Good System for this Game/Setting? (Now with actual user requirements!)

[FreakyCheeseMan]

EDIT: So, I did some thinking, and realized what I actually want is pretty specific I'm looking for:

1: A very simple system, which is

2: Either entirely mundane, or easily stripped of magical/tech elements, and

3: Has a good combat system - fun, tactical, lots of options.

Everything else is secondary - if I don't like the skills system or something, I can write that myself. (Even magic - I'm willing to introduce that piece by piece, as we play.)


I've got a game I've been planning to run for a while, with a setting I've been messing with for a while. I'm only really familiar with 3.5, but there are a lot of things about it that I don't really like for this setting (and the game I want to run), so I was hoping one of you could suggest something better.

The setting itself is very high magic (set across an entire galaxy, with magic serving in place of technology for things like space travel, etc - technology pretty much hasn't advanced at all, because most intelligent people who should have been inventing things instead just advanced their own personal power through magic.) However, individual mages are a lot less powerful - most of the really important magic is stuff that groups of mages have had to work together to build. Magic is really much more like science/technology than typical magic -

The plot starts off focused on a much smaller and lower-magic scale, though - the players begin as resistance fighters/refugees hiding in the countryside of one backwater world, which is currently subjugated by an evil galactic empire. I really want to focus on roleplaying, meeting mundane challenges (trying to get food/water for the civilians they're responsible, handling intrigue/keeping tensions from boiling over, etc.)



So, I'm looking for a system that is:

*Non-setting-dependent - no explicit reference to gods/planes, especially in the magic system.

*No magical bypasses to mundane problems - even a high-level mage might not have an easy way to avoid starvation/dehydration, or to out a spy/solve a completely mundane murder.

*As part of the above, high-level characters shouldn't necessarily be so rich that they can buy their way past any sort of mundane problems with a trivial investment - so, less of an exponential growth in wealth, high-level characters should still be able to be completely broke, no magic items that cost more than the entire agricultural output of a major nation, etc.

*Preferably a less "Romanticized" view of magic - specific spells/classes shouldn't really be "married" to any particular ideology. (So, druids/paladins/rangers are probably a no.)

*Preferably more balanced between magic and mundane.

*Preferably relatively simple/easy to learn.

Any suggestions? If I have to I'll just throw some houserules at 3.5, but I feel like that would be a frustratingly long list.

[mig el pig]

Iron Kingdoms RPG system might be something for you.

It works with a hybrid class system, so you're a Men at Arms/Ranger, arcanist/duelist or Soldier/thief. The only classes (from the core book) which are ideology depended are priests (you've got 2 priest classes) and the Warcaster and gunmage classes are something specific for the setting. I'm currently using an adaptation of the system for a A Game of Thrones campaign and it works quite well.

Magic is balanced with melee/ranged and the system is easy to learn.

It has no wealth per level system

[Airk]

Iron Kingdoms has several very serious issues from my perspective.

#1: Character creation is very restrictive. The list of "general" skills is tiny, and doesn't include a lot of stuff you'd expect to be on it, so unless you pick "professions" that have good skill access, there's not much you can do to grow your character in that way. Edit: Neglected to mention that you are literally forbidden from buying skills not on the list available to your professions.

#2: Skills are kinda lame and irrelevant. I know this semi-contradicts point #1, but when your stats range from 2 to 7, and your skills range from 0 to 2, and the dice mechanic is "roll 2d6 and add stat and skill" you start to wonder what difference they make.

I'm playing a game in this system right now, and the general consensus is that we are enjoying ourselves despite the system, rather than because of it.

Actually, I'm going to go on to say that, unless you are planning to use the setting specific stuff from IK (mostly: Steamjacks) then there's less than zero reason to use the system. i.e. "Pretty much any basic task resolution system will give you a better, more flexible starting point."

Also, IK comes with a bunch of god-fluff. You can ignore it, but the OP asked for not that. I guess it meets the relatively low bar of the other requirements though.

Dunno; As usual, it's hard for me to play the "What system would be good for this setting?" game because at the end of the day, I don't believe systems are or are not fits for any given setting. Systems are or are not fits for encouraging/discouraging certain types of play and themes, and there's none of that in this request.

