Point buy and skill-based game

[Plane Sailing]

I would suggest Basic Role Playing or Mongoose RQ2 as good options for skill -based games.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

As others have mentioned point-buy systems like Hero or GURPS can lead to curious characters. As GM I've suffered from a 100 point GURPS Fantasy Fighter with a higher than 50% chance to hit the enemy in the eye with her spear.

When running a longer campaign you also have to keep in mind that these games (GURPS at least) have a certain sweet spot which the character can leave rather quickly. Character Points as currency for experience can lead to a sharp power increase, because even a single or two CP can buy an improvement. The tempo lowers at higher levels, but even beginning characters are quite powerful compared to D&D-like games.

 

[Rel]

Try Savage Worlds. Cheap buy in ($10) for the base book, fast paced, semi-point buy. I'd get the Fantasy and Supers Companion too, personally.

This.

My opinion is that Savage Worlds is in the sweet spot of point buy games due to the granularity of the system. It's very "lean" and, while it is possible for players to make characters of varying power levels, it is unlikely to happen by accident. It has a lot less fiddly detail than (for example) HERO or Mutants & Masterminds.

Plus it is Fast, Furious Fun in actual play. And you can use it to emulate lots of different genres. Definitely the most bang for my buck of any RPG I've bought in the last few years.

 

[Spinachcat]

I haven't run a game in over 2 years but have that "itch" again.

If you are the GM and are going to shoulder all the prep work and effort of being the GM, then the game has to be something that excites you most of all. 'Cuz its one thing to make one character to use every session versus the time the GM needs to invest in a point-buy game.

GURPS and HERO are good games...in theory. In practice, they require a notable input of effort to build anything you don't have already statted out. I can run Champions easily today because I have 20 years of villains and NPCs sitting around.

I like Savage Worlds, but I really loved BESM 3e and Silver Age Sentinels. Sadly, both are OOP but really succeeded in getting that middle ground between too broad (Savage Worlds) and too fiddly (Hero).

Savage is great if your crew loves to play with minis. You can WYSIWYG very fast with SW so everyone can tailor out the minis. Also, SW is the best RPG for large group minis skirmish. So if you want a fantasy campaign where heroes have henchmen, mounts, mercenaries all moshing with a dozen or two dozen foes...in an hour of gameplay...then SW really rocks.

I also like True20. If you have a shelf full of D20 stuff, True 20 can convert over...with some effort, but less effort than starting from scratch.

And as many others have said, the GM must be deeply involved in chargen. It's so easy to munchkin a point-based system, and even those players who don't mean to munch out can easily overspecialize and make Captain Cannon.

Another note on chargen - be aware of the disadvantages. Almost all point buys allow you to buy disads to give you more points. However, it is very easy to munchkin that. Even more importantly, disads are only really disads if they show up in play.

Remember kits in AD&D 2e? Fun idea, but the disads for many of the "overpowered" kits were entirely social issues....which only come up if the DM makes them happen.