*sigh* If I had to pick a single RPG for my personal opinion of "best" I would go with ES3: Morrowind simply because of it's unique storyline, first-person expierience, and crazy-awesome customization.
Best hands-down? Best balance? Best for customization? What are you looking for here?
*sigh* If I had to pick a single RPG for my personal opinion of "best" I would go with ES3: Morrowind simply because of it's unique storyline, first-person expierience, and crazy-awesome customization.
i mean pen and paper, i dont really care if its super balanced or what, im looking for the most flexible role playingish... i dont want, "well you cant dive into the room shooting, because your character doesnt have "The dive into a room shooting feat."."
I felt that it was much more flexible and better for a fast-paced game like Star Wars than D20. You could literally spend your skill points on ANY skill that you could imagine (although you wanted to make sure it was one you would acutally use; no sense in spending points on being able to paint pictures if that skill never came up). It was a bit more "realistic" in the sense that the more skilled you got in a particular area, the harder it would be to get better (that is, it didn't take many skill points to raise your Blaster or Computer Repair skill from 3D to 4D, but it would take more to raise it from 7D to 8D), so you just about had to develop a pretty versatile character.
I liked the Force skills- Control, Sense, Alter, and using the combination of the three to do various Force abilities.
The source books for Star Wars D6 were excellent; well written, staying true to the source it was describing.
However, I should note that I have never played D20 Star Wars so I have no way of accurately judging it.
But I REALLY, REALLY liked D6 a lot. Frankly, though, I have gotten burned out on it but who knows; in a few years maybe I will pull out the books again and start a game...
TheSeventhStooge...
i mean pen and paper, i dont really care if its super balanced or what, im looking for the most flexible role playingish... i dont want, "well you cant dive into the room shooting, because your character doesnt have "The dive into a room shooting feat."."
Okay, if I had to pick a pen-and-paper, I'm tossing it between D&D 4th and Shadowrun.
Okay, if I had to pick a pen-and-paper, I'm tossing it between D&D 4th and Shadowrun.
hows shadowrun?
Some other ones I have fun with:
-nWoD: Mortal, Vampire and Changeling (especially Changeling)
-Cthulhutech
I am looking forward to Eclipse Phase for my far-future fix.
overall, you feel like you're in an action movie or a comic book when you play.
It's pretty good, character creation is intense as everything is point-buy, the d6 dice pool system is ingenious, and is a bit more geared towards adults (one of the supplements straight up says the f-word like five times)
overall, you feel like you're in an action movie or a comic book when you play.
This "D6 System" intrigues me... how does it work? link to a page of rules?
For example, my char has a 17 d6 die pool to hit someone with a shotgun (I went and maxed Agility and Longarms with a Shotgun specialization), so that means I roll 17 d6s to get hits, which means I have a better chance of getting a large number of hits. So unless some one rolls more hits on a defense check (which is unlikely) I almost always hit with one. Just about all skill/combat/magic/tech checks are made this way, roll to get hits, and compare to the number needed.
The only problem is the number of d6s you need to play legitimately, we're talking Warhammer amounts of d6s, my friends and I all had to go down to the local hobby shop to buy more after we played our first session.
This "D6 System" intrigues me... how does it work? link to a page of rules?
The D6 system basically works like this (I'll use Star Wars WEG for my basis):
You have six attributes- Dexterity, Perception, Knowledge, Strength, Mechanical and Technical. You allocate 18D to these (min 2D, max 4D generally). Your attributes never go up or down, so you don't spend skill points for that (the rules do allow it, but there's a risk factor involved so as the GM I usually didn't allow the characters to do so).
Then you put dice in skills under each attribute. Dexterity, for instance, is the basis for Blaster, Dodge, Lightsaber, Thrown Weapons, etc. while Technichal would be for skills like Computer Programming/Repair, Starship Repair, Demolition, etc. If you don't put dice in a skill and you want to use that skill, you use your attribute (for example, you want to plot an astrogation course through hyperspace but you didn't put any dice or skill points in Astrogation, so you use your Technical skill to determine whether you succeed or not).
The increments up when you improve your skills go in "pips." To put it this way, let's say you start with 4D in Blaster. You spend 4 skill points to raise your Blaster skill one "pip." So now you are at 4D+1. That is, when you fire your blaster you roll 4D6 and add 1 to the roll. Spend another four skill points and it raises your skill to 4D+2. When you spend four more points, your skill goes up 1D and drop the pips, so now you are at 5D for Blaster. Then it starts over- You need 5 skill points to go from 5D to 5D+1, and so on.
See what I mean by my previous post? The number of skill points you gain during an adventure doesn't go up as your character goes through adventures, so it gets harder and harder to advance your skills. It takes 12 points to go from 4D to 5D, but 21 points to go from 7D to 8D.
Basically, whenever you want to do something in Star Wars, you announce it, the GM picks a difficulty number, and you roll your skill. If your skill roll equals or beats the difficulty number, you succeed; if not, you fail. Not different from D&D except for the skills and the dice you roll.
