I absolutely adore Genesys, it's one of my favorite systems of all time but it really shines the most with a group that's in a juicy, creative mindset. If you don't have people that are either accustomed to or engaged enough to create narrative flow it can fall flat when a player rolls 4 advantages and doesn't know what to do with them.
I really feel that some of the older universal RPGs have great strengths and should be considered next to these newer rules systems. Hero System, GURPS, Basic Role Playing, even CORPS and Active Exploits have strengths for players and GMs who want options around class-free, level-free point-buy cross-genre gaming.
Cypher is my fave... you don't need to buy special dice, easy to GM. Players are linked together in many ways during creation, promotes pure co-op, even the GM role is supportive to players. Plays more theater of the mind. The Cards are worth getting. Keep in mind the characters are more effective from the start and "leveling" spread between players is less consequential than other systems. The pools do replenish easily and represent fatigue a lot more. GM has more fun as intrusions (with cards) can prompt greater GM'ing improv skills that you can use with other RPG's.
See, I’m the opposite. It seems so…boring? We tried Numenera and, aside from the world, the game itself was so boring with so few choices for characters. Adding in things like cards for the GM to play is just as bad as proprietary dice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you like it and it works for your group. My group has always preferred either more free form games with lots of options, or more mechanical games where you can really sink into it and master the mechanics (depending on mood) Cypher seems like a really good system to introduce people to the idea of an RPG, then move on to more in depth games.
I cut my teeth on GURPS, but I'm just looking for a universal system that's a bit less imposing and intimidating. I may still stick with GURPS because it's hard to get access to so many different supplements, but I'm keeping my options open as I investigate.
@@flashfloodninja part of GURPS is only using the rules that work for you. Its a toolkit. Only thing you absolutely have to use in GURPS is effective skill
GURPS always seemed clunky to me, which is odd because I like Hero System which uses similar mechanics. Still, I think both systems could be improved by changing the 3D6 roll mechanic to a 2D10 roll. The big thing that does is flatten the steep hump in the mid range of rolling.
@@Azerod You should pick up Terrinoth - it's a great setting and addresses the point you were making. There is also a pretty decent "maker" group creating free settings or settings on Drive Thru RPG. Also, keep your eyes open for the Twilight Imperium setting.
Everything you told us about Cortex prime applies to every universal system including GURPS. What exactly makes this better? What dice system does it use? How crunchy is it? How is the layout? How much support does it have? Is movement hex based or square based or is it ToTM only? Point buy or class? Tell us SOMETHING.
It's much less crunchy and much more "cinematic' than say GURPS or Hero System (champions). It's much easier to say 'take out an Ultron bot' using science rolls in Cortex than GURPS. Most Universal systems don't have a rule set for including your motivations in your rolls. It uses traditional RPG dice, maybe I'll do an in depth look at the rules.
CORTEX has powered several different games, each with variations that reflect the intended feel of the setting. CORTEX Prime collects those variations into a toolkit that you can use to construct the game of your dreams. At it's heart CORTEX characters are made up of Traits, or groups of Traits called Trait Sets. Traits are things like Attributes, Skills, Powers, etc. In a D&D CORTEX game Strength would be a Trait, while Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution,, and Charisma would constitute a Trait Set. MARVEL Heroic uses 4 or 5 different Trait Sets. Individual Traits are rated in die sizes from an untrained d4, to a grandmaster d12. Describe what your character is going to do, pick a die from each Trait Set that represents them doing that, and roll them all at once. Total the 2 highest rolling dice, and take note of the largest remaining die that didn't come up a 1. The 2 dice represent your effort, while the other die represents your effect. Your opposition does the same, highest total gets to impose their effect. Beyond that the scene itself has Traits that anyone can utilize, and players can make use of Plot Points (think FATE Points, or Bennies) to aid their characters. CORTEX uses Stress Tracks instead of Hit Points. MARVEL Heroic uses 3 different Stress Tracks (Physical, Mental, and Emotional). Stress Tracks are rated by die size. If you've imposed a d6 effect on someone, their Stress is d6. If you impose a further d4, d6, or d8 on them their Stress increases to d8, otherwise (d10, or d12) their Stress increases to effect die type. If you can impose more Stress on them than they have Stress Capacity that character is Stressed Out (you decide what form that takes). Generally PC's will have a d12 Stress Capacity in MARVEL Heroic. So that's it, roll your die pool, total the 2 highest rolling dice, highest total wins.
I mention them briefly, but I was focusing on more modern games. I played champions back in the day and had the hero rules with the george Perez cover.
@@Azerod The game is still around and in its 6th edition (which came out in 2009 IIRC). New material, some community generated, is being put out fairly regularly; but the system definitely has a small but very loyal following. It would be nice to see that community grow.
I know this video is a few years old, but I got recommended it out of nowhere (well, not NOWHERE, I watch a lot of TTRPG videos) and I was interested to see your list. Turns out, our lists of the best generic systems are almost identical! I do agree that Genesys and Cypher are on the lower end, primarily because of proprietary dice (which makes it really hard to play the game when they're out of print) and somewhat overly complicated rules, respectively. That said, I do love Cypher's character creation system of "I am an X Y who Zs". Fate and Savage Worlds are my overall favorites; I love narrative systems so Fate is just about perfect for me, and I think Savage Worlds is the perfect balance point between a lot of crunch and a lot of narrative. But then Cortex Prime is so incredibly interesting; i've never played it _yet,_ but as someone who loves generic systems as a sort of toybox ("I'll pull out this, that, and these other toys and see what I can do with them today, and perhaps tomorrow I'll pull out entirely different toys and have a different play session"), Cortex Prime is that in _spades._ Cortex Prime feels more like it's a step by step guide to create your own TTRPG, because so many of its little modular bits are just so unique and cool. I still to this day love the concept that Marvel used Cortex Prime for, where every hero has a ranking based on how well they work solo, as a duo, or in a team. It evokes such a simple concept in supers comics; some supers are total loners, some join every team they see, and some just need their iconic buddy with them on the job. Cortex Prime gives you so many other cool ways to rank your characters' abilities, like based on your bonds with other people. It's definitely the system I'm most interested in trying once I get the time to sit down and really delve into it.
Cortex is one of my favorite systems of all time. Give you that cinematic feel. Smallville was a master class in someone who understood screen writing and put into an RPG book. It's a lot to wrap your head around, but once you do, holy cow.
I like the super simplicity of GORE/Basic Role Playing. Then again it was the game engine for systems such as Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and Super World. From this list I only have Savage Worlds, which is pretty good, and have tried Genesys via the Edge of the Empire game. I feel that system, to really see what it is capable of, you need to have a group that "gets it".
It is a major misconception that Genesys is from the Star Wars system by fantasy flight. It is not. It is based off of the warhammer fantasy roleplay game from fantasy flight.
When I wanted to introduce my son to RPGs, I wanted a universal game that I could use for whatever appealed to him, such as Transformers, Star Wars, or something else. That's how I came across Fate. It took me a little while to wrap my head around it because I was so used to having systems where I would look up weapon and armour stats, manoeuvres, etc. But now I really love it, and Fate Accelerated (FAE) is hands-down THE best RPG for supers, in my opinion. Some will prefer a more rules-heavy approach, but if you are just looking to replicate the feel and action of comics, FAE is amazing. I find I am leaning more and more into more narrative games, however, so I also enjoy games like Risus and Freeform Universal. I would love to see them get more love from the general public. When I do get the occasional nostalgia-fueled urge for a D&D-type game, Elemental is a good choice and that's another system that I think people should check out. They regularly release free stuff and more than many other publishers, they just seem to really be in love with gaming.
Good news for you! If you’re still looking for a Transformers RPG, Hasbro is gonna release one in March 2022. It’s one of three systems they’re releasing then; Transformers, Power Rangers, and GI Joe. I’m looking forward to the first two, so I figured I’d spread the word.
