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Not like I don't do the same thing. I just have the advantage I'm even bothering to read the posts of about half the participants in this thread on either side even when I do dip in.

This gets back to the thing I've brought up where the fact a social influence mechanic, just because it can work and is binding seems to be assumed to live in a situation where no trait of the character can modify it. Just because a persuade attempt is assumed to sometimes be able to do things...

Though, I have to say as someone who's only dipping in every few pages, the ratio of comments to participants is clearly very high.

Yeah, the problem with Ezekiel's argument is that he's assuming there's no price for supporting the player's investment in important character elements for other participants. Its entirely possible that for one or more participants the sense that everything is at stake (even for just random...

Because the non-D&D oriented fora I've got access to and have experience have tone or other things I dislike to one degree or another, and even a D&D forum will spend a fair bit of time talking about things that are, even if discussed in the context of D&D, not D&D specific (most of my posts in...

I think the combination of group size constraints and people not always being thrilled with being under strict authority don't help here (note you don't see all that many directly military RPGs either).

I think monster-hunting and urban fantasy are not quite the same thing, so I don't think I'd put MotW in there. And Monsterhearts, while it does fit in there, is a little specialized.

There's essentially three ways to go about it: 1. Have a large enough list of technology, items, species and creatures to supply any likely need. 2. Have a system for building the concrete elements of the above and let the GM decide the premises. 3. Do things in broad enough strokes that the...

In my experience it depends on what you're using as a systemic basis in the first place. But of course my real answer is "Don't try to just cobble it together from the start. Pick one that's pretty close to how you think things should go, then tweak (even if that involves important a version...

I'll outright say that there are mechanical elements of D&D that I think a large number of other games just handle better. I just don't expect D&D fans to generally agree with me.

But as you said yourself, the psych trait may well just be modifying a roll you have to make in the situation anyway (I know its that way in Savage Worlds for fear checks).

Its astonishing how easy it is to make thermite once you understand what it is and have access to a junkyard. Its a good thing it has a relatively high ignition temperature, so you have to find a way to address that too. (I might happen to know an easy but stupid way to make homemade napalm...

Okay, let me see if I can find any suggestions here. This one's tricky, because most of the cases I know of are full-out generic game systems, not specifically focused on SF. I also think it turns on just how generic it needs to be; the couple examples I'll point at have some baked in...

There's an in-joke there you're probably not exposed to the right ancient-gamer material to get.

That's my point though; you've already accepted that in that situation a roll may make your character behave in a way you think is incorrect, you've just had the option to put your thumb on the scale. How is that any different than my suggestion of there being a roll and the player has a choice...

But you get that's a personal taste thing, right? I can probably say without too much loss of generality there's a lot of people out there who'd probably rather deal with a game with non-magical morale or fear checks than games with one shot death effects. A failed moral check says the game...

With no offense, @VelvetViolet, I can think of multiple examples of at least your second, fifth and sixth cases out there. A few of them are hardly unknown either, so I have to assume you're either using exclusionary criteria you haven't explained, are only counting things that are still in...

Wow, that one stings more than a little... I commented back in the day it was amazing how many things became explosive if you nitrated them...

I know this is a not-uncommon line some folks draw (and to be clear, I understand why its one as it involves buy-in from the player), but in a lot of cases those sorts of things aren't all-or-nothing (I don't remember if they are with GURPS but I suspect at least some of them are modifiers)...

Failing a saving throw can get you killed, but we accept those, and that's about as permanent a removal of character volition as you can get. (I'm not trying to strawman you here or anything, I'm just noting that there are mechanical processes far more far reaching in effect than whether a...