The older i get the less I need.

[Gorgon Zee]

Are there generic systems that can do fantasy, sci-fi, horror, modern, etc all in one?

Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium) can, and it is definitely in the camp of providing many, many options for you to choose from. It’s much like GURPS in that respect, but I find it cleaner and much more consistent. The single volume currently available which contains specific systems for all the above genres is a strong choice. As I’ve stated before, I’m not a big fan of the style, but it would be my go to if I Wally wanted to mix up multiple genres in a medium-crunch system.

Fate also works for all of these — I’ve run sci-fi, horror and modern campaigns using it. It has a different approach — it provides a light engine that you need all of, but you will also need about 50% more content in the form of a world book or the like for a specific genre. I like that style — no waste and minimal useless extra stuff, but it does make Fate more of an engine than a system.

Powered by the Apocalypse is another generic engine that has multiple incarnations that tailor a generic system. I’m not a huge fan, but many are and there are a lot of very highly regarded options in each of these genres.

Savage Worlds I used to run a Flash Gordon campaign with minimal changes, and it’s good for a game with a pulp feel. But when I ran a more recent Deadlands campaign, I went back to the original system as although a worse system as a rule system, it was way more that if and fit the genre better.

I’ve run Alternity and Cypher system campaigns also, but spite them being marketed as generic, they had a very strong way of working that affected the games I ran, so I’d hesitate to call them truly generic. More like the d20 modern games that alway felt a compromise.

So .. any of the above could do all those genres, but each has their own drawbacks and will bend your game to their way of running. If that’s to your liking, fantastic! For me, it’s been easier to find a smaller, focused game than work out which behemoth to use and then spend the time trimming the fat.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Not by definition of the word generic, but just my opinion. I think a generic system should get the job done to run a game, and a little more, but after a point too many rules and intricacies can be too much and perhaps should be its own system. Then again, I haven't played any generic systems so not sure my opinion means a whole lot. Are there generic systems that can do fantasy, sci-fi, horror, modern, etc all in one?

Yes. Though there's usually Some Assembly Needed. Hero, EABA and Heroes and Hardships all come to mind here.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium) can, and it is definitely in the camp of providing many, many options for you to choose from. It’s much like GURPS in that respect, but I find it cleaner and much more consistent. The single volume currently available which contains specific systems for all the above genres is a strong choice. As I’ve stated before, I’m not a big fan of the style, but it would be my go to if I Wally wanted to mix up multiple genres in a medium-crunch system.

Though like GURPS, its also a plug-in system and is not entirely self-contained (in that you may need tools not found in the core book depending on what you're trying to do).

Fate also works for all of these — I’ve run sci-fi, horror and modern campaigns using it. It has a different approach — it provides a light engine that you need all of, but you will also need about 50% more content in the form of a world book or the like for a specific genre. I like that style — no waste and minimal useless extra stuff, but it does make Fate more of an engine than a system.

But then, you know that as this shows.

 

[aramis erak]

The whole point of generic systems is that you curate the aspects you need to do the thing you are interested in. I don't get the idea that a generic system can have "too much."

Let's take a look at GURPS. 200 skills in the core. over 200 more across the supplements.
Most of the supplements are not generic; they're specific worldbooks. To do something not already done as a worldbook, you need to pick which skills, advantages, and disadvantages are unavailable. You may need to borrow bits from other rulebooks to get right fidelity to target setting. And therein becomes the rub – there are a hundred or more sourcebooks, most out of print. (checking RPGG - GURPS 3 alone, not counting THS, Diskworld, nor Hellboy, 320-330 products. Much of which are actually GURPS Traveller...
That's just GURPS 3rd...
If one's players are truly GURPS Fans, they might not have the same collection as the GM, and might kvetch about the GM's choices of what to borrow.
And if you don't have the expansions at all? Have fun forcing it to fit.

On the other end, CORPS 2e... the handful of worldbooks generally are heavier on descriptive prose and equipment than GURPS... but also each overhauls the skill list and provides for what level of paranormal to allow... but they don't introduce new mechanics, just show you tweaks to the core. (Ok, VDS adds mechanics... it's the Vehicle Design Sourcebook...) So, if you need a new mechanic to do a given setting, straight to hacking either CORPS, the setting, or both, to make a decent fit.

Two different ends of the paradigm... One with too much, the other not enough.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Though like GURPS, [BRP] also a plug-in system and is not entirely self-contained (in that you may need tools not found in the core book depending on what you're trying to do).