[Rakaydos]

It's pobably too expensive to get both books, but a hybrid of Ironclaw and Myriad Song would give you both the fantasy and scifi elements for your game, using a system I personally love.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Actually.......you may want to look into Traveller. The problem is, I'm trying to think how you'd integrate magic into Traveller. Still, it has that "mundane challenges" thing down pretty well. It's certainly simple. You might be able to get by with replacing mentions of technology with equivalent magic; it's mostly a flavoring choice.

[Grod_The_Giant]

D&D is going to be completely dysfunctional for this sort of thing-- it just doesn't work well without magic.

I'll throw in Savage Worlds and Star Wars Saga Edition, although you'll have to refluff a lot of things for the latter one.

@CarpeGuitarrem-- Traveller has psionic rules, I think? Those could be adapted into magic, although I haven't heard good things about 'em.

[Rhynn]

RuneQuest 6 (http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/runequest.php) sounds like a great fit, really.

But why not also check out all the free retroclones linked in my sig? :smallcool: FREEEEE.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Alright, thanks everyone! I'll start looking over this stuff.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

So, I've been thinking about it more, and I've narrowed down what I want. (Should have done this sooner.)

What I'm looking for is a system that is:

1: Entirely mundane, or easily stripped of all magical elements. (I'll write those in myself - introducing them slowly, anyway.)

2: Very simple. (Simple enough to expect new players to learn, and for me to be able to modify/homebrew some new stuff.)

3: Has a *good* combat system - fun, tactical, lots of options.

Actually, all I'm really looking for is the combat system - everything else I'm willing to write myself. (Skills are easy enough, so's magic, in this case.)

[Rhynn]

1: Entirely mundane, or easily stripped of all magical elements. (I'll write those in myself - introducing them slowly, anyway.)

2: Very simple. (Simple enough to expect new players to learn, and for me to be able to modify/homebrew some new stuff.)

3: Has a *good* combat system - fun, tactical, lots of options.

Still RuneQuest 6! :smallbiggrin: The magic systems are each optional and can be stripped out - the game runs just fine with no magic. The game is quite simple, and combat system is robust and fun, with tactical options and different special actions to take.

[Rakaydos]

Not enough people know about Myriad Song. This needs to change.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/118669/MYRIAD-SONG---Role-Play-Adventure-of-Ten-Thousand-Worlds

[CombatOwl]

So, I've been thinking about it more, and I've narrowed down what I want. (Should have done this sooner.)

What I'm looking for is a system that is:

1: Entirely mundane, or easily stripped of all magical elements. (I'll write those in myself - introducing them slowly, anyway.)

2: Very simple. (Simple enough to expect new players to learn, and for me to be able to modify/homebrew some new stuff.)

3: Has a *good* combat system - fun, tactical, lots of options.

Actually, all I'm really looking for is the combat system - everything else I'm willing to write myself. (Skills are easy enough, so's magic, in this case.)

There are only really two systems that immediately spring to mind for these requirements.

1) Fate Core. It's strongly adherent to requirements #1 and #2. #3 depends entirely on how you run it. Fate can be highly tactical--if you want it to be. It can also entirely gloss over the combat. It depends on how you run it and which rules you choose to employ. If you're interested, I can offer a fair amount of advice on how to make Fate combat more tactically interesting. If you use all the options it offers, you can have fights that are very involved with quite a lot of options. If you don't use them, the combat can get kind of dull. The main advantage of Fate is that it provides the tools you need to make exactly the sort of game you want, with a set of rules that are both internally consistent and easy to apply to pretty much any sort of setting.

2) Savage Worlds. It's probably worse in all respects than Fate, but there's a lot less choices you have to make when setting it up. The main thing it has going for it are some amazing published settings and a great way of handling initiative--and it sounds like you're doing your own setting.

[Zavoniki]

It does come attached to a setting but I would highly suggest looking into Shadowrun. It has everything you seem to be looking for system wise, you'd just have to strip out the setting material.

