TIERS OF CRUNCH

Matt Miller

How many rolls, calculations, and look-ups does it take to resolve an normal action? 

(And thus how long does a 'round' of battle take?)

~~~~~~~~~~~TIER 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dangerous Journeys
Phoenix Command
Mythus (?)
~~~~~~~~~~~TIER 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rolemaster
Powers& Perils
ShadowRun (FASA)
GURPS 3E(?)
HERO?
Warhammer(?)
~~~~~~~~~~~TIER 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GURPS 4e
ShadowRun 4th Edition
DND 4e
D&D 5e
Warhammer 40K 6E
Mayhem
DnD: Skills and Powers
DnD 4E
GURPS 4E
Pathfinder
DnD 3.5
DnD 5E
DnD, Advanced (2E)
Savage Worlds
DnD 1E
~~~~~~~~~~~TIER 4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fate: Dresden Files
One-Roll Engine (?)
D6
HARP
Rules Cyclopedia D&D
Tunnels and Trolls
~~~~~~~~~~~TIER 5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FUDGE/Fate
Numinara?
Tri-Stat
Amber Diceless (?)

Owen Wylde

it depends on how much realism/believability we want. The old "initiative, hit, damage, see if still standing" suits some, but others want to work out tactics, work out ranges, add obscure modifiers from books out of print and from obscure web references, check out and interpret effect of actions, use various moves, then attack, work out effect, minus defences, etc.

Dalton Calford 

....some systems can be EXTREMELY CRUNCHY while also being able to be VERY ABSTRACT.For example, Tunnels and Trolls. You can have character by character detailed combat with strategic rolls for manoeuvring, special abilities, ranged and magical combat, or, you can fight out a battle between a million foes to a side with a single die roll, all using the same mechanics......Traveller, over the years, has been comprised of many mini-games that come together into a single system. Even Character generation with it's character death element, becomes a separate standalone game. World development or ship design became as important to the overall gaming experience as actual rpg game play. Gurps, on the other hand, which gives you all the same detail, does not seem to spur on the imagination as much as traveller does. In many ways, producing the exact same material with Gurps as Traveller, is considered a chore instead of fun.