Tell what you want/like in a Diceless game.
Crothian
First Post
How about Dread? Which I think is the best of the diceless games. 
Nobolis is a great book to read and has very interesting concepts but the play left something to be desired. It was a con game and wasn't that well focused when I played.
Amber has a very rich setting and the novels it comes from are very cool. Play works well if the players get it and aren't looking to one up each other. But when everyone starts walking the Shadow trail as well as the regula one and wanting evertthing for their characters it can break down.
I've not played the other three.
Nobolis is a great book to read and has very interesting concepts but the play left something to be desired. It was a con game and wasn't that well focused when I played.
Amber has a very rich setting and the novels it comes from are very cool. Play works well if the players get it and aren't looking to one up each other. But when everyone starts walking the Shadow trail as well as the regula one and wanting evertthing for their characters it can break down.
I've not played the other three.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Dread really is the best of the diceless games that I've played; tying character success to player skill is ingenious, especially when the mechanic of pulling Jenga blocks sets your heart a-thumping. My body's involuntary reactions to the tension actually makes my character feel more scared as well. I think it's the only game I know where the resolution mechanic actually makes the adventure better.
In comparison, Marvel SAGA (the second version of the game, which used cards) is tremendously fun but not too different than using dice. The card mechanic effectively gives you 3-5 pre-rolled dice rolls that you can use in whatever order you want, along with a trumping mechanism that gives you the chance of boosting your rolls toludicrous superheroic levels. This was my favorite superhero RPG until Mutants & Masterminds came along, and I still love it. Its major downfall is that creating a non-Marvel hero isn't well supported.
Amber Diceless is a diceless system that is gloriously matched with its fiction; the bidding and trumping mechanic that allows you to pick your stats exactly mirrors the books by Zelazny. In the Amber universe the smarter (or stronger, or more agile) person will always prevail over a lesser relative in a straight contest. There's an auction at the beginning of the game, and generally you can be best in one stat or second best in several, and you'll want to pick your alliances accordingly so you don't find yourself trying to swordfight your brother who happens to be the best swordfighter in the world. Luckily, thinking creatively and drawing resources from the multiverse can help make up for any weaknesses. Not everyone likes this sort of a backstabbing, manipulative game, but I love how the rules work.
In comparison, Marvel SAGA (the second version of the game, which used cards) is tremendously fun but not too different than using dice. The card mechanic effectively gives you 3-5 pre-rolled dice rolls that you can use in whatever order you want, along with a trumping mechanism that gives you the chance of boosting your rolls to
Amber Diceless is a diceless system that is gloriously matched with its fiction; the bidding and trumping mechanic that allows you to pick your stats exactly mirrors the books by Zelazny. In the Amber universe the smarter (or stronger, or more agile) person will always prevail over a lesser relative in a straight contest. There's an auction at the beginning of the game, and generally you can be best in one stat or second best in several, and you'll want to pick your alliances accordingly so you don't find yourself trying to swordfight your brother who happens to be the best swordfighter in the world. Luckily, thinking creatively and drawing resources from the multiverse can help make up for any weaknesses. Not everyone likes this sort of a backstabbing, manipulative game, but I love how the rules work.
Marvel Universe, from what I remember, is pretty cunningly designed to make play "by the numbers" an interesting proposition. Unlike in Amber (IMO, at least), it is feasible to pit two characters against each other in a brawl without a GM.
To do something, you first need enough factors (strength, skill, or whatever is applicable) to beat the Difficulty. Then you need to spend enough Energy to beat the Resistance.
A key here is that you can Energy up to 3 times your Health stored up at one time, but regenerate only Stones (points) equal to your Health per Page ("round" of Panels, or player "turns"). So, things can get tense when you want to do more than you can do sustainably.
Suppose you start topped up with 9 Energy, but you're spending 5 per Page and getting only 3 back. After 3 Pages, you have only 3 Energy. Spending all of that is not enough to keep you from getting hit. Losing a point of Health means you regenerate only 2 Energy (up to a maximum of 6).