You might also be able to get Eclipse Phase to work by re-purposing some of the Psi and Tech as magic but that's a lot sketchier.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Still RuneQuest 6! :smallbiggrin: The magic systems are each optional and can be stripped out - the game runs just fine with no magic. The game is quite simple, and combat system is robust and fun, with tactical options and different special actions to take.

Looking into it now - I wouldn't say it was simple, from what I'm reading, but there are a lot of things I like. (I really like the idea of reactive actions - seems like it could give some ebb and flow to combat.) What in particular makes you like that system? (I'm looking up as much as I can, but there seems to be limited information free online, and I'd rather not put down money until I know more.)

Will dig through the rest of the suggestions as soon as my pathetically slow internet allows it.

[fusilier]

Well, I actually consider GURPS to be simple*, but many people don't see it that way. ;-)

If you do see GURPS as simple, then use the Basic Combat rules and you should be good to go. Or download the "Lite" rules that should keep everything about as simple as it can be.

Otherwise, I would look into one of the WEG (West End Games) D6 systems. I haven't played them, but I used to play their old Star Wars system and it was fun, straightforward, and cinematic. I've looked at the D6 systems and they look pretty similar.

--
*Ok, from the player's perspective, while playing, GURPS is simple -- roll 3 dice, compare it to a skill or attribute, and report the result to the GM. Character creation is not so simple, although it's not too bad if you use a program (although as long as you have the tables available it's not that bad doing it by hand). The GM has a lot of work to do, in my experience most of that is figuring out what rules are going to be used (using the lite version should remove most of that work). Also if your players like to design fairly crazy characters, then GURPS might not be the best thing for them. ;-)

[Grod_The_Giant]

2) Savage Worlds. It's probably worse in all respects than Fate
I dunno about that. D&D to Savage Worlds is a much easier transition than D&D to Fate, given that the latter system takes such a different approach to how... well, everything about the game works.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

There are only really two systems that immediately spring to mind for these requirements.

1) Fate Core. It's strongly adherent to requirements #1 and #2. #3 depends entirely on how you run it. Fate can be highly tactical--if you want it to be. It can also entirely gloss over the combat. It depends on how you run it and which rules you choose to employ. If you're interested, I can offer a fair amount of advice on how to make Fate combat more tactically interesting. If you use all the options it offers, you can have fights that are very involved with quite a lot of options. If you don't use them, the combat can get kind of dull. The main advantage of Fate is that it provides the tools you need to make exactly the sort of game you want, with a set of rules that are both internally consistent and easy to apply to pretty much any sort of setting.

2) Savage Worlds. It's probably worse in all respects than Fate, but there's a lot less choices you have to make when setting it up. The main thing it has going for it are some amazing published settings and a great way of handling initiative--and it sounds like you're doing your own setting.

Definitely going with my own setting - if I weren't, I'd probably just use 3.5, as it seems fairly easy to learn, and most people seem familiar with it. That being said, how does Savage Worlds handle initiative?

Could you give me a bit more detail on Fate Core? I've started looking into them, but I don't seem to be finding much (free) information - mind, right now it seems to be a half-hour wait to load a single text page.

[Airk]

Definitely going with my own setting - if I weren't, I'd probably just use 3.5, as it seems fairly easy to learn, and most people seem familiar with it. That being said, how does Savage Worlds handle initiative?

Could you give me a bit more detail on Fate Core? I've started looking into them, but I don't seem to be finding much (free) information - mind, right now it seems to be a half-hour wait to load a single text page.

Well, you could hit the pay-what-you-want for Fate Accelerated, which is only like 50 pages or something; You should be able to tell from there whether the system as a whole suits your needs.

(It probably doesn't, if you're looking for crunchy tactical combat.)

[Grod_The_Giant]

Definitely going with my own setting - if I weren't, I'd probably just use 3.5, as it seems fairly easy to learn, and most people seem familiar with it. That being said, how does Savage Worlds handle initiative?
Via playing cards-- everyone draws a card, and then initiative proceeds down from aces to 2's. There's some funny stuff with drawing Jokers, I think, but I don't remember off the top of my head; it's been a while since I played.


