If you want simple and good, then OVA is a good choice; Simple rules and easy to get into, and works with just about anything.

If you want what's probably popular, Pathfinder is what i'd say...

If you want something heavily customizable and gets out of the 'classes' issues, then Herosystem or GURPS.

If you want something completely free, there's a D6 system you can download, although it's on PenAndPaperGames.

Hmmm sorry if most of it may not be on rpgdrivethru, but there are plenty of options...

Some Dark Sci-Fi it seems, sounds promising: "post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror" - that dev's description checks off a lot of things I'm looking for, haha. Thanks!

I would like to second that recommendation.
If you just wanna roleplay without worrying about big dice pools, FATE is for you. The mechanics work wonderful. Even creating your character is so much fun!

Ova seems super-versatile, definitely worth a look, as it appears that you can stray from the Anime presentation. Pathfinder I've played a game before, it felt like a DnD-style dungeon crawl (not bad at that).

Cheers for taking the time to suggest all this! And yeah, there are so many intriguing systems out there...

Thanks, without you quoting me I hadn't noticed I had forgotten the word 'rules' in my sentence. :P
I've never tried FATE myself, but I think lowyhang (forum user here, although probably misspelled) was quite positive about it as well. And thanks to the BoH I've got a ton of FATE-based games.

That would be because it's based on the 3.5 ruleset, but much improved by all accounts.

The phases you go through in character creation sound a bit like what I know of Traveller's system in that regard, where building yours is already kinda part of the roleplay. Neat, if so :)


Oh yeah, I've heard that before... maybe I was still expecting something other/more than DnD though. At least Pathfinder seems to not be like current DnD which has this bad reputation of playing like a bland videogame experience.

some well known:

World of Darkness
Pathfinder
Durance



In the forum here, I myself just recently got to know of "Risus", and really like what you can make with it, plus it looks simple

Well, Pathfinder is D&D 3rd edition (D20), except with updated rules since WotC kinda threw it away to go with 4th Edition. Safe to say that didn't do too well. Had 4th been a real computer MMO or had a faster rule set it could have done better for miniature wargames. But I'm not really here to nit-pick at what 4th Edition failed to be, and now what 5th Edition will fail to be. I don't recommend either system, although i've played little of either, what i did play of 4th felt... odd.. and 5th i've seen review basically of what the system is and it feels too simplistic in order to be fast.

Reminds me, there's also [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf:_The_Apocalypse]Werewolf The Apocalypse[/url] 20th Edition. Got to play a little of it, and what i did play was enjoyable, although i didn't have enough personal knowledge or experience in the system or lore, but it looked sufficiently interesting to play that is heavy on role-playing with mechanics to match.

:(

Alongside that, other suggestions include Paranoia, Feng Shui, Unknown Armies and Don't Rest Your Head.

If you don't want to stray too far from BRP but are looking for an alternative to the usual Cthulhu settings, you might consider Delta Green. Basically, it mixes Call of Cthulhu with paranoid UFO conspiracy theories and all sorts of other craziness, and has the players as members of a rogue government agency working against the madness. This simultaneously solves the "why are these characters all doing this?" problem while avoiding the "I call in a nuclear strike on Innsmouth" issue you might otherwise get with government agents. I believe there are BRP and D20 versions currently out there, with a new version with it's own unique rules system due out in the near future.

In recent years, I've also been becoming increasingly fond of "minimalist" RPGs with very simple rulesets that are intended more as a general guide to play than a crunchy mechanics system - for example, stuff like Inspectres (think: Ghostbusters the RPG) or Fiasco (think: Guy Ritchie movie the RPG) or even Lasers And Feelings (a free-to-play sci-fi game which literally has only one stat, but still works surprisingly well for one-shot sessions).

I haven't played Cthulhutech, but I did read through the manual a few years back, and I wasn't very impressed. The theme sounded awesome, but it turned out that the setting takes itself waaaaaay too seriously for my tastes. (I was expecting more of a Pacific Rim kind of thing, but instead it's taking its cues from super-angsty mecha anime about morose pale-skinned teenagers with floppy hair who constantly whine about the responsibilities imposed on them. Which might be a plus if you're into that, but personally I'm not.) Worse still, the dice system just seemed needlessly complicated and was not something I felt like learning.

If you have the right players and you want a new experience or at least a different one and somehow versatile: Fiasco!

Helped me to improve and to embrace improvisation (the best especially a GM needs) and you'll need just one book. (The companion is also quite worth its money)

@OP You mentioned Traveller in one of your posts. How do you like it? I've only played Mongoose Traveller, but it's one of my favourite games. My students loved it too.