There are a couple of pages giving benchmarks for all sorts of stuff in general categories -- along the lines of the several pages giving FASERIP benchmarks in the original Marvel Super Heroes RPG.
On one level, I like how neat it is. On another level, I find that it draws my attention more to the mechanics (especially relative to the fast-action, "just roll the dice and see what happens", quick-and-dirtiness of MSH).
To do something, you first need enough factors (strength, skill, or whatever is applicable) to beat the Difficulty. Then you need to spend enough Energy to beat the Resistance.
A key here is that you can Energy up to 3 times your Health stored up at one time, but regenerate only Stones (points) equal to your Health per Page ("round" of Panels, or player "turns"). So, things can get tense when you want to do more than you can do sustainably.
Suppose you start topped up with 9 Energy, but you're spending 5 per Page and getting only 3 back. After 3 Pages, you have only 3 Energy. Spending all of that is not enough to keep you from getting hit. Losing a point of Health means you regenerate only 2 Energy (up to a maximum of 6).
There are a couple of pages giving benchmarks for all sorts of stuff in general categories -- along the lines of the several pages giving FASERIP benchmarks in the original Marvel Super Heroes RPG.
On one level, I like how neat it is. On another level, I find that it draws my attention more to the mechanics (especially relative to the fast-action, "just roll the dice and see what happens", quick-and-dirtiness of MSH).
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TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
There is a difference between "diceless" games that use some sort of mechanic to resolve things and "randomless" games, such as Amber that essentially uses "GM Fiat" to resolve everything.
It can be very difficult for traditional D&D players to play a game like Amber where they must essentially cede control of the results to the GM; I have seen this about a half-dozen times in the past ten years. But Amber games can be immensely fun and are often incredibly creative.
One game that hasn't been mentioned yet is Castle Falkenstein. It used playing cards and was pretty fun although it was frustrating to have a good "hand" and have to discard it because someone else played an Ace.
It can be very difficult for traditional D&D players to play a game like Amber where they must essentially cede control of the results to the GM; I have seen this about a half-dozen times in the past ten years. But Amber games can be immensely fun and are often incredibly creative.
One game that hasn't been mentioned yet is Castle Falkenstein. It used playing cards and was pretty fun although it was frustrating to have a good "hand" and have to discard it because someone else played an Ace.
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
Diceless Roleplaying Game Rules - links
I like diceless games because they frequently end up being more descriptive and more vivid because describing how your character attempts things becomes more important.
Designing a diceless game is for me about coming up with a language for doing just that.
Marvel Universe Role Playing Game can be played entirely without game master (but that is so not going to be interesting because situational modifiers are really what enable things to match the genre and feel cool as well as being truly in the setting... and really are GM driven here is my supplement I made for it).
Amber is at the other end of the spectrum mechanically and both very diceless.
Nobilis and Amber are god class gaming but Active Exploits is certainly more oriented towards more every day folk.
Amber had methods for shaking up what might be called very absolutist mechanics but they were very free form... Theatrix introduced non free form ways of arbitration via a player points mechanic which rather leads to the game Fate
Games like fate/fudge start out with dice but the dice are such a supplement on top of player choices that it is more than a little natural to drop back to diceless ironic because Fate was inspired by wanting to add dice to Amber.
I like diceless games because they frequently end up being more descriptive and more vivid because describing how your character attempts things becomes more important.
Designing a diceless game is for me about coming up with a language for doing just that.
Marvel Universe Role Playing Game can be played entirely without game master (but that is so not going to be interesting because situational modifiers are really what enable things to match the genre and feel cool as well as being truly in the setting... and really are GM driven here is my supplement I made for it).
Amber is at the other end of the spectrum mechanically and both very diceless.
Nobilis and Amber are god class gaming but Active Exploits is certainly more oriented towards more every day folk.
Amber had methods for shaking up what might be called very absolutist mechanics but they were very free form... Theatrix introduced non free form ways of arbitration via a player points mechanic which rather leads to the game Fate
Games like fate/fudge start out with dice but the dice are such a supplement on top of player choices that it is more than a little natural to drop back to diceless ironic because Fate was inspired by wanting to add dice to Amber.
