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One System To Rule Them All!

Which Generic System Would You Choose?

  • GURPS 4th Edition

    Votes: 36 27.7%
  • Hero 5th Edition Revised

    Votes: 23 17.7%
  • End All Be All (EABA)

    Votes: 2 1.5%
  • CORPS

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Fudge

    Votes: 10 7.7%
  • FATE

    Votes: 4 3.1%
  • The Window

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Something Else

    Votes: 53 40.8%

  • Poll closed .
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Poorly Phrased Title

I'm afraid that the poll title didn't match your question; so I voted (from the main page) for "Something else" - being the Dangerous Journeys system. The problems for your situtation are:
1) It is no longer supported, published, or avalible. 2) There is no generic "core" book, although such rules can be extrapolated, and 3) Only one setting was ever published for the system.

To answer your question, of currently published games, I'd tend towards GURPS, largely because it has a reasonable player base.
 
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Zimbel said:
There is no generic "core" book, although such rules can be extrapolated

Which immediately invalidates it as a choice (see clarification of criteria bout five posts up).
Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[P.S. Incidentally, I seem to recall that before it was cut, there was some kind of generic core book planned for the Dangerous Journeys product line - or at least a genre expansion book. Is my memory playing tricks on me, or was this the case?]
 

Well I guess it comes down to what you mean by generic. I look at generic that it is a system not tied to any one genre in particular so I can use it for anything under the sun. But it sounds to me like you want a generic that already includes everything under the sun and just don't use what you don't want.

I would have also advocated True20 - what a beautiful system - but it doesn't already include everything. I guess I'm just one of those less is more and keep it simple so I can focus on fast gameplay.

For what it is worth, when I suggested GT it was in an effort to be helpful.
 

Another HERO vote, here. The HERO system can model any type of game I've ever heard of, complete in one volume.

The price, of course, is complexity and prep time. HERO characters are not super quick to make (though there is software that helps) and the system itself can get complicated. But to use HeapThaumaturgist's example, it CAN do Occult Nazi Mecha right out of the box. And let you battle them as Flower Fairies toting full-automatic weapons that fire incendiary peppermint sticks.
 

Fenris said:
The above quote is in reference to Grim Tales. And I would argue

No offense intended, but this exactly not what this thread was started for. I have no problem debating the merits of GT in general on another thread (as I do believe that it has a lot of merits and is, in fact, one of the three best d20 products I've seen on the market), but I'd appreciate it if that didn't happen here. Again, no offense intended, but that isn't what this thread was started for.
 

Voted for GURPS, which has typically been my default system. But a few others are worth mentioning:

Risus: Yeah, it's billed as a comedy RPG but it's full name is Risus: The Anything RPG. And it really can handle anything. of course, it can handle any genre, but not exactly every style of play. And it's not for people who like a a lot (any) crunch in their game.

Savage Worlds: My new obsession, though I'm still not 100% convinced it would satisfy all my needs. But it looks very promising.

Somebody mentioned Over the Edge. I'd agree, but if you're going with that approach, I'd recommend Risus instead.

Oh, and FATE is also pretty darn cool.
 

Hjorimir said:
Well I guess it comes down to what you mean by generic. I look at generic that it is a system not tied to any one genre in particular so I can use it for anything under the sun.

You didn't read my clarification did you? ;)

jdrakeh said:
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 (Grim 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).

For what it is worth, when I suggested GT it was in an effort to be helpful.

I don't doubt that, and have thanked you for suggesting it several times - what I did not welcome was the wildly defensive attitude that you copped when I said that it didn't meet my criteria (which I reiterrated just for you and Joshua) and the accompanying pot shots that you took at me afterwards.

Just so we're clear, I understand that this kind of thing happens on message boards, so I don't hold anything against you personally - but this running condemnation of why I am wrong for not adjusting my criteria to meet your expectations stops right here. Cool?
 

HeapThaumaturgist said:
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.

The only genres where GURPS requires extra material are high tech settings that are very gadget oriented. The equipment lists in GURPS are good, but even they can't cover all SF universes out there with just the main book.
 

Ot

jdrakeh said:
[P.S. Incidentally, I seem to recall that before it was cut, there was some kind of generic core book planned for the Dangerous Journeys product line - or at least a genre expansion book. Is my memory playing tricks on me, or was this the case?]
According to a few searches and my recollection, yes. Development was stopped due to a lawsuit by T.S.R.

Back On topic:
If I understand your clarifications correctly, GURPS is the only game you define as Generic that I've played or read. I tend to dislike its having linear modifiers for bell-curve distribution die rolls, and I find some of the choices the designers made to be arbitrary, but you can run nearly anything with it.
 

Ethernaut said:
Risus: Yeah, it's billed as a comedy RPG but it's full name is Risus: The Anything RPG. And it really can handle anything. of course, it can handle any genre, but not exactly every style of play. And it's not for people who like a a lot (any) crunch in their game.

Usually 'crunch' or lack thereof doesn't factor into what systems I choose to play/run (the sole exception I can think od being D&D 3x, which I'll play but not GM specifically because of the crazy rule minutae). And Risus? If I could get my players to take it seriously once in a while, I'd play it all the time. Unfortunately, a lot of players who I know think 'rules-lite' must be stupid, slapstick, goofery :P
 

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