Edited by popular demand - new games added - The Greatest RPG Mechanics of all time tournament - Round One

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Recommend

Role Playing Games work based on rules. This is what seperates them from a narrative. The best systems (arguably) relate directly to their source material and reflect the concerns of the game, adding tension to the plot.

To seed this competition, I had wanted to use RPG Rankings, some of the nominated systems are still in need of enough votes to gain one - maybe they'll get some attention here and gain rankings because of it!

Instead, I've gone totally random and listed them alphabetically. Due to the non-standard-bracket number of games involved, should it be necessary to have a game skip around, the game with the most cumulative total thumbs will be the one.

More rules clarification as needed - for now, let's roll!

EDIT: I've added in all the additional suggestions that didn't make it to the nomination round... against each other! MWaha ha ha ha haa!!! Voting will continue until Thursday 27th of May!

Your Tags:	Add tags Tags (separate by space):
Popular Tags:	[View All]

Edited Fri May 21, 2010 2:04 pm
Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:31 am

1. RPG: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd Edition) [Average Rating:6.82 Overall Rank:128]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

AD&D

VS

Alternity

AD&D must be judged a hot favourite in this competition, if not because of its quality then because of the fact that everyone knows it.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 5:59 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Why you should vote for AD&D

The rules had a silver anniversary published, and were in continual publication throughout this time. That's an untopped feat.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 6:26 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

2. System: Alternity System

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Alternity

VS

AD&D

Alternity isn't without merit, however, being a streamlined version of the same game with conversions to match the setting.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:01 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Why you should vote for Alternity

The classic heroic fantasy system created to be a generic science fiction system - handily covering dark conspiracy, post-apocalyptic, and space opera. The Ordinary/Good/Amazing quality system keeps dozens of things with simple, universal terminology - everything from skill rolls to equipment quality to damage magnitudes to artifact creation. "Steps" rarely make the fantastic impossible when the odds are against you, and often make the impossible easy when they're going your way. It has a killer fanpage too.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 6:33 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

3. RPG: Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth [Average Rating:5.00 Overall Rank:521]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Aria

VS

BESM

Aria has a vast scope, getting players to create characters from various time periods and define a world - a challenging rules set if ever there was one.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:05 am

4. RPG: BESM (3rd Edition) [Average Rating:6.39 Overall Rank:306]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

BESM

VS

Aria

Big Eyes, Small Mouth is the definitive Anime game, using templates and modular rules sets to cover any genre of game.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:08 am

5. RPG: Champions (HERO System 5) [Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:134]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Champions

VS

d20 System

Champions and the HERO System are pretty much born for each other. The system uses a points-based build without any random elements.

2 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:13 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

I wish someone had nominated Champions 6e... alas.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 4:34 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Then Actions x2 Speak Louder Than Actions

United States
Hutto
Texas

One of the Original Twelve

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:07 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

6. System: d20 System

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

d20 System

VS

Champions

d20 seems to be the system to beat here, represented 3 times in the tournament in some form or another. It certainly has its detractors though and is not assured of a victory at all.

4 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:16 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Now I get to pull out the florid prose.

d20 is the only system to have managed to bring together 7th Sea, Aberrant, Babylon 5, BESM, Call of Cthulhu, Conan, Deadlands, Dungeons & Dragons (and all the worlds that implies), Elric, EverQuest, Farscape, A Game Of Thrones, Gamma World, Jeremiah, Judge Dredd, Munchkin, Silver Age Sentinels, Slayers, Stargate SG-1, Starship Troopers, Star Trek, Star Wars, Traveller, Trinity, The Wheel Of Time, the World of Darkness, World of Warcraft, and The WWE under the banner of one system. And that's just counting what got officially published. (Geek: The Roleplaying Game may come close, though...)

It's the Esperanto of game systems: It's clunky, it's not pretty, and it's so modifiable that modifications are inescapable; but at the end of the day, you can't deny it all the actual gaming that's happened thanks to it.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 3:20 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

But esperanto is a joke... and unlike esperanto, d20 isn't even functional!

I can't deny the impact that it had, but seriously, how could it possibly rank among the GREATEST RPG mechanics of all time?

