(cross posted from the Big Purple by me but I'd love to here people's ideas here; I posted this over on r/genesys in Reddit as well)

What I mean is, where does it shine? For example, while it can be dialed all over the place, GURPS seems to work best when you want something "gritty" or "low cinematic", with the option to shovel in detail as you wish. You CAN make it much more cinematic (and there are rule for that both in the core and in supplementary books), but the sweet spot seems to be "real-ish" stuff. At its heart, it's a simple system; I roll the dice, maybe modified, and we roll under the skill number usually to see what happens. Everything is more or less a single roll for each instance.

Savage Worlds, on the other hand, is definitely a pulpy action game; again, you CAN dial it down to make it more gritty or whatever. Like GURPS, you do single rolls for most things, though there are rules for "dramatic" rolls, making certain things longer contests, though again, definitely pointed towards the action genre (defuse the bomb!; codify complex negotiations into three dramatic yelling matches!).

So, by comparison, where does Genesys fit? Pulpy action? Gritty? Something else? This isn't to say you can dial it to move in other places, but the die system and core are set to...what?

I'm nowhere near an expert on Genesys, as I've only played it a couple of times, but I think that "cinematic" might be the answer to your questions. Genesys seems to avoid a lot of the gritty details and focus on the big-picture stuff instead, so I think that any campaign which features Big Heroes doing Big Actions would qualify as a good example of a Genesys setting.

The Dice Mechanic really lends itself to a story with lots of twists and turns, and I would say the core book is geared towards a Hollywood Cinematic experience. That cinematic feel is really a carryover from the Star Wars system, if we go back a bit a very similar dice mechanic worked really well in the dark grim setting of Warhammer Fantasy.

In time I think it will be seen that this system really can cover most genres with ease, the Android setting along with the Horror and Romance tones in the core book really do serve as a glimpse of what’s possible. For now though I expect most people will play heroic characters.

That is a really hard question to answer, because to me the answer lies in the interpretation of the Dice results.

As an example. What is an advantage worth in the narrative sense? in the mechanical sense? Is one of the basic tuning forks for the tone and feel of a setting. Which can vary wildly even within the same setting with the same group, based on the tone and feel that the group wants for that particular session, arc, or campaign.

It's one of the greatest strengths, hardest learning curves, and most personal (to the group) part of genesys, which sadly also makes it one of it's greatest weaknesses and hurdles. Specifically making sure everyone at the table is on the same page. Not to mention the myriad of context involved. Advantage in structured encounters vs Advantage in narrative being a prime example. It's hard to put into words, or at least it is for me, without getting into a kind of learned knowledge that a group as a whole develops via rapport, understanding, and the ability to work towards a common shared goal.

Personally i have yet to see a setting that genesys cannot handle well. But, for some groups, there might be systems that handle settings better, easier, or faster. It all comes down to "What is an advantage worth?" compared to "I have a +2." at a system and group understanding level honestly.

But then again i could just be spouting crazy all over the place, it's been known to happen from time to time.

I think Genesys works best for pulp adventure and is least suitable for gritty. It's not easy to die in Genesys so games where death is very real and ever-present might be better suited for other systems.

I like the dice in Genesys(Star Wars). I like the web of options for a dice pool result. I like how PCs can impact each other's dice pools with their results.

The level of lethality can be dialed up or down easily in the system. So any sort of setting descriptive adjectives like 'gritty' or 'pulpy' really amount to how many ranks of Vicious and Lethal Blows do the bad guys have?

The addition of skills is easy. More importantly, skills matter.

I know in my fantasy game my PCs have probably in the range of 600xp awarded and I am consistently kicking their butts/challenging them still. In my co-GMs D&D game our group is largish, at 6 and even 7 PCs sometimes. We are hitting about 10th level, and the group is borderline invulnerable at this point without a lot of meta-game additions. In my game I am still throwing pretty tepid adversaries at my guys to great effect.

The system gives me a far greater number of avenues for rewarding my PCs in different ways that they enjoy, while really not creating a balance issue ever. It gives me a greater number of ways to provide character advancement options for them using xp.

I think the system is easily adapted to any setting. Having playtested a ton of the Star Wars books I found, and even people at my table also said, the system is even more fun in a fantasy setting.

I know FFG has plans for their various IPs in sourcebooks, but honestly I wish they would fast forward to a super hero book. I think that setting is the one I'd need the most help converting.

Genesys can handle any type of game unless you're looking for a rules heavy tactical combat system.

