System recommendations for modern weirdness?

[Calico_Jack73]

Personally I'd recommend nWOD. In my experience a horror game should be rules-lite. Encounters with things "not of this earth" can have the mood totally ruined if you are looking up this rule or that feat for whatever situation you find yourselves in. In nWOD everything in an encounter comes down to a single dice roll and the mechanic is the same whether you are making a skill check, using a "power", or making an attack. That one roll tells you degree of success or the amount of damage done. I also like it because for the most part it does away with the hit point mechanic. It is kind of hard to be scared when your character still has 20+ HP left in an encounter. Sure, in d20 CoC or Modern the Massive Damage threshold fixes this somewhat but I personally prefer the nWOD damage mechanic. On the whole it is neat, clean, elegant, and lets you get down to the business of telling a story rather than worrying about the rules.

 

[Psion]

Yeah, gotta keep up with the latest.

I'm not quite sure (precisely) what you really mean there, but I'll pretend that I do, and agree that on paper, that system does look a bit "lacking", maybe "basic", or even "unbalanced". But in actual play, I've always loved it to pieces. What gives?

Well, there's lots of things I can offer up that many newer skill systems do that BRP doesn't, many of which might vary in utility and desirability depending on the way you play. In truth, I am actually comfortable playing with a variety of skill systems depending on what I am after.

That said, the one lacking feature that would keep me from every using the BRP skill system again is the ability to handle opposed skill checks sensibly and implicitly.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I've considered using nWoD. It's tailor made for the genre, and at least one of my players really likes the system. The thing I don't like is that you really need to buy lots of books to have access to lots of different supernatural adversaries. If you want to include vampires, mages, or werewolves, you really need the books for them.

They never said you HAD to use Vampires as written in VtR.

Personally I'd have no problem using just the nWOD core book and creating my own type Vampires to suit my game. That way my players don't know what to expect and I can keep em guessing. It is a little more work but nowhere near the work involved with creating an NPC in d20 Modern or D&D. If I am running a game focused on Mortal characters then I wouldn't bother with the other books unless I wanted to evolve the game into a Vampire, Werewolf, or Mage game later on.

 

[Aus_Snow]

That said, the one lacking feature that would keep me from every using the BRP skill system again is the ability to handle opposed skill checks sensibly and implicitly.

Good call, probably. . . er, from memory. :\

Anyway, FWIW, I honestly wouldn't go back to BRP for actually running any sort of game, in reality. I'll play in one at the drop of a hat (me <- system slut, big time), but that's different.

 

[Committed Hero]

I'm not quite sure (precisely) what you really mean there, but I'll pretend that I do, and agree that on paper, that system does look a bit "lacking", maybe "basic", or even "unbalanced". But in actual play, I've always loved it to pieces. What gives?

It's a pretty simple system, with percentiles. If skills are unimportant, BRP fades into the background rather nicely - if that's what you want.

Personally, I think it breaks down when you try to represent tasks that are harder/easier than average. Or when doing "opposed" checks - for example, the rules don't distinguish between an object stashed by a cultist with 99% in Hide and one left by a hick with 5% in Hide. In both instances, the object is hidden if the skill roll is made, but there's no easy way to reflect that the former's attempt is harder to discover than the latter. The results can get even weirder with Fast Talk and other social skills.

There are also issues with respect to high levels of competence, especially as they deal with regaining Sanity or at the start of a game.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Since you own and don't want to use HERO, I won't suggest it...and I'll not reccomend Mutants & Masterminds since the same reasons for your rejection of HERO would apply to M&M.

Assuming, arguendo, that you stick to a D20 type system...

I think that D20 Modern + Dark*Matter would be a good start. Depending upon what you want to do with your campaign, I'd add Urban Arcana, GR's Modern Magic, and UltraModern Firearms.

For a modern-style treatment of psionics, you should take a look at GR's Psychic Handbook.

If you want some elements of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or the Prophecy movies, you should check out Malhavoc's Anger of Angels.

I would also consider looking at CoC D20, Fading Suns D20, Deadlands D20, and Dragonstar, if for no other reason than to lift critters and some occasional mechanics.

 

[Hjorimir]

What I'm looking to run is a modern-day fantasy adventure with PCs as average folks and the thing from myth and legend (as well as pure fantasy) slowly seeping into the real world. Something a bit like Poltergeist: The Legacy or Friday the 13th: The Series with elements of Pan's Labyrinth, I guess.

Sounds like a fun game and as much as I'd love to recommend True20 (because I love the system), I won't. Not because you're 99% against it though! Instead, I would recommend any system that takes your players out of their comfort zone.

