The Ideal RPG System?

[avin]

You know, it depends the game you wanna run... for some games GURPS is far better than D&D... and vice-versa.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I am of the opinion that there is no such thing as an Ideal System, in general. No one system is going to do all the things I might (and have, at various times) wanted in a game system, and I'm okay with that.

QFT.

Even though my 2 favorite systems are HERO and M&M respectively (3.X is #3 on my list), and have used them to run all kinds of games, I recognize that systems dedicated to running a specific kind of game often handle the task better. For instance, I wouldn't use HERO to run a TOON or Paranoia style game.

Frankly, point-based systems are kind of boring and bland. When all's said and done, they're all the same.

I think there is a world of difference between systems like HERO or M&M and something like GURPS- crunchiness, underlying assumptions, genre transparency, and more- differences that make me love the first 2 and strongly dislike the third.

 

[Tetsubo]

Ability To Affect Die Rolls
I am so in love with the Hero Point/Bennie/Action point/Whatever idea that I seriously consider any RPG without it to be deficient. Whether it's the ability to avoid a bad die roll at a critical time or just to gain access to a stunt ability I don't normally have, the concept of the action point is just amazing.

Meaningful Skills
Something I seldom see is a scale that lets me know how good I am at a skills as compared to various levels of expertise. Exactly when am I a master of my craft? When am I the best blacksmith in the region? When am I the best swordsman in the world?

I find that interesting, because I have always really hated the action point concept. I find the decision making very frustrating. Should I spend that point now? Or save it for later? If I spend it now am I screwing myself later? I find it so intensely frustrating that I simply never spend the points. And if the game is geared towards people spending points at critical junctures, I am also screwed. It greatly reduces my enjoyment of the game.

I oppose the use of action points in any genre of RPG.

The desire for a skill scale for comparison I understand.

 

[Tetsubo]

For me there is no ideal system for all genres. For existing systems I would chose:

Fantasy: 3.5/OGL.

SF: Star Wars SAGA System.

Superhero: M&M.

Real world (or at least close to real world): D20 Modern.

 

[Punnuendo]

Savage Worlds...




No really. I love it. If I had to pick an ideal system, that would be it.

However, I'm too much of a system collector and have all kinds.

 

[scourger]

Savage Worlds...

Ditto. Savage Worlds has just about ruined other games for me (although I do still feel nostalgic toward d20 & Rifts).

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I'm pretty adamant that not only are there no ideal systems, there isn't even the possibility of one, or even the possibility of a true universal system (capable of doing all kinds of games adequately, if falling short of the ideal). I like Hero as much as anyone can, and not play it all the time, and agree it is very generic, but I find it sorely lacking as a universal system because it has failed to produce the kind of game our group wanted on more than one occasion. Other times, it has worked great.

So my "ideal" system would actually be rather narrow, because it would be addressing some types of play that, to my knowledge, no current game does well. It's not an exhaustive description, but one thing it would do well is use a skill-system (or something very similar) of interlocking abilities which resolved into actual mechanics on the fly, as needed, but with a minimum of handwaving or complexity. That's a tall order--of which I'm well aware, since I've been putzing around with such a design for several years. I can almost get there on that one goal, provided that I make several other sacrifices that I'm not willing to make.

Oh, and it also has to be optimized for a large number of players, with select "GM duties" distributed among the players. Those two requirements happen to complicate the first one.

 

[RFisher]

I’ve long been on a quest to find/develop my ideal system.

I’ve come to realize that it won’t ever exist. If for no other reason than that I enjoy subsystems that are incompatible or redundant. Not everything I enjoy can fit into a single system.

Unfortunately, the quest has become such a habit that I’m still on it anyway.