Need a new RPG ...any advice?

[Hai-Etlik]

So, after having played 4e D&D for a couple of years now we feel like a change of scenery. So we're looking for something new to play and a shift of genre. Maybe Superheros, cyberspace or just plain space... we do like our cyberspace/space to be on the dark and gritty side though - so no SW

We're a pretty experienced group with most of us having played for 30+ years so don't be afraid to challenge us *lol* - however one of the things that we want to leave behind for now is the simplicity of skills in D&D.

Over the years we played a lot of games including: Rolemaster, Gurps (some more than others), Shadowrun, Warhammer (fantasy), James Bond, Twillight 2000, Call of Cthuthulu, Star Wars, Star Trek, Cyberspace (ICE), Space Master, D&D 1, 3 and 4, Villains and Vigilantes and much much more... some of those might have arrived in new versions these last 5-10 years since we played them.

Well, the most recent (4th) edition of GURPS came out in 2004, so I don't know if you've taken a look at it. It's a big improvement over 3rd edition in terms of streamlining and organization without changing anything any more than necessary, and it certainly does gritty well. It's had big improvements in its ability to handle superhuman abilities: alien abilities, super powers, innate magical powers, psionics, etc are all handled with a single mechanism, and then given minor tweaks for flavour, rather than being multiple mutually unbalanced subsystems in separate books. There have also been some quite interesting supplements in the past 5 years including Spaceships, Horror, Supers, Martial Arts, Mass Combat, High-Tech, Gun-Fu, Tactical Shooting, and Social Engineering.

The skill system has had only minor tweaks. Skills are as plentiful as ever and "Manoeuvres" are a much bigger but still optional part and have been renamed "Techniques". There are now "Wildcard skills" which can aggregate normal skills to simplify things: "Science!" lets you be a generic Hollywood scientist who knows Geology, Biology, and Astrophysics in equal measure. Skill pricing has been simplified and half point costs have been eliminated. The way skills interact with the new "Style" system (used for Martial Arts, Gunfighting styles, and Magic schools) adds some interesting nuances without much rules complexity.

[tilt]

"Science!" lets you be a generic Hollywood scientist who knows Geology, Biology, and Astrophysics in equal measure.

So I can play a crime fighting Cartographer... ... "don't worry about Getriactic Man he is so over the hill" ... "We're not out of the woods yet" ... "that kid has a bad (l)atitude" *lol*

we are thinking about maybe Gurps... I played it a little many years ago and thought the stat system sucked at that point... maybe because I was a big Rolemaster fan

[Hai-Etlik]

we are thinking about maybe Gurps... I played it a little many years ago and thought the stat system sucked at that point... maybe because I was a big Rolemaster fan

Well, there are only 4 "primary" attributes, but then there are several secondary attributes, and many advantages behave a lot like attributes too, particularly talents (which are new in 4th edition). Shifting two of the secondary attributes (Per and Will) to being primary attributes based off of a flat 10 rather than off of the IQ attribute is also a common house rule, giving 6 primaries.