Monday, November 30, 2009

Spider-Man



Spider-Man (125 Character Points)
First Comic Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)

Body: 9  Mind: 6  Soul: 7

Health Points: 80  Energy Points: 65  Shock Value: 16

Combat Value: 10  Defense Value: 10

Attributes: Attack Combat Mastery 3,
Defense Combat Mastery 5, Gadgets 3  (6 spider-tracers),
Highly Skilled 1,  Jumping 3 (100 m), Sixth Sense 1 "spider-sense,"
Special Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling, Balance),
Speed 1 (+2 Initiative, Dependent -1 on Jumping),
Super Strength 3 (8 tonnes and +30 damage in close combat
and +12 strength check bonus), Item of Power 9 "web-shooters":
Flight 1 "Glider," Sensory Block 1 "blind with webbing,"
Special Attack 7 "Web" (Tangle, 70 Health Points),
Special Movement 1 "Swinging/Brachiating,"
Telekinesis 3 "Web strand" (100 kg)

Defects: Nemesis 2 "Green Goblin,"
Significant Other 2 "Mary Jane," Significant Other 1 "Aunt May"

Skills: Acrobatics 2, Area Knowledge (New York City) 2,
Physical Sciences (Chemistry) 1, Physical Sciences (Physics) 1,
Visual Arts 1 (Photography)

After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker became the Amazing Spider-Man. Learning at a young age that with great power comes great responsibility, Spider-Man selflessly devotes his time to being one of New York's greatest heroes.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Hell Acht

The land is threatened by a criminal entity, Manarc, who controls a secret society, Hive Of Blood, and a legion of golems.

Our heroes, Mystical Force True, are a group of mystics, led by a magical alien, Fate Valentine.  Drawing their powers from magical abilities, can they save the day?  Enjoy the antics of Yuuma Rokuro their funny assistant!

(Randomly generated at Seventh Sanctum and Behind the Name)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Monster Reaction Chart

The trusty Monster Reaction Chart from T&T 5th Ed., section 2.4 More About Monsters.

"Not all monsters need to be hostile toward adventurers in their domain."

Monster Reaction Chart

2        Monsters and men automatically attack each other.

3-5     Monsters automatically and openly hostile.

6-8     Encounter may be friendly in a guarded manner, but either side will attack if provoked.

9-11  Monsters more interested in parley or making deals than in fighting. There must be language in common for parleying.

12    Monsters are panic-stricken and flee immediately.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Astro Boy



Astro Boy (150 Character Points)

Body: 8  Mind: 6  Soul: 6

Health Points: 110  Energy Points: 60  Shock Value: 14

Combat Value: 9  Defense Value: 7

Attributes: Attack Combat Mastery 3, Armor 4 (40 damage stopped),
Defense Combat Mastery 3, Flight 4 (500 kph, Burns Energy),
Highly Skilled 1, Heightened Senses 3 (Vision, Hearing, Radio Reception), 
Special Attack 5 "Finger Lasers" (40 damage, Accurate, Long Range,
Penetrating (20 pts of Armor Reduction), Burns Energy),
Alternate Attack 3 "Tailgunner Machine-Guns"
(20 damage attack, Auto-Fire, Limited Shots (6 shots)),
Super Strength 8 (1,000 tonnes and +80 damage and +32 strength),
Special Defense 6 (Air, Disease, Poison, Sleep, Hunger, Ageing), 
Tough 2 (+40 health points), Tunnelling 2 (50 m/hour, Burns Energy)

Defects: Bane 1 (20 pts/round of exposure to electricity or magnetism),
Ism 1 (Robot), Marked 1 (Robot), Significant Other 1 "Professor Ochanomizu,"
Special Requirement 1 (Robot, needs repair and recharging)

Skills: Electronics 2, Mechanics, Physical Sciences 2 (Robitics),
Computers 2, Languages 5, Driving 1, Piloting 1


Tetsuwan Atomu (鉄腕アトム), or Astro Boy (sometimes called simply "Astro"), is a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma, to replace his son Tobio, who died in a car accident. Dr. Tenma built Astro in Tobio's image and treated him as lovingly as if he were the real Tobio, but soon rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg.

