Is there a flowchart/table for choosing an RPG system for settings without dedicated RPG game(s) or custom settings?Pfa
gurps
>>98396392>Is there a flowchart/table for choosing an RPG system for settings without dedicated RPG game(s) or custom settings?Yes.
>>98396392There is no such thing as a truly catch-all universal system. All systems will have a sort of set expectations and trying to fight them will lead to frustration.>GURPSIt's reputation as the "instal gentoo" of systems betrays that it actually is a wellmade system. And generally, the general here has a lot of genuinely helpful anons. Just stay away from its discord, as it has genuinely the opposite.But do know. The system favors realism. The farther you get away from this, the less fun it will be. If you are playing a melee build in a fallout setting, you will get eat shit and any gun will outpreform you. Likewise, in a Star Wars setting, a Jedi will require vastly more points to play than the dude with a blaster, and the dude with a blaster will still mog him at combat.One thing to note is to make sure to condense skills. You don't need like 4 different skills to say "this character knows how to handle money", unless ofcourse, you do.>Savage WorldsA kind of mid system, but that sometimes works in it's favor. Very luck-based, as rather than raise a stat, you raise the die-type you roll for it. Also has an exploding dice gimmick where if you hit the max value of a dice, you get to roll again and add that value ontop of it, this can go on infinitely. It really shines more with fan-content rules. I'd say it's biggest draw is does a decentish enough job as compromise for gamer players and osr players.The big detriment is that the game teeters two extremes. Either enemies are frail and die like immediately, or you accidentally made them too bulky and they take like 20 turns to die. Infact, constant failure on rolls in a big complaint you'll hear a lot when running it. Still, if you're looking to achieve something more fantastical than GURPS, it can do it passably. Just don't expect it to be more interesting than if you were to use a dedicated system.
>>98396797>OSR/NuSRYes, I know you said no dedicated systems. But if you've played one OSR you've played them all. If you know what OSR is, then you know what to expect. If not, ask them, they would be more than happy to let you know.>Rebranding any system to become universal.It's definitely possible, I've rebranded a mecha system to not be a mecha system before. And many players do that with 5e. The thing is, it will always feel like whatever the base system is. This sounds like a bad thing. But if you really like the tone a system sets, it's not a bad baseline to work off of.
>>98396797>>98396803>that grammerFug now i sound esl
>>98396554Holy shit there are a ton of issues with this chart.
>>98396554Here's an updated version. Also, there is a lack of simulationist games other than Harnmaster, I'm still looking for a simulationist low fantasy game that doesn't use too many gamist approximations (GURPS is narrativist and any D&D clone that doesn't alter how HP is calculated is too gamist)
>>98396554The mecha section makes me kinda doubt this chart. Not a soul is playing any of these. If MechWarrior and Robotech get to be called universal, then you might as well include a more popular system to play like Heavy Gear. If you want something more setting agnostic, than Mekton Zeta covers the crunchy end while Battle Century G/S cover the more rules medium/lite end. And if you wanted an addon tacked onto an already existing system, than Savage Worlds Scifi companion is far easier to reccomend than GURPS mecha. There's almost no gurps fans talk about guros mecha and all mecha fans who want crunch play Mekron Zeta.
>>98396981>GURPS is narrativistThe fuck?
>>98396490FPBP
>>98396554>>98396981The flowchart is like 14 years old and nearly useless at this point.
OP here.The setting is based in Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu. Mahou shoujo, but technology instead of magic. I expect two ways of exping characters: orbs dropped by mosters of the week are used to unlock new attacks/"spells"/forms etc., while regular exp is used for regular skills. Also, would be nice if it could handle characters transforming/detransforming.Atp I'm split between GURPS with or without addons, jury-rigging something D&D-based and running a dedicated mahou shoujo system.
>>98398507Why would you even consider anything but the last one?
>>98397524I guess it's useless for crunch because all rolls are the same, just with arbitrary modifiers?
