Being the nerdly nerd that I am, some buddies and I are making pen and paper RPGs and since we want one of them to be universal I ask you guys,

– What kind of crazy **** would you like to see rules for in the systems you play?

– What kind of crazy **** did you find awesome in systems you play?

– What kind of basic things tend to be missing?

Basically just trying to make sure we aren’t missing anything in our rules set.

And while we’re here, what is your fav Pen and Paper RPG system and why?

Yeah, GURPS is one of the best plug & play systems ever. Sometimes it was a bit ponderous, simply because you can do so much stuff.

As far as what I like, mechanically, I prefer a system that has a fairly straightforward character creation system, without having to check multiple tables all the time. I like a building point system instead of random rolls, and a tier-based branching system of skills.

I.E., Intelligence > Linguisitics > Latin

Say the character encounters a loose page in a library, written in Latin.

A high Intelligence stat gives you a small chance to decipher Latin, perhaps at least the gist of the message. ”Danger ahead!”

A medium to high skill level in Linguistics gives you a moderate chance to decipher Latin, but perhaps not the subtleties. ”Warning: One of the doors ahead is dangerous!”

The Latin skill lets you automatically decipher the message, and depending on the skill level, perhaps notice a subtle clue.

Warning: The left door in the hallway ahead of you is trapped with poison dart in the keyhole.

Too many specific rules can overweigh a system. A solid general system, with flexibility for both player & GM creativity, is what I prefer.

Eh, I agree on the fact the GURPS was not too plug an play. Probably the reason why I was always the GM at my games. But it is alot of fun, once you get it down, but it does take a time or two, to get used to it. They do have a magic system (and a system for everything else! I personally have the info for Vampire, Werewolf, Car-wars {think Road Warrior/Mad Maxx}, Connan the Barbarian, Steampunk, as well as the books for Magic, and Psyonics), but I do think it is a bit flawed.

As for a RPG that is generic and only about 200 pages, good luck. You might just want to take a good system you know, and tweak it. Unless, you can look other places, like finding an old Warhammer Fantasy RPG box set or maybe even an old Space Hulk set. Both of these come with figs and cardboard dungeon sets.

Well, when I said ‘plug & play’, I meant that each subset of rules easily integrates into each other. If you wanted to play a horror game that had Vampire Nazis, you could use those two books and combine them together.

At least, that’s how I remember it. I don’t think I’ve played GURPS in about 15 years.

I agree with l33t, that a miniatures based game would be your best starting point for simple straightforward rules.

Also, if you want to keep the gameplay simple, you should allow for most mundane tasks to be easily completed, and the ability to occasionally auto-succeed at some medium level difficulty tasks. The concept of ‘Hero Points’ or ‘Action Points’ has been used in a number of games. I adapted them when I was running my D20 Spycraft game. If you spent one point, you used it normally, which usually meant rolling an extra die to add to your chance of success. But if you spent 2 points, then I allowed for an automatic (but non-Critical) success, even if it was combat related, even if it was used/declared after the roll. If the roll had been a critical failure, then spending 1 point allowed you to ignore the ‘1 always fails’ rule, and if your bonuses plus your roll would have let you succeed, you did so anyways, or at least avoid a critical failure.

I.E., Johnny Maxx, a high level secret-agent, is trying to escape the detention complex he just infiltrated, He’s got the data disk he was ordered to retrieve, and needs to get past a computerized lock without alerting the guards. He has a Computer Hacking skill of +15, and the lock’s security program has a DC of 20. Because the character is running out of time, he can’t ‘Take 10’ which would normally be an auto success. So he tries to get through quickly, and rolls a 1, a critical failure. Normally, this would lock up the security program and disallow any re-attempts. But the player spends one Hero Point, so that it’s just a simple failure,and he can try again. The second time, he rolls a 5, which is enough to beat the security program and unlock the main gate.

If he had spent 2 Hero Points the first time, he would have gotten through on the first attempt.

The only exception to this was high DC situations (DC was 11+ above the character skill, were ‘Taking 10’ wouldn’t work), or ‘boss battles’. I did this so that the players had a greater chance for success during the mid-game, but they still had to face the major challenges without any ‘crutches’. I found that it sped the game up quite a bit, and also was a great tool for encouraging good roleplaying, since I would award fresh points at the end of each session based on performance. It also gave everything a more heroic feel, since it was unlikely (although not impossible) that a character would be taken out of the game due to some bad luck.

Another aspect is also what primary dice system (unless you’re going dice-less) you want to use. This can change the level of appeal to many players. Everyone can scrounge up D6s, but some more ‘advanced players’ will turn their noses up at anything that doesn’t use D10s or D20s. Of course, regardless of what dice you pick, your game will be compared & contrasted to previous games that used the same dice.

Then there’s the question of single versus multi dice for resolution. I like both systems, but for obvious reasons, a single die is a simpler & faster system.

I’d love to see a D10 system, with a stat system based on that as well.

Basic idea:

You have a primary stat (Strength, Intelligence, etc.) rated from 0-10. For example, a strength of 10 is the maximum that any unaided human can attain (short of cybernetics, magic, drugs, etc.)

Then, you have skills & talents. These are also rated from 0-10.

Finally, you have Specializations, also rated from 0-10.

Instead of adding these together, you get bonuses/penalties based on how appropriate your stat/skill/specialization is to the situation.

Going back to my example above, let’s bumume that Johnny Maxx is trying to get past that computer lock again.

He has an Intelligence of 6 (slightly above average), a Security skill of 7, and a Computer Security specialization of 5. This particular situation falls directly under that specialization, so that’s the most appropriate number to use. But it’s lower than the other two, so why use it?

Because using a less appropriate ability results in a penalty. For each ‘tier’ above the required level, there is a -4 penalty. This means that if Johnny Maxx tried to use his Security skill alone, he would be acting at a value of 3 (7 minus 4). And if he tried to use his Intelligence alone, he would act at -2 (6 minus 8)

Now to determine success, we look at the Difficulty Level of the lock. In this case, it’s a 10. Not unbeatable, even by someone without the specialty, but not a walk in the park.

Now we’ll see the added benefit of Specialization.

Normally, you would roll 1D10 and add it with the appropriate value to determine success. However, a Specialization allows you to roll 2D6 instead, if you choose. The obvious benefits are that you have a higher minimum & maximum result, and that you are more likely to have a mid-range result than anything else. This represents your mastery of that particular area of study, even at lower levels.

So, Johny Maxx can choose to roll 1d10 -2 (Stat), 1d10 +3(Skill), or 2d6 +5(Specialty). It’s pretty obvious which one he’ll choose.

This system also ignores automatic successes simply because of a maximum roll on the die. It does, however, allow you to ‘explode’ a die if you roll a maximum result, by using a Hero Point. If Johnny had to use only his Intelligence Stat in the above situation, and he rolled a 10 (modified to an 8), it’s still not enough to beat the 10 needed. But by spending an action point, he can add roll that 1D10 again, and have a chance of success (2 or higher). So, in this situation, an untrained individual with a slightly above normal Intelligence facing a difficult situation, has in essence, a 2% chance of success, so long as they expend some of their ‘Luck/Karma/Chi’ in the form of a Hero Point.

But an individual that was a Master of Computer Security (9+)wouldn’t even have to roll, because even on a 1, they still beat the computer system’s Difficulty Level of 10.

Other factors can apply, such as equipment or bumistance or additional time. And perhaps the untrained success above simply results in deactivating the lock, but not disabling the security alarm. But from this basic system, you can add many adjustments as needed.

Man, I didn’t realize how far I was going with that, heh.