your character do that was worthy of XP" thing before, but this formalises it nicely, and the structure can easily be adapted.

From Fantasy Craft;

Special versus Standard characters. I will nerf any mechanics that directly take a player out of combat for longer than a round in exchange for a penalty of some sort. Standard characters are less powerful in some way that sets the heroes apart.

You can't REALLY die unless it's a dramatic scene (Cheat Death as it's called in FC). But you will suffer a setback of some sort.

Example: The Fear spell in Novus if you fail your save makes you run away for 1 min. Funny against NPCs, but not against PCs. So, instead I will introduce a Fear condition that is -2 on all rolls until you save out of it. You're scared, but you ARE a hero and so you can keep on fighting. Maybe include a higher level "Terror" at -4 for REALLY nasty demon/devils/undead or what not (only comes into play at higher levels...).

Reputation, Renown and Favors. Just too brilliant to not bring into any fantasy game.

From 13th Age;

Fail Forward.

Abstract combat field movement (engaged, close/near, far), probably touched up to include "how many rounds of movement far".

Mook rules.

From Runequest, 13th Age and Fantasy Craft (combined);

Runequest organizations and 13th Age relationships intertwines into the Reputation, Renown,Favors thing. Basically you have a relationship to an organization which opens up in game stuff (training, spells, secrets, contacts, etc.) and you invest your reputation to gain renown and/or favors from those organizations. Each organization will have a score of some kind that we can roll at the beginning of an adventure and the use those results to influence that adventure based on the organizations involved.

Riddle of Steel or Pendragon or FATE or World of Darkness;

I like "spiritual" traits, emotions, motivations to have an impact on play. So I like to include things like "courage", "Honor", "Selfishness" or other "free form" types of Traits you distribute some points into that tell me the type of character you're playing. The you can use those as bonuses sometimes or as penalties for XP. It's player choice and helps me prep things that relate to the specific characters at the table. Instead of a simple Alignment, I want there to be more granular indicators of the personality you're trying to portray.

Action System;

I really like the Stun versus Lethal break down of damage into life points, where you use a slash for stun and a "X" for lethal. I also like there to be some consequence for losing hit points that's tied to the damage you're taking.

Shadowrun and some other systems...;

I like Armor that converts some or all damage instead of outright removing it. I feel like Armor as Damage Reduction prolongs combat and doesn't model the real qualities of armor. This one takes some math and finagling for most systems that don't include it.

I agree in regards to armour converting damage. I like a system that accounts for shock and bruising from impact. Iron Man may be able to take a pummeling from Thor and walk away, but he should be black and blue when he takes off the armour.

Outlaws of the Water Margin does this well.