Quote from: John MorrowThat's where random character generation comes in.  

Choir, preaching; preaching, choir.

Quote from: RPGPunditHowever, if you want a suggestion of a game that's actually available on the market, I would say WFRP 2e.

I wanted to recommend WFRP 2e ... We had a great session of it here not too long ago, but in our combats there wasn't any sort of tactical element beyond what the GM himself added to the scene in terms of environmental opportunities ...

That said, I was a player, not the GM, and I haven't digested the system yet, so it may well be that he was simplifying it to speed gameplay. In the version he ran, at least, the (system-rooted) choice in combat boiled down to pick-a-weapon and attack-or-just-stand-there.

Quote from: S. John RossI wanted to recommend WFRP 2e ... We had a great session of it here not too long ago, but in our combats there wasn't any sort of tactical element beyond what the GM himself added to the scene in terms of environmental opportunities ...

That said, I was a player, not the GM, and I haven't digested the system yet, so it may well be that he was simplifying it to speed gameplay. In the version he ran, at least, the (system-rooted) choice in combat boiled down to pick-a-weapon and attack-or-just-stand-there.

He simplified it.

If you read the combat system, there's a whole slew of combat maneuvers and options you can take to affect your chances. The whole system in 2e is clearly deeply inspired by D20, having each character's "action" in a round divided into two half actions. He can make one movement and one attack, or use a full action to make multiple attacks (if hes capable of making more than one attack per round), or he can take a half action to aim and then the other half to attack, or try to feignt, or do all out defense, etc etc.

It is good. Keeps the players well entertained.

Of course, not as well entertained as when they roll a critical and get to roll on the funky Critical tables! Best thing about WFRP combat!

RPGPundit

QuoteIf you read the combat system [...]

Saha. I really do intend to, one of these days. We had a fine time with it and I'm a long-time devotee of the original.

Quote from: mearlsLet me also back Elliot and John M's recommendation of Legends of the Ancient World. It's nice to see TFT survive in some form. It looks like it might fit Balbinus's needs quite nicely.

That's what I'm currently leaning towards, it's only the lack of random chargen puts me off to be honest, but it is a great game and definitely a front runner.

Pundit, what's Forward to adventure?

WFRP 2 possibly, I got the impression they had wussied it up a bit but that could well be wrong.

I'm one of those Savage Worlds fanatics, so I'll have to chime in and recommend Savage Worlds.  I used to love GURPS and HERO, and spent a considerable amount of time playing D&D in its various incarnations.  Then I realized that I didn't have enough time to spend wading through mountains of "crunch" and prepping encounters for hours on end, when what I really wanted to do was spend hours working on setting, story, and plot hooks, with less than half an hour struggling with stats.

Savage Worlds fit the bill perfectly.  My prep time for encounters has dropped to fifteen minutes for a full five-hour session.  Plus, I have all this weird, empty space next to me at the game table where there used to be stacks of notebooks and rule books.  Now there's just a box of dice, a piece of scratch paper (that often remains unused), and a couple of empty beer bottles.

Sure, it has its quirks, but character generation is quick, combat is tactical (tactics aren't quite as front-loaded into the character as in D&D), and since I started playing SW I find that the incidence of PC death has increased dramatically.  Plus, it's generic enough to be really stinkin' boring, which makes it that much easier to mold into my own twisted worlds...

I was looking at WFRP 2 last night and they have done a really good job with tactical options within the round.  You can attack of course, you can feint, drive your opponent back, fight defensively, move and attack, there are a great many options.

Impressive stuff.

Quote from: BalbinusPundit, what's Forward to adventure?

WFRP 2 possibly, I got the impression they had wussied it up a bit but that could well be wrong.

I see from your later post that you now see you were wrong about the "wussied it up" statement for WFRP.

FtA! is an RPG, not yet in print in south america because the translator is still working on it; and not yet in print in English because I've yet to find someone with a company who'd put it out on PDF for me.  It was a system that came to me in a dream, for a very rapid-start rapid-play old-school fantasy RPG, meant to be easy for beginners to pick up and get into; and fun enough that experienced players find it entertaining (though a few experienced gamers will likely find it a little too "archetypal" and if you don't dig that you won't like the game).

RPGPundit

I like archetypes when they are in fact archetypal.

I like classes when each class is a clear archetype that anyone would recognise, I lose interest a bit when they get too specific as I think class based systems don't lend themselves well to specificity - there are better routes to that.