Favorite Elements from Other Tabletops?

[Wystrell]

This forum is D&D-heavy, but I know many of you have played other tabletop RPG systems. I've taken a peek at other systems, but never enough to understand the fun bits.

So, my question: what is your favorite element or game mechanic from a non-D&D game?

[Dogmantra]

I really like Risus in general. My favourite mechanic has to be... the lot of it (it boils down to roll xdy, depending on the cliche). It's simple and fun, and I really like that in a game. Of course, it's nowhere near as rigid as D&D, and that can be bad at times.

[Swooper]

Probably the wager mechanic from Houses of the Blooded.

Basically, the task resolution in HotB is about rolling a pool of d6es, trying to roll 10 or higher (except in opposed rolls, then you're trying to trying to roll higher than the other guy). Before the roll, you may subtract any number of dice from the pool to gain increased benefits of succeeding (in opposed rolls wagers are made secretly). So if you gather up eight dice (8d6) for a task, you can decide to roll only four of them (because 8d6 easily beats 10) and gain four wagers if you make it. More risk, more benefit. If you roll lower than the other guy on an opposed roll but still beat 10, you get half your wagers.

[Tsotha-lanti]

The hit location combat from RuneQuest.

The "one contest fits all" system of HeroQuest, and the incredible story focus, and the amazingly Gloranthan way magic works.

The armor DR and Parry/Dodge Defense system of Conan d20, and the entire magic system.

Every single thing about The Riddle of Steel. Most especially the combat (easily the best in any game; more detailed and realistic and faithful to Medieval or Renaissance martial arts than any other game, but still faster than that of D&D, Rolemaster, and so on), the magic, and the mass battle system.

The mass battle system, inspiration and fear mechanics, and mook wounding mechanics of The Lord of the Rings RPG.

The entire combat system of Twilight 2013. It's for modern unit-sized combat what TROS is for old close combat martial arts: perfection.

[Friv]

Stunts, from Exalted. The ability to get benefits from sticking a neat narrative description into my attack is awesome.

(For those who've never played Exalted, it basically works as follows: Whenever you do anything, if you can describe it in a way that is interesting, you get a small bonus to your roll. If it's really interesting, bigger bonus. You can also recover some of your Essence [local power pool] if the roll succeeds.)

[Swooper]

Stunts, from Exalted. The ability to get benefits from sticking a neat narrative description into my attack is awesome.

Ooh, I love this one too.

[Tyrrell]

I also love the stunt mechanic in Exalted.

My favorite mechanic is the advancement system in Ars Magica. Characters get experience points s from practice, study, instruction, and exposure. Adventure experience is a part of the game but it isn't generally better than reading a good book (albeit you do get confidence points from adventures and they are a bigger deal). Characters learn spells by researching them in the laboratory rather than having them pop at a certain level or when they apply their xp. to them.

For a game about wizards (it wouldn't work for all genres) this throws everything into place. The sense of verisimilitude is increased dramatically and characters end up driving themselves out into the path of adventure to accomplish their own goals rather than to gain xp. Stories stretch out into to years of character planning and scheming and researching in order to accomplish their goals. Characters in the game feel as if they've really earned their power more so than in other systems.

[Kantolin]

Another for Stunts.

A catch is that my groups tend to be very descriptive about their attacks in any system, so stunts can on occasion just mean that a tired person at one in the morning is doggedly throwing out random descriptions until the DM gives him the bonus dice.

Still, stunts are really neat.

[Starscream]

I second (third, fourth or fifth, whatever) Stunts, they are sweet.

I have always liked the superpowers system from Mutants & Masterminds. Best way superpowers have ever been implemented in a gaming system, IMO.

I have always like the way GURPS handles skills. Takes a bit of getting used to but it works very well.

I haven't played New WoD, so I don't know if this has changed, but when I used to play old WoD I always liked the way you could regain willpower simply by embodying your character's "nature" with your actions. It gave people a nice, concrete motivation to roleplay.

[Knaight]

Word scales, and negative-positive dice methods(anything that can roll 0, a negative, or a positive. Its all over the place, sometimes you have a negative die and a positive die, sometimes you get stuff more along the lines of rolling multiple dice that have negative sides). They just work so well together, and it makes everything so easy to adjudicate, plus having skills be the average a character does, rather than the minimum, or sub minimum, works well.

[Satyr]

I haven't yet seen any game with an overall construction as streamlined and elegant as Gurps. The combination of a very sound and simple basic mechanism with basic logic and an incredible amount versatility in the field of complexety is unmatched - there is no other game that handles the balancing act between comprehensability and complexity that well. The only problem of Gurps is, that the sheer amount of options and freedom can and will overwhelm inexperienced players with options and possibilities, if you don't have a good gamemaster who act as a guidance through the game.
particulary great is the way, supernatural powers are implemented in the game and the number of options and builds which derrive from the toolbox you have at hand.

