Rule-lite or Rule-heavy describe THE perfect ideal ruleset

[The Sigil]

Ignoring the fact I've just described the original D&D Cyclopedia to a tee :grin:, I rate ST Cooley's OGL Fantasy Lite booklet over at http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2748 to be about the best ultra lite d20 character generation there is. Perfect for one-shot intro games, and small enough to slip into a side pocket for weekend-away gaming. The only fault with it is that there's no smattering of monsters included - Add in 20-odd core critters (goblin, orc, blink dog, gnoll, troll, beholder, dragon and the rest), and it's a complete game in an A5 booklet. That's an easy thing to fix though.

It is an easy thing to fix... in fact, I'm currently working up the companion volume to the Player's Guide you linked to - a GM's guide. Right now, I am looking to include the following:

1 - Monsters
2 - Treasure
3 - Traps
4 - A Sample Dungeon
5 - A few odd examples and some notes for higher-level characters.

Like the Player's Guide, I will ruthlessly cut to keep it 64 pages or less. If all goes well, I should have it ready by the end of the year - hopefully sooner, but I am in the process of a move both at home and at work, and so I will have very little time to work on it until escrow is well underway and we're moved.

--The Sigil

 

[greywulf]

WooHoo! Sigil, that would be just plain fantastic to see. Home and worklife comes first, of course, but I'll be waiting with bated breath for this to come out.

Good work!

 

[weasel fierce]

allright, I'll list it off, and you tell me which game Im thinking of.


Unified resolution mechanic

No restrictions as to what your character can become, regardless of how you start out.

Skill system

Realistic and violent combat

Several different magic systems

Both ability scores and skills can be improved

Every humanoid race is a playable character

Experience works by directly improving skills used.

Magic is not arbitrarily restricted, just because you made the wrong choice at creation

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Raveneye, rambling is good, especially when the ramlbe makes as much sense as yours did. Thank you!

Sounds to me like we're reaching a point where what we're after is pretty much d20 with a slightly lighter, more consistent rules set, an acceptance the the GM and players are intelligent enough to work things out for themselves, and enough flexibility to adapt to their rules needs.

Sounds good to me!

That's definitely what I am after for sure. But in the end, that's something that can be done by houseruling the existing system. Contrary to popular belief, cutting out stuff from D&D 3E is nearly as easy as adding stuff to, for example, C&C. Eliminate AoO and take 5 minutes to evaluate if you want to eliminate the attached feats, or quickly change them to keep them in the game, for example. Won't take that long. Change initiative system? Not that much work. Replace HP with WP/VP? Armor with damage conversion? Is actually easy. Only little headache is subdual damage in that case. In my opinion, there is too much emphasis on the finest details in discussions around rule changes in D&D 3E. If I had to worry about every tiny consequence a rule alteration could have before I made it, I'd either be jobless...or a game designer. As a DM, I worry about them when they pop up, and deal with them at that point.

 

[greywulf]

Yups, definitely, Raveneye. I do much the same too, happily tossing out what I don't like and pulling in what I do. IMG, anything is open to request, and I'm happy to pull in optional rules, races, feats, etc from wherever, provided some kind of campaign logic can be found. It's only a game, after all, and so long as the players are having a good time, I'm going my job as DM.

That said, I would love to see published a minimalist zen d20, containing only the barest rules and nothing more. Some kind of agreed common ground onto which us gamers can build. The SRD goes a long way to providing that, though even that is getting fat from too much good living

Mind you, I'm not complaining at all - more is definitely good!

 

[Nomad4life]

If I tried to describe my ideal gaming system, it would just be a description of Mutants & Masterminds, but with more more options to run both fantasy campagins, and grim modern horror campagins. (Essentially, what I think True 20 will become after the official settings are in place.)

 

[LostSoul]

Here's what I think I would like:

A character creation system where you can play any concept (fitting the genre) that you want.

A simple, unified resolution system. Something like d20 + mods vs DC - but without all the added rules that you find in D&D (like feats and spells).\

Done and done.

 

[Pants]

What I want in a system (two BIG things):
Consistent Mechanics: d20 has a fairly universal system. Roll a d20 + whatever modifiers to beat a Target Number. Sure, you use other dice for HP and damage rolls, but for the most part, d20 has a very consistent mechanic. WHFRP looks pretty consistent too (from what I've read).

Flexibility: The game should be flexible enough so that I can build my character the way I want. Classes like the Fighter, Wizard, and Rogue epitomize very flexible classes (the d20 Modern classes and the CoC 'classes' also fit the bill). The Druid, the Barbarian, and the Paladin are 'inflexible' in my eyes.
The game should also be flexible enough to accomodate worlds of differing power levels (say the Malazan world vs. the Seven Kingdoms in GRRM's world). The game should also be able to adequately do different lethalities (D&D heroic HP vs WH 'a dog kills your veteran warrior' style).
It's even better if the system can handle different genres! The ultimate in flexibility!

 

[Ry]

Can be taught within 20 minutes

A flexible, universal core mechanic that is truly used for everything (that is, no different resolution mechanics for damage) and is easy to interpret and gauge (i.e. higher is better)

Leaves plenty of room for DM's interpretation in-game

Uses only d6es (most commonly available and require relatively simple scales)

Provides plenty of options and customizations for enhancing character definition without necessarily making all of those options rule-oriented

(I get this mix by having players think up d20-with-any-splatbook characters, and then using my uber-simple 2d6-based system to mimic that)

 

[Quicken]

In my ideal rules set there'd be one key inclusion:

An index.

Nothing annoys me more than when people put out a rule book without one. Thank god most d20 products are not that bad.