Could you give me a bit more detail on Fate Core? I've started looking into them, but I don't seem to be finding much (free) information - mind, right now it seems to be a half-hour wait to load a single text page.
Fate is based off "fudge dice"-- d6's with the sides labelled as 0's, 1's, or -1's-- and skills. You have a rank in a skill (say "Good (+3) Brawling") and you roll 4 fudge dice and add your rank. Thus, the expected roll is equal to your skill rank, with a smooth curve around it.

Aside from that, the game runs on "aspects" and "fate points." Pretty much everything gets described in terms of aspects (short descriptive phrases). When an aspect is relevant, you can spend fate points to "invoke" it, getting some sort of bonus-- usually either +2 to a roll or a reroll, both of which can be stacked by invoking multiple aspects. You recover fate points when the GM "compels" your character's aspects, saying "well, the cop just dissed America, and you have 'Bleeds Red White And Blue' as an aspect... you're going to lose your temper now, okay?"

Combat generally tends to be a series of rolls to create new aspects ("tripped," "sand in the eyes," stuff like that), followed by one big attack invoking all of those aspects to deliver a knock-out punch.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Well, you could hit the pay-what-you-want for Fate Accelerated, which is only like 50 pages or something; You should be able to tell from there whether the system as a whole suits your needs.

(It probably doesn't, if you're looking for crunchy tactical combat.)

Might give it a look - but yeah, it's usually the tactics that do it for me.

[Rhynn]

Looking into it now - I wouldn't say it was simple, from what I'm reading, but there are a lot of things I like. (I really like the idea of reactive actions - seems like it could give some ebb and flow to combat.) What in particular makes you like that system? (I'm looking up as much as I can, but there seems to be limited information free online, and I'd rather not put down money until I know more.)

I've played RuneQuest for 20 years, starting with Avalon Hill's RQ3, with forays into Chaosium's Stormbringer and Elric! and a good bit of Call of Cthulhu (all the same base system), through Mongoose's RuneQuest 1 and MRQ2, and RuneQuest 6 is the best version for me; it integrates elements from other games and from decades of online and fanzine material that I think make it work great, especially for the setting of Glorantha.

It's also presented as a very open system: use what fits, change things up, et cetera.

It strikes a good balance of realism and playability, with interesting combat (the special maneuvers are awesome), and IMO the base mechanics really are quite simple. It's got good and functional opposed test mechanics that scale up nicely (they were mostly absent and horrible in RQ3 and other pre-MRQ versions).

It's a system with a good baseline level of realism: characters are relatively fragile (one good critical hit in combat can kill or cripple you), but it scales up well, in my experience (better since the MRQ editions; RQ6 is from a different company but builds on MRQ rather than starting over from RQ3), allowing PCs to rose to the level of mythological heroes.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

I've played RuneQuest for 20 years, starting with Avalon Hill's RQ3, with forays into Chaosium's Stormbringer and Elric! and a good bit of Call of Cthulhu (all the same base system), through Mongoose's RuneQuest 1 and MRQ2, and RuneQuest 6 is the best version for me; it integrates elements from other games and from decades of online and fanzine material that I think make it work great, especially for the setting of Glorantha.

It's also presented as a very open system: use what fits, change things up, et cetera.

It strikes a good balance of realism and playability, with interesting combat (the special maneuvers are awesome), and IMO the base mechanics really are quite simple. It's got good and functional opposed test mechanics that scale up nicely (they were mostly absent and horrible in RQ3 and other pre-MRQ versions).

It's a system with a good baseline level of realism: characters are relatively fragile (one good critical hit in combat can kill or cripple you), but it scales up well, in my experience (better since the MRQ editions; RQ6 is from a different company but builds on MRQ rather than starting over from RQ3), allowing PCs to rose to the level of mythological heroes.

I finally managed to get some of the stuff about it to load, and I'm on the verge of shelling out for it - just one question before I do.

This might be a dumb question, but... does it use a map for combat? I haven't seen any reference to movement rates, AoE spells, reach, flanking or anything else that involves a defined position, and the "Change Range" action seems a little weird (in that it isn't just "Move.") I only ask cause I've come across a game or two that are meant to be played by post or skype or somesuch, and only keep track of the existence of enemies, not their actual position.