Apart from the Glory of Gurps, I found the madness-meter from Unknown Armies quite impressive. Instead of a system for insanity which works exactly like hitpoints, and which has absolutely nothing to do with how a human mind looks like or works, Unkown Armies always offer two ways your psyche could develop in different areas - you could both become hardened to a pecific sensation of the being, or you can become more stressed in ot - in the case of violence for instance, a more and more hardened character becomes callous and feels little to no regret when using violence, while a more stressed person in the same fiel may become edgy and jumps into a defensive posture whenever someone touches them. It is a very fine and character-driven model of psychological developments and decline, which reflects on the events in the character's life.
The other aspects of Unknown Armies - both rulewise and backgroundwise - are also very stimulating and interesting, but as it is somehow the David Lynch Version of Roleplaying Games, it is not for everyone.

[wadledo]

I second the powers system from MnM.
Once you read the book a few times, it can do anything.
Even that, with a little work.

[Theodoric]

WFRP's career system's rather good.

[Kami2awa]

Another for Stunts.

A catch is that my groups tend to be very descriptive about their attacks in any system, so stunts can on occasion just mean that a tired person at one in the morning is doggedly throwing out random descriptions until the DM gives him the bonus dice.

Still, stunts are really neat.

Yes, and they make situations where bonuses are needed, such as Boss fights, really really awesome.

[Tyrrell]

Spiritual traits in Riddle of Steel. A character has a set of things such as rivalry with the dukes son, loyalty to the imperial guard and so forth. Firt of all characters get bonuses when they take actions to further their traits, second acting in accordance with your spiritual traits is the only way to gain xp in the system. This rule makes being mechanics focused the same thing as being role playing focused it leads to extraordinary games (at least the one time I played it.)

Another one from Ars Magica. The magic system includes both both formulaic and spontaneous magic. There are many systems like Mage the Ascension where characters make up all of their spells on the fly and many like Shadowrun where characters only know a selected number of spells. In Ars Magica characters can make up spells on the fly but these spells are only a fraction as strong as something that they've learned. It allows the glorious fun of making precisely the correct spell for the moment but keeps the power of this ability in check.

[Lamech]

I've played Rolemaster some and I like the way they do damage... Every attack one rolls the die, and adds and subtracts the right modifiers and looks at a chart for damage. This does some hit point damage (which is fairly worthless), and usally a "crit" from A-E. Then you roll the crit on the correct critical chart, and see all the fun stuff. This can range from a few more hp, to bleeding out hits (which is basically leathal unless healed), to a injury (which gives a penalty until healed), to dying in X number of rounds, to instant death. It also gives out a short little discription to every hit.

I really liked it because it adds a sense of realism, gives premade descriptions of battle, and makes the healer role really important. (Instant death is really free xp if a healer is close by, if not... err...) Although its advisable to have all the sundery charts on a comp.

[Artanis]

I like the anima concept from Exalted. Even without the associated powers, just the very idea that you can perform so many Awesome things in such a short amount of time that you are engulfed by a pillar of pure flaming sunlight (or whatever is appropriate to the exalt type) is...well, Awesome

I find Heavy Gear's health/damage system to be downright ingenious. It manages to be the most realistic system I've run into (not that I've run into that many, but still) while being surprisingly simple to use. Everything else in its dice system is a bitch and a half to use, but the way damage is handled is really, really cool.

[ericgrau]

This forum is D&D-heavy, but I know many of you have played other tabletop RPG systems. I've taken a peek at other systems, but never enough to understand the fun bits.

So, my question: what is your favorite element or game mechanic from a non-D&D game?

I love the casting system from heroquest. Others board games are similar for that matter. It's essentially like having 9 spells per day all at the highest level, each one is completely different. And there are 4 elements, out of which you pick 3 and give one to the elf. So the wizard doesn't quite have everything and the elf still has some decent casting. Heroquest is fun to both play and DM, but unfortunately getting an old box is insanely expensive now and mine's missing.

Talisman is fun, but mostly for its simplicity. It essentially gives you a deck of random encounters/treasure/etc. on a 3-ring monopoly-type board. So I guess that deck is the "favorite element". First person to make his way to the center ring and fight his way to the end... maybe wins. Or draws the wrong card and falls into the abyss. Sucks to be him!

[Hal]

I like when you land on Chance, and sometimes the card can be good OR it can be bad. That shoe just doesn't know what's coming next!

Wait, did you mean RPGs?

