This is a Science Fiction game set a thousand years in the future, against an aggressive alien species, and features hybrid animal-human characters (like my character, a cat-girl). There's obviously going to be a very central anime vibe to the game, and is going to be very Space Opera in terms of game play, yet probably quite a bit of combat will be involved. I immediately thought of three different system that could be used, but I'm not sure which one would suit this game the best.
All three of these core systems offer advantages, including several that I haven't necessarily mentioned. So, based on your experience, which system would you prefer to play under? Of course, there also the option of using no system, and just running the game as a multi-authored story-- in which case, I'd recommend using your favorite system to craft your character, just to keep your character concept firm. Finally, I've got my eyes open for that perfect forum-based game system that I have yet to discover yet, so you can mention it here.
- Big Eyes Small Mouth (Fourth) - This is the latest anime game system, and I'm most familiar with the options and rules.
- Big Eyes Small Mouth (Second RETRO) - This is an option because it's simpler than Fourth edition, and it uses a Roll Under mechanic, which makes it easier to use on a Forum like this one.
- Cypher System is pretty cinematic and light-weight on the rules, all the players make all the rolls, and has the Intrusion mechanic, which allows players to change the narrative fairly easily by expending XP. This is a system that's also highly customizable and we won't need to concern ourselves with "leveling up".
- GURPS is a very tactical system, it allows for very flexible character builds, and I'm pretty sure there's a guidebook for that (being space opera, and stuff), but it's also going to take the most amount of work to generate the characters. Bonus here is that this system also uses a Roll Under mechanic and also has a nice bell-curve effect by using three dice instead of the typical two.
All three of these core systems offer advantages, including several that I haven't necessarily mentioned. So, based on your experience, which system would you prefer to play under? Of course, there also the option of using no system, and just running the game as a multi-authored story-- in which case, I'd recommend using your favorite system to craft your character, just to keep your character concept firm. Finally, I've got my eyes open for that perfect forum-based game system that I have yet to discover yet, so you can mention it here.
But I already own all of these systems! (Although, My GURPS is a little incomplete for this game in particular.
