One System To Rule Them All!

[jdrakeh]

I would say go with the D20 System. With D20 you have an excellent set of core rules that handles Fantasy, Past, Present and Future Rules very well.

And if I wasn't looking for a standalone system with wide genre coverage that comes complete in a single core book, you'd have a very good point. However, that is what I'm looking for, so until somebody publishes an all-encompassing, standalone, generic d20 System core book, it just isn't an option for me. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

[Hjorimir]

Really? I thought Grim Tales was standalone, being built primarily on the d20 Modern engine? Maybe I'm mistaken. However, since the Modern SRD is available online, you don't actually need to buy any other product than Grim Tales even if there is a dependency.

It's not worth it, Joshua. (Even if GrimTales can do every last genre other than superhero games. But I guess that is just a handful...by some standards.)

 

[Desdichado]

The other is that it only covers a handful of genres and time periods by design, much like d20 Modern does, thus failing to meet my criteria in two areas.

What does it not cover then? I mean, sure, it only explicitly covers a handful of specific mini-scenarios, but it's a toolkit that can be used to cover just any genre or time period equally well, IMO.

 

[jdrakeh]

Just to clarify my original criteria, since some people seem to be mis-interpreting it. What I'm looking for is a system that is:

A. Utterly generic. That is, a system that isn't devoted to covering a single genre or time period (d20 Modern) or a small handful of genres and time periods (Grimn Tales), but one that isn't tied to any genre in particular, instead opting to take a total tool-kit approach to genre (like all of the games in the poll list).

B. Contained in a single core book. That means that it isn't a supplement for another system, a series of three books, or any other thing besides a single, cohesive, rule book that stands on its own without needing to be house-ruled or requiring external support in the way of other books.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

All Genres, Easy to Use, Single Book

Choose two.

--fje

EDIT: What i'm saying is, I don't think you're really going to find anything -perfect-. You want something entirely genre non-specific contained in one book that'll do Occult Nazi Mecha without any work on your end. GURPS will probably need some extra material, something that doesn't probably is genre-oriented. And if you find the perfect system that does everything while specifying nothing, how long is it going to take to teach to your players and prep?

 

[Desdichado]

Utterly generic. That is, a system that isn't devoted to covering a single genre or time period (d20 Modern) or a small handful of genres and time periods (Grimn Tales), but one that isn't tied to any genre in particular, instead opting to take a total tool-kit approach to genre (like all of the games in the poll list).

I think you're misrepresenting Grim Tales, personally.

Also, I wonder what the value of a system so utterly generic would be. I can't imagine that it would actually be all that good. Even GURPS, which really strives for genericness, has certain genres that it does fairly poorly. Personally, my experience with GURPS isn't that it's really any more generic than d20, it's just better organized towards that goal.

 

[Staffan]

The only game in the poll I have any experience with is GURPS (and even that's only in 3rd ed), and it's hardly one of my favorite games. Someone else mentioned TORG - that is one of my favorite games, but I would have to revise some of the aspects before using it (like the magic system).

 

[radferth]

I'm not big on generic systems, as they seem to be either overly generic to the point of the genre becoming unimportant, or are so detailed that you spend a lot of time on stuff that should never come up. I guess if you want to cover all your bases, you can either use one giant infielder, or a bunch of smaller ones. I know lots of people like GURPS, but GURPS strikes me as a religious thing in that you really have to experience it to understand it, and in that folks seem to either love it or not, and there is no arguing someone in one camp into the other. I don't like it myself, but if you can hack its level of detail in some areas, it is probably worth looking at.

If I were going to use one system for everything, I would use either C&C's siege engine or some T20 version. The C&C system has one unified check for everthing, but of course modern classes and modern weapons would be totally up to the DM. If GR came out with some totally generic version of T20, I would think that would be the one to use, but that may never happen, and if they did actually write it all us T20 folks would probably lament that x,y, and z were lost in the convesion to generic and no one would end up using it, but in it's unpublished, imaginary form it is great.

 

[Fenris]

It's a d20 Modern supplement, by definition, so no. I do like it, have owned, it but - no. It doesn't meet my criteria as defined in the first post.

The above quote is in reference to Grim Tales. And I would argue it isn't a supplement. While you may find things d20 Modern that can aid you, you can find things in any d20 book. But I use it as a stand-alone system for many settings. It is quite generic and can handle swords, guns or cybernetic plasma cannons equally well. It does run a more grim style, but it so customizable (with built in options) that you can find your comfort zone with it. But if you have looked at it, obviously you opinion, experiance and criteria are different.

 

[jdrakeh]

What does it not cover then? I mean, sure, it only explicitly covers a handful of specific mini-scenarios, but it's a toolkit that can be used to cover just any genre or time period equally well, IMO.

4-Color Supers, Wuxia, Space Opera, Hard-Science Fiction, etc. It implicitly doesn't cover quite a few genres. This is all stuff that I'd have to house rule from scratch that isn't included (or even touched on) in the book. Sure, I can use GT to do all of this stuff - but not as written. Which, as I've clarified above, means that it doesn't meet my criteria.

As I've said, I want a completely generic tool-kit system, which GT isn't - it lacks rules for covering quite a few genres. Rules that the systems up in the poll (and some mentioned by other posters, such as Fuzion and Tri-Stat dX) have by default. The argument of 'Well, if you write up X and house-rule Y, then system X will meet your criteria!' is a poor argument that can (and has been) made of every RPG under the sun.

Again, the bottom line is that GT doesn't meet the established criteria as mentioned in my first post and as clarified above. And for the last time, both of you*, I'm not going to (re)buy Grim Tales. Again, thanks for your contributions thus far, but if you don't have anything else constructive to contribute, please quit the thread.

*Joshua and Hojimir