Best universal rpg system?

[Thomas Shey]

The way I handled that in my Last Parsec game was to use Powers as narrative permission to try things that wouldn’t otherwise be an option. For example, at one point the party were trying to bust a ship out of a space station dock.

One of the characters had psionic powers, including the one that grants super long range vision (a relatively low impact power in most campaigns, twice as poor in a futuristic campaign where you can buy optics, but it fitted the character concept). I was running the Escape as a dramatic conflict, and allowed the psyker to use their super-vision to watch the weapons crew on the station through their view ports, feeding info on where they were planning to train their guns and so help the pilot evade while escaping.

It was cool, non-game breaking and the players all loved the feel this approach generated.

A little too loose for my tastes.

 

[dbm]

A little too loose for my tastes.

It used the same rules for dramatic tasks as everyone else: Say how you are contributing to the dramatic task, GM approves that as something that can help, players test appropriate traits to generate successes.

My point is that there are tools, though they are not spelled out specifically in the rules that this is something players could attempt.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, but its dependent on allowing powers to do things in a dramatic task they wouldn't be permitted to do outside of it. That seems like just slapping a band-aid on the problem.

 

[AK81]

WOIN of course!

What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.

Three roleplaying games. One O.L.D. One N.E.W. One N.O.W.

www.woinrpg.com

Would you like to tell me more about WOIN? What kind of system is it? How does it run?

 

[MNblockhead]

I really like the look of Cortex Prime, but I have not been able to totally grok it yet.

I don't understand how combat works. Is it possible to run the combat like a more traditional system like DnD or Savage Worlds?

I have to disagree with @aramis erak somewhat. Cortex feels very different from D&D to me. It is more theatrical. That isn't to say that it its tactical, but combat is more about putting together a dice pool based on attributes, skills, etc. So if a goblin (DM) attacks a fighter (PC), the DM would say select the die for fight + the die for physical + the die for cutlass, etc. Roll the dice and add them together. The player would similarly select a combination of attributes, skills, weapons, etc., roll the dice and add them together. If the players roll is higher he successfully avoids the hit. If he rolls lower, he could take a complication. Complications are stepped up until you are taken out. In Cortex the strategic fun in putting together your dice pool to increase the odd of rolling higher than your opponent.

Of course it is all just different ways of abstracting prowess, armor effectiveness, weapon deadliness, etc. The the feel is different. I find Cortex Prime naturally encourages more narration of the results because you are not just chipping away at hitpoints.

Cortex Prime is, however, a modular, build-your-own system. So while, for example, initiative is not a core rule, it is an available mod for building your system.

You don't have to build your own. There are a number of prebuilt systems using Cortex and if you are familiar with one you can quickly pick up another because the core engine is the same. Hammerheads is free sci-fi game built on the new Cortex Prime engine that you can look at for an example. If you buy the Cortex Prime book, it also includes TRACE 2.0 which tries to emulate a police procedural and Eidolon Alpha which is a "neo-classic" fantasy. These three games (Hammerheads, Eidolon Alpha, and TRACE 2.0) do a nice job highlighting the versatility of the Cortex Prime system.

One campaign idea I've been tinkering away on is a Cortex Prime built campaign where players are caught in a massive virtual reality system and they have to find the truth of reality and their way out of the system by exploring through various settings, fantasy, old west, sci fi, etc. Different mods would apply in different systems so that while the core of their characters remain the same, the rules of the world may change as they move from one environment to another. Certain aspects of their characters will also change while a other aspects stay part of their core being. This is a much easier to emulate and run using Cortex Prime than in any other system I've looked at.

 

[Morrus]

Would you like to tell me more about WOIN? What kind of system is it? How does it run?

I'll do even better! I'll go back in time and type out an entire website!

 

[Ulfgeir]

I'll do even better! I'll go back in time and type out an entire website!

That's dedication.

 

[Morrus]

That's dedication.

Service above and beyond!

 

[Thomas Shey]

Cortex Prime is, however, a modular, build-your-own system. So while, for example, initiative is not a core rule, it is an available mod for building your system.

Supposedly by using the right components, you can get something pretty close to Cortex Classic, and barring the use of Plot Points as metacurrency, CC was a pretty traditional system.

 

[AK81]

Supposedly by using the right components, you can get something pretty close to Cortex Classic, and barring the use of Plot Points as metacurrency, CC was a pretty traditional system.

I think I understand how dice pools and damage work. At least how it works in Tales of Xadia. But what I am a bit unsure about is how a fight looks. I understand how it works if two characters are fighting each other, but how does it work if you gang up on one target?