I've run several character creation sessions, and character creation goes really well and easily using the descriptive sentence. What's really key is to get that book, and then pick your genre, and pick up the "white book" for the Genre (They ave Horror, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Super Heroes, Post Apocalyptic, and Fairy Tales) and it helps you pick what to extract out of the book, and adds even more. I'm really fond of it. They are constantly release new "genre books" to help people build out their worlds.
I really like the Cypher System and have been using it a lot. I've found it to be very DM friendly and story focused; with Creature cards in hand I can go through a session without having to crack open a book. The only thing it doesn't do (out of the box) is gritty, low-power games. If I want to run Horror I reach for CoC before Cypher. Thanks for the video; great overview.
Cypher 2e is impressive. Every universal RPG will require some work on the part of the GM to create a custom setting. The biggest advantage Cypher has is the sheer amount of flavorful content it provides in the core book to create what you want. So much that you could go through it like a menu and mash up something out of the blue and it would be interesting. The less work I have to do, creating essential facets such as special abilities, the happier I am. Cypher hits a sweet spot in that regard since it has such a massive and wide range of pre-made options which provide such flavoring. Just pick and choose. The rest of the work would mostly be any simple narrative adjustment required, not mechanical. While numerous universal systems do this, they often either take more GM work to customize or don't provide enough variety in their mechanically-related options to make it easier. My biggest concern is how it would run as a less heroic, more gritty system, as you implied regarding your use of CoC for such. Although Cypher does look to be somewhat easily hackable due to it's simpler mechanics.
Cortex prime has kind of caught my interest, but I'm not exactly sure how damage works in that game. I thought they were making a dnd beyond equivalent, but I haven't heard a thing about that.
The DnD beyond is definitely in the works as well as a Roll20 style of site. (I've been on the site). They are busy with getting the Dragon prince game out. Damage can work in different ways, the way I prefer is stress tracks. Lets say I hit someone, I roll my dice pool and lets say I have a D8 for an effect die. That enemy now has a D8 stress, when I attack him next I can add a D8 to my dice pool. I hit him again and lets say my effect die is a D6, his stress get's bumped up to the next level, a D10. After D12 he is knocked out.
I'm currently designing a fallout campaign in GURPS for me group and so far GURPS 4e as been a fairly easy read :P just bought me a copy of Fudge 10th anniversary I'm more interested in that than fate tbh.
Huge fan of Cortex Prime, as for the universal rules go, it is still perhaps one of the "newer" games in the list. I am hoping it catches on more, because I am usually a GM, but Cortex is one of the few TTRPG I absolutely love as a player. And, being how new it is, it is hard finding a game.
I’ve been running a game with my friends in cortex and let me just say it has been a blast. One of my players used to GM the campaign we’re running, and also introduced us to the setting which is based on a video game. He ran it in dnd and Hunter: The Vigil but those never really fit the vibe of what we wanted nor did the mechanics benefit the setting, so after a break, I found Cortex and made a system embracing the setting and it’s been magic. I hope cortex gets a bigger fanbase because it is super modular and fun to play. Only gripe is that learning how to throw things together can be a bit daunting and confusing. Especially for the GM.
I've never heard of open legend. Played Gurps back in the 80's didn't go over that well. I will be doing a video on Savage worlds and Savage pathfinder soon.
@@Azerod Theres a new edition. I hear the reason people dont like Gurps is because they think they need to play with every rule and almost every rule is actually intended to be optional
My favorite so far is Dreamchaser. A really lightweight system so you can focus on the story and it is easy to play with others who aren't big into roleplaying.
Fate is probably my current favourite because I've played and run a log of it. But, more recently I've started getting into Cypher System and I'm really enjoying the rules system and it's potential. The biggest benefit Cypher has over Fate is that the rulebook is really well presented. Fate is great once you know how to run/play it but the rulebook is horrible at teaching you how to play the game and most of the setting books that I've seen aren't any better. It's not a great game to bring new players in. Cypher wins hands down in that department. Cortex is also solid, but also suffers a bit of the same problem that Fate does in being more of a toolset book and less of a good teacher, though still way better at it then Fate. The other are I find Cortex bungles up a bit is in campaign play. Love it for one shots or shorter term play, just don't think it scales well for long term play. Another plus I'm enjoying about Cypher is that it can deal with simple traditional kill and collect game play it handles loot just fine. Fate and Cortex don't really work as well within that kind of traditional Dungeon Crawl space. They abstract that portion of the game, which I've found has turned off a lot of players that want that type of game. Universal isn't so universal when it comes to play and not just setting.
You missed of course GURPS, the HERO System (my favorite),Big Eyes Small Mouth (my second favorite), TWIRPS, Fusion Labs (Interlock system plus HERO System).
Well there is Fudge (the root game where Fate came from) Fuzion SilCore (Silhouette core) Basic Roleplaying (BRP) True20 BESM D6 system Mythic D6 Aria Action system That's some, btw the last version of Gurps 4th edition is from 2008-ish Sounds like you were playing 3rd edition,
@@Azerod I like Fusion its a solid little system, does modern and sci fi well, not so great at fantasy, then again Artiesia did a great version of it and that was Fantasy, BESM get second edition, first is too primitive, Third is a mess, there is a new version, but not read it, Tristat isn't bad, Gurps, I don't really like 4th, I think a heavily modified 3rd would be better, Never seen first or second ed, that must be the 80's stuff,
Hero System is my favorite universal game. On par is R Talsorian Games interlock/fuzion. Though Fuzion requires more work for a gm in creating a world. In fact, I almost always prefer using these systems over a worlds game mechanic.
I wanted to love Fuzion so bad when it came out. The art was fantastic for the day, and it made sense. Unfortunately it was incomplete to make some characters.
@@Azerod It is a great system. I believe the incomplete nature is by design. It is meant as a core mechanic and you plug in or create campaign specific powers and equipment.
@@Azerod some of the best games I have seen, since it's release, used Fuzion. Sengoku and The Witcher Rpg both use it. As does Lightspeed. I haven't played, but they have a large presence on Drivthrurpg.
@@michaelconnor1542 You schooled me, I never knew that the system went beyond Champions. I knew it was R. Talsorian trying their hand at a universal system.
@@Azerod The Witcher is a beautiful and fantastic game. It is a system that is very easy to pick up. There are a lot of optional rules for Alchemy, tinkering, smithing, and armor/weapon degradation that actually work. Also the classes are fairly well balanced. Even the Witcher class/race.
If it really comes to an universal system which is intuitive and very very very easy to use, you have forgotten Open D6 and especially its Mini Six iteration.
I had never owned any PBTA, but since producing that video I now own: City of Mists, Urban Shadows, Masks, Blades in the Dark, Scum and villainy. I have yet to find any real "universal system" book where you can really make your own. All the books seems tied to a particular setting and mechanics. Perhaps I'm missing it though if you could point me in the right direction. I've spoke with creators of COM and they are working on something.
MARVEL Heroic Roleplaying was my introduction to CORTEX, and I agree that it's an excellent system. My first choice among Universal systems however is Tri-Stat, the engine that powers BESM.