After some time, Professor Ochanomizu, the new head of the Ministry of Science, noticed Astro Boy performing in the circus and convinced Hamegg to turn Astro over to him. He then took Astro as his own and treated him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian. He soon realized that Astro was gifted with superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions.

Astro now fights crime, evil, and injustice. Most of his enemies are robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk, or alien invaders.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Poseidonis



Poseidonis was the name given to Atlantis by the mystical Theosophical Society. In books like The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria they even presented maps of the lost continent based on "historical research by means of astral clairvoyance." Whatever you think of that, these maps would make a great place for a sword & sorcery or pulp super-science campaign.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Adam Strange



Adam Strange (100 Character Points)
(First Comic Appearance: Showcase #17  November,  1958)

Body: 7  Mind: 8  Soul: 8

Health Points: 75  Energy Points: 80  Shock Value: 15

Combat Value: 10  Defense Value: 8

Attributes:
Attack Combat Mastery 3, Defense Combat Mastery 3,
Highly Skilled 3, Gadgets 1 "Rannian gear,"
"Rannian Protective Suit" Armour 4 (Optimized: fire,
40 damage stopped), Special Defense 1
(Survive in low-oxygen environment),
"Rannian rocket pack" Flight 4 (500 kph),
"Rannian raygun" Special Attack 3 (40 damage, Accurate)

Defects:
Nemesis -2 "Kanjar-Ro", Significant Other -2 "Alanna Strange",
Unique Defect -2 "Involuntary return to Earth when Zeta Beam's effect wears off.",
Unique Defect -1 "If he remains on Rann for more than a year at a time, he will die."

Skills  (3 points left out of 50): Acrobatics 1, Foreign Culture (Rann) 2,
Military Sciences 2, Physical Sciences (Archeology) 3,
Physical Sciences (Physics) 1, Piloting 1 (Spacecraft),
Social Sciences 1 (Anthropology), Wilderness Survival 1

Description and Character Notes:
Earth archeologist Adam Strange was transported to the planet of Rann via the Zeta-Beam. He immediately befriended the Rannians and took up a flight pack and raygun to assist them. While there, he also fell in love with a Rannian woman named Alanna.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Yesterday's Future Duke Armageddon

The city is threatened by a arrogant conquerer, Clawdouse The Enraged, that controls a space base and a legion of robots.

Our heroes, Rock Team Heat Ranger, are a group of doctors, led by a brillaint supernatural being, Albion Eternity.  Drawing their powers from alien ancestry, the Meteormancers Of Polaris, can they save the day?  A mysterious love triangle complicates matters.

(All randomly generated at Seventh Sanctum)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Own a Big Mecha

 While Tri-Stat dX is a complete set of free RPG rules, the Own a Big Mecha Attribute is somewhat anemic. That's something one of the game's designers, David L. Pulver, addressed in a posting to the old GoO forum. Here are the revised Own a Big Mecha rules he published there.


Own Big Mecha Attribute
Revised version by David L. Pulver

My thanks to everyone who responded. Here is a slight revision and clarification of the Attribute. Comments are welcome. As before, note that this is not (yet) an official rule.
_______________________________________

Own a Big Mecha (OBM)
Cost: 8 points/level for 10 or 16 points
Relevant Stat: None
Required PMV: None.
Optional PMV: None.
Progression: Linear; +10 or +16 Character Points for vehicle building each Level
Reduction: Fewer Character Points awarded
Restrictions: Mecha belongs to agency; Mecha is stolen
___________________________________________

This is an alternate open-ended way of building mecha and other vehicles using the OBM Attribute that provides additonal flexibility.

Each level of OBM gives 10 or 16 Points to build a mecha, which may be any kind of suit or vehicle that a person can ride in or on. A default mecha is assumed to be anthropomorphic but a mecha can be anything from a row boat to a 100' tall giant robot to a starship -- just assign appropriate Defects.

A mecha is always assumed to be too obvious or awkward to easily carry in many social situations, such as a bicycle or a suit of bulky armour, or most vehicles. If a mecha is small enough to be worn or carried socially, like a pair of roller skates or a light or invisible armour suit, it should be built as an Item of Power instead. If a mecha is a form-fitting suit worn rather than ridden or driven, it can be built with these rules but each Level only grants 10 Character Points (matching Item of Power) instead of the usual 16 Character Points.

