The older i get the less I need.

[Thomas Shey]

Maybe, but not because 3E is mechanically similar to Alternity. Playing more games means accepting new games more easily.

And 3e had moved away from the rigidity of the class model to some degree, so hitting something like Alternity which had moved away from it even more would feel easier to engage with if all you'd have was traditional class and level systems.

 

[Zaukrie]

I got rid of half my minis, nearly all my books, and the big terrain pieces when we moved. I'm going to sell off more books soon, but I've bought some terrain and skinny minis on sale. But I've learned I don't need more, I need better, or nothing. When I back books now, it's PDF only, for the most part, and because I want to support the company mostly. I have more adventures than I could ever run.

 

[GMMichael]

Are there generic systems that can do fantasy, sci-fi, horror, modern, etc all in one?

Generic systems? Yes. "Can the GM do that" is a better question.

The thing with generic systems is that while you can generally plug in different trappings into the system, the game will still feel the same. You can play GURPS with swords & spells, or as a Western, or as a Victorian vampire hunter, or as a 40s noir detective, or set on a far-future spaceship. In either case, you're still dealing with a game with hundreds of skills, a strong emphasis on attributes (particularly Dexterity and Intelligence, as those are what most skills are based on and the huge number of skills means it's more efficient to pump base stats), low skill defaults unless your stat is super high, a combat system which slices things down to seconds and uses fairly detailed hit locations (with different effects) and different damage types. There are some things that can soften the game a little, but it'll still fundamentally be the same game.

I'd call that the thing with GURPS - not all generic systems. If a generic system shows up with few rules, that leaves room for the GM to add or plug in more if needed and to take the fundamental feel in a different direction.

Thing is, the super-hero comics I like tend to be much more narratively focused. . . And I don't think M&M is the game for that. I'm not sure any game is, to be honest.

I haven't seen a lot of feelings/relationship games, but the first place I'd go for Rogue is Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

I feel like I need three games: Shadowdark for D&D style adventures, Mutants and Masterminds 3E for supers, and SWADE for literally everything else. I like new games and I sometimes want them, but I really struggle being willing to buy or back them knowing that I just need less.

Does "less" also mean fewer rules? Here's the first module of Modos RPG for you, if 13 rules isn't too many:

Spoiler: Basic Module

Rule, Name, Description and Dependencies:

• 000, Rule Zero, The Guide of Modos is the player who ultimately decides what happens in the story, with input from dice rolls and player suggestions.
• 001, Campaign Theme, The GM creates a campaign theme for the game that describes what the PCs can expect from the game and story.
• 002, Contest, When a PC wants to do something that has a questionable outcome, the GM calls for a contest. The player rolls a d20 against the GM's d20. The higher result gets the better outcome.
• 003, Contest Result, A contest result is the sum of the d20 roll and applicable bonuses or penalties. The higher result in a contest is called a Pro, and gets a favorable outcome. The lower result is a Con, and gets an unfavorable outcome. A Tie can be rerolled or considered a neutral outcome. 002
• 004, Attack Contest, An attack is a contest with an outcome that can be nullified by another contest. 002
• 005, Defense Contest, A defense is a contest made in response to an attack which negates the attack if it is a Pro. 002, 003, 004
• 006, Awareness, A character has awareness when he is prepared to defend against an attack. A character without awareness cannot defend against attacks of which he is unaware. 002, 003, 004, 005
• 007, Bonus, Die rolls can be modified by static or random amounts called bonuses. Negative bonuses are also called penalties. A random amount is determined by another die roll.
• 008, Difficulty, When story conditions make a contest result more likely to be favorable, it gains a bonus called Difficulty. Unfavorable conditions impose a difficulty penalty. 002
• 009, Difficulty Table, Some difficulty bonuses are named to act as benchmarks. These are: Easy (0), Challenging (4), Difficult (8), Arduous (12), Impossible (16), Divine (20). 002, 008
• 010, Difficulty Contest, A Difficulty Contest is the GM's opposing roll of a d20 + the difficulty bonus that represents the odds of an unfavorable outcome. 002, 008
• 011, Minimum Result, A contest result below 1 is automatically a Con. 002, 003
• 012, Take Half, Any die roll may be replaced, before it is rolled, with a result of half of the die's highest number.

 

[Staffan]

I'd call that the thing with GURPS - not all generic systems. If a generic system shows up with few rules, that leaves room for the GM to add or plug in more if needed and to take the fundamental feel in a different direction.