Cypher System is interesting in my opinion. I'm not 100% sure about these rules but please tell me if I'm mistaken the rules about Armor: Normally when someone attacks you with melee or range you make Speed Defense roll. (Poison would be Might Defense and psychic attacks would be Intellect defense.) Applying Effort for Speed Defense will make you more likely to dodge the attack but wearing armor makes it harder to dodge. Shield counts as Asset for Speed Defense but does not give you Armor. There is no speed cost for shield. (Unless you gain armor for shield somewhere else like Defends the Weak foci ability Warding Shield giving you 1 armor if you wear a shield.) Page 202 it reads if you are not practiced in armor the speed cost is +1 for all armor. This means normally light/medium/heavy armor speed cost for applying effort for speed tasks is raised by 2/3/4 for each effort used on speed task. If you gain practiced with armor the speed cost of armor is reduced to 1/2/3 Now... Warrior taking Practiced in Armor should grant both practiced in armor and lowering the speed cost by 1? This is not clearly written in the ruling page 171 and is up to interpretation. It would make sense you also gain practiced in armor as the name implies and lowers the cost of wearing armor. Now following the rules: Taking Practiced in armor would now lowers the speed cost of armor to 0/1/2. You can now become trained in armor lowering the speed cost to 0/0/1 Later you can become specialized in armor lowering the speed csot to 0/0/0 from 2/3/4 So, you can lower the speed cost of heavy armor to 0 by becoming specialized in armor and having some ability to lower the speed cost by 1. Also funny to note is that if Speaker wants to become practiced with armor he has to buy it using XP and at most can reach 0/0/1 speed cost unless he can lower the speed cost for armor some other way. So progression of speed cost for armor Light/Medium/heavy 2/3/4 Not Practiced in armor 1/2/3 Practiced in armor 0/1/2 Trained in Armor 0/0/1 Specialized in Armor 0/0/0 Lowering the speed cost of wearing armor at any point.
Fate Core is the best system. But I'm not writing about Fate Core now. I'm writing about Mindjammer, the version that is based on Fate Core, that is a SF game. But in that SF game you can play whatever you like. And if the thing isn't there you can use the Fate Core rules to make it there. So it's a kind of SF game that is a kind of universal game. The rule book is big.
I found an wierd opennes in shadowrun 5th edytion. i know it has an setting BUT! consider this dear reader: pretty open magic system with keywords like "control " or Boost where the power of the spell gives opportunity for better effects, not directly more dmg. costom spells are very easy to make, especialy where there is an universal metric for power witch is 50 USD for reagent. want to know if your wizzard can stand a chance to an cyborg? his power 10 fireball is about 500 USD gun in the setting ( they have own flavor ofc but i never seen this type of stuff in anything other then generic RPGs) sience fiction galore. you have cyberware, VR matrix, hacking, custom robots and vehickels and drones and they got unique system where their sensors and AI play a role, so it is not an character in desgise. whatever you want it propobly has it. whole system is pool-based where you take your atribute and ability score and roll that many dice, to se how many hits you get. From what i found this kind of 2 numbers together and wierd fun pools insted of target number is often used in generic rpgs. there is a system for social relation where power of your ally and how mutch they like you affect what they can and want to do for you. Great way for charisma players becase it gamifies NPCs. " my friend is an mechanic.. he is rating 4 out of 10 so pretty avarage skillset.. i saved his wife once, he likes me at 8 out of 10. very close friends. say if i call him..he would repair my car if i asked nicely? " then GMS who wants the car broken for plot says " roll vs relationship to see if he will give you an favor becase he is very busy". I love that becase it makes GM fiat less burdersome, and gives incentive to make friends and contacs beside story. character have advanteges and disadvanteges gurps style. generic "addyction" or "metal illnes" or " i have an enemy in high places" or even " i never went to school" every sesion can be an self concluded "job" where you have an setup, ifo gathering and resulution. very formulaic and it can be good and bad for some people but it lets you explore. you can set up an home base where you can buy modules to upgrade it skyrim style, and even run an magical lab or armory to upgrade your gear..on witch... guns have call of duty moden warfare level of customization XD " this MSG wil have an infrered, scope, counterwieght to recoil, exra deep mag, retracteble stock and a laser sight, and i load it with exploding bullets. oh BTW my mage enchated it for extra accuracy so now all my 3 fiering modes are better! and cybernetics are the same way. every classical race (even centaurs and cyclopses) are represented with tools to make your own. same with critters and monsters. most described genericly. minuses: not mutch for everyday life. you play as high lvl adventurerer with dangerus job. no d and d tavern runing without heavy mods. no faction/kingdom maker/gameplay as in pathfinder or ORE. pretty crunchy. not as bad as gurps but pretty close. and if you want to modify gear it can take HOUERS art is very shitty. some lore is wierd too like private ambulance is called "DOC WAGON" but if you just take the ruleset it is not a problem. TLDR: shadowrun is great generic TTRPG if you skip the lore chapters
That's an interesting observation. I have Shadowrun 6th world. It's a bit wonky but works for what it is, you still have dice pools. My understanding it nerfed folks like adepts to being not as useful. I might have to revisit 5th edition Shadowrun.
@@Azerod thank you for anwser and sorry for my english :-) the only thing i miss is good economy/ buissnes simulation in 5e. but those can be ripped from gurps, since both system have price for an burger you can make an conversion i hope haha
I really like Cortex, in principle, but it's not a game or a system, it's a toolkit. You cannot take that book and runs game with it, you basically have to decide on all the rules first. The only rule you get is add 2 dice and how PP work. Everything else is up to you. At which point, I could basically be writing my own game.
Well there are three settings you can just take and run, which is usually two more than you get in a book. I personally like the Thunderbirds style of campaign. But it's probably the best tool kit to make a game how you want to run it.
Now that I have watched the entire video… you know what I really look for in a RPG? Great art - not! Yes, pretty art in rulebooks is nice, but it does nothing to enhance gameplay in any way, shape, or form… Also, you know which system does EVERYTHING you have listed as strengths for each of the games you review? You know what it is. Say it with me: GURPS! To cover your apparent fetish: great art? Yes. . Play in any setting? Yes. . Only need a core book to play? Yes. . Supplemental material to really flesh out each genre? Yes. . Custom dice? No. But a standard resolution system which uses 3d6 for almost everything, and a bell curve for difficulty. . Rules system that can be as simple, or complex, as you want? Yes. . Rules for using miniatures? Yes. What about turn length? In GURPS, each turn last one second. So you really get into the nitty gritty when you take a turn. Want to cast a spell? Take a ready action. Depending on how complex the spell is, you might need to concentrate for a few turns, before the spell is cast. Want to use a crossbow? Use one turn to fire it. Then use the next turn to reload (or wait sixty turns(!) for the winder to wind it back for you, if you have insufficient strength to reload yourself). In a sword fight? If your weapon is balanced, such as a sword, you can attack every turn, doing cutting damage. If your weapon is not balanced, such as an axe, attack one turn, then ready the weapon to strike again in your next turn, as you regain both balance and weapon readiness, before being able to attack again in the following turn. One thing you did not mention on any of the reviewed systems was “realism”. Yes, I know this is hard to quantify in systems where we have magic, psionics, supers, etc, but are items weights, costs of goods, etc, realistic? Is a character’s ability to lift things commensurate with their strength? Does the damage system make sense? For instance, is a character’s “Health/ Damage Points/ whatever” a true reflection of how much damage they can take? If a character falls one hundred feet, are they likely to die, barring some divine intervention? If you get in a gunfight, and are shot through the heart, is your character dead, or will they hang on, somehow, because of their incredible stock of HP? Because GURPS is ultra-realistic in its combat. A truly exceptional character might have as much as 20 hit points, regardless of how advanced they are. If someone ambushes them, and shoots them in the head. They will die. If the characters are duelling with swords, each successful strike can cripple a character. Characters fatigue over the course of a combat. Of course, if you don’t like this system, you can change it for more cinematic combat, or even carrion effects, if you wish. But the core system is about as real as you can get, in a game. Also, due to the way the game is designed, you can take supplemental material from other systems, and incorporate them into GURPS. Settings, characters, adventures, whatever. This is because GURPS was designed to emulate realism the real world in its rules. So, if you can imagine it, you can do it in GURPS. I don’t know why you dislike GURPS, but you should really give it another chance. It is, hands down, the best universal role playing system out there.
