Good Modern Systems

[Jd Smith1]

It's obviously not your bag, but rules that differentiate the use of modern weapons are on page 56 of the Agent's Handbook (single shot, short/long burst, short/long spray).

I know. Pretty much junk.

I dunno what a 'bag' is, but I know how firearms work, and combat shooting.

 

[Committed Hero]

I know. Pretty much junk.

I dunno what a 'bag' is, but I know how firearms work, and combat shooting.

I'm saying you are wrong that selective fire isn't addressed in DG. This is more for others reading the thread who may be misled.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm saying you are wrong that selective fire isn't addressed in DG. This is more for others reading the thread who may be misled.

I didn't say it wasn't. I specifically addressed your statement about the lethality mechanic.

But its good you have the general publics interests at heart.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I gave GURPs another look. I can't deny it, the system is robust and production values are high, but I just cannot go with it. It feels like they hired the same writers the IRS used.

 

[aramis erak]

Why are you no longer a fan?

1. The change in corporate approach to settings
   1. GURPS originally had licensed supplements altering costs to fit the setting
   2. Somewhere around the release of GURPS 2E, it started to go to changing the settings to fit GURPS.
   3. the rationale is that it allows easier crossover/combinations, but then a 500 point super vs a 500 point fantasy mage is almost always going to go to the mage. And yes, I've run games in the 500 point range. and in the 50 point range.
2. the excessiive optimization that breaks concepts as a dominant subcultural feature amongst GURPS fans in the places I encounted them in the 90's - WWIVnet subs and Anchorage gamers.
3. The ranged combat rules don't feel right to me.
4. Blindness and clairvoyance can make for sufficient range to be urban combat effective AND see through walls.
5. While realistic, the beating upon each other often needed in melee is unfun.
   1. GURPS Special Ops has a rule that makes both melee and ranged combats more realistic by involuntary time delays... and that is, IME, MUCH more realistic, even for sparring, but it's also fiddly and unfun.
6. TOO DAMNED MANY SKILLS. (over 200 when accounting for the 3 to 5 TL range in most settings, as in, Modern is TL 5 to 8, depending upon where you are, with some places being as low as TL 3 for most purposes.)
7. After about 1994, I found that I didn't like any of the new worldbooks I got. And most of my old ones were stolen during a move.

Plus, in the 90's, I used Hero and d6 System; in the late 90's, I found CORPS and later playtested EABA. In the late 00's, Cortex Plus. And I finally got Savage Worlds to table last and this year.
I can't think of any setting I would pick GURPS for instead of one of those. And there are many that won't be in any of those, either.

 

[dbm]

I’m another person who was a huge GURPS fan but would rarely run it these days. ‘Too fiddly for me’ is probably the easiest way to summarise how I feel about it now. There is amazing granularity to the system, and huge customisability that that permits. But I don’t personally find that the extra level of granularity increases the fun at the table. So I’m another convert of Savage Worlds. It sacrifices a bit of the granularity but it hits my personal sweet spot between crunchy and smooth.

Another factor is the design baseline of the system. GURPS aims for strong verisimilitude relative to the real world, with associated assumptions around difficulty of actions and so on. In contrast, Savage Worlds aims for a pulp sensibility and so is more permissive in my opinion. And since most all the games I want to run or play have a pulp baseline (pulp fantasy, pulp sci-fi, pulp supers etc.) that make Savage Worlds a better fit for me. GURPS can do it if you apply the right optional rules and so on, but it takes effort to get to the point where Savage Worlds is by default.

Savage Worlds can do more gritty (or more epic) than the pulp baseline if you want it to, but I might still choose GURPS for a game where I wanted to have mechanically distinct characters who are all similar at a more macro level (e.g. a campaign where the party were all university professors). GURPS still excels at games of that kind.

 

[kronovan]

I've found Cepheus Modern, which is based on the Cepheus Engine SRD, to be a good set of rules for modern era RPing. It's not something to consider though if presentation and artwork are a concern, as there's barely any art to speak of and it's a very nuts & bolts, one column layout. It's a considerably simplified version of the CE rules, with core careers reduced to 8 (3 more for casters in the Pyshic Powers and Urban Fantasy chapters) and the skill list pared down to less than half.

There's next to no bestiary, but it includes a robust 5 step process for generating your own animals. There's also 4 pages of alien trait descriptions in the Aliens chapter, which is for modern campaigns that will feature extraterrestrials. Other than what's stated in each skill's listing, rules coverage is limited to combat and hazards, so it's best used in tandem with the free Cepheus Engine SRD PDF.

For the couple of dollars it costs, IMO it offers good value and is a more than decent tool for supporting a modern era campaign or adventures.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I've found Cepheus Modern, which is based on the Cepheus Engine SRD, to be a good set of rules for modern era RPing. It's not something to consider though if presentation and artwork are a concern, as there's barely any art to speak of and it's a very nuts & bolts, one column layout. It's a considerably simplified version of the CE rules, with core careers reduced to 8 (3 more for casters in the Pyshic Powers and Urban Fantasy chapters) and the skill list pared down to less than half.

There's next to no bestiary, but it includes a robust 5 step process for generating your own animals. There's also 4 pages of alien trait descriptions in the Aliens chapter, which is for modern campaigns that will feature extraterrestrials. Other than what's stated in each skill's listing, rules coverage is limited to combat and hazards, so it's best used in tandem with the free Cepheus Engine SRD PDF.

For the couple of dollars it costs, IMO it offers good value and is a more than decent tool for supporting a modern era campaign or adventures.

It doesn't appear to have any tactical depth, advanced weapon design, or any other features of interest.

 

[MNblockhead]

Not to highjack the thread, I'm just wondering how WOIN's (EnWorld's Whats Old Is New) N.O.W. game compares to other modern systems?

 

[Vaslov]

Give EABA v2 a look. Forum has some example of how others have used it for T2000 and other modern settings.

https://www.btrc.net/eabav2-119/eabav2core

Drivethru has a 6 minute video with a quick overview on EABA. Likely enough to give you a gut feel for the system and if it is worth your time digging into more.

DriveThruRPG

preview.drivethrurpg.com

For modern techno thrillers I personally like NBA with the Double Tap expansion. Doesn't match your ask well so probably not a good suggestion for this.