What do you, personally, need a system to do for you?

[overgeeked]

Honestly, at this point...nothing. There are no systems that I have to have provided. I have so many systems floating around in my head that I'm much happier improvising a system or mixing-and-matching systems on the fly than worrying about what some book says.

You can run from some basic first principles and a randomizer of some kind. Things like the oft repeated "fiction first." Okay, so let that breathe and get the mechanics out of its way. What makes the most sense given the fiction? That should easily cover like 90% of all cases. Only when that breaks down would you really need a randomizer. Most games have a few basic difficulty levels so pick a randomizer and map one to the other. That gets you to something like 99%. The last little bit is almost always "make it up."

To me, the rest of it just gets in the way.

 

[Reynard]

Honestly, at this point...nothing. There are no systems that I have to have provided. I have so many systems floating around in my head that I'm much happier improvising a system or mixing-and-matching systems on the fly than worrying about what some book says.

You can run from some basic first principles and a randomizer of some kind. Things like the oft repeated "fiction first." Okay, so let that breathe and get the mechanics out of its way. What makes the most sense given the fiction? That should easily cover like 90% of all cases. Only when that breaks down would you really need a randomizer. Most games have a few basic difficulty levels so pick a randomizer and map one to the other. That gets you to something like 99%. The last little bit is almost always "make it up."

To me, the rest of it just gets in the way.

Out of curiosity, what do you do when you encounter players that want some crunch to grab onto?

 

[Stormonu]

I used to think that I needed a system for everything, to the Nth degree - like 3E D&D.

Nowadays, I'm happier with a more open system and less detail. As long as it has some structure to fairly handle "did it work?" and allow someone to specialize (or be absolutely rotten) in doing whatever, I'm pretty happy. I find I like to narrate the outcome based on decisions and reduce the random/chance element where possible (i.e., only rolling when the outcome is really in doubt) or use random generators for ideas when you're at a bit of an impasse where/what to do next.

I guess, in a way, that's a lot of "I don't need a minigame/subsystem" for this, that and the other and kinda detest systems that can't use a broad system for handling things (such as D&D, with it's combat minigame). For the most part, that boils down to a robust skill system - out of combat and in combat can be handled easily well, and they don't require fancy subsystems for one over the other - and most of all, don't heavily favor one pillar over the other. Things along the lines of the likes of Savage Worlds skill/attribute system, Vampire's dice pool attribute/skills and the like. Heck, Alien has a pretty minimal system of attributes and skills (4 attributes, 12 skills) and it's great fun for me.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Hidden

Christ lol you prankster. The failure to just completely rework Stealth/Hidden into a more naturalistic and frankly at least minimally sane system, when they changed a bunch of other systems, with 2024, remains wild to me. I dunno if they made it worse but I don't think it's actually better!

 

[Reynard]

Christ lol you prankster. The failure to just completely rework Stealth/Hidden into a more naturalistic and frankly at least minimally sane system, when they changed a bunch of other systems, with 2024, remains wild to me. I dunno if they made it worse but I don't think it's actually better!

It is, in a word, bonkers.

 

[Committed Hero]

These days, unless you're AD&D, I don't want a system that makes me learn a ton of sub-systems and exceptions.

I will die on the hill of "D&D needs its own turn undead subsystem."

 

[Bagpuss]

I would hate to see what happens to air sharks that can't fly.

You would need to roll d% on the "flightless air shark table" applying the appropriate modifiers for starting altitude and surface being flown over to determine the result.

Don't roll high.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I need the task resolution mechanic to be the cornerstone of the game, and to be the same mechanic for all task resolution.

I need the rules to be clear and transparent enough that everyone at the table knows what a given task resolution means or how powerful a given effect is (assuming engaged players of course).

I need a system to be simple to learn with a good depth of added complexity that you can master as you learn the game.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I will die on the hill of "D&D needs its own turn undead subsystem."

As a long-time cleric fan, I can't deny that just looking at this old table gives me a thrill:

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I will die on the hill of "D&D needs its own turn undead subsystem."

Yes. But it should use the basic task resolution that the rest of the game uses.

IMO D&D also Needs a defend and counter system both for weapon attacks and for spells.

I partly fixed that in my own system by making players roll for defense and enemies just determine how many dice of damage or effect the player is rolling to defend against. That way when a player counters, it isn’t a mess of back and forth, it’s just basically the Monk’s Deflect Attacks as the basis of how all combat works.