The mecha is created just like a character, with two exceptions that differentiate it from someone created via the Servant attributes: it has no Stats and its occupancy and land speed are determined as shown below.

A mecha must be piloted by a character to operate it. The mecha's operator uses his or her Stats when the mecha must make a check. If a mecha has multiple occupants, only one operator can control it at any one time. Other passengers are just that, unless the mecha has specific attributes that assigned to other crew (see below).

In addition to normal attributes, two specific Attributes can be bought for the mecha using its Character Points: Capacity and Land Speed.

Land Speed costs 1 Point/Level. Each Level gives the mecha the ability to move on the ground (via wheels, tracks, legs, etc. – you decide). The speed is found using the Slow Progression chart beginning at 30 kph. A mecha with no levels of Land Speed cannot move on the ground; it is stationary, like a boat or base.

Capacity costs 1 Point/Level. It is the amount of space inside the mecha for occupants and passengers. Refer to the Targets column of the PMV chart (dX, page 10) to determine capacity. For example, Level 1 capacity is 1 person or 50 kg. Distribute it between people and cargo (at 50 kg per human-sized occupant).

If no Levels of Capacity were assigned, the mecha can still carry one person, but it is small enough that any damage that penetrates its armour also applies to the wearer, although his or her own armour will protect. This might be a form-fitting suit, a racing car, or other tight-fitted design.

A mecha may be given just about any Attribute. In particular, the Flight, Hyper Flight and Water Speed Attributes will allow it to operate in various environments. Mecha will usually not take the Speed Attribute, but it may be appropriate for certain types of designs, such as a suit that enhances reflexes.

Armour and Tough are common. A mecha must be given at least as many Levels of the Tough Attribute as it has Levels of Capacity. If the mecha can manipulate things, giving it equivalent levels of Superstrength is a good idea. The operator's own Body is used for Body checks, modified as usual by Superstrength.

A mecha's Attributes are used by the operator and occupants when dealing with the world outside the mecha. Attributes Attacks and other Attributes that affect specific targets can only be used by one of the mecha's occupants. Other Attributes, such as Adaptation, will protect the occupants along with the mecha itself.

Attributes are usually used by a single operator but may be assigned to other crew when the mecha is designed. For example, a starship might be built with the Hyper Flight and Flight Attributes with one assigned to the "pilot" and the other to the "navigator." Occupants other than the primary operator can only attack from within a mecha if it has additional Special Attacks that are assigned to them. If such a "different gunner" uses a mecha's weapon, the operator cannot use it in the same round.

Attributes that a mecha has do not usually stack with those of a character. If a mecha has Flight Level 1 and so does its operator, this does not give the mecha Flight Level 2, for example.

The GM may make exceptions for mecha bought using the Item of Power Point progression (10 points/Level of OBM). Thus, a powered suit designed for a dragon (which already has Superstrength and Flight) may add its Levels to the dragon's own abilities.

Vehicle computes can be simulated by giving the mecha the Highly Skilled Attribute. For play balance, it is suggested that a mecha not be able to grant more than 2 levels.

A mecha should be given Defects to reduce its cost and define its capabilites. The effects of these Defects only apply when the mecha operator or other occupants are trying to manipulate, perceive, or affect the outside world. For example, if a mecha has Sensor Impairment (to vision), the occupants cannot see out. They can still see normally inside the mecha. Similarly, Physical Impairment (no hands) -- which most non-anthropomorphic vehicles will possess - means the vehicle has no ability to lift, punch, and so on, but doesn't affect the driver if he or she wants to scratch an itch or pull out a cell phone.

Since mecha have no self-awareness, a Defect that assumes the mecha has a mind, soul, or personality is inappropriate unless it could be plausibly extended to the occupants. Thus, Blind Fury, Significant Other, or Recurring Nightmares would not fit unless (for example) the mecha has some form of neural interface system that influences its crew's mentality, a concept that does occur in some giant robot anime (for example). On the other hand, the Owned Defect is not normally appropriate to a mecha. Instead, the character (not the mecha!) should take the Conditional Ownership Defect linked Own a Big Mecha. A Defect like Famous, Red Tape, or Wanted could be assigned to a mecha, however.

For realism's sake, a mecha should have at least as many Levels of Awkward Size Defect as it has Levels of Capacity. Likewise, a mecha should only have Diminutive if the standard occupants are appropriately small.