I think of this game as a sort of movie simulator as opposed to the life simulators other RPG's attempt to be. It's not a game for those who need rules heavy tactical combat to be happy. This game just isn't for that. This game is much more of a co-operative storytelling game than it is a miniature moving, chart reading game. So I believe this game can work for any type of setting or story regardless of scale as long as the players and GM are looking for this type of cinematic storytelling game.

19 hours ago, 2P51 said:

The system gives me a far greater number of avenues for rewarding my PCs in different ways that they enjoy, while really not creating a balance issue ever. It gives me a greater number of ways to provide character advancement options for them using xp.

That part...can you elaborate what you mean? It’s interesting to me! Does it mean because of die results (so giving cool story things base on Advsntages/Threats, or what?

The bottom line is that it's not GURPS, in terms of the (potential) amount of crunch, and the rulebook itself explicitly states multiple times that it's about going on cool adventures and playing out narratively interesting stories (which are closer to movies, books and comics) rather than getting oneself bogged down in the unimportant details. The system doesn't even explicitly require grids+miniatures, given the existence of the more abstract system of range bands rather than exact ranges (which again, in the words of the designers, don't matter), among other similar purposeful omissions and abstractions in favor of simplicity and making way for better storytelling avenues, rather than a more accurate representation of events.

You probably could throw such detailed systems and extra rules in, if that's the experience you and your group are looking for, but at that point, I feel that another system designed for that sort of play in mind would be a better fit, rather than trying to hack onto Genesys, in a way that kind of goes against the designers' original goal at that (ultimately you shouldn't take the designers' word as gospel, but still, it's probably a little counterproductive at that point).

5 hours ago, StanTheMan said:

That part...can you elaborate what you mean? It’s interesting to me! Does it mean because of die results (so giving cool story things base on Advsntages/Threats, or what?

No, I'm not referring to the dice, although we are open on that mark, I don't even look at table 6-2 anymore for mechanical options, and I let them improvise mechanical effects also.

In regards to rewarding, this is primarily part of my fantasy game at the moment, but there certainly isn't any thing stopping it from happening in any setting.

I used OggDudes app and made my own trees for race and career. I don't use the Genesys open tree. It isn't that I'm opposed to it, but the book wasn't out by the time I wanted to launch my game, so I took what info there was, used the app and improvised. Honestly while the open tree is cool and I would enjoy it, some people are exhausted at the notion of having to consider a **** ton of options and prefer some narrowing and direction.

Examples of xp expenditure are spells, the caster in the group is an Oracle. He is a Fate/Luck/Celestial kind of a mage. I made spell trees using the Force tree format. I took some ideas for spells from WH3E and made a tree for them like Portent of Amul from WH for example. He can spend xp in the tree and be able to have a dice pool he maintains with concentration and for Strain as an out of turn incidental swap dice results from his own and other's pools, including mine. He advances the spell and eventually he can do it to all results.

One of my guys wanted to be a Blacksmith. I made a career tree for that. Basic equipment and armor will have a default difficulty and time frame for construction. Unique high end plans might be found, both enchanted and simply superior designs. Through xp expenditure he will be able to advance how well he can potentially make that item. I never really cared for the crafting system in Star Wars, it just led to a lot of crunchy meta gamey min/max crapola imo.

For the Pit Fighter I made a signature combat move called Whirlwind he is able to advance with xp. It adds things like Link, a sort of version of Hawk Bat Swoop, multi minion kill shots, etc. He can advance that with xp.

The Alchemist has all manner of potion, elixir and offensive items I made in the Force tree format, Blood Elixir, Heart of the Stag, Wildfire, Healing Tonic, etc.

I made all that scalable with xp expenditure, but I don't just limit it to that. I am routinely handing out spellbooks, journals, diagrams, formulas, that give them access to new items to create or cast, or give them a rank in one of those for "free" without having to spend xp. Easy treasure reward.

Items themselves have so many mechanical features in this game unlike say 5E. A weapon can simply be really well crafted and have a + to it's base damage. A weapon can be particularly nasty and have a rank of Vicious added to it. There are any number of weapon effects that can be added to weapons that can have magical explanations.

I also made weapons that are unique. I made an Alchemist's thurible (Benjen Stark) for the Barber-Surgeon. Attacks can be made at Short or Engaged like a whip, it can use Melee Light or Ranged. Its censer can be loaded with any of his offensive alchemical options for the base attack, and each concoction persists for a number of rounds equal to his ranks in Alchemy.

I just find the whole system far more conducive and tolerant of house rules and additions than any other I've played, and the primary reason is that PCs stay vulnerable. It is really hard to be untouchable in this game. Since it is, any additions are way less likely to unbalance the game since it is always so easy to cross off players.