[RPG] My Favourite Game System

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In which the Gentleman Gamer discusses three of his favourite game systems across RPGs. If you'd like to pick up the Storypath Ultra Core Manual, you can find it here: www.backerkit....
Some of those beautiful dice pictured in the thumbnail are Dirty Vortex's Deco Dice, which you can buy here: dirtyvortex.ne...

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

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[@adambrown6652]

Thanks as always, man. You're one of the few people on RUclips who embodies the qualities of their channel's name. Favourite system is storyteller, generally speaking. Unfortunately, the current group I run for are 5e D&D players, so I don't get the chance to run/play WOD games as much as I'd like. Call of Cthulhu is also great, and I quite liked the chaos of early paranoia, as it suited the slapstick satire approach. Ultimately, I think the best systems faciliate and accentuate the desired tone of a game, while the worst ones undermine it.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@adambrown6652 I completely agree with you, and thank you!

[@k9ine999]

Not quite. I recall our gentleman mocking the US race riots, several years before the UKs race riots.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@k9ine999 I believe I said the home of Americans is the theme park, the shopping mall, the race riot, the high-school shooting. I don't think that's changed.

[@k9ine999]

@@TheGentlemanGamer Point taken. My point is that you can be a bit of a self righteousness prick Matt.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@k9ine999 My name isn't Matt, and that's okay!

[@mattiasbrunzell8957]

I like Storypath a lot and have played it quite a few times, especially with Scion.
I love Savage Worlds for a gritty and pulpy experience where no combat is ever dull because you run a risk with even weak enemies.

[@MoffMuppet]

My favorite system is one that is sadly difficult for most to experience, as it is a swedish game with no translation as far as I know; Eon IV (maybe the upcoming Eon V will be translated, who knows). The setting is dark/low fantasy; think Game of Thrones or The Witcher and you'll be in the right ballpark. The system itself uses dice pools with exploding D6's, with the added quirk that you reroll dice that explode, which can then explode again. But there are two specific things that I love about the system.
A: The skills. The system is primarily focused on skills, with over 50 of them available to most characters. However, aside from all the default skills, there are also more quirky and specialised skills you can pick up to give your character flavour, and as a bonus these skills are decently cheap to improve. As an example, some of the odd skills my current character has are Alchemy, Attractive Body, Cheating (at games), Florist, Mapmaking, and Smells Nice. These skills aren't usually as handy as the more normal ones, granted, but they add a neat bit of flavour to the characters. Even the enemies get in on the fun; trolls might for example have the skill Chuck Boulder to demonstrate what they'll do if you fight against them.
B: The personality traits. More specifically, the way they're used. Each character has 2 personality traits, and when they act acording to those traits they regain a resource called Focus which can be spent to gain bonuses on rolls. The twist is that each trait has 3 levels at which they can be fulfilled with increasing rewards for each level, corresponding to how dangerous it is to act on that trait right now; Level 1 can be fulfilled at no risk or cost, Level 2 requires some sort of danger to your person, and Level 3 could very well spell the end of your character. Say for example that you have the personality trait "Helpful", and come across a burning building. Level 1 would be fulfilled by staying outside and tend to the wounded, get the fire department, and so on. Level 2 would be fulfilled if you ran inside the building and started carrying people out. And finally Level 3 would be fulfilled if you ran inside the building and held it up as it started to collapse, giving others time to get out as the burning roof eventually collapsed on top of you, leaving you buried in the smoldering rubble at best and crushed to death at worst.
That said, there is one thing I'm not too fond of with the system. Namely, your character is often at their most interesting during character creation. Creating a character entails rolling on a lot of tables to see what backstory your character has, and each roll gives you some sort of bonus; increased skills, starting equipment, sometimes even unique abilities you cannot get any other way. It's great fun, even if it is a system where any character idea you might have had going in usually gets tossed out the window. Once your character is in play... not so much. Unless your character has magic or a martial art, the only thing you can really improve after that are skills and attributes. Which just feels a bit... anemic.
There are other things I could mention about the system, but I think this rambling has gone on long enough. TL;DR: Eon IV, try it if you get a chance.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@MoffMuppet What an excellent write-up!

[@michaelwalsh9209]

eclipse phase is a great game

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

One of the best!

