I've got a problem.

I have a setting. It's quite fleshed out in terms of lore and characters and religion and geography and even in terms of some of the central mechanics it uses.

The problem is that these mechanics were made before I had settled on a game system.

So here we have with a world with four elemental crystals held by four human kingdoms who infuse their citizens at birth with elemental powers for increased strength, endurance, intellect, agility, and of course snazzy magic powers. These crystals were gifted to humanity by a mysterious goddess called... well, Goddess. And if you didn't predict Goddess being secretly evil or having her own agenda that doesn't have the best interests of humanity at heart the moment I mentioned her, then you haven't played very many JRPGs. And, of course, the world is teeming with elementally-aligned monsters that are just chomping at the bit to give the human kingdoms a very bad day.

So we've got elemental crystals, an evil god, improbably skilled PCs... yep, the first natural choice for a game system would be something Final Fantasy-esque, right? I did some research and some light reading and these are the systems I'm currently considering for this setting:

- D&D 3.5 with a pile of houserules. Suboptimal choice mechanics-wise but a system I am reasonably familiar with and has enough brand recognition that I can count on players bringing their own experience and not requiring much hand-holding.

- Returners 3e, which seems to be considered the de-facto standard for tabletop Final Fantasy. The job system nudges me away from it somewhat, but considering I was also considering D&D 3.5 before it classes aren't as big an obstacle as I am probably thinking. TBH I haven't actually read much of it yet.

- Zodiac 3e, extremely barebones and customizable to the point of divorcing from the job system entirely. The complete lack of a skill system makes me shy away from this since it implies a lack of gameplay outside of combat.

- FFd6 1.3, made by (as far as I can tell) some guy on the Giant in the Playground Games forums. Currently my favorite pick due to a direct mapping of its four attributes to the four elements. Not all jobs get magic, which is a big problem for a setting that revolves around magic and the elements.

- BESM 3e. Classless, nearly limitless potential, can do pretty much everything I want of it with some enforced attributes, and unfortunately stigmatized as weeaboo trash despite being an upgrade of the very excellent Tri-Stat system. Only three stats relegates it to being my second pick but could be difficult to get players for.

Think one of these systems suits my needs better than the others? Need to know more before you can render an opinion? Know a system I missed? I'm polling you for opinions, RPoL; show me your insights!

Mutants and Masterminds? classless, nearly limitless potential, better rep than BESM.

And of course, GURPS, because everything can be run on GURPS.

Also, dnd 3.5? pfffft bwahahahahaha, if you're expecting people not to require handholding after houserulling half the system, you're kidding yourself.

The houserules are a lot less invasive than you'd expect; save bonuses/penalties and SLAs based on domains, for instance. Additions, rather than changes.

M&M sounds like it has an interesting design, I will definitely investigate that.

GURPS is... GURPS. I'd like to purchase a full set of spelunking equipment and a thirty gallon drum of elitist prick repellent before I start diving into that morass. I asked a question on their forum once and was scorned so hard I flew back from my monitor and out into the street. It's something I definitely want to figure out some day but I'm not ready to expose myself to that again quite so soon.

Have you checked out Valor? It's a game designed with shonen-style play in mind, with extensive rules for designing and customizing fighting techniques.

Well, with FFd6, every class has some ability that might be considered magical in some way, and it's worth noting that in your description, you mentioned physical enhancements as well as snazzy spell power. Hence, a Warrior's enhancements have clearly gone more to the physical-power side, and a Dragoon is obviously using air magic in his jumps.

Meanwhile, anyone who complains about BESM for being "weeaboo" isn't someone you want as a player for a Final Fantasy game - I mean, come on. The advice I have there is to keep a careful eye on chargen and be up front about how high of a silliness switch you're okay with. The Girl/Guy Magnet Defect is an example of a problematic one - it defines a particular genre and is just dumb elsewhere.

Of the systems you mentioned, I think FFd6 is the system to use if you want a more gonzo and heavy metal style, like the Final Fantasy games or Chrono Trigger, and BESM if you want their abilities to have clearer limits.
This message was last edited by the user at 13:24, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

Well, d20wod has an excellent magic system, and isn;t hard to swap into dnd.