Required Skill: Assign the mecha a required skill, e.g., Driving if it has Land Speed, or Piloting if Flight or Boating if Water Speed. This is the skill used to operate it. A character may operate a mecha without having the appropriate skill, if the GM believes it is relatively simple (e.g., driving a car). Some mecha may require multiples skills for different functions such as sensors

Gadgets and Mecha Points: Each major gadget can be traded for 4 Points to build a vehicle, or to augment an existing mecha to create one of intermediate power.

Servants and Mecha: Intelligent mecha are built as Servants or characters. The GM may optionally allow the Land Speed and Capacity attributes to be taken by Servants. If Servants have Capacity, the GM should rigidly enforce the requirement for mininum levels of Awkward Size (a Servant could, of course, have an Alternate Form that was large enough for Capacity).

___________________________________________

Example of 4-point Vehicle

Sports Car
Capacity 2: (carries 4 people and 100 kg) (2 points)
Land Speed 4: 250 kph (4 points; Restriction: Land speed only on road (-1 point).
Armor 1 (unarmored area, -2) (1 point)
Tough 3 (60 Health) (6 points)
Awkward Size 2 (-2 points)
Special Requirement 1 (machine: needs fuel to run and requires repairs to heal) (-2 points)
Weak Point (gas tank, -1 point)
Physical Impairment (no arms, -3 points)
_______________________

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Revelation Seed

The country is threatened by a sexy spirit that controls a planet and a legion of demons.

Our heroes, Steel Infinity X, are a group of inventors, led by a virtual enemy of the villain.  Drawing their powers from animal spirits, can they save the day?  Political machinations make life even more complicated.

(Title, sentai team name, and story all randomly generated at Seventh Sanctum.)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Random Dr. Who

The Personality Traits chart from the old FASA Dr. Who RPG.

1 or 2                                   
1 Stubborn
2 Squemish
3 Boastful
4 Forgetful
5 Compulsive Gambler

3 or 4
1 Temperamental
2 Gentle
3 Neat/Messy
4 Snobbish
5 Indecisive
6 Collector

5 or6
1 Fearful/Brave
2 Energetic/Lazy
3 Patient/Impatient
4 Outgoing/Shy
5 Talkative/Silent
6 Optimist/Pessimist

"Compulsive Gambler"? Really?

Friday, November 20, 2009

Tri-Stat roll high

One of the problems with the Tri-Stat rules as written is that they use a roll-under dice mechanic. There's nothing wrong with that as such. Games like BRP, Hero System, and Thousand Suns use roll under mechanics to good effect. The thing is that in BESM/Tri-Stat it isn't implemented well.

For Tri-Stat d6 take the example of two average people, each with Stats of 4 and no Attributes, Defects or Skills. Each will have an Attack Combat Value of 4 and a Defence Combat Value of 2. That means that if they get into a fight they will only have a one in six chance of hitting each other and only a three percent chance of defending themselves. Not only couldn't they fight worth a damn, they'd be terrible at darts.

Now, reverse things so that instead of rolling under four (or two!) on 2d6 they roll the dice and add their Stat to the total. Suddenly things play out very differently. There's no more flailing around, and one of them will be successful each round. Plus characters can have superhuman stats and still just roll 2d6 instead of switching to 2d10, 2d12 or whatever. Not surprisingly Mark switched to this mechanic for the BESM 3rd edition rules.

In most cases rolling high will involve opposed rolls between two characters, but for situations where a player is making a skill roll to accomplish a task (e.g., repairing something, climbing something, etc.) here's a list of target numbers to use. The Easy, Average, or Difficult TN's, will be used most often, but others are listed for extreme circumstances or superhuman games. For cinematic games I'd also use the Tunnels & Trolls rule of DARO, doubles add and roll over. That way there's always a chance for the characters to accomplish the impossible.