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 10:03 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

fen

(Styfen)

Wales
Cardiff
The Vale of Glamorgan

Almafeta wrote:

Now I get to pull out the florid prose.

d20 is the only system to have managed to bring together 7th Sea,

D20 contributed to the death of 7th Sea. Every reason to vote against it.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 3:10 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Hida Mann wrote:

I can't deny the impact that it had, but seriously, how could it possibly rank among the GREATEST RPG mechanics of all time?

The reason d20 became great is unlike the reason most of the games on this list are great.

AD&D came out in 1978; third edition came out in 2000. That's 22 years of actual play going into the designs. And it's not like they were clueless what players wanted; the pages of Dragon magazine were full of letters of what people wanted in the next version of their games, starting the month after the last game came out. (One of the Geeklists/articles I have in mind is to go through my old back issues, examine 20 years of RPG design wishlists, and examine how 3rd edition did or didn't live up to them. I need to find a sufficiently large source of Dragon magazines, though!) Not to mention they had several iterations of the system such as Alternity, Gamma World, and the Player's Option series which experimented with the system. When they finally got around to revealing system particulars, benchmarks and design decisions were documented more than any other RPG of its size before or since - Dragon magazine spent an entire year on articles explaining what they were designing, why players were asking for it, and what they had revealed in playtests.

Combat was simplified on the whole, shifting the complexity from things people didn't want to deal with (Damage variations based on target size? Morale? Penetration modifiers? Specific weapon proficiencies? Weapon speeds?) to things people did want to deal with, and had been begging the system to properly handle for years. Ability damage made combat with exotic things still exotic without requiring exotic new rules for each. The new rules for saving throws finally cleared up what each saving throw was for, what the difficulty was, and backpedaled from 'save or die'. "Good enough" guidelines for complex concepts (encounter balance, experience and wealth rewards, etc), were fleshed out and integrated with the system, finally taming a beast that had felled hundreds of would-be DMs.

Chargen was improved too. It had to be; even extremely nonhuman races were defined in the same terms of characters, instead of as the speedbump side of a combat encounter. Attributes were simplified for actual play, while keeping the benchmarks and particulars in line with what a generation of players expected them to be. The skill system, instead of being a simple "roll under or equal to skill on d20 and let your DM fiat results if needed", was lovingly fleshed out to be able to handle just about every task and situation the genre could throw at it, making non-combat encounters a priority. Thankfully, they also cleared out hundreds of overspecialized rules for things like thief skills, racial abilities, and perception. (Don't forget, plot-pivotal noncombat encounters also had a CR.) Feats put the kibosh on kits (although we wound up with almost as many feats in 3e as 2e had kits!) and made it easy for players to customize classes to their liking without needing to create new rule blocks. Prestige classes put the gee-whiz power classes that everyone loved to design right where they belonged - behind a long period of character development, to be doled out in small but delicious increments over the character's further advancement, making these abilities not just a checkmark on your character sheet, but a quest to attain.

And I haven't even gotten into Star Wars or d20 Modern yet.

In the end, we got a system not based around ivory tower wishlists or self-important designers coming down the mountain, but literal years of playtesting and tweaking prompted by decades of feedback. (Only GURPS 4e might have had as much playtesting, but that was kept tightly under wraps.) d20 is great not for trying to show us the one true path; it is great for joining us in where we are already going.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 5:40 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

7. RPG: d20 System / OGL Product (D&D 3.0 Compatible) [Average Rating:5.30 Overall Rank:524]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

d20 OGL

VS

DC Heroes

In the words of the OP, "I am not going to laud D20 here, but what I find innovative, is the OGL. The open gaming license albeit flawed in design and implementation, was a bold attempt to get one cohesive ruleset that players and DM's could learn and then apply it to any setting."

2 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:20 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Luckily there was an odd number of games before d20, otherwise it would have been the d20 versus its own license in round one. =3

Posted Sun May 16, 2010 5:32 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

If only I hadn't added Spycraft, sigh.

