What Rules/Systems Would You Steal For EVERY Game?

[Reynard]

This is the last in my ongoing series of exploration threads, as I will be starting my personal RPG game design in earnest. And this thread is a little different.

Rather than discussing a certain topic, what I am interested in here is what rules or subsystems do you, personally, think should be in "every" game. Obviously, let's not be too literal. What I mean is, what rules or subsystsems do you find so compelling, useful and/or fun, you think some version of them should exist in most games to make them better?

Two examples for myself are: flowing metacurrency, and advantage/disadvantage.

In the former case, what I like is the back and forth of a tool that both players and GMs can use to impact play, but with consequences built in every time you use it. I do this every time I run a convention game, turned Bennies or Force Points or whatever into pools that shift between the players and the GM.

In the latter case, I have just found the simplicity of an advantage/disadvantage system to be much easier to employ than endless modifiers. Whether it is roll two and take the best/worst, or add/subtract a d6, or whatever, these systems make a improv heavy GM like me very happy.

So, what rules or subsystems do you think belong in nearly every RPG, and why?

 

[Tigris]

Skill challenges/ clocks

Having a way to resolve a big non combat part with more than 1 check and letting everybody contribute is in my oppinion important.


Also one thing I would like to see in all games are some rules to keep the GM in check / to limit the GMs power.



Advantage/disadvantage I like, but because of the easier way to add/cancel modifiers.

 

[Reynard]

Skill challenges/ clocks

Having a way to resolve a big non combat part eith more than 1 check and letting everybody contribute is in my oppinion important.

Good call.

 

[Tonguez]

I've taken to using

1. Fronts - DungeonWorld - they help create a dynamic world without being prescriptive and importantly allow DMs to track progress. A Great way of having multiple factions and issues in the world and ensure that random encounters arent pointless.
2. Aspects - FATE - narrative phrases that signal to both DM and PCs how they can interact with the world and characters in a dynamic way and when relevant can be invoked for Inspiration.
   Situational Aspects as combat consequences are also better than HP attrition
3. Advantage/Disadvantage - DnD5e - the afore mention invoking of inspiration and as started it has a simplicity that makes it fun
4. Skill Challenges - theyre great and I'm increasingly using them instead of basic combat

 

[payn]

I like some kind of push ability like in several Free league games, some PBtA, etc.. Something that lets the player go an extra mile on a bad check if it’s important to them to try again. Key is to make it have some downsides to consider so it’s a very limited option.

I’m cool with some type of meta currency as well. Something that lets a player break the dice result on rare occasions. I feel both swingy and strict rules games are better with a pinch of wiggle room.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Skill challenges/ clocks

Having a way to resolve a big non combat part with more than 1 check and letting everybody contribute is in my oppinion important.

Yeah I was going to say I didn't think there was anything I'd steal for virtually every RPG but actually I cannot easily think of one where these wouldn't have at least some applicability.

I’m cool with some type of meta currency as well. Something that lets a player break the dice result on rare occasions. I feel both swingy and strict rules games are better with a pinch of wiggle room.

For me that's a good example of something that I'd like in about 70-80% of RPGs but not the like 95%+ I'd see for Skill Challenges/Clocks.

 

[payn]

Yeah I was going to say I didn't think there was anything I'd steal for virtually every RPG but actually I cannot easily think of one where these wouldn't have at least some applicability.


For me that's a good example of something that I'd like in about 70-80% of RPGs but not the like 95%+ I'd see for Skill Challenges/Clocks.

I’m not sure if it’s the concept of skill challenges or the implementation of them in 4E but I’ve decided to mostly avoid them due to not great experiences.

 

[Breaking Star Games]

I was going to say Clocks. So I can say a variant, not just Progress Clocks but also Threat Clocks (which is kinda covered by the talk of Dungeon World Fronts)

GM Moves from PbtA. I often will take Ironsworn/Starforged's Pay the Price table to give me a generic list of improvised options I can do as the GM when I am uncertain what to do next. They give me some structure to crystallize my improvisation around. If I am feeling especially excited to run the system, I also grab more genre/thematically-specific PbtA Moves from a similar PbtA game.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Different styles of play are too different to let me advocate something for every game. But limiting it to "every game I run or play" - there is my house rule about character death: Beyond big negative threshold, instantly dead. Negative but not beyond the threshold, player's choice (GM's choice for NPCs/monsters). No mechanics for "dying" or "bleeding out."

I prefer crunchy mechanics for the most part, but I've concluded that this is a place where the best answer is to abandon mechanics for a dramatist solution.

Another thing I would always want to eliminate, in any system I run or play in, is "the GM secretly rolls for the player" in favor of a rule of "roll high against a secret target number" for things like search and perception checks to spot and find things that might or might not be there.

 

[zarionofarabel]

Knowledge skills that allow player worldbuilding.

Burning Wheel has a particular type of skill called wises that cover specific fields of knowledge. These knowledge skills can be used in the 'traditional' sense in that they can be tested to check if a PC knows things about a subject, which in essence prompts the GM to provide additional details about the particular subject.

Burning Wheel however, offers an alternative way of using knowledge skills, which is the ability for players to make a statement about the setting, then test the skill to check the accuracy of said statement. If the roll succeeds then the statement made is factually correct. If the roll fails then the statement is incorrect in some way, though it is implied that the original intent of the statement be preserved.

An example:

The PCs are traveling in the Stormlands. During a scene one of the players states that there is a Wizard's Tower in a nearby forest. The player then tests their PCs Stormlands-wise skill. If the roll succeeds then there is indeed a Wizard's Tower in a nearby forest. If the roll fails, then the Wizard's Tower isn't in the nearby forest, but in the hills beyond the forest, requiring the PCs to travel farther to reach it. Or the Wizard's Tower isn't a Tower, but is instead a Hidden Grotto, requiring the PCs to search for it. Either way, the intent of finding the residence of a wizard is preserved, but the particulars of the circumstances surrounding the residence are flawed.

Ever since I first read this particular methodology for using knowledge skills I have ported it over to every single TTRPG campaign I have ever ran. I think it is the most perfect way to utilize knowledge skills as it allows players to add tidbits of lore to the setting and removes some of the strain on the GM to constantly create setting lore. It's definitely something I think should be standard practice in every TTRPG.