I like GURPs, ALOT. I used to own (before a tragic fire) almost everything that hand been published from the late 80's until the turn of the century, but it is definitely NOT "hands down the best". It may be your preference, but I personally like HERO Systems better. I would personally always chose HERO systems over GURPs anytime I was trying to choose a system that is robust enough to make any character you can imagine. When it came time to rebuy books I choose HERO.
@@Krashwire fair enough. I tend to err towards more “realism” in my games, and GURPS does this very well for non-powered, lower-level Magic stuff (so espionage, space, swashbuckling, low-level fantasy, C’thulhu investigators, etc. But as power levels creep up, to “Super” levels, or extremely powerful magic, then, yes, I agree the HERO system is better. At the end of the day, both systems are extremely robust, and you can do either setting in each system, but one system is better for the other setting. All IMHO, of course. Cheers,
Genesys: I played it multiple times and was exited in the start. It took some time to get used to the dices and analyzing them, so you have to play it for some while to get it running smoothly. In theory it sounds great, but the idea about having different types of dice, colors and symbols is just bad. I don’t like that you have to make a hard break in your storytelling to analyze and resolve the dice. I became annoyed over time and really didn’t wanted to roll but just play the game. Fate: Too little crunch for me. It’s basically just a +2 game. First time I’ve read the core book I didn’t understand the concept and neither did the players. I actually thing it’s better to buy a game based on Fate than buying the core book. I don’t like it. Savage Worlds: I’ve never played the new version, but the older ones had some problems. It’s actually not a bad system. Cypher System: I love it, but it’s more crunchy than one would expect. Cortex Prime: Just got the book yesterday so haven’t played it. It definitely looks promising.
I can sympathize with your opinions. My two top games at the moment are Cortex Prime and Prowlers and Paragons. Cortex has more tools coming out, apps, websites etc. The people that do DnD Beyond are now the owners of Cortex. Also they have some licensed settings coming out. Cortex is one of those things where you have to understand you have options to run the game you want.
The best thing about Fate is it’s free online. So you can try it out. It is easier to understand if you start with a game that uses the Fate system instead of just the rules. It helps to frame the mechanics. Once you “get” them though, it is fantastic. About the only thing I wouldn’t say Fate is good for is gritty horror games or super simulationist games.
Considering I have seen kids handle GURPS just fine, not sure what to make of all these "oh noes it's so hard" kinds of comments from adults... GURPS is "tough"? Or Crayola simple and easy. It is what you make of it! 🤣
We tried porting over Superman from DC Heroes at the time, it had a hard time handling high end heroes like that. This was the 80s though when Gurps supers had just come out.
@@Azerod Yeah, I do think that the only thing that GURPS can really struggle with is having rules heavy heros. I think you can still make it work if you use the lite version, but once you start going more rules heavy then it can become a bit clunky
Cortex Prime: The book is a reference and a tool, but regarding teaching you the game it's crap. It actually looks a lot more complex than it's really is. A little bit crunchy in the beginning, but you can make it as light or crunchy as you like. I kind of like it. You can do a lot of things with Plot Points, almost too much and overwhelming. But 90% of the things you're doing is pretty easy.
I 100% agree about teaching the system, it does a bad job. It's like GURPS, it throws a ton of options and levers to you but more or less let's you alone when it comes how to how to actually choose which ones to take to realize what you seek.
I'll admit it was tough for me to get used and at first seemed like a cash grab for purchasing dice, but I ended up getting used to them and actually liking it.
I have played and used every single game you have shown, I hate them all, especially Cortex system & Fate. I hate story based games, 😡 went back to GURPS 👍and I have HERO system, really complex for my liking.
Some people really enjoy that type of game, that's why it's great to have a variety of choice, I was never big on the complex math point buy systems, so I was happy when more cinematic systems came along. If you enjoy GURPS and HERO, you should really take a look at Mekton, that had the most complex point buy system out there, you really needed a calculator.. but the benefit was you could build any Mecha from any series in it.
@@Leverquin I'm thinking of doing some classic game reviews. Starting with VnV. My crew and I played GURPS back in the day. (Supertemps setting was a favorite as well as BIOTECH) so I'll put it on the list.
I own a couple of the books and have done some read throughs, and I am upfront about that. Saying that I've liked what I've seen, should I say I didn't like it? I do reviews of playthroughs also on systems, if I end up finding anyone that want's to play Cypher I'll do a review of the playability. Fair?
@@Azerod I didn't mean to come off as some kind of turd. I should have added more. I would have just not put it in the list and maybe added it as a special mention. However, this a free world and you can do whatever you please. Do you play online at all?
Lol, the FFG Star Wars products were garbage. They had conflicting rules, missing rules and no internal resemblance to anything in the movies they are based off of. For instance when you need ship weapons to be able to hurt the Hutt Crimelord in EotE or the Acklay like the one Obi Wan fought in the arena your game is garbage. And when Missile Tubes or the E-Web Canon can't even scratch anything above a landspeeder etc it's garbage.
Interesting you bring this up. I'm currently running a FFG star wars game. (the books are beautiful). My players are having a hard time grasping the dice mechanics, we are switching over to run the campaign in Cortex Prime.
@@Azerod Sounds like a worthy plan. There's a lot of work to be done but I think it will be worth it in the long run. What era are you planning on playing in?
I absolutely adore Genesys, it's one of my favorite systems of all time but it really shines the most with a group that's in a juicy, creative mindset. If you don't have people that are either accustomed to or engaged enough to create narrative flow it can fall flat when a player rolls 4 advantages and doesn't know what to do with them.
I really feel that some of the older universal RPGs have great strengths and should be considered next to these newer rules systems. Hero System, GURPS, Basic Role Playing, even CORPS and Active Exploits have strengths for players and GMs who want options around class-free, level-free point-buy cross-genre gaming.
Cypher is my fave... you don't need to buy special dice, easy to GM. Players are linked together in many ways during creation, promotes pure co-op, even the GM role is supportive to players. Plays more theater of the mind. The Cards are worth getting. Keep in mind the characters are more effective from the start and "leveling" spread between players is less consequential than other systems. The pools do replenish easily and represent fatigue a lot more. GM has more fun as intrusions (with cards) can prompt greater GM'ing improv skills that you can use with other RPG's.
See, I’m the opposite. It seems so…boring? We tried Numenera and, aside from the world, the game itself was so boring with so few choices for characters. Adding in things like cards for the GM to play is just as bad as proprietary dice.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you like it and it works for your group. My group has always preferred either more free form games with lots of options, or more mechanical games where you can really sink into it and master the mechanics (depending on mood)
Cypher seems like a really good system to introduce people to the idea of an RPG, then move on to more in depth games.
GURPS is still around and pretty good. Open D6 is by far the best open rules around. And finally I hate games with special dice!
I did also, but then I changed.
I cut my teeth on GURPS, but I'm just looking for a universal system that's a bit less imposing and intimidating. I may still stick with GURPS because it's hard to get access to so many different supplements, but I'm keeping my options open as I investigate.
@@flashfloodninja part of GURPS is only using the rules that work for you. Its a toolkit.
Only thing you absolutely have to use in GURPS is effective skill
Yeah it's weird to talk about GURPS as convoluted or less modern and listing Genesys.
GURPS always seemed clunky to me, which is odd because I like Hero System which uses similar mechanics. Still, I think both systems could be improved by changing the 3D6 roll mechanic to a 2D10 roll. The big thing that does is flatten the steep hump in the mid range of rolling.
great reviews. While really adore Genesys, I also can't argue with your assessment. It's nice to see really fair reviews. Keep up the good work!
I’m really hoping they come out with more expansions for genesys. I love their dive mechanic.
