A modern generic rules light game?

[pawsplay]

Hm, it looks like what you want is the Ghost Dog Roleplaying Game and Resource Book.

 

[Nifft]

Are you familiar with Unisystem? I believe you can get their Witchcraft game for free (Don't worry; you can easily ignore the supernatural stuff and stick to everything else). If not, there are several fan-made renditions of Unisystem Lite.

I was going to mention this. There's a nice section in the Unisystem rules about scaling it for more "heroic" (super-human) or more "gritty" (normal human).

Cheers, -- N

 

[Leftahead]

Hi, Z-

You want FUDGE .

-Jim C.

 

[Darrin Drader]

The thing is... I really think that d20 Modern is a good game.

But in order to be perfect for me, I would need it to be:

- much more streamlined in mechanics.
- easier NPC and foe creation and GMing (which d20 sucks at)
- work well without FX at all (the Will save with out FX is totally pointless and that makes Will bonuses classes far worser)
- more realistic and less hollywood (thought not THAT much so as to be playable).

I would like the game to be better to play in 3rd world cities such as mine (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I have already played 2 campaigns of about ten 6 to 8 hour sessions with d20 Modern set in Argentina. They have been great campaigns, but I would love the game to be more "perfect" for it. One campaign was "Chile with the support of the U.S vs. Argentina - Urban Warfare" and the other one was a "Gangs-political parties wars in Buenos Aires"

There is a game that fits that bill pretty well but you specifically told us not to mention it.

 

[Zulgyan]

Which of them?

 

[Darrin Drader]

Which of them?

True20, ditch the Adept to rid yourself of supernatural elements, and make everything a build of either the Warrior or Expert class. The rules are definitely lighter than standard D20 (except for damage rules, but there's a much-used alternative for those), while preserving much of the feel and tactical strengths of D20 Modern. The system is really geared towards narrative style gaming, and you can pretty much plug in whatever style game you want to run. I've been using it for all of my Modern and Future games for a while now and me and my group are completely happy with it.

 

[jdrakeh]

True20, ditch the Adept to rid yourself of supernatural elements, and make everything a build of either the Warrior or Expert class. The rules are definitely lighter than standard D20 (except for damage rules, but there's a much-used alternative for those), while preserving much of the feel and tactical strengths of D20 Modern. The system is really geared towards narrative style gaming, and you can pretty much plug in whatever style game you want to run. I've been using it for all of my Modern and Future games for a while now and me and my group are completely happy with it.

I agree with all of that.

Using just the Warrior and Expert classes (or even only the Expert), it would make a great system for modern day action (or even 'no magic' fantasy, really). Using only these two classes, the system definitely seems less complex than regular d20 and can still facilitate a degree of verisimilitude.

I dropped True 20 because I felt that it was actually more complex than regular d20 with regard to recreating fantasy elements ala D&D (i.e., specifically, I hate the exception-based powers system, especially with regard to damage). In retrospect, I wish I would have tried running some non-magic settings with it first.

Yes, I still think the powers system is a clunker. A nice idea, but lacking both internal consistency and integrating poorly with the damage mechanic, as well.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I dropped True 20 because I felt that it was actually more complex than regular d20 with regard to recreating fantasy elements ala D&D (i.e., specifically, I hate the exception-based powers system, especially with regard to damage).

My feeling is that if you want to play D&D, play D&D (or one of the D20 alternatives like Pathfinder). After playing 4E, I feel that they have made great leaps in making combat run more efficiently than it did under 3.x. Pathfinder preserves the level of customization and options that 3.x had, so either game is good, depending upon what you're looking for.

But yeah, for a modern game, I can't think of a better rules light system than True20. Although it actually does away with attacks of opportunity, I actually added them back in, but only for boneheaded combat maneuvers, such as moving through threatened squares, and using an item when occupying a threatened square. They definitely are no longer used to balance ever special action in the game, which is a good thing, in my opinion.

 

[jdrakeh]

My feeling is that if you want to play D&D, play D&D. . .

That's pretty much the same conclusion I came to, as well. One common pitfall of all generic systems is that they can't do everything perfectly. They all have a weak spot and (for me at least) special effects-heavy stuff seemed to be True 20's Achilles' heel.

Even after I gave it a second go, following many of the suggestions that I received here, I found that, for me, D&D did still did high magic with less fuss and that True 20 beat out precious few of my already available systems for supers gaming.

Like I said though, in retrospect, I wish I would have held onto it for more grounded stuff because it seems like it would work very well for settings that weren't front-loaded with a dizzying array of special effects.

 

[Mythtify]

Which modern generic rules light games are out there?

Don't mention:
d20 Modern
Savage Worlds
True20
GURPS

I prefer:
No plot
No specific theme (secret agents, aliens, etc.)
No fantasy

Films that fit:
Ronin
The Godfather
Oceans 11

Films that don't fit
James Bond
Mission Impossible

Thanks before hand![/QUOTE

Kind of strange that you ask for a specific kind of system, then rule out some of the best. Savage Worlds and True2O both rock.