>>98397524My reasoning was a combination of >>98398658, the frequent allowance of character backstory choices to create plot threads (mandated unless you use rule 0 to ban them, which I would consider a dick move if I was going to run the game, which I won't), many character options dedicated to villain cheats, luck or serendipity (hard to explain at 3 AM but you should be able to understand) and the fact that GURPS tries to replicate genre conventions and ends up convergently evolving on simulationist ideas when it replicates the narrative of hard sci-fi or historical reenactment. Also, the fact that it uses point-buy and rewards you for choosing disadvantages that modify the external world or give you reasons to roleplay.Not all of these are exclusively bad, but I've been searching for a while for "D&D, but without linearly increasing HP, and with rigorous mechanical simulation" and it is annoying to be recommended either GURPS or OSR hacks (that handwave almost anything outside of rolling to hit, but pretend to be detailed because of passages that encourage the GM to make up his own rules for factions or something).Tomorrow I might write up a tetrahedral counterpart to GNS: BFSD (Buildist, Fatalist, Sportsmanshipist, Dramatist), which I have been thinking of for a while but didn't think there would be an audience for, which may clear some of this up and also highlight an unfilled niche.
>>98398719I'd be interested in reading it or a more in depth explanation of how GURPS is narrativist. The old forge forum post is obtuse but its an fun consideration if we take hard-scifi and historical reenactment as genres with conventions rather than at their own word as being accurate objective depictions of reality. Point buy would be a gamist thing though.
>>98396392Not really. It really comes down to how much work the system's own material saves you for a given concept; and how well the gameplay loop actually works at the table in general amd for your group specifically.What activity do you want to do so you can do more/bigger activity?
>>98398625Because he likes writing games more than playing them?Are there any high quality magical girl systems that aren't locked in to a specification gameplay loop like Madoka Magica?
>>98398719>>98399360Here is the first draft of my tetrahedral BFSD classification model: https://pastebin.com/hzAaM0mxI might make a full thread about it since very few people will see it here, and I genuinely want feedback on some parts
>>98405032I forgot to clarify that in dramatist games, luck or plot points are considered a resource as important or more important than items or magical powerAnd in sportsmanshipist games, while everyone wants to win at all costs, combat itself uses "combat as sport" rules rather than "combat as war", and you generally cannot attempt an unorthodox strategy unless you have a card/feat for doing so, even if it would be possible in the setting
>>98398625>>98399419Because MAHOU Shoujo systems are about magic (jp. 魔法 mahou), not about power armors, energy weapons, jump jets etc.
>>98405032Rough notes>buildist section already needs to distingush between gm and player game types with your outline as a game that is player facing buildist could be very restrictive in terms of world building for the gm or vice versa >mana points or cooldowns exist outside of buildist games unless you want to count Apocalypse World and anything with vancian magic as Buildist even though they have limmited character builds. >Don't really understand distinguishing between scifi and fantasy or whatever for christmastree part >distinction between crafting skill trees and other skill trees is unclear and could use some elaboration or an example The entire fatalist thing can be any game where you don't fudge rolls. That was wobbly enough I stopped there. idk man, seems very half baked and built from a fairly narrow range of experience that don't map as broadly as you're trying to apply them.
>>98405032I find it very dubious. For a start a classification that includes RPGs and non-RPGs, and even video games, is doomed by trying to cover too much ground. Also I dislike your terms.It seems silly that Buildism classifies a game according to how you set up the game rather than how you play it. I don't think you have correctly identified what you actually want to indicate, nor that it meaningfully conflicts with the other three.Sportsmanshism, Dramatism, and Fatalism seem to be mere tweaks of GNS. And I'm not convinced they're even improvements or elucidations. A lot of your identifying features just read like issues you've had with particular games rather than anything that helps your classification.
>>98398719After having played Phoenix Command for a bit over the weekend, I'm sorry, if you're the type to enjoy Phoenix Command, you have crippling autism and there is no cure
>>98410021I know (autism is among my top 3 flaws), but a supermajority of RPG fans had autistic traits until the normie invasion, which means that now it is practically impossible to find a group for even slightly simulationist RPGs (most people I know IRL say that D&D 5.x is too complex) unless you (hypothetically and hyperbolically) spend months posting ads until you find 3 players from 3 different time zones, who are all at least twice my age (I'm 20 and I felt like an alien when I went to my college's TTRPG club). On average, the expected value of discussing simulationist RPGs in settings where you can actually play games is negative, since most people won't care at all, and some (redditors, RPGnetters, and critical role fans) will assume that you are a creepy rapecel or sadist-tyrant.
>>98396392>Do you like the system >Y> Do you have people who want to play it with you? >Y> Then play it.>If N for any answer, find a different system you like, or a different group.
>>98410603>I have the systemless setting>I need to fit a system to it
>>98396554are "Fantasy Hero" and "Fantasy HERO" actually two different games? Idk how to look that up, considering google isn't case sensitive
>>98396392>rightgiwtwm