You had access to "Force points." Each character starts his career with one and can gain additional ones by spending them at the heroic, dramatically appropriat moment (GM's discretion). If you spend a Force point, for one round every skill and attribute that your character has is doubled. But you must make sure you are spending your Force point for the right reason- using it for the wrong reason may cause you to lose the Force point permanently or even gain a Dark Side point (if you use the Force for blatantly evil purposes), and every DSP you gain increases your chance of going over to the Dark Side, thereby removing your character from play.
This system, IMO, makes for a more flexible player character than the D20 system because it allows you to have maximum control over where your skill points are going. You could choose to be a hot-shot X-Wing pilot in the beginning and spend your skill points there and later you could decide to find a Jedi Master and be trained in the Force, thereby becoming a lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knight that can still fly an X-Wing. Or you could start out as a gambler and con-artist who eventually becomes a Baron-Administrator of a mining colony and a general in the Rebel Alliance. It just depends on where and how you spend your skill points.
Hope that helps. Bojo is right, though; if you play your character long enough you will need a bunch of D6s.
TheSeventhStooge...
ShowThe D6 system basically works like this (I'll use Star Wars WEG for my basis):
You have six attributes- Dexterity, Perception, Knowledge, Strength, Mechanical and Technical. You allocate 18D to these (min 2D, max 4D generally). Your attributes never go up or down, so you don't spend skill points for that (the rules do allow it, but there's a risk factor involved so as the GM I usually didn't allow the characters to do so).
Then you put dice in skills under each attribute. Dexterity, for instance, is the basis for Blaster, Dodge, Lightsaber, Thrown Weapons, etc. while Technichal would be for skills like Computer Programming/Repair, Starship Repair, Demolition, etc. If you don't put dice in a skill and you want to use that skill, you use your attribute (for example, you want to plot an astrogation course through hyperspace but you didn't put any dice or skill points in Astrogation, so you use your Technical skill to determine whether you succeed or not).
The increments up when you improve your skills go in "pips." To put it this way, let's say you start with 4D in Blaster. You spend 4 skill points to raise your Blaster skill one "pip." So now you are at 4D+1. That is, when you fire your blaster you roll 4D6 and add 1 to the roll. Spend another four skill points and it raises your skill to 4D+2. When you spend four more points, your skill goes up 1D and drop the pips, so now you are at 5D for Blaster. Then it starts over- You need 5 skill points to go from 5D to 5D+1, and so on.
See what I mean by my previous post? The number of skill points you gain during an adventure doesn't go up as your character goes through adventures, so it gets harder and harder to advance your skills. It takes 12 points to go from 4D to 5D, but 21 points to go from 7D to 8D.
Basically, whenever you want to do something in Star Wars, you announce it, the GM picks a difficulty number, and you roll your skill. If your skill roll equals or beats the difficulty number, you succeed; if not, you fail. Not different from D&D except for the skills and the dice you roll.
You had access to "Force points." Each character starts his career with one and can gain additional ones by spending them at the heroic, dramatically appropriat moment (GM's discretion). If you spend a Force point, for one round every skill and attribute that your character has is doubled. But you must make sure you are spending your Force point for the right reason- using it for the wrong reason may cause you to lose the Force point permanently or even gain a Dark Side point (if you use the Force for blatantly evil purposes), and every DSP you gain increases your chance of going over to the Dark Side, thereby removing your character from play.
This system, IMO, makes for a more flexible player character than the D20 system because it allows you to have maximum control over where your skill points are going. You could choose to be a hot-shot X-Wing pilot in the beginning and spend your skill points there and later you could decide to find a Jedi Master and be trained in the Force, thereby becoming a lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knight that can still fly an X-Wing. Or you could start out as a gambler and con-artist who eventually becomes a Baron-Administrator of a mining colony and a general in the Rebel Alliance. It just depends on where and how you spend your skill points.
Hope that helps. Bojo is right, though; if you play your character long enough you will need a bunch of D6s.
TheSeventhStooge...
1. No system at all. I used to do this for years before I started playing D&D. No dice, no character sheets, no stats, no rules, no DM. Just you and a couple friends BSing a story together, making it up as you all go along. What a system does is put a leash on imagination, to keep everything (a) fair, and (b) reasonable. When you have an intellectually honest and mature playing group, you can keep yourselves in line with both without a rule book to tell you how.
2. If you really need a system to role-play, I find D&D 4E to be the most RP-open system I've played. You don't need a "dive into the room shooting" feat, you just act it out, role-play it however you want. The only requirement is that you remain within the (relatively loose) confines of the mechanics. The names of classes, feats, races, or powers are only there for reference purposes, not to tell you how it's supposed to be role-played.
3. Although I don't know from personal experience, I've been told that Exalted has a system that actively and mechanically encourages roleplaying, by granting what's called a "stunting bonus": a bonus to rolls based on how well you rollplayed or described your actions.
