Is there one RPG to rule them all? What version?

[Thomas Shey]

I will add Savage Worlds to the list too.

I might have listed SW instead of Hero these days, but I still find its basic powers/spell system kind of inadequate for broad use, and I was underwhelmed by using the SPC for superheroes (caveat: I have yet to pick up the newest version of that).

 

[Jack Daniel]

You ever read those books?

Maybe.

 

[MNblockhead]

Never heard of it.

Cortex Tabletop Roleplaying Game | Dire Wolf Digital

Cortex is a multi-genre, modular, session-centered tabletop roleplaying game system. Build your own custom tabletop RPG game with Cortex - all of the tools and resources are yours. Check out our first Spotlight Game, Hammerheads, for free.

www.cortexrpg.com

It's owned by Fandom, same folks that make D&D Beyond. The online reference is, not surprisingly, very well designed and easy to digest in its online format.

Over the years, various iterations of the Cortex system was used to power a number of games, including Serenity, Battlestar Gallactica, Supernatural Role Playing Game, Smallville, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Firefly, Dragon Prince, Legends of Greyskull: The Masters of the Universe Roleplaying Game, and others.

 

[Tonguez]

Risus, PbtA, Fate

 

[werecorpse]

Not for me there isn’t.

I enjoy a bit of crunch but I find System mastery begins to take the magic & mystery out of the game so changing systems can be a great boost.

 

[dragoner]

D&D, CoC, and Traveller; they all have their charm.

 

[Fenris-77]

Eh. Unless powers are involved, its not any more complicated than most point build, and any system that actually lets you do custom powers from the ground up with system is going to make that part pretty thick on the ground.

I'll be honest, I've only ever done Champions char gen.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'll be honest, I've only ever done Champions char gen.

Well, that'll color your view, but even there its not complicated if you don't make it so. In most incarnations of the game I could put together a flying energy projector or a brick in ten minutes.

Which doesn't mean it can't turn into a fairly complicated process if you have a fairly specific result you're aiming at with powers, because it absolutely can. That's absolutely the price of powers that are able to be heavily fine tuned, and if that doesn't matter to you, it can seem overly fiddly.

The worst I can say about it when powers are not involved is its a game of its time which means the skills are split finer than probably a lot of people care about, but outside that, you buy attributes (and that's a fair bit more straightforward with the current edition), buy skills, maybe buy a couple talents or perks, and you're done.

(Of course some people will compare it to generating things like a first level D&D character, but it should be noted even a heroic scale Hero character is more comparable to, say, a 4th level D&D character (and may be more like an 8th level one depending on set up) so there's a certain lack of comparing apples to apples going on).

 

[AOieiosle]

The greatest RPG to rule them all is, of course, the orginal box set Ghostbusters RPG. Four stats, twenty brownie points, go! Roll the dice and stop agonizing about what weapon is better or how much copper-silver-gold you've got; All you need is the beach kit and megaphone.

 

[Rogerd1]

I might have listed SW instead of Hero these days, but I still find its basic powers/spell system kind of inadequate for broad use, and I was underwhelmed by using the SPC for superheroes (caveat: I have yet to pick up the newest version of that).

I don't mind the spells as I find DnD and Runequest to have simply too many, spell spam if you will; so many spells that do the same thing. But while Swade has modifiers to improve spells it is totally lacking one mechanic which makes Mythras and all editions of Runequest Sorcery shine - Manipulation or Shaping mechanics for spells which increase distance, AoE, duration and such.

Something I believe both DnD and Swade could benefit from. Using this would give you a power / magic point mechanic and thus do away with spells per day.

But that might be just me..dunno?