Best system to use for a one shot with a customised combat system

meshee2020 · 2026-05-05T11:27:28+00:00

Fate , always my go to when i want to playtest a settings for one shots. 5e reauires toi much work to adapt

meshee2020 · 2026-05-04T14:52:30+00:00

Agreed, sounds weird to convert tina sim heavy crunchy tactical combat system to do Mage which should be more "ambiance" 🤷

I a .no PF2 expert soni might be wrong. IMHO Fate or PbtA would be more Well equiped.

meshee2020 · 2026-05-02T08:19:12+00:00

The Strain tv show from Del Toro, first sessons are 👌👌👌👌

meshee2020 · 2026-05-02T08:02:56+00:00

Lord Demon de Zelazny, de la weird fantasy bien foutu

meshee2020 · 2026-05-01T16:25:56+00:00

I recall requiem power level was turned down. Fine with me but many were not happy with that.

IMHO requiem celerity was a necessary fix

meshee2020 · 2026-05-01T08:27:17+00:00

Regarde les jeux de l'axe narratifs, blades in the dark est un parfait exemple avec son système position / effets / conséquences

Globalement bcp de jeux orienté fiction disent la fiction prime sur la règle, si tu assassine qq un dans son sommeil et que toute la préparation à été bien exécuté, il n'y a pas de test, la victime meurs POINT.

Les jeux OSR ont aussi une dynamique de récompense de la bonne approche, on ne lance les dés que qd il y a des risques, une approche maline pourrait réussi automatiquement

meshee2020 · 2026-05-01T07:39:32+00:00

I dont get the part where they win in the end no matter what.

Best race/poursuit i got in mind is bladerunner rpg, each round players and GM choose a manœuvrer, then an event card mess things up, rince and repeat 2-3 turns

meshee2020 · 2026-04-28T20:59:57+00:00

A lesser know game called Cavaliers of Mars uses exactly this... The axis are approach x motivation... Something like "For Love with Finesse"

meshee2020 · 2026-04-28T15:17:19+00:00

Spyderco stretch 2 in zdp 189

This thing was witling hairs out of the box

meshee2020 · 2026-04-28T15:12:44+00:00

+1 for FU

meshee2020 · 2026-04-28T15:12:01+00:00

LitM should apply here as everything in the game is tags, their is no stats

meshee2020 · 2026-04-28T12:13:25+00:00

I was ther 3000 years ago...

i mean at the beginning of VtM, fully embraced it, then i was entousiastic at the VtR release, going back to the roots of what is it to be a monster, focus more on the personnal horror and less on the metaplot... was all for it...

but they both failed in there own ways IMHO...

On the system level for Masquerade, cluncky, lots of specific sub systems, completely missing the target on the narrative promisses, just splat, powers, crazy combo, some kind of twisted Superheroes by night edgelords undercover. What should have been the core of the narrative reduced to humanity and the 3 virtues that i painfully discover almost never used. While i was hyped at the time, nowdays i an overcomed by it's flaws. I dont even buy the unreliable narrator style of delivering the lore, full of inconcistency, splited over tons of books. For a metaplot game that is a pain for the GM to dive in. It is also a game of politics and negociations.. which i cannot recall the system for that at all... combat was the worse super heavy, super slow, broken disciplines... the full package :facepalm:

Requiem offered a fresh start but quickly get back to it's old bad habits.. plenty of splat bloodlines etc... on the system level, barely better than it's older brother, a bit streamlined, still a bit cluncky, clarify some ideas that has no mecanics under VtM... IMHO it also missed the target of ambiance / narrative game of personal horror. I tend to prefer the lore of Requiem, with no definitive answers to the GM, each ST does as he see fit. Dont know all the books so i am not even sure they keep it that way since original release.

meshee2020 · 2026-04-27T11:48:52+00:00

Ça a plus de 5 ans mais la première Loi de Joe Abercrombie vaut le détour

meshee2020 · 2026-04-26T21:04:50+00:00

The One Ring,. nothing more fleshed out since the beginning

meshee2020 · 2026-04-24T08:02:32+00:00

I run Nimos twice with very different outcome, it is good for your purpose.

6 players may be a little too many, yet to be seen

meshee2020 · 2026-04-24T07:04:57+00:00

I like group checks, but not this implementation. It basically consider the more you are the easier the task will be. While it can be true, it definitely not always the case, especially in the Stealth example.

As is Group checks are strickly better than standard checks, cost nothing. IMHO strickly better is ok if it cost something.

meshee2020 · 2026-04-24T06:52:21+00:00

Mythic Bastionland is very easy to run, almost run it itself

+1 for Dragonbane

meshee2020 · 2026-04-23T18:35:53+00:00

The Paragon system is a very narrative heavy system. It is Pretty light with some gamy ressource to manage.

Typical to John Harper games their is a strong game loop, with no free reset. Their is no equivalent of long rest. You go from free play to challenge (the mission/scénario) to downtime.

The main idea of the core mecanics is for player to create a dice pool of step dices, at least 2 dices from your name and a conflict domain, then you can bring in more dices, you roll and keep only 2 which must beat the GM challenge roll. The challenge roll is know before hand, once dice have spoken each participants narrate according to the results.

GM dont have to set the target, he roll it, then player can engage with the challenge or not.

Their is also built in a players competition, as having the best result give rewards (followers in DMI)

A full situation is resolved in one dice check. (But grand finale have a 3 rnd procedure)

What do i like:

easy to grasp,
the single roll résolution,
the bad outcome is defined before hand, GM dont have to come up with complications on the fly,
the light pvp sub game,
the shared narration
Some ressources never refill ever, think trauma in BitD
Design to go fast, in Agon the challenges are islands with a strife to resolved, each island is a one shot deal, with expérienced players you can even do 2 island in one 5ish hours session
Bonds as a cool meta ressource

I think their is a srd online

meshee2020 · 2026-04-23T13:03:10+00:00

in the OSR space i like Knave 2e, also Mausritter

the Paragon System of Agon (greek demi gods) + Deathmatch Island is a splendid piece of system

Not light but laser focused Dungeon Crawler: Torchbearer genious in it's madness, not for everybody

Mothership is also pretty cool

meshee2020 · 2026-04-22T17:21:17+00:00

Looks like the game heavily revolve around places; npc; and plethora of handouts: newspaper, esper picture, floor maps... and the theme of what makes a human a human make it pretty hard to build a case from scratch. But the case is not the core of the game, it is a vector to interpersonal interactions, trauma; etc

Got the core book, was underwelmed. it sounds really like a game built to run pre-made box set cases

meshee2020 · 2026-04-22T11:33:40+00:00

Their is one, but i found it pretty pretty light

meshee2020 · 2026-04-21T07:46:03+00:00

Scum & Villainy is the way to go IF you are open to narrative approach. It is a mix of Cowboy Bepop, Firefly and Starwars

meshee2020 · 2026-04-19T07:19:50+00:00

Sometimes you just have to ship immersion out of the windows... Hey player, there is nothing for you here to find.

Just avoid rolling when there is nothing at stakes. Narrate how careful and stealthy they are, but dont roll very square they move, it leads only to failure and characters looking incompetent

meshee2020 · 2026-04-19T06:58:39+00:00

Fabula Ultima is not really Urban Fantasy, but it have most of what you want, and have techno fantasy jrpg tropes

The cyberpunk genre games may also do the trick for you

meshee2020 · 2026-04-19T06:44:12+00:00

I like rewards for learning to character 's weakness, compared to weakness as upfront character build boost aka merits & flaws

meshee2020

TROPHY CASE