4. "Playingish" isn't a word. Had to get my smart-ass remark in somewhere.
1. No system at all. I used to do this for years before I started playing D&D. No dice, no character sheets, no stats, no rules, no DM. Just you and a couple friends BSing a story together, making it up as you all go along. What a system does is put a leash on imagination, to keep everything (a) fair, and (b) reasonable. When you have an intellectually honest and mature playing group, you can keep yourselves in line with both without a rule book to tell you how.
not ever close to a possibility
2. If you really need a system to role-play, I find D&D 4E to be the most RP-open system I've played. You don't need a "dive into the room shooting" feat, you just act it out, role-play it however you want. The only requirement is that you remain within the (relatively loose) confines of the mechanics. The names of classes, feats, races, or powers are only there for reference purposes, not to tell you how it's supposed to be role-played.
for some reason this game drives me nuts, nostalgia or something else, i cant bring myself to tolerate it.
4. "Playingish" isn't a word. Had to get my smart-ass remark in somewhere.
this is not only naive but ill-informed. :D
i mean pen and paper, i dont really care if its super balanced or what, im looking for the most flexible role playingish... i dont want, "well you cant dive into the room shooting, because your character doesnt have "The dive into a room shooting feat."."
GURPS.
Star Wars is fun.
Old World of Darkness Vampire and Werewolf. I don't know about the new WoD cause I haven't played it.
If you are near a big city and can stand dressing up for your games LARPing can be a lot of fun.
Shadowrun is fun.
Ars Magica is very good, a lot of the older gamers around the shop I hang out at say it is the best magic system in a game. Ever.
I also really like BESM, but you kind of have to be into anime.
Call of Cthulhu can be fun, but I get a little tired of the gothic horror thing after a few sessions. It is like, can we get a little variety here?!
:coolcthul I think it is best in small doses, like one shots or short discrete campaign settings. I guess it kind of depends what you are looking for.
Cops & Robbers.
2nd ed D&D: Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft were gold. Always a household staple. Largely groomed to gaming on these here.
1-3rd ed Shadowrun got us through 3 yrs of highschool. Very thought out. Was my fav for a very long time. Can get complex, but the level of detail adds realism. Less niche rolls, more open-ended.
3rd ed Vampire. Simple, full of RP, moreso than many RPGs. Very popular for its time.
3 & 3.5, namely Forgotten Realms. Best campaign setting developement & useage ever IMO. Smattering of Greyhawk.
3.5 FR is my prefered game/setting now a' days.
Call of Chthulu; never got a fair shake at this (crap GM @ Gencon). Though it has a hugely popular cult following. Very compelling.
Aces & 8's; hyper realistic western. I mean, terribly, painfully real. The hit location & damage systems alone are staggering if not brilliant. Character gen is hard.
d20 Modern; currently giving it a try. Not sure as of yet. So far, so good.
3. Although I don't know from personal experience, I've been told that Exalted has a system that actively and mechanically encourages roleplaying, by granting what's called a "stunting bonus": a bonus to rolls based on how well you rollplayed or described your actions.
This is correct. It also happens that Exalted is my favorite system. It's high fantasy as written, though it's designed to be able to encapsulate everything from gritty barbarian warriors duking it out to magical ninja climbing a mountain-creature as 50 foot tall golden armors and rampaging werecreatures duel necromantic Sith and a moving fortress made of the bones of the heroes' homeland peoples. If the stunting bonuses weren't so hard to steal besides the circumstance bonus part, which feels less impressive than rolling moar dice, I'd have already made up a full homebrew system... as it is, I'm still mulling it over. Anyhow, Exalted is a bit to jump into at once, but I think it's easily worth the plunge.
Oh, and Inquisitor (not White Wolf, the Fanatic one)was my first RPG (or narrative wargame, as it called itself) ever, and it rocked. Hard.
A pity it's no longer produced.
The various games they attach it to? Sometimes not so much. But the basic engine is pretty good.
I've long been a fan of White Wolf's system.
The various games they attach it to? Sometimes not so much. But the basic engine is pretty good.
The old engine was so-so: full of good ideas, but a bit bulky. However, the fluff (though I can speak only for Vampire) was simply the best I have ever seen anywhere.
The new engine remedies some of the problems, making the system a lot more elegant. But seeing Vampire: the Requiem made me want to throw up.
I don't know the whole Werewolf and Mage thing and such, but I suppose the tendencies will be similar.
BUT, the new engine is great (a lot better than the old one) for mortal campaigns.
-Cherubaddon
I also very much enjoy white wolf's Exalted for more D&D style - but completely different than D&D - games
You mean you actually played Powers and Perils?!?!?
played and ran for more than 2 decades
LUV IT!!!!!GURPS.
Post!
Wow!
I was rather young when I had it and just couldn't get my head around it... maybe I will dust it off and give it another look...
you will definatly want to find and or download the book of tables...it makes life soooo much easier, and the perilous lands setting is way ahead of its time. http://abroere.xs4all.nl/pnp/