Posted Sun May 16, 2010 10:01 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

8. RPG: DC Heroes Role-Playing Game (2nd & 3rd Edition) [Average Rating:6.45 Overall Rank:321]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

DC Heroes

VS

d20 OGL

Mayfair's exponential system is an amazing way of modelling a universe that contains both Superman and Batman and reconciling the difference in their power levels. Not to be underestimated here.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:22 am

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Then Actions x2 Speak Louder Than Actions

United States
Hutto
Texas

One of the Original Twelve

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:08 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

9. RPG: Diaspora [Average Rating:7.88 Overall Rank:13]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Diaspora

VS

Everway

Using a modified FATE engine, Diaspora's methods of conflict and narrative resolution have taken it near the top of RPGG's rankings in only a few months. A potent contender.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:24 am

10. RPG Item: Everway Visionary Roleplaying [Average Rating:7.25 Overall Rank:609]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Everway

VS

Diaspora

Everway uses cards to not only determine the outcome of conflicts, but to inspire the GM as to how to depict them. Highly innovative contender.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:26 am

11. System: Fuzion

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Fuzion

VS

Godlike

The OP for this system says: "I could write pages and pages about the design of Fuzion... and as a matter of fact, I have. Fuzion is a peanut-butter-and-honey combination of the strengths of two systems, combining the HERO system's ability to model just about anything with the Interlock system's simplicity and speed of resolution. The resultant RPG has been used in some of the best roleplaying games out there, including Lightspeed and Sengoku, the best roleplaying games ever written in their genres, a testament of their base system's versatility."

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:39 am

12. RPG: Godlike [Average Rating:6.88 Overall Rank:138]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Godlike

VS

Fuzion

Godlike is the game that taught us a new way to look at d10s, counting width and depth of rolls rather than just looking for high or low numbers. An exciting game to play.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:29 am

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Then Actions x2 Speak Louder Than Actions

United States
Hutto
Texas

One of the Original Twelve

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:08 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

13. RPG: Hong Kong Action Theatre! (2nd Edition) [Average Rating:6.50 Unranked]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

HKAT2

VS

Houses of the Blooded

Using the Tri-Stat system as a base, HKAT rewards physical roleplay at the table, rather than just rolling dice.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:33 am

14. RPG: Houses of the Blooded [Average Rating:7.57 Overall Rank:158]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Houses of the Blooded

VS

HKAT2

Another FATE derivative, Houses of the Blooded rolls d6s against a (mostly) set TN of 10.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:35 am

15. System: Interlock

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Interlock

VS

Jadeclaw

The Interlock system is unlike many other systems in that it is skill-based, not stat-based. It formed part of the basis for the Fuzion system, also competing.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:44 am

フィル

(sbszine)

Australia
Newtown
NSW

Gets a vote from me for the empathy system and Friday Night Firefight.

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 7:05 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

16. RPG: Jadeclaw [Average Rating:7.00 Overall Rank:316]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Jadeclaw

VS

Interlock

Jadeclaw uses a system of opposed dice rolls (GM vs Player) with stats and skills determining the type of die rolled by each.

5 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:47 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Why you should vote for Jadeclaw

Instead of feeling like you're watching a wargame ("I rolled 25 and hit for seven damage,") a round of Jadeclaw's wuxia combat feels like you're narrating a match between masters, as each reveals measures and countermeasures.

Edited Mon May 17, 2010 7:32 pm
Posted Mon May 17, 2010 7:27 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Kevin H.

United States
Crescent City
California

Almafeta wrote:

That sounds pretty awesome, but is there a version of it that doesn't have furries?

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 1:38 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Erich Vereen

United States
Leland
North Carolina

dysjunct wrote:

That sounds pretty awesome, but is there a version of it that doesn't have furries?

Without the furries, it's not Jadeclaw. ^_^

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 1:45 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Erich Vereen

United States
Leland
North Carolina

http://www.sanguine.com/downloads/

There are 6 e-zines called Bite Marks here. I'm going to have to add them shortly, but one of them has a section for variant races, which hosts dwarfs, elves and humans. Might want to give that a look if you are trying to get furries out of a furry game. ^_^

Posted Wed May 19, 2010 1:43 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Kevin H.

United States
Crescent City
California

belirahc wrote:

dysjunct wrote:

That sounds pretty awesome, but is there a version of it that doesn't have furries?