[@SeleniumAndroid]

Three favorite systems:
Pathfinder 1e has been my go-to RPG for the past 10 years, largely due to me being the forever GM and having enough 3.5e/PF1e homebrew scavenged from forums that I can get nearly any character archetype (thematic, not mechanical--though I do try to make the latter work as well) at least *functional* within its definition set--especially with the Spheres of Power third-party expansion by Drop Dead Studios, which modularizes the magic system to make it easier to build "themed" wizards/etc. instead of D&D/Pathfinder's usual hypercompetent generalists. Additionally, Having such a depth of predetermined skill checks (ex: the Strength DC's to break down a door of a given quality level) gave me vital calibration data as an early GM on how to use environmental difficulty to signal stuff like "how much do your opponents care about this door" without just railroading the door shut until specific keys are unlocked. Its expansive bestiary, as well, is great for getting ideas and calibrating what a good challenge for the players looks like.
Pokerole 2e is a d6 pool system where 4-ups are successes, and while it's a bit flat tactically, I do think it's an *excellent* beginners' game because everyone knows enough Pokemon to immediately understand the goals and expected playstyles of the game. I've only run it for one campaign, and I'm not 100% certain of the "optimal" campaign length, party size, etc. for what it does, but that's something that can be solved with time.
LANCER is another fun one, giving a tighter tactical experience than Pathfinder at the cost of much of the out-of-combat texture. I'm not terribly fond of some of the worldbuilding, and the military theming restricts what kinds of character you can realistically make, thematically, but it's great for when I don't want to think too hard about stories and just want to smash mildly-eldritch robots together.

[@krissaunders6418]

Mythras/Runquest for the easy of new players to wrap their heads around as you said.
Pathfinder 2e for it's well designed heroic fantasy play.
Traveller for its character creation and low numbers.
--- Honorable mentions ---
Cypher system has to be one of the best designed systems I've run but as the GM, you don't play at the table. So I would never *play it* I would just *run it*
Fudge/Fate/Fatelite - I like the idea of but it never set well with me for some reason.
GURPS - you can play any setting you can think of but too much GM prep before you can even start making characters for my liking.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@krissaunders6418 I'm actually a big fan of GURPS, but as you say, you need to prep it before insertion.

[@Accolonian]

My favorite system? Remember the game Everway? It came with a set of tarot like cards, all with a dualistic theme like "Striking the dragon's tail/recognizing the larger problem" printed on upright and reverse. I never really played Everway, but I have used the cards countless times as randomizers in improvised oneshot games. When in doubt about the narrative you, or the players, draw a card. In the best case the cards theme gives you an insight into the situation, often quite pungent. Worst case, the theme doesn't apply, but at least you get a positive or negative result and can take that as a yes/no to the question you posed the deck. Best part of my everway cards is that I can always have a deck with me, ready to go.

[@MrSororitas]

The year zero engine especially Mutant year zero is a great system. I like the Cypher system as well. Definitely deserves a mention.
Sadly one of my regular players doesn't like it, hence it sees far too little playtime.

[@allluckyseven]

I may be the odd one out, system is my absolutely favorite subject.

[@archlich4489]

You can do any genre in "Champions"

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@archlich4489 I'll check it out.

[@darraghmcelroy9698]

Fluff is lovely, but the crunch is essential, otherwise you're not playing a game, you're doing a cooperative creative writing project - fun, but not an RPG by any means.
So as someone who dabbles with GMing, this was a bit like getting a sermon from one of the apostles.
Educational, informative and entertaining - Lord Wreath himself could do no better!

[@TheCrusaderKing]

Greetings! Are you familiar with Stars Without Number or any game by Kevin Crawford?
I'm a big fan and i think he deserves a shout out.

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@TheCrusaderKing I am! If someone picks up a print copy of The World Below via BackerKit and requests it, I'll cover the game here!

[@PrzybyszzMatplanety]

Do not lie to us, we know it's the best RPG ever made - WFRP 1e. 😁

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@PrzybyszzMatplanety Eeeeehhhhno.

[@Aratargul]

I like Conan from modiphius and Cyberpunk red systems, Numenera is also good

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@Aratargul Ooooo good shouts.

[@RaptureVtM]

Sounds very similar to the Genysis system

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

Another good system!

[@briansmith8868]

For me. Rolemaster, free league system

[@charley2070]

Interlok System (Cyberpunk 2020) is nice.
Storyteller is not very tight and i really think it is broken. Combat takes ages. Probabilities are strange and generally rules are not written well. Like they forgot to do the math.
Basic roleplaying is ok. I don’t like the /2 or /5 thing for difficulties. Not very elegant. Over all. Perfect for Cthulhu.
But the worst System was DSA („the black eye“ in English I think)

[@RaptureVtM]

Hello

[@TheGentlemanGamer]

@@RaptureVtM Hello!