What’s the most complex RPG out there?

[Morrus]

Care to elaborate on what "background complexity" means?

I would take it to mean that the "pre-play" or "Housekeeping" phase(s) like character generation, equipment selection, session zero, or levelling up would be complicated things, but that the actual grind of combat or whatever would be much more straightforward. Yes/No?

More GM worldbuilding mechanics, as opposed to in-play resolution mechanics. But yeah, a depth of character creation. I find that stuff fun.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

More GM worldbuilding mechanics, as opposed to in-play resolution mechanics. But yeah, a depth of character creation. I find that stuff fun.

It's fun, to a point. Personally, it's the entire reason why I can't run GURPS. All of the mechanics exist in order to perfectly represent my exact mental image of the world I want to build, but then I need to actually go through and figure out the ability template for an orc, and again for an elf, and again for a dragon, and again for every single creature I need to represent. It's just too much.

 

[AriochQ]

I have to second many of those already listed:
Rolemaster
Living Steel
Traveller 2300
Twilight 2000
Aftermath

I didn't find GURPS particularly bad and have never played Hackmaster.

Of them all, I would say that Rolemaster was the most complex based simply on the insane number of charts and tables and level of detail to combat.

 

[aramis erak]

I would agree on Rolemaster, that’s for sure. If I recall correctly, Megatraveller should get a nod for the starship combat rules alone.

Nope. The starship combat rules are CT converted to tasks.

And Rolemaster's dead simple compared to Web Games. Or to Phoenix Command. And those aren't even the worst.

 

[aramis erak]

Care to elaborate on what "background complexity" means?

I would take it to mean that the "pre-play" or "Housekeeping" phase(s) like character generation, equipment selection, session zero, or levelling up would be complicated things, but that the actual grind of combat or whatever would be much more straightforward. Yes/No?

That's what I understood from reading it. It's a similar concept to "front loaded complexity" - all the complexity is before play.
Hero and Rolemaster look good for that role...

 

[GMMichael]

GURPS has a vast library of material. . . What else is there that’s known as super complex?

Modos 2 has 81 rules. Kind of mind-numbing, that.

GURPS hurts my brain each time I look at it, and then I realize there are countless expansion books...but at least it's not a d100 system.

 

[Unpossible E]

I didn't find the original Twilight: 2000 overly complex, but that's likely because I came to it after running multiple Aftermath! campaigns. For a long time that was for me the standard for high complexity.

Years later I ran Twilight: 2013, which is probably the most complex game I've ever run. It has some clever ideas, but unfortunately they're buried in poor organization and unnecessarily complicated implementation. If you want to find out exactly which part of your opponent's face is caved in by the 5.56mm round from your highly-customized M4 variant, this is the game for you.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

GURPS hurts my brain each time I look at it, and then I realize there are countless expansion books...but at least it's not a d100 system.

The nice thing about GURPS supplements is that they actually reduce the amount of work required to play the game.

If you wanted to run a cyberpunk game, for example, then everything you need to run that is in the core book - you can have a cyber-arm that gives you +2 Strength but -1 Dexterity and has 3 points of location-specific armor but gives a -1 reaction penalty because people are suspicious of you. They just don't tell you that those are the rules you would use to model a cyber-arm, so you have to do all of that work yourself.

If you buy the GURPS cyberpunk supplement, then they actually tell you what the cyber-arm package is, so you don't have to do that work.

 

[johndesmarais]

I haven’t played Hero System or Rolemaster, but both are known as very high crunch...

As other have implied, Hero System's reputation for complexity is (mostly) undeserved. Character creation - primarily at the super-powered end of the scale - can be quite complex; but actually playing the game is pretty straightforward with a relatively simple task resolution mechanic.

 

[Stephen A Turner]

For rules complexity, I'd say Phoenix Command for its firearm rules and combat, Aftermath for a lot of things including designing custom weapons, Other Suns for ship and equipment design, Chivalry and Sorcery for the variety (and general unplayability going by RAW) of magic systems, Fantasy Wargaming for complexity in adjudicating magical attempts.

What version of C&S are you referring to. I would argue that 4th Edition The Rebirth is more accessible than previous editions.