Without the furries, it's not Jadeclaw. ^_^

Well, right. To be clear, I'd love an awesome wuxia game with back-n-forth moves and countermoves.

I just watched Ip Man (2008) two nights ago and it re-awoke my slumbering love of martial arts film.

Posted Wed May 19, 2010 3:07 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

17. RPG: Legend of the Five Rings (3rd Edition) [Average Rating:7.21 Overall Rank:44]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

L5R

VS

Paranoia

L5R uses the roll and keep system, also featured in 7th Sea, where players roll a number of d10s equal to their skill + stat and get to keep a number equal to their stat, adding their totals together and trying to beat a target number. Die explosions also make it possible for nigh-impossible actions to be achieved. A top system!

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 6:51 am

18. RPG: Paranoia (1st Edition) [Average Rating:7.50 Overall Rank:34]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Paranoia

VS

L5R

Paranoia's engine is simple; entertain the GM and live, be boring and die. Oh yeah, there's a dice here and there too.

4 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:05 am

Erich Vereen

United States
Leland
North Carolina

You really don't make it fair at times, Hida. I've been a fan of LotFR, but Paranoia is one of my all time favorites. Anything that takes you out of your RPG comfort zone is a great thing... and anyone that can embrace that uncomfortable zone is going to be very hard to beat. ^_^

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 2:29 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Don't blame me, it's the alphabet's fault! I think it's kinda sad that people seem to be voting for games, not sytems here. Paranoia doesn't hold a candle to L5R...

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 12:36 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Erich Vereen

United States
Leland
North Carolina

Now now. The system for Paranoia is simple. There are only two rules that the players need to concern themselves with.

1. The GM is always right.
2. When the GM is wrong, please refer to Rule 1. Oh, and please change your clone number to the next highest clone.

See,.... how much simpler can it be?

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 1:46 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Then Actions x2 Speak Louder Than Actions

United States
Hutto
Texas

One of the Original Twelve

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:09 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

19. RPG: GURPS (3rd Edition) [Average Rating:6.54 Overall Rank:193]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

GURPS 3

VS

Polaris

I totally skipped GURPS while writing the rest of the list, so here it is. The Generic Universal Role Play System offers point buy for everything in character generation and uses 3d6 to resolve everything.

0 comments

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:08 am

20. RPG: Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North [Average Rating:7.49 Overall Rank:46]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Polaris

VS

GURPS 3

Polaris invites players to resolve everyhitng using narrative before dice. Offers of explanation and counter-offers are made until one party agrees or decides to roll.

2 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:09 am

Kevin H.

United States
Crescent City
California

Why You Should Vote For Polaris.

GURPS is a fine game, and I played it exclusively for a long time, but which of its mechanics are truly great? Roll vs. Target? Point-based character creation? "Realistic"? "Cross-genre"? All done far before GURPS, as SJ himself freely admits in the forward. GURPS' strength is that, as a system, it is pretty unified, generally meets its design goals, and does a large number of things well. But this isn't a tournament for greatest system, it's a tournament for greatest mechanic.

Polaris' resolution mechanic is better than any single one of GURPS' mechanics, resolution or otherwise. Polaris' ritual phrases cuts right to the heart of what this hobby is all about -- telling stories. When we explain our hobby to outsiders, a lot of times we talk about the great, majestic oral tradition of storytelling, and how culture and experiences were transmitted through narrative and memory, and how roleplaying is one of the few oral traditions that lives today. And then we take all that talk and reduce it to class/level/stats/etc.

Most games give you the tools to build the pieces of the game. Here's your piece, here's how he moves, here's how he can hit things. Polaris gives you the tools to reach directly into our lizard brain and make our own myth. Rhythm, cadence, repetition. Shared together. That's what the hobby is about.

Vote Polaris!

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 1:50 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

What he said.

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 12:37 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

21. RPG: The Riddle of Steel [Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:294]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Riddle of Steel

VS

Savage Worlds

Riddle of Steel makes players set goals for themselves. While in pursuit of these goals, players gain bonuses to their actions.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:16 am

Martijn Vos

(mcvos)

Netherlands

Why is this scoring so low? It has the most realistic, yet fast-flowing combat system ever. Also, its use of Spiritual Attributes is very innovative and a great way to drive story.