@@Azerod You should pick up Terrinoth - it's a great setting and addresses the point you were making. There is also a pretty decent "maker" group creating free settings or settings on Drive Thru RPG. Also, keep your eyes open for the Twilight Imperium setting.
Everything you told us about Cortex prime applies to every universal system including GURPS. What exactly makes this better? What dice system does it use? How crunchy is it? How is the layout? How much support does it have? Is movement hex based or square based or is it ToTM only? Point buy or class? Tell us SOMETHING.
It's much less crunchy and much more "cinematic' than say GURPS or Hero System (champions). It's much easier to say 'take out an Ultron bot' using science rolls in Cortex than GURPS. Most Universal systems don't have a rule set for including your motivations in your rolls. It uses traditional RPG dice, maybe I'll do an in depth look at the rules.
CORTEX has powered several different games, each with variations that reflect the intended feel of the setting. CORTEX Prime collects those variations into a toolkit that you can use to construct the game of your dreams. At it's heart CORTEX characters are made up of Traits, or groups of Traits called Trait Sets. Traits are things like Attributes, Skills, Powers, etc. In a D&D CORTEX game Strength would be a Trait, while Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution,, and Charisma would constitute a Trait Set. MARVEL Heroic uses 4 or 5 different Trait Sets. Individual Traits are rated in die sizes from an untrained d4, to a grandmaster d12. Describe what your character is going to do, pick a die from each Trait Set that represents them doing that, and roll them all at once. Total the 2 highest rolling dice, and take note of the largest remaining die that didn't come up a 1. The 2 dice represent your effort, while the other die represents your effect. Your opposition does the same, highest total gets to impose their effect. Beyond that the scene itself has Traits that anyone can utilize, and players can make use of Plot Points (think FATE Points, or Bennies) to aid their characters. CORTEX uses Stress Tracks instead of Hit Points. MARVEL Heroic uses 3 different Stress Tracks (Physical, Mental, and Emotional). Stress Tracks are rated by die size. If you've imposed a d6 effect on someone, their Stress is d6. If you impose a further d4, d6, or d8 on them their Stress increases to d8, otherwise (d10, or d12) their Stress increases to effect die type. If you can impose more Stress on them than they have Stress Capacity that character is Stressed Out (you decide what form that takes). Generally PC's will have a d12 Stress Capacity in MARVEL Heroic.
So that's it, roll your die pool, total the 2 highest rolling dice, highest total wins.
@@williamking7941 Thank you.
The replies told me more than the video
You missed HERO System from Hero Games. It bills itself as a "toolkit" system that allows you to make any kind of game you can imagine.
I mention them briefly, but I was focusing on more modern games. I played champions back in the day and had the hero rules with the george Perez cover.
I love me some HERO.
@@Azerod The game is still around and in its 6th edition (which came out in 2009 IIRC). New material, some community generated, is being put out fairly regularly; but the system definitely has a small but very loyal following. It would be nice to see that community grow.
I know this video is a few years old, but I got recommended it out of nowhere (well, not NOWHERE, I watch a lot of TTRPG videos) and I was interested to see your list. Turns out, our lists of the best generic systems are almost identical! I do agree that Genesys and Cypher are on the lower end, primarily because of proprietary dice (which makes it really hard to play the game when they're out of print) and somewhat overly complicated rules, respectively. That said, I do love Cypher's character creation system of "I am an X Y who Zs". Fate and Savage Worlds are my overall favorites; I love narrative systems so Fate is just about perfect for me, and I think Savage Worlds is the perfect balance point between a lot of crunch and a lot of narrative.
But then Cortex Prime is so incredibly interesting; i've never played it _yet,_ but as someone who loves generic systems as a sort of toybox ("I'll pull out this, that, and these other toys and see what I can do with them today, and perhaps tomorrow I'll pull out entirely different toys and have a different play session"), Cortex Prime is that in _spades._ Cortex Prime feels more like it's a step by step guide to create your own TTRPG, because so many of its little modular bits are just so unique and cool. I still to this day love the concept that Marvel used Cortex Prime for, where every hero has a ranking based on how well they work solo, as a duo, or in a team. It evokes such a simple concept in supers comics; some supers are total loners, some join every team they see, and some just need their iconic buddy with them on the job. Cortex Prime gives you so many other cool ways to rank your characters' abilities, like based on your bonds with other people. It's definitely the system I'm most interested in trying once I get the time to sit down and really delve into it.
Cortex is one of my favorite systems of all time. Give you that cinematic feel. Smallville was a master class in someone who understood screen writing and put into an RPG book. It's a lot to wrap your head around, but once you do, holy cow.
Watch one cat video and over the next year you'll get cat video recommendations even if you tell it to not recommend them.
No mention of the Champions/Hero system?
Briefly, I wanted to focus on more modern takes. Played Champions in the 80s.
I like the super simplicity of GORE/Basic Role Playing. Then again it was the game engine for systems such as Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and Super World. From this list I only have Savage Worlds, which is pretty good, and have tried Genesys via the Edge of the Empire game. I feel that system, to really see what it is capable of, you need to have a group that "gets it".
It is a major misconception that Genesys is from the Star Wars system by fantasy flight. It is not. It is based off of the warhammer fantasy roleplay game from fantasy flight.
Thank you! I never knew that!!
Not true. Sam Geregor-Stuart confirmed that Genesys was inspired by the Fallout hack of Edge of the Empire by Phil Maiewski.
When I wanted to introduce my son to RPGs, I wanted a universal game that I could use for whatever appealed to him, such as Transformers, Star Wars, or something else. That's how I came across Fate. It took me a little while to wrap my head around it because I was so used to having systems where I would look up weapon and armour stats, manoeuvres, etc. But now I really love it, and Fate Accelerated (FAE) is hands-down THE best RPG for supers, in my opinion. Some will prefer a more rules-heavy approach, but if you are just looking to replicate the feel and action of comics, FAE is amazing.
I find I am leaning more and more into more narrative games, however, so I also enjoy games like Risus and Freeform Universal. I would love to see them get more love from the general public. When I do get the occasional nostalgia-fueled urge for a D&D-type game, Elemental is a good choice and that's another system that I think people should check out. They regularly release free stuff and more than many other publishers, they just seem to really be in love with gaming.
I am all about cinematic systems. Love them.
Good news for you! If you’re still looking for a Transformers RPG, Hasbro is gonna release one in March 2022. It’s one of three systems they’re releasing then; Transformers, Power Rangers, and GI Joe. I’m looking forward to the first two, so I figured I’d spread the word.
@@sethmokami that could be interesting. Even if I never use them, I enjoy reading RPG books.
@@jcraigwilliams70 I'm the same way, I enjoy reading RPG books. It sparks the creative side of my brain and I start telling my own stories in my mind.
The healing rules in Fate were what made me less interested in it. Good for some game types, but not others.
I've run several character creation sessions, and character creation goes really well and easily using the descriptive sentence. What's really key is to get that book, and then pick your genre, and pick up the "white book" for the Genre (They ave Horror, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Super Heroes, Post Apocalyptic, and Fairy Tales) and it helps you pick what to extract out of the book, and adds even more. I'm really fond of it. They are constantly release new "genre books" to help people build out their worlds.
I really like the Cypher System and have been using it a lot. I've found it to be very DM friendly and story focused; with Creature cards in hand I can go through a session without having to crack open a book. The only thing it doesn't do (out of the box) is gritty, low-power games. If I want to run Horror I reach for CoC before Cypher. Thanks for the video; great overview.
Cypher 2e is impressive. Every universal RPG will require some work on the part of the GM to create a custom setting. The biggest advantage Cypher has is the sheer amount of flavorful content it provides in the core book to create what you want. So much that you could go through it like a menu and mash up something out of the blue and it would be interesting. The less work I have to do, creating essential facets such as special abilities, the happier I am. Cypher hits a sweet spot in that regard since it has such a massive and wide range of pre-made options which provide such flavoring. Just pick and choose. The rest of the work would mostly be any simple narrative adjustment required, not mechanical.
