What's the best system to use?

[Argyle King]

I'll add to what has already been said about GURPS Martial Arts that the GURPS Martial Arts book has options and gives advice for different styles of play depending upon how gritty & real you want things to be or how over-the-top & Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon you want things to be.


If you wanted to mix even more supers elements into your game, there's also GURPS Powers and GURPS Supers. Everything in GURPS is built using the same rules and same mechanics. It's possible to mix and match pretty much anything.


Like Hero, GURPS requires some number wrangling, but most of the math you do in GURPS is front loaded and done during character creation; not much is done during actual play. From what I remember of Hero, less is done up front, but there's a bit more math involved during play.


If you're unfamiliar with the system, GURPS Lite is free, and it gives you a pretty good idea about how the core mechanics of GURPS work.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Like Hero, GURPS requires some number wrangling, but most of the math you do in GURPS is front loaded and done during character creation; not much is done during actual play. From what I remember of Hero, less is done up front, but there's a bit more math involved during play.

Actually, they're virtually identical in that they require 90% of their math during PC creation. After that, your PCs run themselves virtually without reference to the books.

 

[Argyle King]

Actually, they're virtually identical in that they require 90% of their math during PC creation. After that, your PCs run themselves virtually without reference to the books.

It's been a while since I've played Hero, so I might not remember it as well. I seem to remember a little more in-game math while running Hero characters, but it's possible that I'm confusing it with other games I've played.


edit: Still, you bring up a good point. A lot of people are scared away from GURPS because of how complicated it looks at first glance. In reality though, it's actually fairly easy once you get the hang of it. Like you said, after the initial number crunching, the majority of your character can run without even looking at the books.

I'd comment more on Hero, but I don't remember much of it. I played it briefly while looking for a new system to get away from playing D&D 4E for a little while. I enjoyed it, but eventually I settled on GURPS. I'm not really sure why; something about it clicked with me a little more than Hero did. I think for some reason -at the time- the layout of the GURPS books were a little less confusing to me.

 

[NMcCoy]

If you don't mind fiddling a little with flavor, Spirit of the Century is (like the aforementioned Dresden Files RPG) a FATE-based system, with the dials pre-tuned for over-the-top pulp action heroics. Play up the tactical side of combat (using zones, borders and such) and that may be what your players are after.

Want more crunch? Take D&D 4E, file the setting off, and bolt on Aspects and Fate Points (with the bonus from a tagged Aspect becoming +4 to a defense or d20 roll). All the juicy tactics, badass stuntery, bonuses for style, and "quirks with teeth" you could possibly want.

(Actually, I highly recommend adding Aspects + Fate Points to absolutely every RPG you play ever. Though it gets a little awkward with Dread, I admit.)

 

[Reyemile]

Picked up Savage Worlds, and I'm underwhelmed. It seems like a quite generic setting with limited flexibility unless I make up edges wholesale. Am I missing something?

FATE looks interesting, though I couldn't get by the awful formatting of the alleged SRD online. I'll have to flip through Spirit of the Century at my FLGS.

Finally, my underused and underviewed blog has character background guidlines; anyone with a few minutes to burn is welcome to peek through them to see if that gives them a better sense of what I'm after.

Thanks again for all the suggestions so far!

 

[klofft]

Picked up Savage Worlds, and I'm underwhelmed. It seems like a quite generic setting with limited flexibility unless I make up edges wholesale. Am I missing something?

FATE looks interesting, though I couldn't get by the awful formatting of the alleged SRD online. I'll have to flip through Spirit of the Century at my FLGS.

Finally, my underused and underviewed blog has character background guidlines; anyone with a few minutes to burn is welcome to peek through them to see if that gives them a better sense of what I'm after.

Thanks again for all the suggestions so far!

Have you looked into Fight! by Divine Madness? The rules are meant to emulate fighting game characters, but there are specific rules for shonen style combat and its designed to be able handle all sorts of weird character concepts.

 

[AngryMojo]

Picked up Savage Worlds, and I'm underwhelmed. It seems like a quite generic setting with limited flexibility unless I make up edges wholesale. Am I missing something?

For what you're describing with anime-style martial arts, check out Arcane Background: Superpowers as is listed in the SW core book, and get creative with your trappings. Suddenly, the Bolt power becomes "My character punches the ground and sends a shockwave to my target", the Speed power becomes "I do amazing flips and gravity-defying jumps" and Smite becomes "I press my perfectly timed blow directly into a pressure point to make my enemy's heart explode." Deadlands Reloaded handles martial arts this way, and boy does it work. Add in cool effects for Agility tricks, and you've got people thinking about cool stuff to do every round.
There's actually a lot of information on Pinnacle's website about spicing up the game and finding ways to work the system for what you're doing. Most settings need a handful of new edges at best to make them work, and most don't even need that. Play the game a few times, and you'll see how it works. The first time you see a PC's damage roll explode, you'll get the idea.

 

[Reyemile]

Final decision is FATE, specifically Spirit of the Century. We really liked the Aspects aspect, and even though the game is mostly narrative, the combination of zones of combat and a limited supply of FATE points means that clever tactics are rewarded mechanically.

Angry Mojo, to clarify, it's not that I couldn't make superpowers--it's just the the system seemed utterly generic. You have stats, skills, and role dice to resolve actions; the system seems neither exceptionally elegant nor particularly distinguished, so I see no reason to choose it over any other low-system universal resolution system.

Klofft, I thought about Fight, but was put off by a mediocre review in KODT. Have you played it? Is it good?