I like Pocket Fantasy's magic system

It's a very rules lite game, so maximizing effect with a minimal word count is an important aspect.

It works by having six combat spells.  They're only used during a fight, and a wizard gets two castings per each fight.

Out of combat a wizard gets two spells per game session.  Anything they want, or anything the GM will allow.  Durations of effect is 24 hours. It's done as a skill check, and the GM sets the difficulty number.

There.  That's it. 

It does a few things I love.

1.  Wizards are never out of magic.  They'll always cast at least two spells per fight.
2.  There is no massive spell list filling up a big chunk of the pages in you rulebook.
3.  The GM gets to be involved and can curtail spellcasters that mess with the story.

This may be a bit mundane for this list but my favorite newer mechanic is player facing rolls.

Over all, I don't roll dice at the table when I run a game.  I do all my random table rolls in prep and will ask a player to make a roll for me if I need to do one on the fly.  This has lead to a rep among players that I am a very honest and fair GM.  (I don't think I'm anything special in that aspect but why burst the bubble.)

Boon and Bane from Shadow of the Demon Lord. It solves multiple "Modern D&D can't math" issues with one mechanic.

Other than your attribute score, there is no static bonus you need to know. No more "+2 from flank, +1 from haste, +3 from X spell, +1 from bard music..." calculations. Every beneficial or detrimental effect is a d6 you roll.

You only use the highest of the rolled boon/bane. So even if you have 10 different buffs, best you can get is a +6. This means character rolls are actually bounded since there isn't much you can do to increase your attributes either. Also there is a diminishing return on multiple boons so diversifying your character is better than minmaxing for every single boon on attack rolls.

Since boons and banes take each other out, you know if you are fucked or dominating by knowing how many you roll. Fighting a demon is always challenging since their presence alone imposes a bane, they are resistant to magic which is another bane against spells, and stronger demons force a Will check which can cause fear and another bane.

Quote from: BadApple on December 21, 2024, 10:12:20 AMThis may be a bit mundane for this list but my favorite newer mechanic is player facing rolls.

Over all, I don't roll dice at the table when I run a game.  I do all my random table rolls in prep and will ask a player to make a roll for me if I need to do one on the fly.  This has lead to a rep among players that I am a very honest and fair GM.  (I don't think I'm anything special in that aspect but why burst the bubble.)

I wrote this approach into my own system. While I have optional rules so the rolling functions as it does in D&D (3e/5e or 4E) or as opposed checks, by default all opponents are built using static values for their traits and PCs roll attacks and defenses against those numbers.

Also, while not a written rule itself, I make a habit of always telling the PC the target number for their check as in the process of performing that check they'd reasonably have an idea of how easy or difficult it would be to do again. This also saves a lot of follow up time as players no longer have to ask with each check whether it succeeds or not.

I'm always divided on whether I should just reveal the target number for whatever roll, or keep it secret. Revealing it makes everything way quicker, but keeping it secret creates tension and affects choices.

Quote from: MerrillWeathermay on December 07, 2024, 03:47:34 PMI do like the stress mechanic a lot

that system is all-around good

Alien stress dice is good fun, but by the end of the game it starts to get a bit over the top with people rolling 12+ dice at once. (stress + skills + mods + stunts)

2nd edition is coming next year, will keep any eye out to see if that gets updated.

The stress mechanic from Alien has been mentioned here several times. I would like to mention stress from Mothership, I liked how it makes every roll significant, every check is reflected in the internal state of the PC.

And I would like to note the Mighty Deeds mechanic from DCC. For me it is the discovery of the year.

I'm a huge fan of the combat mechanics from The Riddle of Steel. They could still use a bit of tweaking to account for multiple combatant organization, but the basic allocation of dice from the Combat Pool, combined with the physical reduction in dice pool size as wounds and fatigue take their toll, feels like the best reproduction of an actual fight I've ever come across.

I can think of three real MVP mechanics:

• The Six Pack Rule from Paranoia. The idea of crossing a character death with a drinking game is on the nose for such a crazy and fatal setting.
• The Year Zero Engine Pushing mechanic. The Push mechanic allows you to roll extra dice (or reroll a die in the step die version) by semi-permanently decreasing a stat, and because YZE has a generally lower chance of success than most lighthearted RPGs, you are encouraged to push dice. Unfortunately, I think this mechanic works notably better with the step die version of YZE because the value of a push autoscales with the stat (which is of course the version no one uses!). Also, the pool is slightly too small to really get good leverage out of pushes. But this is also kind of me nitpicking.
• The Savage Worlds Race Creation tool. Savage Worlds is a successful system in part because it has mostly fun all-purpose mechanics, but the other half of the reason is that because you can make custom races very easily, it is very easy to use to create specific settings. A lot of systems have race creator subsystems, but the Savage Worlds one is the best balance of speed, power, and intuitive usability that I've encountered with this kind of tool.