Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollonian
It may take some digging to find a copy, but there's the old Fuzion system that was partially based on Mekton Zeta and... BTRC? I think? It's interesting to take a look at.
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Fuzion was Hero System and CP2020; there are significant differences between Interlock games' damage systems, and it's closer overall to that in CP2020 than in Mekton (any). And it was RTalsorian Games, not BTRC.
Speaking of BTRC, however...
CORPS - d10's only, reduced rolling, gridded combat. Still available, but no longer devloped.
EABA - d6's only, standard amounts of rolling, roll stat+skill dice, keep 3. Lots of "build your setting" (I was a playtester for EABA 1E - porting Traveller to EABA was a cinch... Dice codes run the same ranges as in D6 star wars, too...)
Things I've run recently I'd recommend:
Alien (Fria Ligan)- captures the setting beautifully.
Star Trek Adventures (with the caveat: Limit threat generation by players, especially munchkins)
FFG Star Wars
FFG's L5R 5E
MWP's (oop) Marvel Heroic RP, Firefly RPG
Sentinel Comics
2d20 system (Star Trek Adventures, Conan: Adventures in an Age undreamed of, John Carter of Mars, Mutant Chronicles 3e, Dune) appeals due to the constant ebb and flow of bad juju. It has a big flaw - threat/doom generation is in fact unlimited, while stored momentum is limited... so players can spend themselves into short term success and long term failure. the smaller flaw is no incentive to fess up to 20's on the dice (generating complications) so the ethically challenged create a problem with the intended playstyle. Other than those, it's a good game engine, adapted well.
FFG's Star Wars does nifty things with the custom dice. FFG's generic version, Genesys, makes few changes outside character gen. It fits the tone well. I've some major issues with the scale rules, but not big enough ones to prevent a recommend.
I love L5R overall, and L5R 5 really makes the dice matter... in ways similar to, but not the same as, Star Wars. It's a tight design, but with lots of variation even in starting characters. No campaigns of it I've been involved with made it past rank 4, tho'...
Alien: The Year Zero Engine is an award winner, and Alien shows why. In Cinematic mode, the tension is there. S*** is happeneing, NOW!!!
In campaign mode, there are aliens out there... and sooner or later you're going to run across them... assuming the rigors of spacers' lives don't drive you off the deep end first! The stress rules are a really powerful bit of feel for this one. Am about to start a Vaessen game.
Sentinel Comics - The is one of the best narrativist games out there. Technically, it's an outgrowth from the Apocalyse world approach (no difficulties, universal breakpoints in successes). But it's also just a touch gamist, and it plays well. Need 3 standard poly sets, tho'.
Cortex Plus - Firefly, Marvel Heroic... bad rolls get you metacurrency and plot complications together, so players prone to misreads tend to do so less.. Build a pool, roll it, keep 2 for success, and the number of sides on a third die is the damage. (In Firefly, you have to spend a "plot point" to not be taken out by a successful attack... )
There is a trend here. I long ago realized that GURPS' simulationism wasn't workign for me, especially not melee. As I aged, I've moved more and more towards games that mechanically direct the story more than resolve character actions, but I also know few can handle that full bore narrativist stuff.
If you want to try it, I recommend Blood & Honor, which is a samurai game, over Houses of the Blooded. Both are build pool, set some aside, roll remainder - highest roll picks success or failure, and gets to make a "Yes, and" or "Yes, but"; everyone else, in descending roll order, makes a "Yes, and" or "yes, but", spending two of the dice set aside unrolled. Once everyone who rolled high enough has done one, repeat for those with dice remaining in their set asides, until it's all spent.