A page where you are welcome to comment with your thoughts on particular TTRPG systems. I find myself needing a page for this because I keep coming back to games without remembering their flaws/boons.
Legend
- An updated 3.5 system that loses a lot of the potential balance issues and institutes a (much more balanced) modular track system instead of how classes worked. Awesome is easier to achieve, but there's less you can get extra for this reason. The fluff/crunch separation is admirable, and it can be refluffed however you like so long as you want the abilities on offer. Front-loaded, with a lot of complexity you should learn from the start rather than the slow accumulation of abilities and new rules. -- Ivan
- It is designed to be epic and over the top. It is not so easily moddable as some systems as you can't for example cut out "magic". Everyone gets Crazy Bullshit Skills, it's not really designed for a lower-power game. Flying and teleportation etc come pretty fast. I keep thinking it would be excellent for a supers game. It doesn't really do gritty. The manual is a joy to use, it is incredibly easy to navigate and search because of the formatting. So for a complex game, it is dead easy to look up anything you're unsure of. -Jim
Golden Sky Stories
- A cute game. Made of cuteness. Karma based system (no dice rolling). Good for playing cute animal spirits which can take human form. Bad for anything else. -- Ivan
- Surprisingly good for a one-shot, I cannot imagine a long-term regular campaign of this going anything like as well --Ivan
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
- Probably best described as very much like early D&D editions. Not particularly complex, but very unforgiving. Bad Luck, curiosity and stupidity will all lead to a swift death. The advancement system makes it feel to me like a bit of a long long slog through a world which just wants to kill you. --Ivan
- And because there's no way for those behind to catch up, you either need to constantly be killing off PCs or to do extra to keep people on the same page. A level means a helluva lot, as do the (randomly generated) stats --Ivan
40K RPGs
- They seemed awful and so full of words I didn't want to touch them. Then I learned there are some nice kernels in there. Then I started getting annoyed at psykers getting all the sweeties, and everything devolving into rocket tag as soon as (medium/)high-end weapons (or armour. because then the high-end weapons are needed) are reached. Still, not as bad as I first thought. --Ivan
- Oliver did a decent mod of it for Mass Effect by adding in regenerating shields, removing psykers. I think it's a decent system that ultimately suffers from 1: 40k 2: The Dodge rules being OP. 3: Psykers but you knew that already. Navigators are even sillier with MIND LASERS that never screw up. In a game where HEREEEESY-based PVP is a likelihood, some level of class balance would be useful. In particular, Lore skills are very expensive compared to general-use skills. -Jim
Burning Wheel
- The simple "half" is really quite simple, except advancement requiring two tables (one to see how difficult a roll counts as, one to see how many of each difficulty class you need) and there being three types of roleplaying reward. The complex stuff goes on a lot longer, but isn't really worse than a lot of other games so long as it's added at a gamer's pace (2 chapters of advanced rules per session is definitely slow enough for parents). Your numbers go up through use, in a way which really helps drive play and encourages you to make IC foolhardy decisions (of course I can attempt to joust Count Ademar, even though he's never been unhorsed, I just need to try, IC it makes sense even though I'll probably fail, and I get better regardless of success). So long as the GM remembers that Failure should be Interesting, and the players buy into the mechanics, the game seems to go really well. I really like it. --Ivan
Edge of Empire
- A dice pool mechanic (weird dice with odd symbols) I really like and wish I could get behind. It has turned what could be boring combats into awesome scenes. --Ivan
- otherwise mediocre at best, with some really dodgy issues (combat being based around the two PCs who wanted combat skills killing 4 NPCs per round and the rest trying not to die, everything else based on the combat PCs sitting around not helping whilst one PC has their spotlight time) --Ivan
Fate
- My favourite system so far for one-shots. It is fast, good and cheap :D. Where it fails is it can get very predictable. A few rounds of stacking up advantages that the enemy can't provide active opposition to can lead to the PCs having a massive pile of +2s and re-rolls and crushing the encounter with them. The dice become irrelevant. To get the most out of it, you need to push the players. You don't want them just saying "Well, Bob put the goon "Off Balance", that's a +2, as is the "Slippery Floor." You want them saying "The goon's "Off-Balance", and the floor's slippery, so I slam into her trying to send her flying out of the window!". Make sure you encourage narration, remove any Aspects that expire (like "Sneaking Up" won't help after the alarm is raised) and expect that players explain just how their PC's Aspects are helping in a given situation. If they can't provide a reasonable story, don't let them have it. -Jim
Goblin Quest
- A suitable one-shot system for any scenario where the casualty rate will be both horrifying and hilarious. The default is GOBLINS on a QUEST to complete some menial or stupid task without them all dying. The author will be putting out a Redshirt version, a Regency Ladies version, a Kobold version and a Sean Bean version. I can see it working equally well for a Warhammer 40k Penal Legion, Discworld Assassin's Guild Students, etc. One of the biggest selling points is the lack of a GM. The Quest is linear, the difficulty rolls are determined at Quest creation and you narrate your own actions. Everyone gets to be suicidally incompetent! YAAAY! -Jim
Serenity RPG (Cortex Plus system)
- The mechanics are excellent, the manual is horrible to search. Be prepared to knock up your own quickstart sheet. Vaguely similar to Fate in that you have "Aspect" like things. Dice pool system, dice are from D4 to D12 depending on how skilled you are or how flash your gear is. Roll N dice, pick the best 2. 1s always create a problem. What I love about this system is it is possible to both succeed spectacularly and have something else go horribly wrong at the same time. The system really captures the feel of that sort of show to me. It's quick, simple and has the variability and constant chance for things to go wrong that FATE lacks, as the more dice you roll, the greater the chances of both a success and a screw-up. :P -Jim
'Dungeon Crawl Classics'
- Works like a really awesome version of AD&D or earlier, but with more Weird magic and more awesome everyone. I really enjoy it, and would probably prefer to run it than LotFP?, simply because it does high fantasy action as well as horror. --Ivan