Oh, and I'm guessing it's pretty easy to homebrew for?

[Rhynn]

This might be a dumb question, but... does it use a map for combat? I haven't seen any reference to movement rates, AoE spells, reach, flanking or anything else that involves a defined position, and the "Change Range" action seems a little weird (in that it isn't just "Move.") I only ask cause I've come across a game or two that are meant to be played by post or skype or somesuch, and only keep track of the existence of enemies, not their actual position.

No map required, but you can absolutely use one. (I have a square grid battlemap covering my play table at all times and plenty of minis, so i often use one.) Many spells have an area of effect, but that's up to you to figure out (I've never had problems). Creatures (including humans) have a movement rate (I forget right now if they tweaked it to make sense by RQ6; in MRQ1, it was way too slow, and starting at 100m distant, you'd get feathered some dozen times by a bowman before you could get into melee). In combat, if you're engaged in melee with someone, you're either at Touch, Short, Medium, Long, or Very Long range. (There might have been Extreme, too.) The fighter with longer weapon controls the range (the shorter can only defend) until the one with the shorter takes a risky maneuver to get inside their range, at which point the longer is at disadvantage (can only defend, IIRC, and it might just impose a penalty to attacks; I haven't played in a while so MRQ2 and RQ6 are a bit mixed in my head).


Oh, and I'm guessing it's pretty easy to homebrew for?

Very, at least for me; I have dozens and dozens of homebrewed cults, dozens of monsters, homebrewed disease rules, etc., all easy to create and fit in (based mostly on other people's online material I liked, but also on some old material).

[meschlum]

I'm reasonably fond of Reve: the Dragon Oneiros, which is a fairly old school system. It would require a fair amount of refluffing, as it is fantasy based, but it has a lot of what you're asking for.

- Distinct (and distinctive) magic system which does not replace skills or allow insane power, while enabling a lot of creativity. It includes a magic item creation system (again, not overpowered). Non-mages are distinctly better at physical activities than mages are, but not overwhelmingly so.

- Moderately fragile characters, with a few tactical options in combat and a decent chance to get involved in how things happen.

- Reasonably slow progression. Training occurs at a nearly glacial pace and practice is barely faster (and dangerous). On the other hand, you have an "archetype" defining where your potential lies, and get 'quick' xp towards it - so if your concept is based on being a really skilled ship captain, you'll be able to attain nearly supernatural skill at it much faster than any mundane captain could.


Details!

Magic

Magic works by projecting your consciousness into an alternate realm, where you need to find suitable environments to cast the spells you want to.

This makes for slow casting (multiple rounds in combat) unless you have stored spells. Storing spells means that they trigger at once when you reach their 'spiritual' location, but they always trigger. So having a combat spell ready to cast in 1 round means that it is automatically cast (and then discharged) whenever you want to use magic.

Mages are prone to minor fits of insanity, and casting works on an mp basis so they won't be casting many spells in combat - again, being a mage gives options, but you can't rely on magic alone.

There are four schools of magic.

Oneiros lets you alter the world, for up to a day at a time. Most effects of this school transform one element into another in a fixed area. Air into fire makes a big static fireball, for instance. Water into wood is good for bridges. metal into water will disarm people. Other spells tend to affect things in an area as well - make plants grow, turn earth transparent, invisibility spheres...

Hypnos deals in illusions, mind alteration, scrying, and summoning. It's fairly diverse, but is mostly single target and low duration spells. Summons have a single purpose (the best known ones are guardians), and can be defeated, though it's a hard fight - or simply avoided or outmaneuvered: they are not smart as a rule.

Narcos is enchantment. It's expensive, and the main application is for healing potions (which put you to sleep but massively speed up your healing rate). Given a lot of money, you can enchant items to make them better (enchanted weapons and armor are nice, but a more skilled fighter will win without them), or make other items (flying brooms, self playing flutes, and the like). Good for fluff and day to day use, requires insane amounts of really high quality gemstones to do anything extreme - which is another way to limit its excesses.