IMO, it'd have to be more-or-less rules-less for that, or strip down the game system to essentially just a task resolution mechanic. When we tried Star Wars SAGA, it felt a whole lot like D&D 3e (though that might have been just the "level 1 characters are incompetent" part). Looking at Savage Worlds, I don't really see Deadlands playing particularly different from Pathfinder/Golarion in it (even though Savage Worlds has more obvious genre dials than GURPS, it'll still be pulp action), though I haven't had the opportunity to run either one.

 

[overgeeked]

IMO, it'd have to be more-or-less rules-less for that, or strip down the game system to essentially just a task resolution mechanic.

If you haven’t tried this it’s surprising how well this works.

 

[Kannik]

I have something like 25 linear feet of RPG books on my shelves at home, and I can't see myself parting with any of it anytime soon. At the same time, I've hardly added anything to those shelves in over a decade. Nearly everything I get nowadays is in PDF format. Harder to curl up on the reading couch with perhaps, but more than enough to read, enjoy, understand, learn, and more.

And mostly what I get these days are games that offer some intriguing new insights, mechanics, or avenues to explore, and/or have an interesting setting. Like others in this thread, for 90% of my games I have a trio of rulesets I would use for them: Cortex Prime, my own ruleset I call the Aurora Engine, and D&D for D&D games. Those games I buy for their intriguing premises will gnerally be very different and hyper-tailored to fit their intent, such as a Wanderhome or similar.

 

[thullgrim]

After think about this for a couple of days I think can get things down to:

• Savage Worlds to handle anything action/pulp oriented regardless of genre.
• GURPS to handle anything needing realism/simulationism regardless of genre. I might be convinced to swap this for EABA or BRP/Mythras though.
• WHFRP/Imperium Maledictum to handle those two specific use cases.
• PF1/SF1 to handle my D20 fix though these days I’m more likely to use Savage Pathfinder for a fantasy game.

I’d be willing add Soulbound and/or Wrath and Glory again for specific use cases

I really think that set would handle almost everything I have run in the last 4 years or regularly want to run.

 

[Thomas Shey]

After think about this for a couple of days I think can get things down to:

• Savage Worlds to handle anything action/pulp oriented regardless of genre.
• GURPS to handle anything needing realism/simulationism regardless of genre. I might be convinced to swap this for EABA or BRP/Mythras though.
• WHFRP/Imperium Maledictum to handle those two specific use cases.
• PF1/SF1 to handle my D20 fix though these days I’m more likely to use Savage Pathfinder for a fantasy game.

I’d be willing add Soulbound and/or Wrath and Glory again for specific use cases

I really think that set would handle almost everything I have run in the last 4 years or regularly want to run.

Do I assume from this you either don't run superhero games or find SW adequate for it?

 

[thullgrim]

Do I assume from this you either don't run superhero games or find SW adequate for it?

I’m not really a comic book guy so I don’t run Supers. I just don’t feel like I have enough of a handle in the genre tropes.

If I did it would probably be something closer to street level heroes and I think the SWADE Super Powers Companion would handle that just fine. Even something like Wildcards I think could be done with either GURPS or SWADE.

There is a SWADE setting called Titan Effect that mixes powers with modern spies that I’ve played around with and it worked out pretty well. Super soldiers and spies vs same and psychic beasts.

 

[GMMichael]

IMO, it'd have to be more-or-less rules-less for that, or strip down the game system to essentially just a task resolution mechanic. When we tried Star Wars SAGA, it felt a whole lot like D&D 3e (though that might have been just the "level 1 characters are incompetent" part). Looking at Savage Worlds, I don't really see Deadlands playing particularly different from Pathfinder/Golarion in it (even though Savage Worlds has more obvious genre dials than GURPS, it'll still be pulp action), though I haven't had the opportunity to run either one.

I haven't played enough Savage Worlds to know what it could do for Golarion, but there's a significant reason that Star Wars felt like the SRD/3RD. One could pull out or modify a handful of SRD rules, and there would still be hundreds of D&D-like rules still at play. The Rules Compendium for 3rd ed. lists about 270 "topics," each basically a separate rule, and I imagine most of them to be at work in Star Wars SAGA. A big reason that ENWorlders must put so much passion into their D&D-modding efforts is that it's not an easy system to tinker, and Star Wars SAGA probably didn't tinker much, either.