I've stopped running Fate Accelerated games. It's too simplistic and not crunchy enough, even for my younger students. My next thought immediately after was to try FATE Core, but changed my mind because I wanted to experiment with more systems. So far, I have played in class:

Traveller (roll 2d6, 8+ for successes)
Covert Ops (d100 lite)
Savage Worlds (d6 Wild Die + Trait die; houseruled quite a bit + paired up with a setting)
Leverage (Cortex, 2d6)
The Mutant Epoch (d100)
Dagger for Kids (very streamlined d20)
Part-Time Gods (d20 + modifiers > 10/20/30/40 target number, varied according to difficulty)

Based on what you've described, I think you may like these:

Covert Ops - uses percentile dice for task resolution, and d10s for damage. It's simple to learn and adaptable to any modern, historical or sci-fi setting, and it can be hacked quite easily. My only issue is that the burst fire rule is too simplistic, but that can be easily houseruled. I ran some amazing games with this system, one a modern detective setting, and another a WW2 one - both homebrewed and drawn up as players progressed.

FATE/FAE - Like what others have recommended, it may be what you're looking for. The GM can make up anything on the fly.

Leverage - I ran a Leverage game here a few years ago but gave up (sorry guys!) because I didn't like the system. Recently, I decided to give it another go with a few of my students. It was great! It uses the Cortex system, and, being a low-prep game, is very simple to run. The game is heavily focused on the narrative, and task resolutions are quick - GM rolls two dice (called "setting the stakes"), player must use his Role + Attribute + Specialties + Assets dice and beat the stakes. It is however quite unusual, in that players must be able to think out of the box. As GM, you must be prepared to offer guidance in a potential situation where players become stuck and don't know what to do next. The most fun I had GMing this game was when players took down the mark at the end, by spending all their plot points to come up with a huge variety of Flashbacks, before the Mastermind declared the master stroke with a Wrap-Up Flashback.

Savage Worlds w/ Interface Zero - Savage Worlds is pretty straightforward. Trait tests are easy to modify on the fly, and typically you just need 2 dice (1 Wild die + 1 Trait die). One of the best games I've ever GMed was Interface Zero, which is of the cyberpunk genre. No elves or dwarves here, but races include androids, simulacrums, cyborgs, humans and transhumans. There are psionics too. With the Savage World system, the game can be as brutal as you want it to be, and still be completable depending on the runners' skill set. My students were able to destroy a Golem Mech (a powerful hulking suit of armour) by hacking into the turrets to take it out, but not before they sustained heavy injuries. We ran the entire adventure in about 5 hours.

Btw, a bit of a digression - Re: games with metagame currency
I'm not a huge fan of metagame currency like Fate points and bennies, but I can also see why they'd be needed in games like Covert Ops where PCs can die in 2 hits. Therefore I like to houserule them a bit, so that they become more like "stamina" points that are given in interludes or after a space of rest. To me, they're there for the PCs as "added drive" to catch their second wind, or to succeed through intense concentration on the task. I also like Savage Worlds' "Bottomless Bennies" houserule, where GMs give bennies to their players if they use some themselves.

I have Corporation amd The Void, but haven't had the time to read either yet.

I played Shadowrun with a D&D group so we were down with the trolls and all...then I played again with my wife and kids, and of course we make it fun. I played Star frontiers back in the day with my brother...we used to play a lot of games. Played Car Wars with my brother and then some of the D&D guys. about three years ago I ran a small Car Wars Arena campaign, where we were just five guys put together randomly in an arena match. Then after the second match, we were approached by someone who needed a trailer moved to another town, so he wanted us all to drive a truck pulling a trailer, none of us would know which trailer had which lab equipment in it, but we were paid X amount, plus a bonus for each trailer and another bonus each of three sets of gear that arrived in their entirety at the new location.

I actually found a spreadsheet online for a vehicle record sheet, and vehicle construction guide. Interesting story, I taught myself a lot of Excel in modifying that spreadsheet to include trailers as I needed them for the campaign and they were left off the sheet. I added a second tab for trailers and had to do a lot of formula and if then else stuff to make it all work. The interesting part is that I had done that about 2 years prior to actually playing this campaign...then when I was unemployed, I was approached by a friend who needed someone with solid Excel skills, so I gave him my resume, and I have been working there 3.5 years.

I did say it was probably misspelled :P
I have a fairly horrible memory so it's amazing I got that close.. or that I remembered you at all.
It's almost a compliment ;)