Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

Mutants & Masterminds

Greatest superhero RPG I know of which can emulate all sorts of guys, from Superman to the Punisher.

Flaws:

Defense/Toughness trade-off is easily abusable by buying up Impervious Toughness or Impenetrable Force Fields.  Who cares if you can't dodge attacks if you can absorb them all?

Skills all cost the same, but some of them are super-useful/vital to any superhero (Notice, Sense Motive), others highly situation (Profession).  Additionally, certain super-powers can invalidate skills, and produce greater effects at a lower cost of Power Points.

Game doesn't handle well at all under low Power Levels (below 6), but this is a minor gripe and a relative non-issue, considering that 6 is around the most "down-to-Earth" superheroes.  For comparison a SWAT officer is PL 5, a gang member PL 3, and a bystander PL 0.

Quote from: Reckall;627331Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

It uses Constitution for stat rolls when you are blinded.



I am a huge fan of Call of Cthulu, and Elric. Love the system.

Quote from: Libertad;626827Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition

Great for customization, sheer variety of options both official and third party, and has a bountiful supply of interesting fluff and crunch.

But it's flawed, oh so very flawed.

...

Yes, to all of the above, and if I may...

5. Throngs of asshats that are loyal to it, and particularly to the most munchkin aspects, just waiting to dogpile in with the badwrongfun, making it almost impossible to discuss in public.  E.g. mention 'toughness' as a feat choice.

Quote from: Reckall;627331Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

From my PoV, I found it unapproachable.  I liked the theme, the power level, and the concept of monsters that had combat stats that didn't matter (you weren't supposed to fight them).

But without buying and reading a few dozen novels/source books, some red candles, and smearing on the black eyeliner, I wasn't sure how to 'get started' and accurately capture the setting.

Vis-a-vis Vampire, et al.

Quote from: Reckall;627331Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

There are some clunky mechanics in CoC that haven't aged that well, when you compare them with some of the options that have emerged in other BRP-style games. A few tweaks would be nice - from what has basically remained unchanged in ~30 years.

Quote from: Reckall;627331Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

I absolutely love this game, but to call it flawless...? For one, I don't think there's any mention of opposed skill rolls. You're either not supposed to use them, or handle them applying "common sense" and house rules.
I wouldn't call this sucking, though.

I like MHRP, but milestones and unlockables are time consuming to get right and at the moment I'm considering ripping them out and coming up with an alternate xp system or just leaving it out entirely and going with a session based thing like the Leverage game.

Amber Diceless RPG upsets player's immersion sensibilities.

Because there is no big-number-heavy character sheet to hide behind; "It's not me, it's the character!" when you're doing back-stabbery and mischief, can be harder to justify.

You need a very mature group not to take Amber too personally.

//Panjumanju

Lets see.

Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP): No support for differing power levels, it could use a pass to clean up the superpowers, limitations are somewhat more absurdly limiting than most comic book superhero limits on powers. It is also sadly OOP, and was printed as a softcover set of books rather than sturdy hardcovers. (Imagine an AD&D1E early print hardcover of this game..seriously.)

Talislanta 4e: Common complaint is no character construction system, just archtypes, but that is fine by me. My complaint is that it needs a quickstart primer for the players since the world is FULL of so much. That's about it really.

I won't do my own games, even though they surpass these, because as a designer I know far too many of their flaws.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;627369I absolutely love this game, but to call it flawless...? For one, I don't think there's any mention of opposed skill rolls. You're either not supposed to use them, or handle them applying "common sense" and house rules.
I wouldn't call this sucking, though.

Wait, what?

My trusty old copy of 5.5e has the BRP opposed roll resolution table (the good old Resistance Table) at page 50.

Basic Fantasy Roleplaying (BFRPG) sticks a bit too close to its roots. It adds in good stuff like ascending AC, but keeps things like crappy thief skill percentages because that's how it used to be done. I don't mind percentages, but when your average skill is 20%, what's the point?

They also won't add more than the regular D&D races (human, elf, dwarf, and halfling). I'd love to see a few more included.

A few more armor types would also be nice.

Star Wars SAGA Edition

Great game, non-Jedi and Jedi characters can be in the same group without much friction (unless you introduce a bunch of splats), ascending defense and offense by level means that you'll need to do minimal rules tinkering to make characters level-appropriate.

Flaws:

Skill Focus (Use the Force) is overpowered at early levels, so is the Force Lightning Power.  Certain talents are very useful (Deflect for Jedi, Fool's Luck for Scoundrels), others very weak and/or situational.  Same for skills (I can't recall ever using Endurance, yet Initiative and Perception are vital).

Game designers haven't extensively play-tested high-level combat, and I've heard that there's some bugs and unexpected stuff up which can slow down the game.

Unless your PC's starship has a lot of gunnery positions and/or miniature fighter pilots, it's possible that PCs may sit out the cool starship battles.

Quote from: Reckall;627331Speaking of flawless games, I can't seem to find a flaw in Call of Cthulhu.

Even my group that loves CoC finds the advancement mechanism problematic.

Quote from: The Butcher;627403Wait, what?

My trusty old copy of 5.5e has the BRP opposed roll resolution table (the good old Resistance Table) at page 50.

Er, if you are talking about the resistance table I know of, that handles opposed ATTRIBUTES instead of opposed skills.

Elfquest had a method of getting opposed skill checks out of BRP, but it didn't work all that great IIRC.

Fringeworthy, FTL2448, Bureau 13

Fun settings, invocative material, easy to play.  

What?  Easy to play?  Have you seen those rules?  It looks like a puppy shreded the manuscript and the just shoveled it all together.  There is very little organization in the rules.  Note true.  There is a great organiztion, IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THE RULES.  

And really, the skill system and a bulk of the game runs on ONE CHART of skill difficulties.  Rather than being pointed out or heralded as important, it is always burried between the character creation and some other unrelated subsection.