Thanatos is necromancy, curses, and transformation. Spooky and awesome stuff, tends to drive you the nasty side of mad. Also includes some summoning spells for Bad Things - but none to control them.

Combat

Fighting is tiring, and you have limited fatigue points. Run out, and you're going to have a hard time doing anything.

Light hits will cost stamina, whoch you can mostly recover in a day or two. More lucky hits (or once you're out of stamina), and you lose Life points, which will disable you quickly and take a long time to heal. Narcos mages with healing potions are a godsend here.

In terms of combat actions, you can decide how complex your attack is - a simple strike is easy to perform, but easy to parry. An acrobatic blow, if your superior skill allows you to pull it off, can be very hard to evade.

Further tactical maneuvers are a bit limited. There are rules for wrestling (don't get grabbed by a superior wrestler) and wolf pack tactics (if you're surrounded, you're most likely dead), and enough skill context to make acrobatics and the like feasible. Berserker and defensive combat options can be done as well.

You also get some consideration for combat range, and incentives to keep your opponent at a distance where your weapon is most effective - getting the right range on your enemy can be quite deadly.

Skill rolls (and combat) are done with percentile dice, and a low result is better. If you manage a critical success, your attack (or defense) is more effective than usual, granting you benefits.

You can try to use Luck for physical activities, which gives you a reroll. You can also draw on your reserves to get a boost, which is good as long as you're successful. Non mages recover their Luck every day and have better resrves, so they can push themselves a lot more than mages can. Mages almost never regain Luck...

Experience

If you manage a critical success on a sufficiently difficult roll, you gain a few xp in the relevant skill and attribute. So a master swordsman who relies on superior skill to rain easy blows and occasional criticals on his opponents will not improve. It takes succeeding (or failing) exceptionally at really difficult attacks to get better once you're competent.

Training gives you the absolute minimum number of xp after a lot of effort, so it's meant for downtime.

Adventuring gives you 'archetype' xp, which are transformed into real xp over the course of a few days (often with losses). These can be spent on any skill, but only up to the limits of your archetype. If your character concept includes being an exceptional cook, you'll be able to boost your cooking skills far higher than someone whose archetype ignores the activity.


And that's about it, mechanics-wise. The setting is also fun, but doesn't really match the concept you want to play with... Well, it could, but that would call for a lot of adaptation anyway.

Still, the interesting and versatile but not overpowering magic is a feature that is worth looking at.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

No map required, but you can absolutely use one. (I have a square grid battlemap covering my play table at all times and plenty of minis, so i often use one.) Many spells have an area of effect, but that's up to you to figure out (I've never had problems). Creatures (including humans) have a movement rate (I forget right now if they tweaked it to make sense by RQ6; in MRQ1, it was way too slow, and starting at 100m distant, you'd get feathered some dozen times by a bowman before you could get into melee). In combat, if you're engaged in melee with someone, you're either at Touch, Short, Medium, Long, or Very Long range. (There might have been Extreme, too.) The fighter with longer weapon controls the range (the shorter can only defend) until the one with the shorter takes a risky maneuver to get inside their range, at which point the longer is at disadvantage (can only defend, IIRC, and it might just impose a penalty to attacks; I haven't played in a while so MRQ2 and RQ6 are a bit mixed in my head).

Alright, I think I'm sold... sadly they seem to be out of stock at the moment, but I might just spring for the PDF version. Will (probably? possibly?) homebrew my own magic system - I've had an itch to try out a momentum system for a while now (Where mages can't just whip out their best spells on the first turn of combat, but have to spend a few turns casting weaker spells to warm up and cool down... though now that I mention it, I'm not sure if that will work - I'm getting the impression that combat in runequest might not last enough turns for that to be an option. Eh.)

Oh, what all is in the combat styles? Is it just a set of weapons, or are their special maneuvers/abilities as well? And does the system use feats at all, or is it just numerical increases to skills?

[CombatOwl]

I dunno about that. D&D to Savage Worlds is a much easier transition than D&D to Fate, given that the latter system takes such a different approach to how... well, everything about the game works.

The Freeport Companion for Fate basically makes it into a D&Dish game. Not quite the same, but it's got the same sort of tone.


