Best game for God of War-esque action?

[Nightfall]

World of Warcraft RPG?

WoW WISHES it was this hardcore.

 

[Celebrim]

Definitely Exalted. It is the only system I am aware of in which both the game setting and physics thereof explicity reward looking cool. Use any system you want, but some players will never have the imagination to do any more than say "I hit him with my axe." Exalted encourages players to go beyond this and describe actions cinematically, rewarding them for doing so. The difference between this and any generic system like GURPS, Hery System, and BESM is amazing, although I agree that you can approach it if you have a great group of players and DM who are all in agreement.

We are basically in agreement over the basics.

But my question is, "What is it about Exalted other than the stunt rules that rewards looking cool?" I mean, without stunts, it's basically just WW's Storyteller system dressed up in a different set of clothes with all the charm and warts that comes with that.

Which is going to be harder, unintwining WW's famously intertwined settings and mechanics, or porting over some variation on the stunt rules that reward cinematic descriptions to whatever system is otherwise attractive but lacks stunt rules? How would BESM or GURPS play out if it had +1, +2, +3 modifiers for stunting? Or +2, +4, +6 if that was your thing? How would d20 play out if you got 1d6, 2d6, 3d6 modifiers to your d20 rolls based on your stunting?

 

[Nightfall]

I still go with the idea that what RW wants is what Conan/Ghenghis wanted too.

 

[Imaro]

We are basically in agreement over the basics.

But my question is, "What is it about Exalted other than the stunt rules that rewards looking cool?" I mean, without stunts, it's basically just WW's Storyteller system dressed up in a different set of clothes with all the charm and warts that comes with that.

Which is going to be harder, unintwining WW's famously intertwined settings and mechanics, or porting over some variation on the stunt rules that reward cinematic descriptions to whatever system is otherwise attractive but lacks stunt rules? How would BESM or GURPS play out if it had +1, +2, +3 modifiers for stunting? Or +2, +4, +6 if that was your thing? How would d20 play out if you got 1d6, 2d6, 3d6 modifiers to your d20 rolls based on your stunting?

In D&D some maneuvers aren't possible without DM fiat...You can't rip a minotaurs horns off and stab him with them, point blank there are no rules for simulating this without you coming up with them whole-cloth. The fact that you don't like the way another system accomplishes something is indicative of your prefrences which, judging from your earlier post, show that you find even the notion of this type of fun somehow childish. It however in no way invalidates the fact that these things can be accomplished through the use of said systems rules.

BESM doesn't need stunt bonuses, that's what energy points are for, they allow the PC to decide if he wants to increase his chances to pull any maneuver, skill, etc. off the way he wants to do it. I think with BESM you are missing the fact that it is a character-centric game. In other words you being able to do the type of cool stuff that the OP described is based on you creating a character that can do it, and I've already shown it is possible(without making up rules). BESM gives you the tools to make this type of character but doesn't enforce this as the only type of character you can create. Show me how(without adding any rules) you would do the things the OP asked about with D&D...show me how with D&D you accomplish grappling and throwing a character (without it penalizing your actual attack in anyway).

I feel like you are not willing to actually look at the limitations inherently set up in D&D and are also unwilling to look at the advantages of other systems without prejudice...What does Exalted being based on the storyteller system really have to do with anything if it's rules actually facilitate doing cool things more than D&D's do?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

WoW WISHES it was this hardcore.

Sorry, didn't know.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

In D&D some maneuvers aren't possible without DM fiat...You can't rip a minotaurs horns off and stab him with them, point blank there are no rules for simulating this without you coming up with them whole-cloth. The fact that you don't like the way another system accomplishes something is indicative of your prefrences which, judging from your earlier post, show that you find even the notion of this type of fun somehow childish. It however in no way invalidates the fact that these things can be accomplished through the use of said systems rules.

BESM doesn't need stunt bonuses, that's what energy points are for, they allow the PC to decide if he wants to increase his chances to pull any maneuver, skill, etc. off the way he wants to do it. I think with BESM you are missing the fact that it is a character-centric game. In other words you being able to do the type of cool stuff that the OP described is based on you creating a character that can do it, and I've already shown it is possible(without making up rules). BESM gives you the tools to make this type of character but doesn't enforce this as the only type of character you can create. Show me how(without adding any rules) you would do the things the OP asked about with D&D...show me how with D&D you accomplish grappling and throwing a character (without it penalizing your actual attack in anyway).

I feel like you are not willing to actually look at the limitations inherently set up in D&D and are also unwilling to look at the advantages of other systems without prejudice...What does Exalted being based on the storyteller system really have to do with anything if it's rules actually facilitate doing cool things more than D&D's do?

If you dredge the House Rules forum enough you'll find my conversion of the Exalted 2e Battleque system to work with D20. It was still fairly experimental and I've progressed a few more revisions past the last post.

Since I'm building my house rules and variants from my homebrew into a coherent OGL ruleset I'll probably keep going and convert some of the Exalted grappling mechanics into the system to replace the standard d20 grappling mechanics and probably add a few more details based on what's been touched on in this thread.

However I will say this about Exalted. While I like it and think it's the best option for creating the game you're looking for, it's also not the greatest to try to customize and that's about the only real problem with it. Its ruleset and setting are intertwined enough that trying to use it for a different setting requires a great deal of work.

 

[Klaus]

Unless you think RW is trolling, bored, or perhaps hoping beyond hope to become Krakos(sp).

Kratos (from Greek, meaning "power", where words like democracy come from).

Kratos, son of Styx (the physical embodiment of the river) and Pallas (a titan). Like his brother and sisters, he's the embodiment of a concept (Strength and Power). He is the brother of Nike (Victory), Bia (Force and Violence) and Zelus (Zeal and Dedication). The siblings were constant companions of Zeus.

 

[Nightfall]

Claudio,

Sue me, I can't spell. But thanks for correcting stuff anyway.

Fru,

Just saying man, it's a HARDCORE game. Think Doom/Quake/MQ meets your typical fantasy single player RPG. It's that hardcore.

 

[RangerWickett]

I think I want MnM 2nd edition. I don't want to painstakingly have rules for delimbing and using horns as weapons. I want a quick resolution system where you can say, "I do OMGZOR cool stuff," and the game doesn't say, "Sorry, but you can't."

D&D is too codified. Iron Heroes sounds like it's just moreso. BESM, from my read through of at least the 2nd edition rules way back when, felt like it didn't have a well-fleshed out combat system. MnM2, if it's just like MnM1 but better, feels like you can do crazycool stuff easily, and that how that stuff affects combat is easy to understand.

Maybe I just never played BESM enough, but in the one MnM game I played at Gen Con last year, a Swede hurled a cannonball at a flying saucer, and it took all of one roll to resolve, but the one roll still felt like it generated a fairly believable result.

(Plus my roommate heard me talking about this and said he'll just buy me MnM2 as a late Christmas/Birthday present. Score!)

 

[Nightfall]

Whatever works for you Mister Rangerman. I still say you want what Conan and Ghengis had.