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GrimGent
First Post
Nobilis essentially runs on a roll-over system that just replaces the random chance of dice with resource management, according to the idea that as demigods the PCs operate on absolute terms and never have doubts about what they by all rights should be capable of. However, Nobles may still nevertheless have qualms over whether those actions are right, or hesitate before wasting their strength on trivialities when it might be better off saved for later. While there's rather little that they can't accomplish as long as they put enough effort into it, their decisions will also always lead to logical (and often unexpected) consequences, and that's what typically drives the course of events during actual play. The drawback of having all that prestige and significance is that Nobles really can't do the slightest thing without attracting attention or stepping on someone's toes: it all matters.
GrimGent
First Post
Moving beyond the games mentioned in the OP, I happen to be familiar with two Finnish RPGs which aren't based on randomizers of any kind: Stalker and Hiljaisuuden Vangit ("Prisoners of Silence").
In the challenge system used by Stalker, the GM rates both the concept of the attempted action and how it's actually roleplayed out on a scale from one to five (with a possible bonus from some applicable ability), multiplying those values with each other and then comparing the result to a set difficulty level. A player who doesn't wish to leave everything up to the GM's discretion can also instead choose to spend a point from an appropriate attribute in exchange for a "favour" (for example, automatic success in a challenge, guaranteed survival in a dangerous situation, or a sudden stroke of luck). These lost attribute points refresh between sessions.
In Hiljaisuuden Vangit, the players never learn the crunchy details of their characters at all, only how those are presented in the setting. During chargen, everyone in the group fills in an official "surveillance report" on their PCs, and the GM then secretly converts that information into traditional statistics. In this fashion, you might know the results of your character's most recent medical examination and where he went to school, his hobbies and political affiliations and so on, but not, say, how high his Body attribute or Drive skill are. So all decisions to act must inevitably be based on IC knowledge alone, while the mechanical side of things is handled solely by the GM.
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
Even when a "description" of an action is used to determine what the resolution is that doesn't mean its necessarily a very subjective GM's call...
Narrative presentation might be like.
"He decides to take heavy risks in an attempt to resolve this quickly and does a last minute doe in the head lights and a real burst of speed to sucker the enemy in to hurting or over extending themselves it might take a bit of luck to make this come together but he's not worried.
The mechanics which back it can be....
Im goint to takes some real risk with 5 points and spend 2 points of luck I will add in my skill and which allocat the results in to 1 pt of deception and 3 points of speed and 3 points worth of perception. And these factors are compared to what the opposition does using non-transitive elements ie stuff the player doesnt really know but the GM decided about the enemies plan of action to determine the outcome.
Narrative presentation might be like.
"He decides to take heavy risks in an attempt to resolve this quickly and does a last minute doe in the head lights and a real burst of speed to sucker the enemy in to hurting or over extending themselves it might take a bit of luck to make this come together but he's not worried.
The mechanics which back it can be....
Im goint to takes some real risk with 5 points and spend 2 points of luck I will add in my skill and which allocat the results in to 1 pt of deception and 3 points of speed and 3 points worth of perception. And these factors are compared to what the opposition does using non-transitive elements ie stuff the player doesnt really know but the GM decided about the enemies plan of action to determine the outcome.
GrimGent
First Post
That's not so very different from how the same action could be described and would be resolved in a diced system, is it? Or, for that matter, how physical and mental feats function in Nobilis as miracles of Aspect. In those cases, resource management has been substituted for the conventional randomizers, but they might still conceivably be added into the actual resolution stage without too much trouble.
On the other hand, something like Hiljaisuuden Vangit really operates along different assumptions, by intentionally minimizing the element of "metagaming" and encouraging purely in-character approaches to problems during play. The player may not necessarily even know which stats exist in the game. He wouldn't have access to precise ratings on Deception, Perception and Speed, for example: just the knowledge that the character, say, makes a habit of cheating on Friday poker nights, often wears glasses as he suffers from slight near-sightedness, and used to be a long distance runner at high school.
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