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I like the way 13th age does it. There are some exceptions, but for the most part it works like this: your race gives you the choice of 2 abilities to get a +2 bonus. For example, dwarves get +2 to Con or Wis, while a high elf gets +2 to Int or Cha. The same goes for your class: barbarians get...

For me, the issue of backstories depends. In a typical game of D&D/Pathfinder or similar games where you start out at 1st or 3rd level, the character doesn't have much backstory because they're a freakin' n00b. In a game/campaign where you start out with experienced characters, I like having...

I would have thought having wish age the caster 3 years, with the possible system shock roll needed for each casting, would have been enough of a limitation. (My reading on whether system shock is needed is a bit unclear. It says that your system shock percentage is the chance you have of...

I remember making a character in a shortlived Eon campaign who was certain that humans' relative shortlivedness was a gift, not a curse. Since we don't last, we want to build things that do. Not necessarily physical things, but things like a business we can hand to our child, or...

I think my most visceral reaction to a new version of an old property was Mission: Impossible, because of the way it utterly betrays the old shows. The TV version (both 60s and 80s) were ensemble shows, where a group of exceptionally skilled agents with specialized skills go on missions all over...

It sounds like Vaesen uses different consequences for pushing than OG MYZ. In MYZ, it's more of a push-your-luck mechanic. When you make a roll, you use different-colored dice: yellow for stat, green for skill, and black for gear. Situational modifiers usually add/remove green dice. On the...

Also, having species ability score modifiers makes more sense when you have random ability scores. If you're rolling 3d6 or 4d6 drop lowest and you feel halflings should have an edge when it comes to Dexterity and issues when it comes to Strength, a +2 Dex -2 Str makes sense. But if you're using...

This might be a matter of taste, but I think their games rely a little too heavily on their various push mechanics. I remember having a discussion over on a Swedish RPG forum about probabilities and how even someone with fairly high stat+skill would often fail, particularly on things requiring...

I'm thinking it's because hunting or foraging is something you primarily do for yourself, and then expanded to your family and/or tribe. You go off, throw a spear at a deer, and then you have a dead deer to eat. A profession is doing something for someone else and then getting something in return.

I mean, that makes sense really. You hear a few songs by an artist and they strike a chord (heh) in you, so you look for more of that artist. Works they make close to the first ones you hear will probably sound fairly similar, and you already like that stuff. But if they change later (or if they...

Oldest profession and so on.

Yeah, that's a class act. I've seen some games recommend other games from the same company, but not competitors.

IME, Mutant: Year Zero and games based on that engine are more swingy than most dice pool systems because you only succeed on a 6 on a d6. This compresses the results a lot. To use Gorgon Zee's example with 8 dice vs 2, that gives you about a 27% chance of a tie and about 8% of a win for the 2...

I'm on a Savage Worlds kick myself at the moment, running an East Texas University campaign. I've been looking at the Savage Pathfinder stuff, and particularly the campaigns, and found them unsatisfying, likely due to the limitations of the license. The license lets PEG do conversions of...

Someone's home, sometimes the GM's and sometimes a player's. I have a regular game on Wednesdays which is almost always hosted by a particular player. Sometimes he GMs, but usually not. I have another mostly regular game on Saturdays, which has recently mostly been board games as we lost one...

Crabs trying to climb over one another to get out of the bucket, man.

Not necessarily. Trying to learn a motivation/pitfall without outright asking is a power roll using Reason, Intuition, or Presence. 11- means no info and lose a Patience, 12-16 is no effect, and 17+ you learn something. Of course, just asking can never hurt.

The usual: creatures can have vulnerability or immunity (somewhat poorly named, more like resistance) to various damage types. The Dragon Knight's ancestral trait Wyrmplate gives them immunity equal to their level to a chosen element, for example.