Single mechanics from an RPG you love

[CubicsRube]

Wow. Theres a lot of ideas i like on an individual scale, but if i ever made them into a single system it'd be a frakenstein!

I love adv/disad in 5e. Its easily my favourite thing in 5e for the same reason as [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] above outlined.

I love bennies. It makes heroes seem truly heroic to me and it allows them to turn the tide of fate to their favour.

Im currently digging fria ligans core mechanics of the myz rules. Essentially, roll a 6 and its a success. Roll more 6es and you can use them to buy effects. Simple and elegant.

I adore shadow of the demon lords spell schools and modular classess. In fact next campaign i want to run is curse of strahd converted to that system.

I also enjoy unknown armies 3e shock gauges and trauma rules. I think they are the most realistic and interesting trauma and insanity rules in an rpg period.

Dungeon worlds fronts are great for behind the scene gming.

Shadowruns magic as a skill system woth their risk/reward on castuming at high power levels is the most magicy feeling system i think ivve played in.

I'm sure theres more, but thats what i can remember at the moment!

 

[Afrodyte]

Aspects from FATE. Approaches from FATE: Accelerated Edition.

Issue and Impulse from Primetime Adventures.

I'll have to think about some more.

 

[Eltab]

My original Gamma World character (1st ed, black-and-white box) rolled the mutation Heightened Constitution, and had 100 HP when I was done rolling all the bonus dice. I liked that effect.

Advantage / disadvantage mechanics

From the DM's side, 4e Skill Challenges made you have to think about "what if the group rolls bad" - because you can't just say "If you fail, the story stops." Instead you have to think about new and different (we hope) ways to say "For the rest of the night, it sucks to be you. And you have to go around the long way to your goal."

 

[Ratskinner]

Tough one, as I like a lot of different games for different purposes.

Aspects and the related mechanics of Fate are excellent.

Similarly Approaches beat Attribute hands down.

I also like the Vices mechanic from Blades in the Dark. That seems a great way to add a bit of brokenness to a character.

In the other direction, the initiative system from the Two Hour War Games games is pretty good, too. I wish there was a good way to bring it into D&D.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The STUN/Body mechanic from HERO.

STUN represents all the little temporary damage heroes routinely take, then shrug off to continue the fight. Body represents the real and lasting injuries. Nearly any hit can potentially deliver either kind, but for most PCs, the former is MUCH easier to recover.

And since HERO is so modular, how one’s PC handles STUN & Body can have all kinds of interesting effects on how a character plays.

For instance, a character with a low STUN but high Body might be comically easy to KO...but tough to keep out of future skirmishes. Perfect for an annoyingly mouthy pixie sidekick with a chip on his shoulder.

“Ye think ye’re all tough ‘n’ stuff ‘cause you’re 100 times my size? Well, high-pants, have I got news for ye? PUT UP YER DUKES!!!”

*stompcrunchgrind*

(30 seconds later...)

“Och, ye thought we were DONE, did ye?”

 

[Jacob Lewis]

The core mechanic of the Star Wars Role-playing Games from Fantasy Flight Games (and now Genesys). It is so simple, yet so elegant with the depth and variety of results. It is what video game designers refer to as " an inch deep and a mile wide". Now I look at a d20 like it's a child's toy. There is no going back for me.

 

[Aldarc]

The escalation die from 13th Age works beautifully, and is easy to adopt for any game.

Aspects in Fate are probably the most elegant mechanic I've seen in RPG design.

Combat stunts in Green Robin's age system are really fun and cool.

Agree completely with all three choices!

I would definitely add Fate Accelerated's use of Approaches.

Some honorable mentions:
- 5e D&D: advantage/disadvantage
- Savage Worlds: "roll a 4 or higher to succeed"
- Cypher System: reduce the difficulty of the TN and roll higher (places tension on the dice roll)

 

[CubicsRube]

- Savage Worlds: "roll a 4 or higher to succeed"

That made me remember shadow of the demon lord. All tasks, any tasks are always a 10 to succeed.

The more difficult tasks just have more banes added (kind of like their disadvantage system). No one ever has to ask what the dc of a skill check is.

 

[Aldarc]

That made me remember shadow of the demon lord. All tasks, any tasks are always a 10 to succeed.

The more difficult tasks just have more banes added (kind of like their disadvantage system). No one ever has to ask what the dc of a skill check is.

Yeah, I appreciate elegant mechanics like this that take pressure off the GM and players when it comes to setting difficulties.

 

[nmstoll]

Prestige classes from 3.5