Recommend some game systems!

[Yora]

Like it says on the tin.

I know the 3.5e rules in and out, but don't really now much about any other systems, except for Saga, which is mostly a 3.5e variant, d20 Modern, which is D&D with guns, and 4th Edition, which feels like a tabletop wargame to me.
3.5e served me very well so far, but I might like other games more, IF I would know about them. ^^

I think what I don't like so much about D&D, is that the rules are so much based around dungeon crawls. You get new abilities rather quickly, and at 5th level a character can allready do things that are completely impossible for a normal human. And the spells at these levels are allready devestating agiainst normal townsfolk and militias. So if you are more into playing normal people, who just have expert training and remarkable skill, you have to cap the levels at 6th or 10th. But with only 3 or 4 feats at these levels, there's not much customization and interesting builds often only work at higher levels.

I think what I would like is a system where you can still advance and customize your character at regular intervals, but still stay beyond the level, where a single mage can anhilate an entire city of Normals.
And it would also be very helpful if the system can be easily customized, so you can for example come up with your own magic system and have it represented by in-game abilites.

I've taken a look at True 20, but I think though it's quite different, it keeps most of the things I allready dislike with 3.5e.

Please, people in the playground. Pimp my game!

[Grynning]

True 20 is pretty darn good, as is it's older brother, Mutants and Masterminds. M&M's rules are technically "d20" but they're almost beyond recognition, it's a fancy point buy system that usually gets compared more to HERO or Gurps. I've played it a few times, and while character creation is time consuming, playing it is a blast, very fast and loose compared to normal d20 combat. While it's meant for super heroes, it is easily adapted to just about anything.

[Kizara]

GURPS


Best system ever, especially for 3.5 vets.

[Kantur]

My first thought with that is the E6 varient of D&D 3.5 (Basically you stop leveling at level 6 and each x XP after that gets you another feat, though I'm sure those with experience of it can say more)

My other thought is Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing Game from Fantasy Flight Games. Currently in it's second edition, though third is in development and confirmed as coming. It's gritty, death is certainly possible at any stage, characters continue to advance but it gets slowly harder to improve stats. I haven't really looked at the Magic system (It has many of its own risks if you attract the attention of the wrong things...), but from what I have looked at it doesn't get to the casting one spell and destroying all in your path level.

[Yora]

E6 is a nice idea, but I think it's somewhat of a quick and dirty solution. It does work in some way, but I think I would prefer a system, that is designed for it.

[The Rose Dragon]

Mutants & Masterminds is my favorite system, despite being OGL-rules-based. While it is nominally a superhero game, it can simulate almost everything there are comic books about (and given the variety of comic books out there, that's saying a lot). However, it does not handle "slow advancement" well, as you the difference between PL 5 and PL 10 is even greater than level 5 and level 10 in D&D (and don't even consider starting at a PL lower than 3).

If you want something that's basically D&D, but better in all aspects, I suggest Unisystem. Its most famous line is All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which works just as well as a game even if you remove the zombies. Witchcraft, while more focused on, well, witchcraft, and not as flexible as AFMBE, is also free. If you want a taste of the Unisystem rules, I greatly suggest Witchcraft.

I will admit, I do like the general feel of GURPS. Given the thousands of supplements devoted to it, as well as the two thick core rulebooks, it is probably highly more flexible than Unisystem. But it also requires a lot of work to play on the GM's side, based on simply the 30-something page GURPS Lite, and does not really come ready-to-play.

There is World of Darkness, where you can play as mortals if you want (I know, shocking). It is not easy to get to earth-shattering levels in most of the supernatural lines, however, and you can advance in flexibility without advancing in sheer power due to being a point-based system. That said, it is highly tied to a setting, so it might not be what you're looking for.

While I would personally suggest against it, a lot of people swear by Savage Worlds, so it might be worth taking a look at.

Finally, there is Spirit of the Century, a very fun pulp game that can be adapted to a lot of things, due to the rules system it is based on, FATE. However, it has a very singular method of advancement: taking new stunts. Unless the GM wants to change the game's balance significantly, you cannot really improve in your basic abilities and your Aspects are always limited to 10.

However, stay away from BESM and Tri-Stat dX in general. It handles nothing better than Mutants & Masterminds does, and it is highly more unbalanced (and given how unbalanced M&M can get, that's saying a lot).

[Raum]

Like it says on the tin.

Hmm, I'll toss a couple ideas at you...

I think what I would like is a system where you can still advance and customize your character at regular intervals, but still stay beyond the level, where a single mage can anhilate an entire city of Normals.

Savage Worlds, Unisystem (Classic and Cinematic), GURPS, Shadowrun, ORE, and WFRP are all capable of this.

And it would also be very helpful if the system can be easily customized, so you can for example come up with your own magic system and have it represented by in-game abilites.

