Let's Talk Mechanics

[Sletchman]

RE: Shadowrun
That game (and I love it) really isn't intended to be balanced.  It's a flavor-fest (assuming you like your cyberpunk crossed with magic) that brings back the future dystopia from the 80's.

Oh, that's totally true.  I just mean it seems unfair that the street sam who hits all points on the checklist gains skills at a faster rate as the guy who isn't as funny or as good at coming up with neat plans (and thus gets 2+ points less per session) - just because one player might be a bit quicker then the other.

Probably the same reason that if I gave someone an Action Die in Spycraft, I added the bonus XP to the mission reward, not their personal one (and I give XP / character points to players who mission a session for my games too).  Just my inherent, and slightly weird, sense of fair play I suppose.

And yeah, for the record, there are a lot of things about Shadowrun that I like - so Crafty needs to finish Chrome and Spellbound so I can totally kick that shit with a system I prefer (that is totally balanced and a flavour-fest).

[saiyanslayer]

Gotta agree Shadowrun is pretty awesome.  It has the best magic system I have ever encountered in a roleplaying system:
 

• Spells drained wounds or vitality (depending on the spell's force and the skill + attribute used to resist the drain)
• No need to memorize or swap spells, if it was learned you can cast it anytime
• Straight-forward to becoming a spellcaster (purchase a quality, improve an attribute dedicated to spellcasting)
• In-depth spell mechanics: summoning, banishing, initiating, astral signatures and astral projection

Mind you, spellcasters are overpowered in Shadowrun.  The trade-off is that they spend nearly all of their resources improving their spellcasting.  Overall, it has it's own feel which is something I've yearned in a D20 product.

And other people already mentioned the SAGA Talent system.  Seems like a game called Legend did something similar, which is pretty decent.  Each class has 3 talent trees.  They can be swapped out with other classes (at the cost of a feat, thus multiclassing).  I would be really excited if a Mastercraft product came out with a class system that has a set list of class abilities learned with 2 bonus talent trees :drool:

[Moebius]

I thought of another mechanic I really like, this morning- from the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space rpg, like most games there is a list of Attributes (Awareness, Coordination, Ingenuity, Presence, Resolve, and Strength) range from 1 through 5 human max and 6 supernatural, 3 being human average. However unlike most games there are no hit points. The damage system takes temporary points from the actual Attributes depending on what the attack was. Physical would naturally take from Strength or Coordination or both, a head injury might reduce Presence or Resolve. I hadn't seen this in any game before and thought it was brilliant.

[Bill Whitmore]

Mongoose Traveller uses a similar means of tracking hit points.  The physical characteristics are Strength, Dexterity and Endurance.  Any time you take damage, you have to reduce one of those attributes a point for each point of damage received.

I haven't actually played either system, but it seems like a good way to include wound penalties directly into the damage you take without introducing a new mechanic.

[Catodon]

Way back in the day Tunnels and Trolls also went down this route.