What should I choose for my next system?

[mmadsen]

In the past we tried GURPS. It didn't work because of the advantages and disadvantages system (example: alcoholic character "roll to see if I'm getting drunk.")

That's a...peculiar take on GURPS.

I'm leaning to Basic Roleplaying by Chaosium, but I've heard that Savage Worlds should be up for consideration as well. (Though it seems a little needlessly complex for my tastes as well as incomplete in its Explorer's Edition.)

Needlessly complex? Savage Worlds?

 

[Woas]

From experience, bennies and cards for initiative are the least complex parts of the system.

I do own the explorer's edition. Maybe it's something about the way it's written or presented, but I'm just confused about the rules. I find it far more complex than GURPS or d20. And something about passing out bennies, collecting tokens, and dealing cards ...

I'll check out the test drive and see if it's assembled more logically than the explorer's edition.

 

[timbannock]

nWOD sounds good for this, as stated, but also the Cortex System (Welcome to CORTEXSYSTEMRPG.ORG) would cover what you're looking for, and is pretty simple, though with a fair amount of options and customizability.

It's also available in a single rulebook. Well, the rulebook is coming in the next 2 weeks, but you could pick up the Demon Hunters RPG (same system, just not totally generic) and go with that.

 

[timbannock]

double post

 

[TheNovaLord]

SW isnt complex, BUT I grant you the explorers edition isnt the best rulebook to navigate round

 

[Retreater]

That's a...peculiar take on GURPS.

The Advantages/Disadvantages system in GURPS really rendered the game unplayable with my group, and considering that we do have some of the same gamers present who destroyed my GURPS campaign, I'll need to be very cautious before allowing a similar mechanic in the new campaign.

Seriously, characters with severe alcoholism would get too drunk to go on the missions. Characters with womanizing disadvantages would hit on every attractive woman they saw, even when they were supposed to be a witness in a key investigation.

I've been told that some other GURPS GMs have had similar experiences, though I'm sure it's the exception and not the rule.

Cheap and relatively uncomplicated? Or, at least it's complication you already know? Modern setting? Psionic threats?

Here's the entire d20 Modern system reference document from Wizards' site. d20 ModernSystem Reference Document

It's got everything you're looking for. Plus, you can import anything from D&D that you might need just in case.

If you like it, the investment is still relatively minor; the core rulebook and maybe one or two splatbooks should cover you.

d20 Modern is a good consideration. It's a little on the out-of-print side, but with the SRD, it's a thought. It hasn't exactly worked well with us in the past, but maybe it's worth a re-examination.

What about World of Darkness + Second Sight? Modern setting, psionic abilities, fairly simple rules.

I know very little about World of Darkness except for a Vampire game I played back in 1994. Does it suppose that your character has to be a vampire? Or can you be a mortal, fighting the vampires? (Really, I am completely ignorant of this system.)

 

[jdsivyer]

I highly recommend Savage Worlds Explorers Edition. I mean, you just can't beat that price either!

Can't agree more!

I have the Explorer's Edition and it's awesome. You could simply use that book and nothing else for a campaign if need be. Although the other settings have some pretty cool stuff in them.

SW is far from complex, easy to start up, combat has a great pace to it, and you can add stuff and convert other systems to it relatively quickly and easily.

Highly, highly recommended!

 

[jdsivyer]

SW isnt complex, BUT I grant you the explorers edition isnt the best rulebook to navigate round

Just curious...why do you say that? As far as rpg rulebooks go I found the layout quite good

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I know very little about World of Darkness except for a Vampire game I played back in 1994. Does it suppose that your character has to be a vampire? Or can you be a mortal, fighting the vampires? (Really, I am completely ignorant of this system.)

Vampire is one of many things the system can do. In the New World of Darkness, there's a core book that gives you all the rules for running a basic game of bog-standard mortal human beings, plus ghosts. Once you've got that, you can buy another book to tack on a supernatural element: Second Sight for psychics, Mage for modern magicians (think Dresden Files), Vampire for vampires, Werewolf for werewolves, Promethean for soulless Frankensteinian abominations, Changeling for people kidnapped by the fae, Hunter for monster hunters.

The books may look daunting, but Mage is the only one that really rivals D&D 3.5 for complexity. Running a game of Core + Second Sight would be fairly simple, and it's one of those games that doesn't really require the players to know the rules perfectly to be successful. Mostly the books are full of story ideas and plot hooks, rather than endless rules text--it's one of the few game lines I really enjoy reading, even if I don't intend to run a game. It's all on a dice pool system, although much simplified from the version of Vampire you played in the 90s. Add attribute + skill - difficulty, roll that many d10s. Rolls of 8 or higher are successes, and you usually only need one success to accomplish something.

Here's a quickstart guide to get you started. This uses Vampire for examples, since it's the most popular line, but all of the lines function on the same basis: point-based character generation, attribute+skills, etc.

Oh, and given your stance on Bennies/Flaws, I think you'll like what nWoD does with flaws. They don't get you any extra character points, but if they hinder the character in the course of play, the character gets a tiny bit of extra experience at the end of the session. It cuts down on this garbage:

 

[El Mahdi]

How about D20 Modern Spycraft?


As posted above, the D20 Modern SRD is free, and the Spycraft book is going for dirt cheap right now. Spycraft adds some stuff to make it a more cinematic, suspenseful, espionage type game rather than just a d20 shoot-em-up.