While numerous universal systems do this, they often either take more GM work to customize or don't provide enough variety in their mechanically-related options to make it easier. My biggest concern is how it would run as a less heroic, more gritty system, as you implied regarding your use of CoC for such. Although Cypher does look to be somewhat easily hackable due to it's simpler mechanics.
Cortex prime has kind of caught my interest, but I'm not exactly sure how damage works in that game. I thought they were making a dnd beyond equivalent, but I haven't heard a thing about that.
The DnD beyond is definitely in the works as well as a Roll20 style of site. (I've been on the site). They are busy with getting the Dragon prince game out. Damage can work in different ways, the way I prefer is stress tracks. Lets say I hit someone, I roll my dice pool and lets say I have a D8 for an effect die. That enemy now has a D8 stress, when I attack him next I can add a D8 to my dice pool. I hit him again and lets say my effect die is a D6, his stress get's bumped up to the next level, a D10. After D12 he is knocked out.
I have never heard of cortex prime. I have heard of all the other systems. I do still like Gurps.
What are your thoughts on Stars Without Numbers?
Haven't played that one yet.
It's a D&D Retro clone. I think that it's one of the best Sci-Fi systems and the author is just brilliant.
I'm currently designing a fallout campaign in GURPS for me group and so far GURPS 4e as been a fairly easy read :P just bought me a copy of Fudge 10th anniversary I'm more interested in that than fate tbh.
Huge fan of Cortex Prime, as for the universal rules go, it is still perhaps one of the "newer" games in the list. I am hoping it catches on more, because I am usually a GM, but Cortex is one of the few TTRPG I absolutely love as a player. And, being how new it is, it is hard finding a game.
I’ve been running a game with my friends in cortex and let me just say it has been a blast. One of my players used to GM the campaign we’re running, and also introduced us to the setting which is based on a video game. He ran it in dnd and Hunter: The Vigil but those never really fit the vibe of what we wanted nor did the mechanics benefit the setting, so after a break, I found Cortex and made a system embracing the setting and it’s been magic. I hope cortex gets a bigger fanbase because it is super modular and fun to play. Only gripe is that learning how to throw things together can be a bit daunting and confusing. Especially for the GM.
You didn't add the big two, GURPS and Hero System.
I was going for more modern ones. Played both back in the day.
I was hoping to hear open legend, gurps 4E, savage worlds and pathfinder 2e compared to each other
I've never heard of open legend. Played Gurps back in the 80's didn't go over that well. I will be doing a video on Savage worlds and Savage pathfinder soon.
@@Azerod Theres a new edition. I hear the reason people dont like Gurps is because they think they need to play with every rule and almost every rule is actually intended to be optional
@@VoteJesusNow There is a guy who does a whole series on youtube about being a Gurps Gm. He goes into that.
My favorite so far is Dreamchaser. A really lightweight system so you can focus on the story and it is easy to play with others who aren't big into roleplaying.
I'll have to check it out. I"m currently obsessed with Tiny D6.
Wouldn't Rifts be considered a Universal system? Wasn't it really the first popular RPG to do that?
Palladium could be considered universal, but I don't think it ever released just a core rule book with all the options.
We’d love for you to check out and review Alloyed RPG!
I'll check it out. Been filming a movie, so I've got a backlog of games to review!
But I like what I see so far.
@ - best to you on the film!
Fate is probably my current favourite because I've played and run a log of it. But, more recently I've started getting into Cypher System and I'm really enjoying the rules system and it's potential. The biggest benefit Cypher has over Fate is that the rulebook is really well presented. Fate is great once you know how to run/play it but the rulebook is horrible at teaching you how to play the game and most of the setting books that I've seen aren't any better. It's not a great game to bring new players in. Cypher wins hands down in that department.
Cortex is also solid, but also suffers a bit of the same problem that Fate does in being more of a toolset book and less of a good teacher, though still way better at it then Fate. The other are I find Cortex bungles up a bit is in campaign play. Love it for one shots or shorter term play, just don't think it scales well for long term play.
Another plus I'm enjoying about Cypher is that it can deal with simple traditional kill and collect game play it handles loot just fine. Fate and Cortex don't really work as well within that kind of traditional Dungeon Crawl space. They abstract that portion of the game, which I've found has turned off a lot of players that want that type of game. Universal isn't so universal when it comes to play and not just setting.
You missed of course GURPS, the HERO System (my favorite),Big Eyes Small Mouth (my second favorite), TWIRPS, Fusion Labs (Interlock system plus HERO System).
Surprised to not see BRP
Well there is
Fudge (the root game where Fate came from)
Fuzion
SilCore (Silhouette core)
Basic Roleplaying (BRP)
True20
BESM
D6 system
Mythic D6
Aria
Action system
That's some, btw the last version of Gurps 4th edition is from 2008-ish
Sounds like you were playing 3rd edition,
I had tristat and BESM, also Fuzion (great idea, bad implementation). 1st and 2nd edition for gurps.
@@Azerod
I like Fusion its a solid little system, does modern and sci fi well, not so great at fantasy, then again Artiesia did a great version of it and that was Fantasy,
BESM get second edition, first is too primitive, Third is a mess, there is a new version, but not read it, Tristat isn't bad,
Gurps, I don't really like 4th, I think a heavily modified 3rd would be better,
Never seen first or second ed, that must be the 80's stuff,
Nice summary review, Azerod! Anyone ever tell you your voice sounds like Jon Favreau? 😏
@@rodneywk1 that’s a first for me!
Hero System is my favorite universal game. On par is R Talsorian Games interlock/fuzion.
Though Fuzion requires more work for a gm in creating a world.
In fact, I almost always prefer using these systems over a worlds game mechanic.
I wanted to love Fuzion so bad when it came out. The art was fantastic for the day, and it made sense. Unfortunately it was incomplete to make some characters.
@@Azerod It is a great system. I believe the incomplete nature is by design. It is meant as a core mechanic and you plug in or create campaign specific powers and equipment.
@@Azerod some of the best games I have seen, since it's release, used Fuzion.
Sengoku and The Witcher Rpg both use it. As does Lightspeed. I haven't played, but they have a large presence on Drivthrurpg.
@@michaelconnor1542 You schooled me, I never knew that the system went beyond Champions. I knew it was R. Talsorian trying their hand at a universal system.
@@Azerod The Witcher is a beautiful and fantastic game. It is a system that is very easy to pick up.
There are a lot of optional rules for Alchemy, tinkering, smithing, and armor/weapon degradation that actually work.
Also the classes are fairly well balanced. Even the Witcher class/race.
On your recommendation I am going to give Cortex Prime a try.
If it really comes to an universal system which is intuitive and very very very easy to use, you have forgotten Open D6 and especially its Mini Six iteration.
I've never played that system, but just recently heard of it.
@@Azerod give Mini Six Bare Bones Edition a quick read, it's only around 35 pages and free on drivethru.
How did you forget Powered by the Apocalypse?
I had never owned any PBTA, but since producing that video I now own: City of Mists, Urban Shadows, Masks, Blades in the Dark, Scum and villainy. I have yet to find any real "universal system" book where you can really make your own. All the books seems tied to a particular setting and mechanics. Perhaps I'm missing it though if you could point me in the right direction. I've spoke with creators of COM and they are working on something.
I saw the Savage world wasn't going to be the number one and started to get grumpy. But Cortex is worthy of being above it I think.
Savage worlds saved RIFTS and for that I love them.
Weird how they don't mention the "first" version of cortex (serenity) in the credits hu?
@@Tony-dh7mz I have that version, I don’t know if was a licensing thing.
