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Sum up your fav system in a paragraph

Started by HinterWelt, April 12, 2007, 03:35:44 PM

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HinterWelt

April 12, 2007, 03:35:44 PM
So, inspired by Koltar's "sell me" thread, I was hoping to get folks to sum up as many systems as possible in the short-short version. So, something like oWoD.

Old World of Darkness
A dice-pool system that uses Stat+Skill to create the pool. A target number is assigned by the ST and the pool is rolled, the number of dice at or above are counted as successes. Ones cancel successes and tens allow for a second roll or that die. Humanity is a measure of the character's connection to the Human race. Damage is on a damage level system. Combat is a contested dice pool roll between attacker and defender.

Something like that. Not too much detail but enough to get the gist of it. You could split it up if you want.

Thanks,
Bill
The RPG Haven - Talking about RPGs
My Site
Oh...the HinterBlog
Lord Protector of the Cult of Clash was Right
When you look around you have to wonder,
Do you play to win or are you just a bad loser?

James J Skach

#1
April 12, 2007, 04:59:51 PM
I could do Iridium in one page :p
The rules are my slave, not my master. - Old Geezer

The RPG Haven - Talking About RPGs

Anemone

#2
April 12, 2007, 05:01:47 PM
I don't have a single favourite system, but systems I enjoy tend to have certain characteristics.  They vary depending on whether I'm GM or player (I'm far more tolerant as a player), but here are a few rules of thumb:

My systems are typically streamlined and easily learned; they support character coolness and player creativity; they have sparse character sheets containing only bits that are important; if they include a randomizer, it's preferably one that provides a bell-shaped probability curve rather than a flat or linear one; they usually have Do-It-Yourself metaskills devised by the players, rather than fixed lists of skills; their combat rules tend to be cinematic rather than "realistic"; and they usually include a mechanic to allow players to throw in special effort or somehow control their level of success: hero/life/possibility/luck point, haymaker, etc.
Anemone

James McMurray

#3
April 12, 2007, 05:47:12 PM
Rolemaster

Bonus + Percentile is the mechanic. Combat rolls look up damage on a chart, noncombat rolls tend to use more of a gradiated system of success where a roll of 101+ gets the job done but you can have varying levels of success. The spell system uses points to determine how much you can cast, and spell lists to tell which spells you know. And oh yeah, the crits rock.

Erstwhile

#4
April 12, 2007, 06:00:09 PM
Hybrid

To explain at corollary to X+3 squared in a single but not unity paragraph, whether using male or female pronouns (though the game is not designed to represent females due to the chromosomal divergence of (2+y)/(2*z) where y>female and z
 

Wil

#5
April 12, 2007, 06:46:15 PM
SilCore

Roll and keep die pool using six sided dice, with the number of dice dependent on skill level. The highest result is kept, with additional high results adding +1 to the total. Under default settings, this means every additional 6 rolled adds +1; three dice have a maximum roll of 8, four dice 9, etc. Attributes average 0, ranging from -5 to +5. Skills have an additional axis called Complexity that affects results. Rolls depend on Margin of Success, including weapon damage (weapon damages are fixed and multiplied by the Margin of Success to get final damage). There is no magic, psionics, power, etc. system; SilCore works best with modern, science fiction, low fantasy, or "gritty" settings where characters don't fall too far outside of human norm.
Aggregate Cognizance - RPG blog, especially if you like bullshit reviews

HinterWelt

#6
April 12, 2007, 07:06:56 PM
Quote from: AnemoneI don't have a single favourite system, but systems I enjoy tend to have certain characteristics.  They vary depending on whether I'm GM or player (I'm far more tolerant as a player), but here are a few rules of thumb:

My systems are typically streamlined and easily learned; they support character coolness and player creativity; they have sparse character sheets containing only bits that are important; if they include a randomizer, it's preferably one that provides a bell-shaped probability curve rather than a flat or linear one; they usually have Do-It-Yourself metaskills devised by the players, rather than fixed lists of skills; their combat rules tend to be cinematic rather than "realistic"; and they usually include a mechanic to allow players to throw in special effort or somehow control their level of success: hero/life/possibility/luck point, haymaker, etc.

Well, very interesting. Does any system meet those requirement or come close?

I was thinking of specific systems and it does not necessarily have to be exclusive, so, if you want, just give us the skinny on a system you know well. That way, we can share our collective experience with systems and when someone says something like "SilCore rocks!" we can have an idea what they mean.

So, even if it is not your fav, do you have a system you play a lot that you can sum up in a paragraph?


Wil and James, Right on! Very much what I was hoping for.

