Best Modern Game System

[C. Baize]

Usually people want "realistic" gunfire rules when they've made a sniper's or machine gun nest and want to riddle some enemy with gunfire with impunity.

When they get shot alot, they desire them less.

It's a balancing act, always, between realism and playability. Hell, for most people, "realism" is tied far too heavily into "the myth of the gun" to be realistic. What they want is "hyper-kewl".

Getting shot sucks. Getting stabbed, slashed, poisoned, crushed, and beaten up sucks too. Any realistic fighting system just wouldn't be alot of fun to play because every part of it would seriously suck for your character from the word go. Action penalties from adrenaline, shock, stunning, random situations where one guy gets shot a half dozen times and keeps coming while the guy next to you drops from a shot in the leg. Or situations where your character gets hit and survives for five, ten, fifteen minutes but nothing anybody can do keeps him from dying anyway as he bleeds out from internal injuries ... boy THAT'S fun times.

--fje

Yeah. Realistic firearms rules don't really make for fun gaming in my opinion. I want cinematic rules, thanks.
When my hero gets shot in the gut, if he survives I don't want him to have to carry around a colostomy bag, or something... and RPing a person who's had a destroyed organ or two removed, and is thus permanently disabled because of it, or at the very least medicated .... well... Not so much.
I'll take cinematic. Shot to the shoulder with the bullet lodged in?
"It's just a flesh wound! Suck it up!"
I'd even take knockback rules (as unrealistic as they are) over organ removal rules... ya know?

 

[EditorBFG]

I do like d20's character customibility, although I do prefer a point based build system like GURPS. I'm surprised that D&D hasn't gone to something similar -- after all it seems silly that they keep adding new base classes and prestige classes to the system just for the sake of giving the character a few different "talents".

Big Finger Games' POSTMODERN line was designed with an eye for the sort of detailed Modern d20 character creation you describe. The whole line was prompting by our noticing that our 1st level Modern characters seemed, well, kind of lame, and we went forward with the idea that every player should think his character is cool, in some way; maybe not powerful or even necessarily cinematic, but interesting and resonant in a way that was reflected in game stats as well the overall story.

The Versatile Hero, especially, might suit you: it is as close to point-buy as d20 can get and retain real balance among characters. And unlike other point-buy systems, The Versatile Hero is designed to completely immune to abuse by power gamers.

Besides our stuff, the aforementioned RPO products are great, as are Grim Tales and Spycraft.

As for firearms, a house rule I've been toying with is halving Massive Damage Thresholds against ballistic damage. Simple but it does the job if you want guns to be deadlier/more realistic.

 

[solkan_uk]

Does that make me one of those die-hard mac owners who refuse to sully themselves with Windows?

 

[Eosin the Red]

HERO... Dark Champions is tailor made for the spy genre. I have been playing in a vigilante campaign for more than a decade (two seperate campaigns, actually). GURPs is another good choice and I have heard some good stuff about Spycraft.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"modern arsenal"? are you refering to weapons locker?

Yeah...that's the one- I didn't have the thing in front of me and couldn't recall the name...

Oh, BTW- Macintosh Æturnus!

 

[Stormborn]

Unknown Armies

Unknown Armies is a pretty specific modern game to do a very specific thing. Everything is percentile based and the feats/skills are pretty much do it yourself. Its a game oriented toward postmodern magic and horror and thus has a very complex system for psychological effects. If a PC was shot, for example, and if they survived (firearms do unique damage that is very significant) they would not only take the physical damage, but have to make a check related to experiancing the violence and face the consequences of that. Of the things the OP asked about:

"What I would like to see in a modern game system is the following:
- tailorability of characters (unique characters -- such as through the use of edges/feats/advantages/classes/achetypes
- a comprehensive skill list
- realistic-as-possible firearms rules
- balanced character health system -- can take a few hits without dying, yet the fear of being shot is always a concern.
- a balance between simple and complex rules. (ie: Savage Worlds setting is a little too simple of a ruleset for us)."

I would say that the comprehensive skill list is the only one thats not there, but thats becuase you can make up your own. It has a significant fan base on the net so there is lots of material out there. Even if you dont want to play a game involving supernatural horror or magic I think it can work with the right group. Our group wasn't it. One person hated the do-it-yourself skill set and another hated modern games in general. But it might be worth you checking out.

 

[Urizen]

I think, for the most part, True20 will suit the needs of a modern game system quite well.

With conditions in place of HP, gun fire can be very dangerous.

 

[Flynn]

A Vote For Grim Tales...

Personally, I'd suggest Grim Tales by Bad Axe Games.
1. The character creation system is very versatile.
2. The system is designed with various levels of grittiness vs. cinematic style, so you can run the kind of game you want, just by selecting the number of skulls to represent the danger level.
3. It's compatible with D20 Modern, so you can use D20 Modern creatures and adventures with limited or no adjustments. Heck, you can use any D20 creature or adventure without too much difficulty.

I've been using it to run a number of things, most notably a Planetary Romance campaign based on those old Sword & Planet pulps from the early days of science fiction, and it's worked wonders. It is my favorite D20 system to date (though I'm very impressed with True20, too.)

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

 

[hobgoblin]

[imager]http://www.thele.com/TheLeGames/images/tn/U.Modern.Cheerleader_tn200w.jpg[/imager]Kor, I sent you a free copy of Unorthodox Modern Cheerleaders, in case you and your group decide to try the d20 modern route.

`Le

wtf? of all the "unortodox" books...

nice cover tho

 

[papakee]

Nobody has mentioned the Cthulhu rules (or BRP) with/without SAN thrown out.

A few pluses and negatives...

Pluses:
Gunfire will get you dead real quick.
Wounds do not heal over night, expect to stay in the hospital for a while.
Lots of skills (although some do overlap).
Customizable characters (they are just combinations of skills available).
Advancement based upon skill level and usage.
Negatives:
Magic system setup for horror
Combat is somewhat abstract
Long term character growth is somewhat overlooked