Definitely going with my own setting - if I weren't, I'd probably just use 3.5, as it seems fairly easy to learn, and most people seem familiar with it. That being said, how does Savage Worlds handle initiative?

Deck of cards. Everyone takes a draw. Characters with edges that improve their initiative let them redraw if their card is below a certain value. Initiative is in order of face value. It's quite speedy and effective.


Could you give me a bit more detail on Fate Core? I've started looking into them, but I don't seem to be finding much (free) information

Fate Core is available for free from Evil Hat's site. http://www.evilhat.com/home/wp-content/uploads/FateCore.zip If you like it, please consider paying them something with their pay-as-you-like option.

Fate Core is a game that is very heavy on the narrativist end of games. It's probably better described as a set of rules for collaborative storytelling than a game in the D&D sense of things. Characters are defined by four things; their Aspects, their Skills, their Stunts, and their Extras. It's very much a game about doing things the dramatic way, as opposed to being a slave to arcane rules in a book.

Aspects are short phrases that represent something that is dramatically important about a character ("Sexy Shoeless God of War", "My Grandfather's Green-Hilted Sword," "Ambiguous Gender," etc). They can be good things, bad things, mixed things--and can represent basically anything, as long as it's an important part of the character. There's some lengthy discussions about what they're used for and what their limits are, which is discussed elsewhere on the board recently. In short, they can be "tagged" to provide bonuses to skills, to establish details (such as important bits of equipment being present), to invoke an effect (to perform actions without rolling dice, etc), or simply as something that is "always true" about a character (if you "Never Sleep", your character never sleeps automatically). Fate also scores damage by adding or changing aspects to a character, rather than using hit points. A character that is very badly injured will end up making changes to his aspects that are permanent until changed back at milestones--or never, if called for. They also get added situation-ally (an aspect might be on a scene, or caused by someone Creating an Advantage with a skill). Probably some more things that I'm not able to recall off the top of my head. They do a lot of things, and serve quite a lot of roles.

Skills are the things your character does. Groups have some choices about how they want to do skills, but the default way is to have a list of different skills ("Provoke," "Fight," "Lore," etc) which you assign into slots in what's called a skill pyramid. That particular concept is discussed in the Fate Core PDF, and they do a better job illustrating it than I'll be able to explain here. It's really simple. Slots in the skill pyramid provide a bonus to rolls (for example, a skill in a Good slot gives a +3 to a check involving that skill). All tests are done with 4d, using Fudge dice (though you can convert regular numeric dice easily enough--1 and 2 are negative, 3 and 4 are neutral, 5 and 6 are positive). You add the results on the dice to the skill bonus you have from your skill to the situational modifiers caused by tagged aspects or applicable stunts.

Stunts are certain tricks your character can do that either provide a bonus to certain actions, let you use one skill in place of another, or otherwise set up a specific exception to the rules under certain conditions. Players get to define them for themselves, and there's a set of fairly clear guidelines in the PDF.

Extras are anything else that needs to get its own set of mechanics. It's literally the place to put any sort of setting specific mechanics. For example, magic systems, mad scientist gadgets, superpowers, etc. That's up to the GM and group to define, because by their nature they are entirely setting dependent. Wholly optional too.

Everything in Fate gets defined in that way. You can expand or narrow the focus as needed to achieve the tone you want. It can be incredibly broad (Fate Accelerated Edition, for example), or incredibly narrow and detailed (defining all skills with their own set of sub skills, aspects, and stunts). Equipment works the same way--it can have its own aspects, stunts, and sometimes even its own skills. It can be as simple as needed (props) or as complex as needed (equipment defined as a special category of Extra). Again, it's been discussed at length on the boards before, and the core book talks about this. I can go into more detail if you want.

Reading the PDF would probably be helpful before continuing though.

[Rhynn]

(Where mages can't just whip out their best spells on the first turn of combat, but have to spend a few turns casting weaker spells to warm up and cool down... though now that I mention it, I'm not sure if that will work - I'm getting the impression that combat in runequest might not last enough turns for that to be an option. Eh.)