@@Azerod
licensing thing? they have Firefly listed...
@@Tony-dh7mz firefly was licensed from the tv show, serenity from the movie. Two weird licensing agreements I believe.
MARVEL Heroic Roleplaying was my introduction to CORTEX, and I agree that it's an excellent system. My first choice among Universal systems however is Tri-Stat, the engine that powers BESM.
I've owned TriStat and BESM, both great systems. Silver Age Sentinels and the Authority were great supplements.
Nice job. Enjoyed the video. Thoughts on how Fate and Cortex Prime compare in terms of game experience, aside from the dice mechanics?
Fate I've found is more good for one shots and shorter campaigns due to character experience and growth limitations. Cortex can handle it all.
Cypher System is interesting in my opinion.
I'm not 100% sure about these rules but please tell me if I'm mistaken the rules about Armor:
Normally when someone attacks you with melee or range you make Speed Defense roll.
(Poison would be Might Defense and psychic attacks would be Intellect defense.)
Applying Effort for Speed Defense will make you more likely to dodge the attack but wearing armor makes it harder to dodge.
Shield counts as Asset for Speed Defense but does not give you Armor. There is no speed cost for shield.
(Unless you gain armor for shield somewhere else like Defends the Weak foci ability Warding Shield giving you 1 armor if you wear a shield.)
Page 202 it reads if you are not practiced in armor the speed cost is +1 for all armor.
This means normally light/medium/heavy armor speed cost for applying effort for speed tasks is raised by 2/3/4 for each effort used on speed task.
If you gain practiced with armor the speed cost of armor is reduced to 1/2/3
Now... Warrior taking Practiced in Armor should grant both practiced in armor and lowering the speed cost by 1?
This is not clearly written in the ruling page 171 and is up to interpretation.
It would make sense you also gain practiced in armor as the name implies and lowers the cost of wearing armor.
Now following the rules:
Taking Practiced in armor would now lowers the speed cost of armor to 0/1/2.
You can now become trained in armor lowering the speed cost to 0/0/1
Later you can become specialized in armor lowering the speed csot to 0/0/0 from 2/3/4
So, you can lower the speed cost of heavy armor to 0 by becoming specialized in armor and having some ability to lower the speed cost by 1.
Also funny to note is that if Speaker wants to become practiced with armor he has to buy it using XP and at most can reach 0/0/1 speed cost unless he can lower the speed cost for armor some other way.
So progression of speed cost for armor
Light/Medium/heavy
2/3/4 Not Practiced in armor
1/2/3 Practiced in armor
0/1/2 Trained in Armor
0/0/1 Specialized in Armor
0/0/0 Lowering the speed cost of wearing armor at any point.
Fate Core is the best system. But I'm not writing about Fate Core now. I'm writing about Mindjammer, the version that is based on Fate Core, that is a SF game. But in that SF game you can play whatever you like. And if the thing isn't there you can use the Fate Core rules to make it there. So it's a kind of SF game that is a kind of universal game. The rule book is big.
HERO Systems is pretty robust and very flexible as well.
I played in many Hero system / Champions games in my day! Wasn't my favorite, but I didn't hate it.
I'm still a GURPS guy but I think I may check out Coretex Prime.
BRP, well thats that question answered.
Good content, thanks!
I found an wierd opennes in shadowrun 5th edytion. i know it has an setting BUT! consider this dear reader:
pretty open magic system with keywords like "control " or Boost where the power of the spell gives opportunity for better effects, not directly more dmg. costom spells are very easy to make, especialy where there is an universal metric for power witch is 50 USD for reagent. want to know if your wizzard can stand a chance to an cyborg? his power 10 fireball is about 500 USD gun in the setting ( they have own flavor ofc but i never seen this type of stuff in anything other then generic RPGs)
sience fiction galore. you have cyberware, VR matrix, hacking, custom robots and vehickels and drones and they got unique system where their sensors and AI play a role, so it is not an character in desgise. whatever you want it propobly has it.
whole system is pool-based where you take your atribute and ability score and roll that many dice, to se how many hits you get. From what i found this kind of 2 numbers together and wierd fun pools insted of target number is often used in generic rpgs.
there is a system for social relation where power of your ally and how mutch they like you affect what they can and want to do for you. Great way for charisma players becase it gamifies NPCs. " my friend is an mechanic.. he is rating 4 out of 10 so pretty avarage skillset.. i saved his wife once, he likes me at 8 out of 10. very close friends. say if i call him..he would repair my car if i asked nicely? " then GMS who wants the car broken for plot says " roll vs relationship to see if he will give you an favor becase he is very busy". I love that becase it makes GM fiat less burdersome, and gives incentive to make friends and contacs beside story.
character have advanteges and disadvanteges gurps style. generic "addyction" or "metal illnes" or " i have an enemy in high places" or even " i never went to school"
every sesion can be an self concluded "job" where you have an setup, ifo gathering and resulution. very formulaic and it can be good and bad for some people but it lets you explore.
you can set up an home base where you can buy modules to upgrade it skyrim style, and even run an magical lab or armory to upgrade your gear..on witch...
guns have call of duty moden warfare level of customization XD " this MSG wil have an infrered, scope, counterwieght to recoil, exra deep mag, retracteble stock and a laser sight, and i load it with exploding bullets. oh BTW my mage enchated it for extra accuracy so now all my 3 fiering modes are better! and cybernetics are the same way.
every classical race (even centaurs and cyclopses) are represented with tools to make your own.
same with critters and monsters. most described genericly.
minuses:
not mutch for everyday life. you play as high lvl adventurerer with dangerus job. no d and d tavern runing without heavy mods.
no faction/kingdom maker/gameplay as in pathfinder or ORE.
pretty crunchy. not as bad as gurps but pretty close. and if you want to modify gear it can take HOUERS
art is very shitty. some lore is wierd too like private ambulance is called "DOC WAGON" but if you just take the ruleset it is not a problem.
TLDR:
shadowrun is great generic TTRPG if you skip the lore chapters
That's an interesting observation. I have Shadowrun 6th world. It's a bit wonky but works for what it is, you still have dice pools. My understanding it nerfed folks like adepts to being not as useful. I might have to revisit 5th edition Shadowrun.
@@Azerod thank you for anwser and sorry for my english :-) the only thing i miss is good economy/ buissnes simulation in 5e. but those can be ripped from gurps, since both system have price for an burger you can make an conversion i hope haha
GURPS
Hero System. Best universal RPG rules set out there bar none.
FUZION was by far the best.
The best system is a coin. Narratively something either happens or it doesn’t. The key is only rolling when it would make the story more interesting.
I really like Cortex, in principle, but it's not a game or a system, it's a toolkit. You cannot take that book and runs game with it, you basically have to decide on all the rules first. The only rule you get is add 2 dice and how PP work. Everything else is up to you. At which point, I could basically be writing my own game.
Well there are three settings you can just take and run, which is usually two more than you get in a book. I personally like the Thunderbirds style of campaign. But it's probably the best tool kit to make a game how you want to run it.
@@Azerod i don't think you can compare those to a full setting
Now that I have watched the entire video… you know what I really look for in a RPG? Great art - not! Yes, pretty art in rulebooks is nice, but it does nothing to enhance gameplay in any way, shape, or form…
Also, you know which system does EVERYTHING you have listed as strengths for each of the games you review?
You know what it is. Say it with me:
GURPS!
To cover your apparent fetish: great art? Yes.
. Play in any setting? Yes.
. Only need a core book to play? Yes.
. Supplemental material to really flesh out each genre? Yes.
. Custom dice? No. But a standard resolution system which uses 3d6 for almost everything, and a bell curve for difficulty.
. Rules system that can be as simple, or complex, as you want? Yes.
. Rules for using miniatures? Yes.