Tri-Stat d6 House Rules:

Target Numbers:
Difficulty.....Target Number
Very Easy........06
Easy..............09
Average..........12
Difficult..........15
Challenging......18
Extreme..........21
Improbable.......24


Optional Cinematic Rule: DARO, doubles add and roll over.
If you roll doubles, add that number and roll again until you don’t roll doubles.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Mongo



This map of the planet Mongo makes me want to run a Ray-guns & Rockets campaign. The Witch Kingdom of Syk could even be the stage for some Sword & Sorcery antics. I'll just have to watch out for Ming's rocket submarines.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Jaxxon The Gunslinger Rabbit



Jaxxon (156 Character Points) (97 Character Points)

Body: 6 Mind; 5 Soul: 4

Health Points: 55 Energy Points: 45

Attack Combat Value: 5 Defense Combat Value: 3

Attributes: Combat Technique (Two Weapons) +4,
Heightened Senses +2 (Hearing, Smell),
Highly Skilled +4, Jumping +1,
Natural Weapons +1 (Kick),
Own A Big Mecha +7 ("The Rabbit's Foot")

Defects: Easily Distracted -1 (Quick Temper),
Wanted -1

Skills: Mechanics (Astronautical) +1,
Navigation (Space) +1;
Piloting (Space Transport) +2

Combat Skills: Gun Combat (Heavy Blaster) +2,
Heavy Weapons (Gunnery) +1
Ranged Defence (Personal) +2,
Unarmed Attack (Kick) +1

Equipment: Two heavy blaster pistols (Damage 20), modified WUD-500 Star Yacht The Rabbits Foot, Good Luck Charm, 525 credits

Intelligent, 1.9 meters tall, bipedal, green, furry and armed to the teeth. Jaxxon is not a being to be trifled with - despite the cuddly appearance. This 'cuddly appearance' has caused many a foolhardy spacer to fire off a flippant comment - and quickly spit out his teeth. "I aint no rabbit" Jaxxon curtly points out, usually punctuated by a savage kick with his huge feet.






The Rabbit's Foot (modified WUD-500 Star Yacht)

Required Skill: Piloting (Space Transport)

Health: 80  Force Feild: 40  Quad Laser Cannons: 80

Capacity 4: (7 people and 3 tonnes cargo) (4 pts)
Features 1 (HyperRadio) (1 pts)
Flight 8: (5k kph; Detectable -1, hearing) (31 pts)
Force Feild 2 (-40 damage reduction; Detectable -1, sensors) (7 pts)
Heightened Senses 5 (Sensors; Detectable -1, sensors) (4 pts)
Hyperflight 3 (100x light speed) (3 pts)
Special Defence 6 (Freezing Cold 2, Lack of Air 2, Low Pressures 2) (6 pts)
Tough 4 (80 Health) (8 pts)
Weapon 10 "Quad Laser Cannons" (Long Range 6) (40 pts)
Weapon 8 - Alternate Attack "Ion Cannons"
(Incapacitating (electronics), Long Range 6) (8 pts)
Awkward Size 4 (Size 4; 18.5 metres) (-4 pts)
Physical Impairment (No hands) (-3 pts)
Special Requirement (Frequent maintenance and fuel) (-2 pts)

TOTAL: 103 Points

Created using the Tri-Stat dX rules with a tip of the hat to the SWRPGNetwork Conversions site.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Real gamer's character sheet

There was a great post the other day over at The Sandbox of Doom singing the praises of the 3"x5" character sheet. Even though I wouldn't necessarily label myself an Old School Gamer I can dig this. When it comes to character sheets I've always thought smaller is better. Maybe it's because of playing wargames where models seldom have a sheet bigger than a playing card. But I thinks it's really because of my fondness for good ol' Tunnels & Trolls 5th Ed. where men were men, Amazons were Amazons, and Trolls smelled really bad.




Monday, November 16, 2009

Atlantis

A post today by James Maliszewski reviwing C. J. Cutliffe Hyne's classic novel The Lost Continent got me thinking about how seldom it's been used as a setting for FRPG's. You'd think people would naturally be attracted to this major, fantastic continent of folklore when imagining fantasy geographies. Instead, almost everyone prefers to frolic in the fields surveyed by Tolkien.

The only RPG line based on Atlantis was Bard Games' Atlantean Trilogy stuff that came out back in the mid 1980's. There was the The Arcanum, The Lexicon, and The Bestiary. All of it was recently re-edited and released by Morrigan Press as Atlantis: The Second Age. A nice effort, and by all accounts a very detailed treatment. But even so they couldn't avoid the Tolkien derived pseudo-medieval fantasy species such as trolls, faeries, and elves. I'd rather have seen creatures from classical mythology in this setting. Or the completely original creatures they later went with in Talislanta.

