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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gronin" data-source="post: 5670461" data-attributes="member: 7603">Although, like many of the answers here, I have to state that depending on my mood and the group I'm in my tastes vary.  I have been playing RPGs for somewhere around 35 years and I have tried out a lot of systems and read through even more.  I would also have to agree that there is no ultimate/perfect system.That being said -- I decided that the best way to answer your question was to look at what makes my favourite systems .... my favourites.Very close to the top are Shadowrun and Dresden Files. Shadowrun is near the top and it is all about setting --- I flat out love the world -- the novels, the sourcebooks --- it doesn't matter I read them and I love them.  Unfortunately the game mechanics themselves have always had some issues - in particular they have struggled to find a good balance in combat between realism and playability  --- all too often the fight is won and lost on the initative roll (to be fair this seems to be less of an issue with 4th Edition, although as always those characters that didn't give themselves multiple initiative passes were somewhat left out.  If there is one power or one item or one rule that everyone (or almost everyone) implements in their character creation then it is likley that there is a problem there.  Dresden is also a setting choice -- I love the novels and I love the modern twist on all the mytholoiges.  It is also a choice because of the very involved and cooperative character generation system.  If your goal is to make a game that is very heavy role-playing this is a character generation system that is to be modeled after.  My groups entire first night was spent developing all of our back stories and how we were intertwined into the back stories of the other players and intertwined into the back stories of the city.  It also has a skill check/conflict resolution system that relies heavily on the numbers on your character sheet and is only modified to small degree by dice being rolled.  All that being said though neither of these cracks my top two --- Powers and Perils (long out of print --- published by Avalon Hill) -- I am at my core a crunchy bits kinda guy --- I love to build a detailed character and to be honest I am also a bit of a power gamer --- I like to build the best character I can within the parameters given to me and for me the more involved the character generation system the better.  This system is had (I do not have the books in front of me so I can't be sure) approximately 12 attributes that all improved over time.  It is skill based and skills improved (independent of character level) as you used the skill.  It had a combat system where armour made it easier to hit you but harder to damage you.  Magic us was also a skill and spells were cast until you ran out of mana.  I could go on for some length on the details of this system but really what we are after here is what did I like about it ---  the answer was the character generation system and the combat system and the magic system.This brings me to my favourite --- Earthdawn (I have only played 1st edition - although a heavily houseruled version to be fair.  Here again the setting and the history of the world was incredibly rich.  The character were simple to generate but the flavour of the characters and the way they fit into the setting was very nicely done.  From idea that all character were inherently magical and this is where their power came from to the training to learn new powers --- fantastic.  This was also my absolute favourite treatment of magic items.  Magic items are very rare but when you find one and decide to use it will function as a slightly better than normal version of whatever it is, but if you chose to commit to the item and decide to bond with it by weaving a magical link to it then the item will grow with you and as you increase in power so will it.Now after rambling on for a while I guess I should summarize what (to me) begins to bring us close to that ultimate game.Skills?  absolutely I love skills -- my houseruled version of Earthdawn had more involved skills rules than 1st Edition.  Hit Points?  yes it is a good way to keep track of damage --- The Dresden Files uses and updated version of the Fate system and it doens't really use hit points and I'm not a huge fan.Attacks?  yes but I am not a fan of systems that give you multiple attacks if your initiative is significantly betterArmour?  ideally armour should limit your mobility but reduce the damage you take and there are plenty of systems out there that do this successfully.  It should be a choice as to whether you personally feel that less or more armour is better.  Also I have no problem with things like chainmail wearing spellchuckers.Role Playing should be encouraged by the system and the setting.  While it may not be necessary to have as involved a character background development as Dresden does there is also no reason a game couldn't.  In the group we play in you can tell that time has been invested into intertwining the characters into each others lives and into the setting, we have entire sessions that go by without any dice being rolled and it is a blast.  This detailed background also gives the GM lots and lots of ammunition for his campaign. Also a very deep and detailed world/setting gives the players lots to work with.Magic?  Spellcasting for sure but I am not a fan of the way any incarnation of D & D has done it (4th probably comes closest though).  A spellcaster either knows a spell or not and it shouldn't be a matter of not having any more bullets in the gun as to whether or not a spell can be cast.  To me a spellcaster is either able to cast a spell or the spellcaster is too tired.  So either some sort of mana cost system with the possibility of knowing a wide range of spells or a very limited number of spells available but the caster has no limits on how often.  I am not a fan of the shadowrun system here with the extra rolls after casting to determine fatigue from casting -- it always seemed a bit unwieldy to me.Magic Items?  definitely but they should be few and far between and there should be some sort of way for the item to grow with the player.  Treasure?  other than throwing out a few magic items every once in a while and supplying enough gold to resupply I'm not too worried about the whole treasure thing.  The big thing here is that treasure shouldn't trnaslate into xp.Monsters?  absolutely.Not sure how much I helped answer your questions or if I made any sense at all (it is kinda late and I just sort of spewed) but if you have any questions feel free to ask.</blockquote>

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