What about turn length? In GURPS, each turn last one second. So you really get into the nitty gritty when you take a turn. Want to cast a spell? Take a ready action. Depending on how complex the spell is, you might need to concentrate for a few turns, before the spell is cast. Want to use a crossbow? Use one turn to fire it. Then use the next turn to reload (or wait sixty turns(!) for the winder to wind it back for you, if you have insufficient strength to reload yourself). In a sword fight? If your weapon is balanced, such as a sword, you can attack every turn, doing cutting damage. If your weapon is not balanced, such as an axe, attack one turn, then ready the weapon to strike again in your next turn, as you regain both balance and weapon readiness, before being able to attack again in the following turn.
One thing you did not mention on any of the reviewed systems was “realism”. Yes, I know this is hard to quantify in systems where we have magic, psionics, supers, etc, but are items weights, costs of goods, etc, realistic? Is a character’s ability to lift things commensurate with their strength? Does the damage system make sense? For instance, is a character’s “Health/ Damage Points/ whatever” a true reflection of how much damage they can take? If a character falls one hundred feet, are they likely to die, barring some divine intervention? If you get in a gunfight, and are shot through the heart, is your character dead, or will they hang on, somehow, because of their incredible stock of HP?
Because GURPS is ultra-realistic in its combat. A truly exceptional character might have as much as 20 hit points, regardless of how advanced they are. If someone ambushes them, and shoots them in the head. They will die. If the characters are duelling with swords, each successful strike can cripple a character. Characters fatigue over the course of a combat.
Of course, if you don’t like this system, you can change it for more cinematic combat, or even carrion effects, if you wish.
But the core system is about as real as you can get, in a game.
Also, due to the way the game is designed, you can take supplemental material from other systems, and incorporate them into GURPS. Settings, characters, adventures, whatever. This is because GURPS was designed to emulate realism the real world in its rules. So, if you can imagine it, you can do it in GURPS.
I don’t know why you dislike GURPS, but you should really give it another chance. It is, hands down, the best universal role playing system out there.
I like GURPs, ALOT. I used to own (before a tragic fire) almost everything that hand been published from the late 80's until the turn of the century, but it is definitely NOT "hands down the best". It may be your preference, but I personally like HERO Systems better. I would personally always chose HERO systems over GURPs anytime I was trying to choose a system that is robust enough to make any character you can imagine. When it came time to rebuy books I choose HERO.
@@Krashwire fair enough. I tend to err towards more “realism” in my games, and GURPS does this very well for non-powered, lower-level Magic stuff (so espionage, space, swashbuckling, low-level fantasy, C’thulhu investigators, etc.
But as power levels creep up, to “Super” levels, or extremely powerful magic, then, yes, I agree the HERO system is better.
At the end of the day, both systems are extremely robust, and you can do either setting in each system, but one system is better for the other setting.
All IMHO, of course.
Cheers,
Genesys: I played it multiple times and was exited in the start. It took some time to get used to the dices and analyzing them, so you have to play it for some while to get it running smoothly. In theory it sounds great, but the idea about having different types of dice, colors and symbols is just bad. I don’t like that you have to make a hard break in your storytelling to analyze and resolve the dice. I became annoyed over time and really didn’t wanted to roll but just play the game.
Fate: Too little crunch for me. It’s basically just a +2 game. First time I’ve read the core book I didn’t understand the concept and neither did the players. I actually thing it’s better to buy a game based on Fate than buying the core book. I don’t like it.
Savage Worlds: I’ve never played the new version, but the older ones had some problems. It’s actually not a bad system.
Cypher System: I love it, but it’s more crunchy than one would expect.
Cortex Prime: Just got the book yesterday so haven’t played it. It definitely looks promising.
I can sympathize with your opinions. My two top games at the moment are Cortex Prime and Prowlers and Paragons. Cortex has more tools coming out, apps, websites etc. The people that do DnD Beyond are now the owners of Cortex. Also they have some licensed settings coming out. Cortex is one of those things where you have to understand you have options to run the game you want.
The best thing about Fate is it’s free online. So you can try it out. It is easier to understand if you start with a game that uses the Fate system instead of just the rules. It helps to frame the mechanics. Once you “get” them though, it is fantastic. About the only thing I wouldn’t say Fate is good for is gritty horror games or super simulationist games.
Considering I have seen kids handle GURPS just fine, not sure what to make of all these "oh noes it's so hard" kinds of comments from adults... GURPS is "tough"? Or Crayola simple and easy. It is what you make of it! 🤣
We tried porting over Superman from DC Heroes at the time, it had a hard time handling high end heroes like that. This was the 80s though when Gurps supers had just come out.
@@Azerod Yeah, I do think that the only thing that GURPS can really struggle with is having rules heavy heros. I think you can still make it work if you use the lite version, but once you start going more rules heavy then it can become a bit clunky
Cortex Prime: The book is a reference and a tool, but regarding teaching you the game it's crap. It actually looks a lot more complex than it's really is. A little bit crunchy in the beginning, but you can make it as light or crunchy as you like. I kind of like it.
You can do a lot of things with Plot Points, almost too much and overwhelming. But 90% of the things you're doing is pretty easy.
I 100% agree about teaching the system, it does a bad job. It's like GURPS, it throws a ton of options and levers to you but more or less let's you alone when it comes how to how to actually choose which ones to take to realize what you seek.
Cortex Prime is quite complex.
dice with symbols are them are a HARD PASS for me.
I'll admit it was tough for me to get used and at first seemed like a cash grab for purchasing dice, but I ended up getting used to them and actually liking it.
I have played and used every single game you have shown, I hate them all, especially Cortex system & Fate. I hate story based games, 😡 went back to GURPS 👍and I have HERO system, really complex for my liking.
Some people really enjoy that type of game, that's why it's great to have a variety of choice, I was never big on the complex math point buy systems, so I was happy when more cinematic systems came along. If you enjoy GURPS and HERO, you should really take a look at Mekton, that had the most complex point buy system out there, you really needed a calculator.. but the benefit was you could build any Mecha from any series in it.
GURPS is the best RPG, period. :D
I'm happy you enjoy Gurps.
where the fuck is GURPS?
Still back in the 80s where it belongs. lol. I tried to focus on more modern ones.
@@Azerod oh man GURPS needs love too
@@Leverquin I'm thinking of doing some classic game reviews. Starting with VnV. My crew and I played GURPS back in the day. (Supertemps setting was a favorite as well as BIOTECH) so I'll put it on the list.
@@Azerod what is VnV
@@Leverquin Villains and Vigilantes. That was our bible in High School. Created by Jeff Dee a well known early DnD artist.
TWERPS!
You e never even played cypher, how can you judge it properly?
I own a couple of the books and have done some read throughs, and I am upfront about that. Saying that I've liked what I've seen, should I say I didn't like it? I do reviews of playthroughs also on systems, if I end up finding anyone that want's to play Cypher I'll do a review of the playability. Fair?
@@Azerod I didn't mean to come off as some kind of turd. I should have added more. I would have just not put it in the list and maybe added it as a special mention.
However, this a free world and you can do whatever you please. Do you play online at all?
Lol, the FFG Star Wars products were garbage. They had conflicting rules, missing rules and no internal resemblance to anything in the movies they are based off of. For instance when you need ship weapons to be able to hurt the Hutt Crimelord in EotE or the Acklay like the one Obi Wan fought in the arena your game is garbage. And when Missile Tubes or the E-Web Canon can't even scratch anything above a landspeeder etc it's garbage.
Interesting you bring this up. I'm currently running a FFG star wars game. (the books are beautiful). My players are having a hard time grasping the dice mechanics, we are switching over to run the campaign in Cortex Prime.
@@Azerod Sounds like a worthy plan. There's a lot of work to be done but I think it will be worth it in the long run. What era are you planning on playing in?