All-Time Best set of Game Mechanics EVER WRITTEN?

[Supplement Four]

Just a question. What do you think the best all-time set of game mechanics ever written are? Which game has the best rules?

I'm not talking genre or type of universe or anything like that. I'm strickly talking about the mechanics of a game--and it can be from any published rpg.

Which ones do you think are the all-time best you've ever seen?

Me?

I'd have to pick the D6 version of Star Wars. The Revised & Expanded version.
No set of rules is entirely perfect, but if I had to pick one, that's the one I'd pick.

Your choice?

 

[Baphomet69]

I think I'd have to say mine would be Shadowrun (though as to which version...it'd probably be a mish-mash). Their handling of spellcasting was the best I've ever seen.

 

[Daneel Olivaw]

I'd actually have to put in a vote for Classic Traveller, for its simplicity and how, within its context, the rules seemed very intuitive. Nostalgia may have an undue influence here.

I don't play a lot of RPGs any more, but Mutants & Masterminds 1st and 2nd editions (particularly the latter) are great for relative simplicity and flexibility.

 

[jrmapes]

The most versatile IMO and my favorite if I had to pick just one would be the Chaosium BRP system - hands down.

The next would be the d% system that was used in the old RPG, RECON developed and published by Joe Martin , then later sold by Palladium (it did not use the Megaversal System)

Original Game,
http://www.palladium-megaverse.com/cuttingroom/recon/originalrecon.pdf

Jerry

 

[marvo]

I would have to say GURPS or HERO. Picking just one I would have to go with HERO.

My main reasoning - you can play just about any genre of game using only the one main rulebook and some d6's. (Okay, in the case of HERO, a LOT of d6's)

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

Gut answer: Basic and Expert D&D, Moldvay edition.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Tie Between:
Villains and Vigilantes

and

Avalon Hill's Lords of Creation.

 

[Maladominus]

Steve Jackson Games' "The Illuminati" card game, the original ziplock version. It was so old-school that this original version was sold in a Ziplock pouch rather than a boxed retail game.

 

[Golan2072]

Classic Traveller with a few fan-made fixes. Rule-light, robust, quick-play, intuitive, an highly innovative for its time.

 

[Supplement Four]

What I like so much about D6 Star Wars is that the character's stat IS what you roll.

For example, a character may have a STR of 3D+1. Which means, when you throw for a STR check or a STR based task, you simply throw 3D and add 1 point to your total.

Your stats are your based. You throw every skill governed by that stat with your base unless the skill is improved.

So, you might have DEX 4D, and Blaster 4D +2 (Blaster is based on DEX).

Let's say this character picks up a vibrosword. He's not skilled in it, so to attack, he throws his base STR of 3D to attack.

Later on, the character improves vibroswor by a point. Now, when he attacks with the sword, he throws 3D +1.

Simple. Simple. Simple.

That's what I love about the D6 Star Wars system, and why it's my pick for best set of game mechanics ever written.

You don't need anything (charts or stats or whatever) to make rolls. The stat IS what you roll.

Brilliant.

 

[aramis]

Picking just one: Hero.

Top three rounds out to MT and L5R3e

d6 SW 2nd (not 2R&E) is fourth...

But they are all darned near tied!

 

[Stainless]

GURPS 4e, but I may change my mind when the new Chaosium BRP is released (August 2007, fingers crossed)

 

[Ishmael]

Greg Costikyan's TOON
great fun when played while drinking "adult beverage's "

hmmmmmm
TOON's in SPACE!
TTE Traveller;TOON Edition

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Gotta be the RQ2 version of BRP. Simple, flexible, intuitive.

CT's prior history and hit points = stats are also great.

No system is perfect, though, and not every system fits every gameworld (ie a flawed system may fit the game it was designed for perfectly).

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
CT's prior history and hit points = stats are also great.

That is brilliant as well. We should have seen more of this in games.

No system is perfect, though, and not every system fits every gameworld ...

Not so!

The d20 system fits EVERY gameworld perfectly!

At least, that's what they're trying to make me believe!

(And I AM only commenting on the one-size-fits-all d20 sets we see at the game store...no fan of that me.)

 

[Ptah]

My own of course.

Of other non-commercial systems the UGM.

Of commercial systems I would have to pick first Classic Traveller. Regardlees of era and that so many great ideas came out so early makes it all the more admirable.

Very close runner up would be The Fantasy Trip. Again a very streamlined approach with many good ideas very early in RPG history. (I don't choose GURPS because of the advantages/disadvantages system).

BRP would be third, although never a fan of the Runequest setting, I like how the mechanics worked.

I've tried many systems but never d6 SW, heard many good things about it however.

 

[aramis]

S4: You should be shot for spouting that D20 nonsense! Even in Jest!

 

[GypsyComet]

Hyperbole aside, there is no one set of rules that are "perfect" for all genres or play styles.

The WotC incarnations of D20 (3e, D20M, and SW) are fine for a certain pace and power level, but fail the "cinematic pacing" test in most cases, which is why that version of Star Wars was at a disadvantage even before the WotC Pagecount Department killed it. WotC would be far better off "borrowing" the mutated D20 used for Mutants & Masterminds to redo Star Wars, though even that has issues.

As "written" systems go, most of my favorites have already been mentioned. From a playability POV, Hero 4th wins over most of the others simply due to the character sheet, though the RQ2 and RQ3 iterations of BRP are right up there. Why? The ability to close the rulebook after character generation (or the most recent application of EXP) and NOT OPEN IT DURING PLAY. And if you do need to refer to the book, the chances that your question will be answered on ONE easily found page are *very* high, regardless of which page that actually is.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by GypsyComet:
Why? The ability to close the rulebook after character generation (or the most recent application of EXP) and NOT OPEN IT DURING PLAY. And if you do need to refer to the book, the chances that your question will be answered on ONE easily found page are *very* high, regardless of which page that actually is.

Well said. You could have just as easily been speaking about D6 Star Wars.

Sounds like the systems have some concepts in common.

 

[Valarian]

I like systems that are easy, and quick, to use in play - especially when it comes to combat.

My votes would be for:
- White Wolf's Storyteller system
- Cyberpunk 2020
- WEG Star Wars d6

D20 has honourable mention (combat can be fast, but dislike the miniatures stuff included in the rules)