The latest edition is much more self-contained. I haven’t given it a play yet, but the 2024 version has a lot of options, and has made a big effort to make them work together. It’s one of the most dense books with the highest ratio of rules-to-fluff that I’ve read (and I’ve run campaigns in a rolemaster and D&D4E). It feels like it’s closer to the completist model than previous versions — at least to me. A bit intimidating, to be honest.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The latest edition is much more self-contained. I haven’t given it a play yet, but the 2024 version has a lot of options, and has made a big effort to make them work together. It’s one of the most dense books with the highest ratio of rules-to-fluff that I’ve read (and I’ve run campaigns in a rolemaster and D&D4E). It feels like it’s closer to the completist model than previous versions — at least to me. A bit intimidating, to be honest.

While true, my statement still seems to apply, just somewhat less so than in second or third edition.

 

[Staffan]

The whole point of generic systems is that you curate the aspects you need to do the thing you are interested in. I don't get the idea that a generic system can have "too much."

The thing with generic systems is that while you can generally plug in different trappings into the system, the game will still feel the same. You can play GURPS with swords & spells, or as a Western, or as a Victorian vampire hunter, or as a 40s noir detective, or set on a far-future spaceship. In either case, you're still dealing with a game with hundreds of skills, a strong emphasis on attributes (particularly Dexterity and Intelligence, as those are what most skills are based on and the huge number of skills means it's more efficient to pump base stats), low skill defaults unless your stat is super high, a combat system which slices things down to seconds and uses fairly detailed hit locations (with different effects) and different damage types. There are some things that can soften the game a little, but it'll still fundamentally be the same game.

You can also play either of those settings with Savage Worlds. Savage Worlds has 32 skills (with the potential to add more if needed, but the skills are pretty broad), and while core stats play a role in skill development it's not as big as in GURPS (primarily, GURPS stats set the skill floor from which you build up, while Savage Worlds stats set a soft ceiling above which it becomes harder to increase a skill). Characters are fairly broadly competent, at least PCs which get to roll a Wild Die meaning that even without actually having a skill they have about a 50% chance of success at a regular-difficulty task. Combat in Savage Worlds is pretty fast and not as lethal as GURPS, and hit locations only matter if you take serious injuries. Oh, and Savage Worlds have a metacurrency in the form of bennies, which lets players add extra oomph when it matters.

Or you could do either of those settings in FATE. In FATE, you have a smaller number of skills, and skills also take the place of things that in other games would be attributes (e.g. Strength) or social traits (e.g. Resources). Equipment matters little, and a large portion of the game mechanic revolve around gaining and spending FATE points, which makes your Aspects very important as those are the main vehicle through which you do this.

My point here is that a swords & spells game in GURPS will be more similar to a Western in GURPS than a swords & spells game in Savage Worlds or FATE. It's like the samurai movie Yojimbo: you can transplant it to a spaghetti western and get A Fistful of Dollars, or to the prohibition era and get Last Man Standing, but either way it's not going to be Shanghai Noon.

As to supers: different supers games definitely do different supers sub genres better than others. I think M&M is great for everything but the lowest powered to the highest powered supers, for example.

I haven't seen the last few versions of M&M, but my impression is that it takes a very simulationist view of supers, as channeled through the d20 system. Characters have distinct powers that can do distinct things, and while there's a fairly flexible system for Alternate Powers (using the same narrative ability for multiple mechanical powers, such as using "Webshooters" both for making binding attacks and for swinging movement) and the occasional improvisation, the focus of the game is on the mechanical aspects.

Thing is, the super-hero comics I like tend to be much more narratively focused. The podcast X-Plain the X-Men (which is well worth listening to) proclaims the X-Men to be "comic's greatest superhero soap opera". I mean, it's all well and good that Rogue can punch you from one state to the next, but the really important part is if she can forgive Gambit for his unwitting role in the Mutant Massacre. And I don't think M&M is the game for that. I'm not sure any game is, to be honest.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yes. Though there's usually Some Assembly Needed. Hero, EABA and Heroes and Hardships all come to mind here.

So, batteries not included? And if they do, they probably require D-Cells, & good luck finding those in 2024, I'm looking at you, Mauler, the GI Joe tank.

 

[R_J_K75]

Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium) can, and it is definitely in the camp of providing many, many options for you to choose from. It’s much like GURPS in that respect, but I find it cleaner and much more consistent. The single volume currently available which contains specific systems for all the above genres is a strong choice.

Thanks. I'll have to give this a look into this

 

[R_J_K75]

As a huge fan of Alternity, I am deeply saddened to see these equivocated.

And I always said Alternity was pre-3E, the progenitor and Star Wars Saga was 5E Lite