Oh, in that case, I really like the dice system for Savage Worlds. Instead of getting a dozen different bonuses or penalties to any given roll, you just use a different sized die for how good you are, with fixed values for success. Really strong? Roll a d12 and you have a decent shot of kicking in the door. Kinda dumb? Then you and your d4 probably won't get to hack into the computer.

The exploding dice mechanic can also lead to some crazy circumstances. I watched a BBEG fight end before it began because a player kicked the BBEG in the nuts and had something like a quadruple crit. It was insane. In fact, you might even say it was "nuts."

[RebelRogue]

Oh, in that case, I really like the dice system for Savage Worlds. Instead of getting a dozen different bonuses or penalties to any given roll, you just use a different sized die for how good you are, with fixed values for success. Really strong? Roll a d12 and you have a decent shot of kicking in the door. Kinda dumb? Then you and your d4 probably won't get to hack into the computer.

I've only played Savage Worlds once, but it was a fun experience. I really liked the card drawing initiative system as an alternative to the usual dice rolling.

[BRC]

Failure to mention perversity points (Points recieved for making the game more fun and used to boost rolls) from Paranoia is TREASON Citizen.

[Saintjebus]

I must chime in for GURPS. I've only gotten to play it once, but the "free-form" style was very much fun. It felt a whole lot more like I was the character, rather than controlling the character.

[ericgrau]

Failure to mention perversity points (Points recieved for making the game more fun and used to boost rolls) from Paranoia is TREASON Citizen.

Grenade lands in hallway. The door at the end of the hallway is locked. Enemies are coming from the other way. I have no perversity points left. In another rpg you'd munchkin a way to stop the grenade or assume you could survive the damage. In Paranoia everything is lethal and your lack of ability is scary. Instead...

It's my turn. I check both exits and DM explains above. We're stuck. So I say "fetal position." I get perversity points. Another PC tries to save us by vaporizing the grenade with a plasma gun (what?!?). Everyone throws in perversity points, I include the ones I just got, and it actually works.

[potatocubed]

I also love stunts from Exalted.

I can't believe that no-one's mentioned Aspects from FATE yet. Not only are they one of the most elegant mechanics I've seen in ages, they can be bolted on to pretty much any other game with only a little work.

Oh, and Beliefs and Instincts from Burning Whatever. Make life difficult for yourself, gain fate points. Spend fate points to win at something else. Simple and prone to cause much drama.

V Ooh, I forgot the mass battle system from L5R/7th Sea! (Much the same in both games.) Another great mechanic that you can easily bolt on to the game of your choice.

[bosssmiley]

• WFRP - most things about it
• Ars Magica - magic system
• Savage Worlds - delicious brain-light pulp cheese
• Pendragon - Passions, dynasties, solo minigames, etc.
• Cyberpunk 2020 - the simplicity of the core mechanic
• BRP - It gave us CoC, Runequest, Elric, etc. It is love.
• L5R - the auction iaijutsu system, the mass combat system, the game fiction(!), etc.

[Raum]

• Shadowrun: (mostly 2nd ed) The evocative archtypes in a classless system, the ability for mages to choose how much power they want to dump into each spell and, consequently, how much of a headache it will give them, a unified core mechanic, and the edge of your seat tension of rolling exploding dice to hit high target numbers.
• WFRP: The magic and insanity rules, playing a semi-comedic and semi-horrific game of trying to survive, and the career system (you get to play a Ratcatcher!).
• Classic Unisystem: The wide range of potential abilities which are (mostly) grounded in real world myth.
• Savage Worlds: The fast combat, easy character building, and easily customizable rules. Oh, and the very fast combat! :)

[Falling Out]

I would really like to find a good Strategy RPG, or a way to integrate strategic elements into dnd or some RPG system. I've tried Complete Warrior (dnd) style battles but have yet to find a good balance.

Likewise, I once ran an extended Warhammer campaign integrating RPG aspects to leveling/rank/equipment but it took WAY to long to be practical.

Anyone know a good SRPG system?

[kjones]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Aspects from Fudge. Easy character creation, easy role-playing opportunities.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

I would really like to find a good Strategy RPG, or a way to integrate strategic elements into dnd or some RPG system. I've tried Complete Warrior (dnd) style battles but have yet to find a good balance.
Anyone know a good SRPG system?

Have you looked at Heroes of Battle? (3.5) Basically, it shows how to integrate individual PC's into an epic battle setting with things like victory points. If you're looking more for your players controlling armies rather than individual characters, it might not be what you're looking for.

[D Knight]

i and my friends enjoy the simplicty of Warhammer DH. it makes D&D look like the up tight miltiary type. but they stil need to com out with more support books.