Aside from the odd superhero/occult investigation module touching on Atlantis the only other supplement was GURPS Atlantis. In addition to giving a good account of the Atlantis myth, it covers the fabled continent from three angles. The Orichalcum Age which gives it a high fantasy treatment; The Heirs of Minos that gives details for use in conspiracy games; and Lords of the Deep, that gives presents a fantastic background for steampunk or superhero games.

The only other serious coverage of Atlantis is Hero Game's The Atlantean Age setting book for Fantasy Hero. It approaches the mythic land from a high fantasy direction as you might expect. The book provides detailed coverage of the continent's history, culture, religion and magic. The monsters are suitably colorful, with things like war apes, battledons and Atlantean Dragons. Basically it's a focused and detailed treatment of the sword-and-sorcery aspects of the myth.

All of these supplements have something to offer, though the Hero Games version is my favorite. In large part that's because it matches what I imagine the lost continent to be. I see it as a place of high adventure and fabulous magic like the realms depicted in the pages of Weird Tales. Hopefully we'll someday see more gamers exploring fabled Atlantis and discovering it's wonders.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Random Dungeon Maker

Rob Lang has a great post today linking to Dyson Logos' amazing Random Morph Map dungeon generator. I love these kind of things, and this one's better than most. The maps not only work for traditional fantasy dungeons, but would make great alien ruins, or asteroid tunnels. Here's what they look like. Thanks, Dyson.


Friday, November 13, 2009

RPGs by the numbers

Profiles on blogger that list as an Interest...

Mekton: 1

Fuzion: 2 (Including the guy above.)

BESM (Tri-Stat): 12

Traveller: ~143

D&D: ~2,300

So there you go. BESM/Tri-Stat is marginally more popular than Fuzion. (And it's interesting that more wimmin than men list it as an interest.) Traveller is over ten times more popular than either. And they all get crushed by the D&D juggernaut.

I still like Fuzion, and there's more than enough material online to run a decent science fiction/mecha game. But with Tri-Stat being a more complete free game and having more appeal to wimmin, and therefore a bigger potential audience, I think I've talked myself into focusing on using it for the near future. Unless I do the smart thing and just play Traveller...or drink the D&D Kool-Aid. "Magic Missile!"

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Vanishing games

It seams like the webpages devoted to the RPGs I like are vanishing at an alarming rate. This has been happening slowly over the past few years. Now that Geocities, which was home to many a RPG related page, is defunct it's really noticeable.

I'm mainly thinking of Fuzion here. Even though it never really caught on with either the Hero System or Interlock fans, there used to be a huge amount of material for it available to download for free. There were major plug-ins covering magic, psi powers, aliens, and Road Warrior style combat. Supplements like the Total Powers plug-in and the Heroic Abilities plug-in gave you complete superpowers rules. And Naughty Tentacles even provided material for hentai games. All that material is basically gone now. Even Lightspeed, one of the few games left using the Fuzion mechanics, is supposedly switching to a different system.

Action! System, which is an OGL knock off of Fuzion, hasn't fared much better. There was never as much material available for it in the first place, and now even that's disappearing. My favorite use of the game, Jamie Borg's ASsembler rules which ported OGL Mecha to A!S, vanished with Geocities. And it doesn't help that the Gold Rush Games site has been down for years, although you can still by their games at sites like RPG Now.

It's very discouraging. I have copies of most of this stuff archived, but it's hard to get people interested in playing a game they've almost never heard of and that has almost no web presence.

As it stands I think Tri-Stat dX is one of the best free games out there. It's a complete RPG, with a full-fledged power system that covers everything from mecha to superheroes. It's sort of like a free, rules-lite version of Hero System. I have a few nits to pick with the game, but nothing that a page or so of house rules can't cover. And even though Guardians of Order went under years ago, BESM/Tri-Stat have a good reputation and fairly wide recognition. Plus they have a slick, active fan site online.

Maybe I'm just in a funk because I haven't been able to get any games going lately. Aside from the occasional pick-up game with friends I haven't been able to get anything rolling. I'm probably just approaching things at the wrong angle or something, but going with more popular free system that I like may help. We'll see.