My experience is that 5-8 rounds is pretty standard, depending on the nature of the fight. Characters with good armor and shields are fairly durable, and regular hits from human-strength fighters often aren't going to have a huge effect: in a way, in RQ6, you're wearing each other down trying to get in those Maneuvers to create a tactical advantage or strike a real blow. Smaller fights can be very swingy, though: a one-on-one can end on the first attack (say, Critical Attack vs. Fumble Defense, creating a 4-degree success...).


Oh, what all is in the combat styles? Is it just a set of weapons, or are their special maneuvers/abilities as well? And does the system use feats at all, or is it just numerical increases to skills?

There's a range of weapons (each has Reach/Length, Size*, Damage, and Specials**), and a combat style system (the GM defines what, exactly, combat styles cover; it's anything from "one skill per weapon" to "all melee weapons use one skill"). In combat, you make an attack, your opponent defends if it's successful (or if they want to try to take advantage of your failure), and getting degrees of success over your opponent lets you choose from an array of special maneuvers (like causing your opponent to Bleed, Stunning the location hit, etc.).

RQ6 doesn't natively have anything like "feats", but MRQ2 used Heroic Abilities you could get with Hero Points (the basic advancement points), and I've homebrewed a lot of those in since I play in Glorantha, and Gloranthan Heroes are supposed to be renowned for their unique and awesome abilities. It's quite easy to add them to the system, IMO.

The game is not hung up on "balance" the way D&D is; you just do what makes sense, and try to make sure you understand all the implications.

* Larger weapons are harder to parry with smaller ones; parrying a great axe with a dagger won't help you at all.
** Specials include maneuvers only some weapons can perform; edged weapons can Bleed, pointed weapons can Impale, nets can Entangle, etc.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The Freeport Companion for Fate basically makes it into a D&Dish game. Not quite the same, but it's got the same sort of tone.
How does that work? Beyond theme and setting, that is; the entire system is built on a very different set of assumptions. (Narrativist/dramatist verses simulationist/gamist)

[Rhynn]

Incidentally, FreakyCheeseMan, if you want something simpler, OpenQuest (http://openquestrpg.com/) is AFAIK based on old RuneQuest, rather than on the developments of Mongoose's edition. 1st edition was simpler than RQ6 is, IIRC, although for me it's missing many changes that I love. For you, it might work better. I'm not at all familiar with the new OpenQuest 2nd edition. It probably has somewhat less involved combat, but RQ combat has never been poor or unfun, IMO.

[BWR]

Actually.......you may want to look into Traveller. The problem is, I'm trying to think how you'd integrate magic into Traveller. Still, it has that "mundane challenges" thing down pretty well. It's certainly simple. You might be able to get by with replacing mentions of technology with equivalent magic; it's mostly a flavoring choice.

Traveller has psionics. A rose by any other name and all that. I've never actually played Traveller, just read through several books, and the psionics didn't strike me as overly powerful; I may be wrong.

But what exactly is desired of the magic system? The point of magic is to do the impossible, and every bit of impossible you do is one more mundane challange taken care of. Even if it is nothing more than 'conjure up a hammer', you have still made something from nothing and can use this tool to solve a problem involving hitting something.
Lighting a fire when you have nothing to start a fire with can also solve a potentially deadly problem. A minor bit of telekinesis, less than 1 lb of force, can open a door you can't reach otherwise.

[Delta]

I'd definitely recommend taking a look at Savage Worlds, it's really quick to get into and build characters, you can easily play it as a completely mundane system if you want to, and the combat is fun and tactical. I like it a lot and it sounds a lot like what you're looking for, it's rather cheap to get too.

[CombatOwl]

How does that work? Beyond theme and setting, that is; the entire system is built on a very different set of assumptions. (Narrativist/dramatist verses simulationist/gamist)

It doesn't really matter much the assumptions behind the system. I can run a fate game about adventurers in a fantasy world, pure swords and sorcery, focused around loot and xp... Without really caring that the one system has me rolling for narrativst reasons as opposed to gamist. The same characters can do the same things for the same reasons. All that differs is how the system handles it... Which isn't really a major concern. The Freeport companion gives you a set of rules for running that sort of game with fate.