The Sort of TTRPGs You Want More (and Less) Of

[schneeland]

@schneeland, have you looked at FUDGE, which is the toolkit that Fate is based on?

Not yet. I abandoned my efforts in that direction after being somewhat disappointed with FATE.

 

[GrahamWills]

More: 13th Ages & Dungeon Worlds: Systems that build upon the foundations of the pioneers with new mechanics and fresh looks at /spins on the past. More FFG Star Wars' -Systems that take unique and new approaches to system/dice mechanics that encourage story and improv in the moment

Less: Systems that are generic-shoehorned into genres they don't work that well for.

While it's easy to say "I'd like a generic systems that does everything well" it's also pretty clear that such thing cannot exist. Your choice is either a generic system that works well for some genres, pretty well for most and badly for some, or several individual systems.

I'm definitely in the latter camp. Fate is my go-to generic system, and I'm strongly appreciating the tweaks and improvements we're seeing from Evil Hat. It's of course possible that a new generic system will come out that I prefer to Fate, but it's unlikely, so my desire for generic systems is simply: keep improving and refining.

But for the genres where your favorite generic system works poorly, I want a game that is designed specifically for that niche. With a focused game, it needs to be minimal, easy to learn and tie the mechanics strongly to the fiction. For swords and sorcery fantasy, although I have enjoyed much smaller games, I have found the time investment in 13th Age well worth it -- it's a one book system that delivers a constantly high quality game. DramaSystem is what I use for pure dramatic games; short, clear and effective rules. For horror I haven't really settled. Call of Cthulhu is my go-to, but you could hardly call it focused. I've tried Trail of Cthulhu, Cthulhu Hack, Fate, Chill, and maybe a couple of other systems, but none really do it for me.

So maybe that would be the focused system I'd most like to see: A version of CoC that does for that game what 13th Age did for D&D -- cut the word count by a factor of four, keeping all the good stuff and adding a set of more narrative elements to help focus on making a really cool game. Cthulhu Hack gets the nod for the best attempt at that so far, but it doesn't quite hit it for me. YMMV, so if this is you also, go check it out!

 

[atanakar]

Green Ronin's AGE System is probably its closest spiritual kin, but the AGE system has its own idiosycratic set of problems associated with it.

I've played several sessions of Modern AGE. I'm curious about what you call problems of that system?

 

[atanakar]

I would like to see rules light hard (ish) SF, where the three pillars didn't include combat, esp adventures for a system like that, which I could adapt to my own game.

You could look at Coriolis the Third Horizon by Free League. The system on the lighter side. It's an exploration game were characters own their ship from the start. They have to find jobs to pay their debt. Its comes with a complete and very original setting and space combat rules that gives a role to each character. Combat is very deadly so characters are always trying to avoid it or make sure they have the advantage. I did a mini-campaign of 7 games with it and it is easy to run.

 

[DwarfHammer]

Currently loving brp games lately for their fast character creation system and organic character growth. Love COC 7E. I love games with the roll under mechanic.

 

[Aldarc]

I've played several sessions of Modern AGE. I'm curious about what you call problems of that system?

I have no experience with Modern AGE yet, so I'll speak to my experiences with the AGE games that I do.

The AGE system was designed piecemeal as part of Green Ronin's Dragon Age TTRPG. The first release was just levels 1-5; then the second release was 6-10; and then the final release was 11-20. As such the game, overall, feels more balanced and oriented around levels 1-6. After this point, the game balance seemingly deteriorates because the damage does not scale as rapidly as the HP. This is even worse of a problem when this is compounded with Armor damage reduction. Furthermore, because of the 3d6 die resolution and bell curve probability, tiny bonuses become pretty substantial, particularly as ability scores increase, skill access/bonuses increase, and so on. Blue Rose AGE does feel a bit more like a mild balance patch. Maybe Modern Age addresses this further. And Green Ronin announced a new edition of Fantasy AGE, but so far they have only revealed that it will include Freeport as its baked-in setting.

 

[atanakar]

I have no experience with Modern AGE yet, so I'll speak to my experiences with the AGE games that I do.

The AGE system was designed piecemeal as part of Green Ronin's Dragon Age TTRPG. The first release was just levels 1-5; then the second release was 6-10; and then the final release was 11-20. As such the game, overall, feels more balanced and oriented around levels 1-6. After this point, the game balance seemingly deteriorates because the damage does not scale as rapidly as the HP. This is even worse of a problem when this is compounded with Armor damage reduction. Furthermore, because of the 3d6 die resolution and bell curve probability, tiny bonuses become pretty substantial, particularly as ability scores increase, skill access/bonuses increase, and so on. Blue Rose AGE does feel a bit more like a mild balance patch. Maybe Modern Age addresses this further. And Green Ronin announced a new edition of Fantasy AGE, but so far they have only revealed that it will include Freeport as its baked-in setting.

With Modern AGE you can select the level of lethality at the beginning of the game. Either Gritty (CoC), Pulp (Action Hero) or Heroic (D&D). Hit points and Healing are less generous at the two lower levels. Protection is Toughness. Armour is very rare - which makes sense in a Modern environment. The Companion book offers several alternate ideas to modulate damage vs protection. The simplest suggests adding +1d6 to every damage roll.

 

[JeffB]

After this point, the game balance seemingly deteriorates because the damage does not scale as rapidly as the HP. This is even worse of a problem when this is compounded with Armor damage reduction. Furthermore, because of the 3d6 die resolution and bell curve probability, tiny bonuses become pretty substantial, particularly as ability scores increase, skill access/bonuses increase, and so on. Blue Rose AGE does feel a bit more like a mild balance patch. Maybe Modern Age addresses this further. And Green Ronin announced a new edition of Fantasy AGE, but so far they have only revealed that it will include Freeport as its baked-in setting.

The Fantasy Age Companion throws out several ideas to combat the issues you mention. Most of them were pretty simple fixes as I recall (capping HP at a certain character level for example). I think it would address most of your issues (and I suspect the Companion material- or some of it anyway- will get rolled into the new book.

 

[BryonD]

I want a game that isn't afraid to make demands on the players and assumes that people who want to play it are both smart and dedicated to making the experience fun rather than looking to exploit every imperfection.

The game doesn't need to worry about being easy to run, because it is perfectly fine to make mistakes and get better with experience. And there are plenty of other games out there if you want to ease into it.

The game doesn't need to worry about not being overly complex. If you can achieve the same thing, then being simple is better. But if a little complexity adds to the richness, then this should not be shunned.

I want a game that goes in with eyes wide open that players who seek to destroy the experience may very well do exactly that, but the game isn't going to reign in the options of players who won't do that by adding rules simply designed to foolproof the balance.

I want a game that recognizes it can't cover every situation, so it creates a clear framework and then puts the burden on the players to work with that guidance to color outside the lines when needed.

 

[Manbearcat]

Things I'd love to see:

* A fantastically done Forged in the Dark hack for Sengoku Era Warring States Japan for a mixed group of Ronin/Sohei/Kensei/Ninja/Samurai who are backing a Daiymio for supremacy.

* A fantastically done PBtA hack for France/Germany/Poland WW2 for a Spec Ops Group.

* Vincent Baker making a Dogs in the Vineyard 2nd ed w/ the design knowledge he's accrued in the last 15 years.

* A 4th Edition D&D revised and integrated to the PBtA engine (math, power curve, core resolution, reward cycles/advancement). Strike(!) did a lot of this and its fantastic...but its not quite there and that game is better for Star Wars than it is for 4e D&D imo.