Lord Mhoram
Hero
Mine - HERO when I feel like crunchy and Cypher when I don't.
Best universal rpg system?
overgeeked
B/X Known World
For some reason that made an old jingle pop into my head.
HERO System's got crunch, Cypher don't, because...
Some times you feel like crunch, some times you don't.
(Sorry to Almond Joy and Mounds.)
John Desmarais
Explorer
I've never played EABA, but I've been reading recently (along with the EABA version of TimeLords). It's a neat little system (although dice pool system aren't usually my thing).
John Desmarais
Explorer
I thought I was the only one...
Lord Mhoram
Hero
That may well have been in subconscious when I posted that. If it had been conscious I would have been much more clear about.
practicalm
Explorer
I am a big fan of GURPS for anything in the human scale. Superhuman high point value characters get odd.
The best thing is that you can turn on or off the detail for you game fairly easily. When people talk about taking a long time for combat, I don't see that unless you turned on all the optional rules yet are not familiar enough with them to make them work.
When you start with the basic rules and only add the more detailed rules as you gain experience with the system, combat isn't any longer than most other systems. Less because with 1 second turns, a lot of firearm combat is (I aim, next)
You are not moving and attacking (you can but there are penalties)
Often the problem with GURPS is people letting anything into the game instead of keeping a tight campaign/game idea and not letting people bring in exceptions.
I've also played HERO which is a good generic system as well.
The best thing is that you can turn on or off the detail for you game fairly easily. When people talk about taking a long time for combat, I don't see that unless you turned on all the optional rules yet are not familiar enough with them to make them work.
When you start with the basic rules and only add the more detailed rules as you gain experience with the system, combat isn't any longer than most other systems. Less because with 1 second turns, a lot of firearm combat is (I aim, next)
You are not moving and attacking (you can but there are penalties)
Often the problem with GURPS is people letting anything into the game instead of keeping a tight campaign/game idea and not letting people bring in exceptions.
I've also played HERO which is a good generic system as well.
TheHand
Adventurer
I think the answer largely boils down to what kind of playstyle you're expecting.
For very narrative-focused games, I would look into PbtA or FATE, with the former if you and your players like more of a "shared narrative" approach.
I don't have enough experience with Cortex to speak with any authority.
I used to play a ton of HERO, and it's a solid game engine, but as I've gotten older I consider it to be too crunchy now. However, if you and your players like a high degree of control with character creation and a very granular blow-by-blow combat system this would be a good go-to. GURPs also has very detail-oriented character creation and crunch.
So this brings me to Savage Worlds, which is actually my current go-to for generic games. To me, Savage Worlds is a nice balance between narrative focus and crunch. It supports traditional GM/player style play and a pretty easy-to-learn core game engine. It kind of takes the "bolt-on" approach to additional rules and setting rules, where you as the GM can decide how many extra features you want to incorporate (eg, vehicle combat, miniatures, sanity rules, critical injury rules, spell-casting, cybernetics, super-powers, etc). The central mechanic of "Bennies" (hero points, plot coupons) gives players a currency to shape the narrative and gain advantages.
In my experience, I'd say Savage Worlds' biggest turn-off seems to be the exploding dice mechanic, which can create very swingy skill checks and combat situations. If you don't like exploding dice or "hero-point/plot coupon" mechanics then I would say look elsewhere.
Good hunting!
For very narrative-focused games, I would look into PbtA or FATE, with the former if you and your players like more of a "shared narrative" approach.
I don't have enough experience with Cortex to speak with any authority.
I used to play a ton of HERO, and it's a solid game engine, but as I've gotten older I consider it to be too crunchy now. However, if you and your players like a high degree of control with character creation and a very granular blow-by-blow combat system this would be a good go-to. GURPs also has very detail-oriented character creation and crunch.
So this brings me to Savage Worlds, which is actually my current go-to for generic games. To me, Savage Worlds is a nice balance between narrative focus and crunch. It supports traditional GM/player style play and a pretty easy-to-learn core game engine. It kind of takes the "bolt-on" approach to additional rules and setting rules, where you as the GM can decide how many extra features you want to incorporate (eg, vehicle combat, miniatures, sanity rules, critical injury rules, spell-casting, cybernetics, super-powers, etc). The central mechanic of "Bennies" (hero points, plot coupons) gives players a currency to shape the narrative and gain advantages.
In my experience, I'd say Savage Worlds' biggest turn-off seems to be the exploding dice mechanic, which can create very swingy skill checks and combat situations. If you don't like exploding dice or "hero-point/plot coupon" mechanics then I would say look elsewhere.
Good hunting!
Thomas Shey
Legend
Well, that's another issue of course; you can have a pretty functional universal system, but if the basic mechanical approach doesn't suit you, none of that matters.
Thomas Shey
Legend
As a GM, I also find a lot of traits about the powers system (core, not SPC) to be overly constraining; its determined to work in a certain way and on a certain scale, and there's limited tools to do anything about that.
dbm
Savage!
The way I handled that in my Last Parsec game was to use Powers as narrative permission to try things that wouldn’t otherwise be an option. For example, at one point the party were trying to bust a ship out of a space station dock.
One of the characters had psionic powers, including the one that grants super long range vision (a relatively low impact power in most campaigns, twice as poor in a futuristic campaign where you can buy optics, but it fitted the character concept). I was running the Escape as a dramatic conflict, and allowed the psyker to use their super-vision to watch the weapons crew on the station through their view ports, feeding info on where they were planning to train their guns and so help the pilot evade while escaping.
It was cool, non-game breaking and the players all loved the feel this approach generated.