It sounds like you have some interesting ideas about some characters facing some big unknowns and I think the game system should reflect that. If, for example, you're players are big D&D (d20 whatever) players and you use such a system they can quickly start the process of reverse engineering everything into familiar concepts. Take that comfort away from them would be my suggestion at the end of the day.

Good luck!

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I've been playing with some simple changes to the d20 Modern game based on StarWars Saga edition that seem like they will integrate simply and would enhance this type of game.

"Defenses" Instead of Saving Throws

You can keep the current averages by doing a very simple flip. Take your final Saving Throw Bonus and add 10. This becomes your Defense for that score and is easy to do in your head and write on a character sheet.

Remove Saves

Take all save-inducing mechanics and subtract 10 from the DC. This is now the + for an attack that focuses on the opposing Defense. A snakes Fort DC 13 poison is now a +3 Poison Attack vs. Fortitude Defense.

(Together those create a system where the active character makes most rolls, and speeds up combat.)

Institute A Condition Track
The unified Condition Track would work well for this type of game. Many effects get boiled into "push the character 1 place down the Condition Track".

The condition track is five spaces: -1, -2, -5, -10 + 50% movement, Unconcious

Massive Damage Threshold: This can be kept the same or changed to Fortitude Defense. For a Modern Thriller styled game, I would say that: Any attack which does damage in excess of the Damage Threshold pushes the character two steps down the Condition Track.

We can also institute another simple mechanic for Fear/Horror, using this system.

Horror: Witnessing something horrible is run as an area attack (Line Of Sight) against Will Defense. If the Horror Attack surpasses the Will Defense of the character, he moves one place down the condition track. Then something simple like: A Critical Hit on a Horror Check moves the characters an additional place down the Condition Track, and this Condition becomes Persistent until Psychological Counseling is undertaken.

Skill Granularity

Something I had done with my games in the past, which I will do again, is Skill Groups. Instead of taking Move Silently and Hide, they are combined into the Stealth group. Swim, Climb, and Jump are the Athletics group. Listen, Spot, Search are the Perception group.

Universal Skill Raises
SWRPG does something nice with skills. Every character has a bonus to all skills equal to 1/2 Level. Trained Only skills you cannot make checks with untrained. You get a number of Trained Skills (or skill groups). When Trained you get a +5 to skill checks and you can make checks on Trained-only skills.

This would simplify the skill system and guarantee a baseline aptitude in things like Search and Spot that are important for Investigative style games.

And then, additionally, you can do something story-wise to get GUMSHOEy and instead of stating that "Finding The Important Clue Is DC 15 Search" put in your notes that "If The Characters Search The Room, They Find The Important Clue" then add DCs for Better Results. They find the Matchbook if they look (DC 0), but they find the Thrown Away Note On Stationary Leading To The Killer on a 15, etc.

A small handful of changes I could probably boil down to a notecard. That's how I play most of my games.

For Modern Horror/Thriller, using the MDT mechanics we have, I like to go with MDT = 10 + Armor or Con Modifier and MDT Save DC = 10+(1/2 Damage). Another simple change to d20M that makes combat "scarier".

--fje

 

[Prest0]

Lastly, I was giving serious consideration to Savage Worlds. Of all the games, this one is the easiest to pick up and learn, and plays smoothly. Action tends toward the cinematic right from the get go. Characters are more customizable than in D20 Modern. It's a lot easier to whip up various opponents (an unlike WoD, you really only need one book to do it). There really isn't much along the way of supplements for modern/urban horror, and so you would have to draw everything up from scratch. Fortunately, of all the systems, this is the easiest to create monsters and NPCs with, but still, it's nice to have all that already done for you.

Savage Worlds is my system of choice when running games, but I do have to disagree with two of your points Hackmaster. First, while characters are highly customizable, I wouldn't say they are more customizable than d20 Modern. Savage Worlds focuses on fast, fun, play. Consequently, where d20 might have 3 feats to accomplish three separate but related things, Savage Worlds would probably roll it into a single edge. So in that regard, while your Savage Worlds character can do everything a d20 character can do, character statting doesn't feel as granular as d20.

I also have to disagree about not many supplements for horror. For one thing, there is a Savage Worlds Horror Toolkit that shows GMs how to create pretty much any creature, cursed item, cultist, etc for a modern horror game. That single title is worth four or five supplements because it "teaches you to fish" instead of just "selling you fish". Then, there's our stuff.

 

[Lockridge]

I agree with the recommendation for Savage Worlds.

A couple of years ago I started a modern horror using d20 modern. That is a good system by the way but lately I've been using Savage Worlds because I feel that it moves at a pace more appropriate to a horror theme.