That should appeal to a lot of people, right? Only it's impossible to find and nobody has actually played it.

Posted Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:27 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

22. RPG: Savage Worlds [Average Rating:7.70 Overall Rank:10]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Savage Worlds

VS

Riddle of Steel

Savage Worlds has players allocate points to various attributes and skill sets, using a variety of dice to get the job done against target numbers.

2 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:17 am

Kevin H.

United States
Crescent City
California

Oof, my choice here is going down in flames. I don't know Savage Worlds well enough to argue for or against it.

Anyone care to explain what great mechanic it has? From the description Jaime offers, they sound pretty mundane.

Posted Wed May 19, 2010 3:10 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

That description is all I could find on the entry. I think Riddle of Steel is just losing because of rabid fans of Savage Worlds...

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:24 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

23. RPG: Spycraft [Average Rating:6.63 Overall Rank:295]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Spycraft

VS

Star Wars D6

Spycraft is the game that made d20 good, introducing action dice, the Chase system and expanding the use of feats significantly.

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:21 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Why you should vote for Spycraft

What d20 began, Spycraft perfected. The CR system from stock d20 has been replaced by the vastly improved "Mastermind system," making it easy to design not only single adventures but entire campaign arcs in true action-thriller movie style. Action dice are not only a way to influence your die rolls, they're a covenant between players and Game Control to create a fast-paced and furious game; as such, action dice will flow freely and furiously in both directions as flaws are invoked and complications develop.

And as a comparatively minor point... this is probably the only roleplaying game I know of for which shopping is not a chore with life-or-death consequences which must be done perfectly at character creation, but as part of a standard "gearing up phase" which lets you choose equipment you might need in the adventure. For the first time since Mekton Zeta Plus, getting your equipment is fun.

Posted Mon May 17, 2010 6:48 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

24. RPG: Star Wars (WEG 2nd Edition) [Average Rating:7.49 Overall Rank:30]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Star Wars D6

VS

Spycraft

WEG's d6 system used only the one type of die, with all stats and damages being based on a number of d6 plus a bonus depending on how much you had invested into it.

4 comments [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 7:23 am

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Ooof! A hard pairing...

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 4:39 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Erich Vereen

United States
Leland
North Carolina

I agree, but while I am a Star Wars fan, I enjoy the spy genre of James Bond, Mission Impossible, and Man from U.N.C.L.E more. So, I had to go with the Toolbox system since Top Secret was not nominated.

Edited Mon May 17, 2010 2:27 pm
Posted Mon May 17, 2010 2:26 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

I wonder if this would be going the same way if I had used the WEG logo that they used at the end of their time (a gorilla eating a banana and giving a thumbs up) instead of the Star Wars logo...

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 12:40 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Then Actions x2 Speak Louder Than Actions

United States
Hutto
Texas

One of the Original Twelve

Posted Thu May 20, 2010 12:10 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

25. RPG Item: Zero [Average Rating:6.07 Overall Rank:4299]

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

Go to the next page!

1 comment [Hide]

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 8:12 am

Martijn Vos

(mcvos)

Netherlands

Hey, what's Zero up against? Its "roll higher if you know this skill, lower if you don't" mechanic is really interesting and automatically balances all characters against each other.

Posted Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:31 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

15 comments [Hide]

Post Comment

Snowball

(HavocIsHere)

n/a

Where is FUDGE?

Posted Sat May 15, 2010 10:04 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Show 10 more comments...

Cracky McCracken

(Cracky)

United States

Ohio

Is Mouse Guard going to be in this contest?

Posted Tue May 18, 2010 6:55 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence

Australia
Sydney
New South Wales

See Below.

Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!

It is now!

Posted Fri May 21, 2010 2:01 pm
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Shanya Almafeta

United States
Kansas City
Missouri

Hey, where's round two?

Posted Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:45 am
- Choose your Dice
  - d4
  - d6
  - d8
  - d10
  - d12
  - d20
  - d100
  - Help
  - Roll
  - Comment (Optional)
- Reply
- Quote

Jaime Lawrence