3 Favorite Things About Your Favorite System

I'll be the fly in the ointment.....

3.5

1) You can create nearly anything. I have converted 3.5 to do superheroes even. Want a highly skilled Archer- done. Want a barbarian with class skills involving uncommon skills done (cooks are very popular in my games)

2) You can make any encounter memorable. Going up against goblins at 10th level? If they are ninjas with a psion leader oh yeah.

3) Resources. This is a double edged sword as there can be TOO many but there are many things and ideas to draw from.

megamania said:

Not seeing a lot of traditional D&D or even Pathfinder...…. I hope they are reading this thread

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They are welcome to post, not trying to exclude them at all.

OMG I totally forgot about D&D 3.5...

1) Alignment. A rule that allows you to clearly tell your party members, "hey! Don't pick my pocket! I'm a good guy! Now let's go murder child-goblin-soldiers."

2) Grappling. Want to wrestle that Large, Fiendish, Half-Warforged-Half-Gnome, Rogue 10/Arcane Archer 5/Truenamer 8 to the ground, because it might have something useful to say? There are rules for that.

3) Detailed character creation rules. Spend as little as two hours, or as many more as you'd like, filling out your complete stats. After that, background!

Bonus points for:

4) Rules Compendium. A convenient source of all rules, insight, and cool anecdotes. Available just before 4e was released.

5) Reusability. Many of the great ideas that came out of 3.5 came with top-notch art and fluff, and made great material for GMs, not just DMs. And the paternity test hasn't come in yet, but they say that 3.5 and 5e might be related...

CubicsRube said:

The boons and banes cancel each other out one for one.

You roll a number of d6 equal to your net boons/banes. If boons, you add the highest to your roll, if banes you subtract the highest.

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The boon/bane system is very clever. One subtlety I like is that there a quite a few features that let you add a bonus effect if you take a bane or multiple banes on the roll. Since the most valuable boon is always the first one (because it adds about 3.5 to the roll, whereas later boons only add 1 or less than 1), this lets you trade out excess boons to gain bonus effects.

CubicsRube said:

No problem. It's a d20 system from a guy that did work on 4e and 5e as well as a bunch of other things.

It runs somewhat more simplified than d&d in my view which is one reason I like it.

The core system resolves on modifiers for four stats (str, dex, int and wis) and their version of advantage/disadvantage (called boons and banes).

Certain class features like a priests prayer or a warriors weapons mastery or some spells can give boons.

Fear and horror effects of monsters, darkness, trying a stunt or special maneuver, being poisoned and other conditions give banes.

The boons and banes cancel each other out one for one.

You roll a number of d6 equal to your net boons/banes. If boons, you add the highest to your roll, if banes you subtract the highest.

Clunky to explain but very easy in play. Managing these are crucial to upping your chances of succeeding in things and being able to do cooler things.

In the core there is nothing truly innovative and very familiar to d&d players. But i feel like it's stripped out a lot of unnecessary complexity and added modular choices in its stead.

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Actually you did a wonderful job of a synopsis, so much so I am buying it and checking it out - thank you kindly!

TwoSix said:

The boon/bane system is very clever. One subtlety I like is that there a quite a few features that let you add a bonus effect if you take a bane or multiple banes on the roll. Since the most valuable boon is always the first one (because it adds about 3.5 to the roll, whereas later boons only add 1 or less than 1), this lets you trade out excess boons to gain bonus effects.

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Yeah i love this part. Once you have a few boons you start doing called shots, or driving attacks or other maneuvers. It also makes you more resilient to banes which i like.

"Sure I'm poisoned, it's dark and that monster is horrifying, but I'm a pro! I can handle this!"

Xaelvaen said:

Actually you did a wonderful job of a synopsis, so much so I am buying it and checking it out - thank you kindly!

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Welcome!

I've derailed the thread (sorry op!) So I'll get back on the track.

I also am a big fan of (but not yet played!) The Year Zero Wngine RPGs (Mutant Year Zero, Coriolis, Tales from the Loop, Forbidden Lands).

The main reasons are:
1. A dirt simple core system

The older I get the less time i have to learn new rulesets. I've also been lucky enough to explain some games rules to new players and I've realised even games we come to think of simple actually have a lot of moving parts.

The core of YZE is you pick up a number of d6 equal to your stat plus your relevant skill plus and gear that might help. Then you count your 6s. If you have enough, you suceed. If you have more, you can spend them on extra effects. Difficulty is modified by either adding or taking away dice, or requiring a number of 6s to succeed.

It's about as easy as you can get in an rpg imo while still retaining some depth and I grokked it immediately, which I don't always do. Also this core is virtually the same for each of these systems, so if you can play one, you can play them all.

2. The push mechanic
You'd think with a similar core the games would be similar, but i find that's not the case at all. Each of them have their own mechanics laid on top which i feel does a great job in giving them flavour and other things you can do.

The main way it does this is the mechanic you can use to reroll your dice.

In Mutant Year Zero you can risk your gear breaking, or your mutations getting worse, slowly killing you.

In Tales from the Loop you can risk being hurt or scared or one of other conditions that take you out of the scene until you find a safe place. In addition you have a pride in which you can use for one free reroll per session (e.g, nobody at school is smarter than me!)

In coriolis you can pray to the gods, but the karma will come back to bite you later in the form of a darkness point you give to the gm.

3. The art work
I often go pdfs now. But I always buy the physical products from Forbidden Lands. They are hands down the highest quality books I've ever owned. When Alien comes out I will definitely buy them too.

Tales from the Loop is bright and colourful. Forbidden Lands is in a boxed set made of parchment like paper covered in faux leather. Coriolis is glossy with exotic artwork relfecting arabian nights in space.

Although I hope to get these to the table sometime. I love owning them all the same just from art and print quality.