Hmm, that narrows it down to Savage Worlds, Unisystem, and perhaps GURPS.

There's already a GURPS thread going so I'll limit comments to Savage Worlds and Unisystem.

Savage Worlds is a core system at a 'pulp' level of power. (You're "Big Damn Heroes" but you can still be hurt by a guy with a pointy stick, otherwise known as a spear.) Combat is very tactical (frontal attacks are not always a 'good idea') and includes rules for "Tricks" and "Tests of Will" which allow characters to a) do cool cinematic stuff, b) take out extremely tough opponents, and c) give non combat-oriented characters effective actions. (A Trick might be throwing sand in an opponent's eyes. The mechanical result is him being 'Shaken' and possibly (not certainly) losing an action to 'get the sand out of his eyes'. While he is Shaken, your allies will find it easier to attack and hurt him. So tactics can make a big difference!)

Savage World's core system is intended to be customized. Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition (SWEX) is nearly all mechanics and no setting or 'flavor' text. Those you'll find in the setting books. Take the "Bolt" power as one example; SWEX simply gives you the mechanics - range, damage, and cost but the settings books customize it to fit - 50 Fathoms, for example, "Bolt" may become a "Fire Bolt" which generates a stream of tiny fire elementals slamming into your target...with the range, damage, and cost from SWEX. Similarly, many elements of the core system are intended to be customized for your campaign and setting.

Unisystem is also worth looking at. It's similar to D&D 3.x in many ways - hit points, many different magic systems / "classes", central mechanic of attribute + skill + die (d10 instead of d20) vs a target number, etc. One major difference is a lack of levels. This means your hit points aren't going to change much even though you may learn more skills and powers. This helps avoid a D&D style 'arms race' in power levels and items. A rifle is still capable of killing a human...no matter how much magic they may have learned.

Unisystem uses a point buy character building system and may be anything from gritty to superheroic depending on the number of points used. Witchcraft is available for free on EdenStudios' site linked above.

[Grynning]

Mutants & Masterminds is my favorite system, despite being OGL-rules-based. While it is nominally a superhero game, it can simulate almost everything there are comic books about (and given the variety of comic books out there, that's saying a lot). However, it does not handle "slow advancement" well, as you the difference between PL 5 and PL 10 is even greater than level 5 and level 10 in D&D (and don't even consider starting at a PL lower than 3).

The great thing about M&M is that you can advance characters significantly without moving the PL up at all; characters get a wider variety of abilities that way, but everything stays capped by the PL so the numbers don't get insanely high.
For those not familiar with M&M, Power Levels are NOT the same as character levels. A Power Level is set by the GM, and it basically sets the cap for all the characters in the party. When you're buying your powers, feats, etc., Attack and Damage bonuses are capped by the PL, so for example, if the PL is 3, you can't buy an attack with more than a +3 bonus. You can tack extras on to it, you can buy more skills, etc, but you will never be dealing with more than a +3 to attack/damage (damage is also by d20 in the system and does not use HP, it's a lot different than D&D) It's very accommodating to E6 style game-play.

Edit: Thanks to those above who mentioned the free DL of Witchcraft. I hadn't seen it before, but CJ Carella's books are usually a fun read if nothing else.

[The Rose Dragon]

Of course, it is a matter of width of power versus height of power. Most of the time, advancement implies height, not width.

So there is no vertical advancement that you can call "slow". And sooner or later, the players will want to advance vertically. When they do...

Suffice it to say your teeth will never be the same color again. They will be more purple.

[Yora]

Is that good or bad?

[Artanis]

Heavy Gear sounds pretty much perfect for you. Sure, it says it's a mecha game, but those mecha are more like ultraheavy power armor than they are like your typical giant robots. Gears (as the mechas are called) are significantly stronger than standard infantry, but are still pretty much infantry and are generally no match for a tank 1v1. So the power level is right about where your description indicates.

The dice system also has a ridiculously robust set of rules for customizing vehicles (such as Gears) and their capabilities. What's more, Heavy Gear uses the same basic system for traditional characters, so vehicle and non-vehicle mechanics integrate seamlessly and you don't have to run around in a mecha at all if you don't want to.


tldr version: Heavy Gear has the power level, customization, and character advancement rate it sounds like you want, and you don't have to start from scratch the way "universal" systems sometimes do.

[FoE]

FATAL!

No, don't ... don't play FATAL. Yarr.

[infinitypanda]

FATAL!

No, don't ... don't play FATAL. Yarr.

I see what you did there.

[Matthew]

As much as I like Heavy Gear, I think you would probably be better served with Rune Quest. Basically, D20/3e borrowed a lot from Rune Quest, but the power scheme is more like what it sounds as though you want. It is sort of a half-way house between Role Master and Dungeons & Dragons, not as complex as GURPS, but still pretty customisable. It is not level based, however, so your other option is Conan D20.