Thanks,
Bill
The RPG Haven - Talking about RPGs
My Site
Oh...the HinterBlog
Lord Protector of the Cult of Clash was Right
When you look around you have to wonder,
Do you play to win or are you just a bad loser?

Calithena

#7
April 12, 2007, 07:21:50 PM
Roll to hit.

Y'all know what I'm talkin' about.
Looking for your old-school fantasy roleplaying fix? Don't despair...Fight On![/I]

HinterWelt

#8
April 12, 2007, 09:17:57 PM
Thanks to James for putting this together. A quick reference as to what the Iridium System is about.

Iridium One-Page Summary

Bill
The RPG Haven - Talking about RPGs
My Site
Oh...the HinterBlog
Lord Protector of the Cult of Clash was Right
When you look around you have to wonder,
Do you play to win or are you just a bad loser?

James J Skach

#9
April 12, 2007, 09:35:06 PM
Quote from: HinterWeltThanks to James for putting this together. A quick reference as to what the Iridium System is about.

Iridium One-Page Summary

Bill
Boy that sure looks a lot nicer than the one I sent you.

Love it.
The rules are my slave, not my master. - Old Geezer

The RPG Haven - Talking About RPGs

Dr Rotwang!

#10
April 12, 2007, 10:31:54 PM
D6

Decide on a difficulty number. Roll dice equal to your skill, including one die that's different from the others.  If the special die rolls a 6, add it and re-roll it.  If you get a 1, tell the GM.  If you beat the difficulty, a winner is you.
Dr Rotwang!
...never blogs faster than he can see.
FONZITUDE RATING: 1985[/font]

Pseudoephedrine

#11
April 13, 2007, 03:05:48 AM
Unknown Armies

You roll under with percentile dice. Matches are either spectacular success or failure. 00 is a critical failure, while 01 is a critical success. It all happens more than it feels like it rightly should, which is reinforces the mood. You only bother to keep track of a few major skills and just assume you've got the ability to at least try whatever else. Combat is dangerous and discouraged. Some people have magic powers, which are just skills with weird applications.
Running
The Pernicious Light, or The Wreckers of Sword Island;
A Goblin\'s Progress, or Of Cannons and Canons;
An Oration on the Dignity of Tash, or On the Elves and Their Lies
All for S&W Complete
Playing: Dark Heresy, WFRP 2e

"Elves don\'t want you cutting down trees but they sell wood items, they don\'t care about the forests, they\'\'re the fuckin\' wood mafia." -Anonymous

Anemone

#12
April 13, 2007, 02:22:15 PM
Quote from: HinterWeltI was thinking of specific systems and it does not necessarily have to be exclusive, so, if you want, just give us the skinny on a system you know well. That way, we can share our collective experience with systems and when someone says something like "SilCore rocks!" we can have an idea what they mean.
You guys know about John H. Kim's exhaustive Encyclopedia of Role-Playing Games, right?  He's done a lot of that work already.
Anemone

HinterWelt

#13
April 13, 2007, 03:06:02 PM
Quote from: AnemoneYou guys know about John H. Kim's exhaustive Encyclopedia of Role-Playing Games, right?  He's done a lot of that work already.
Yeah, but that is not what people on this site have played. I am not looking to collect the works of Shakespeare here, just games people have played and their understanding of them.

Thanks for the link though. I was aware of it and actually was something of my motivation for this thread. The minor difference is more about the system mechanics and not so much what a game is about.

For instance, a follow up for Rotwang would be if he has played the current release or the Starwars release and is there a difference. I dig d6 and have wondered if there were changes in the new release.

Bill
The RPG Haven - Talking about RPGs
My Site
Oh...the HinterBlog
Lord Protector of the Cult of Clash was Right
When you look around you have to wonder,
Do you play to win or are you just a bad loser?

KrakaJak

#14
April 15, 2007, 02:24:16 AM
Gurps:
Roll three D6, do theorhetical mathmatics to figure out how much your current load affects your Spetsnaz knife-fighting skill. Argue with your GM that Spetsnaz Knife Fighting is more than just fighting with knives and you should be able to use it for unarmed strikes as well and if you knew he wanted two different skills for unarmed strikes, he should have told you.

j/k a little bit of bile coming from the Gurps thread:)

WoD
Stat+Skill equals dicepool. Add bonus dice if it's an easy task, take away dice if it's hard. If you roll an 8 or better on 1 of the dice in your pool, you did it.

D20- GM sets target number, roll a d20 and add bonuses, if it beats the GM's target number, you succeed.
-Jak
 
 "Be the person you want to be, at the expense of everything."
Spreading Un-Common Sense since 1983
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