Savage Worlds is probably the best mid-to-light-weight system I've ever used and it can easily be adapted to most any system. It's powers/magic system, while flexible, does lack a certain depth however, not that it would be difficult to fix.

And if you are feeling bold, I am putting together a system. Not strictly for final fantasy, but it is designed to be adapted via modules for most any setting, and Kingdom Hearts is one of the settings I make sure it can handle. Disadvantage here, I just started posting the system and that is taking me longer than expected.

Give ASSH (Astounding Swordsmen and Sorcerors of Hyperborea) a look.  It's a comparatively lightweight system, but provides enough crunch to work your elemental magick systems in.

It's cheap (but I can't tell you how cheap, nor where to find it).

TriStat dX might also be a good fit, but I'm not sure how you'd work in your special magicks.

I'm more of an italics kind of person. I'm not very interested in playing a beta product.


This is basically an older version of BESM 3e, like I mentioned in the OP.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:15, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

If you want a better opinion, perhaps you should give us a sample protagonist, what can they do? how far do their abilities extend? how versatile they are? how do you envision the action going?

What are they expected to do out of combat? are they expected to, say, be able to run a kingdom with the system giving you mechanics for rulership and mass combat? how important is gear compared to inborn character abilities? is keeping track of sweetrolls and 10-ft poles important? are they getting swanky gear upgrades all the time or only at plot-significant changes?

You could always go with this one http://www.finalfantasyd20.com/ffd20/

They have most of the Final Fantasy set up for Pathfinder.

Tsukiyomi makes a valid point!  A sample protagonist might help clarify certain things.

Not if he uses BESM :D


That's an interesting thought. BESM handles organizations better than some (except the one he and I both have problems with), and I've personally always thought it would be neat to just swipe my greatsword sideways and take out 3-4 guys.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:19, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

I was going to suggest Fate Core, but I actually think Fate Accelerated would work better.  Very customizable.  Of course, it tends to require a shift in mindset to go to a Fate system if you're used to a D&D system...  a lot more focus on character aspects over numbers.

What's your PCs' verb list?  Do you want them to be Final Fantasy characters from the cutscenes, or from the battle system...?

I like your humor. :)

I didn't expect you'd go for beta, I mentioned it in case you'd surprise me.

Savage Worlds was my main suggestion, as it has plenty of support for various settings and can easily and quickly be adapted.

Yes, this is actually a very good hack of Pathfinder, and quite professionally made. I would definitely recommend this. It even has the classes/jobs from Tactics, such as Holy Knight and Dark Knight, and a bunch of Archtypes to further tinker things to your liking.

I'd advocate for the FF d20 system; it's quite effective in capturing the gist of a Final Fantasy game on paper.
On a side note, I would genuinely love to participate in the game when it's up and running. JRPG​-esque games (good ones, anyway) aren't very common.

To throw out an alternative view -- have you looked at the Cypher system? Pretty simple to adapt, as well as quick to learn, and is rather well-suited or the merging of science and magic that is standard within the FF universe without trying to over-technobabble it.

how about the Super Console system?

http://console.wdfiles.com/loc...le/Super_Console.pdf

Dungeon slayers might float your boat too.

http://dungeonslayers.com/download/DS4EN.pdf
This message was last edited by the user at 15:05, Mon 15 May 2017.

Currently running in a fantasy campaign using the Cortex System. Very loose and flexible, narrative driven with a dice mechanism helping guide through the more crunchier parts. With Final Fantasy often being over-the-top, very few systems handle taking on large scale threats like Cortex manages.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:05, Wed 17 May 2017.

In reply to PhantomSkyfire (msg # 1):

The system you may want, oddly enough, is Pokemon Tabletop United. Although built for Pokemon, it's various elemental classes are ideal for other genres too. It even has a medieval fantasy supplement that supports the kind of game you want, and the Pokedex makes a lovely monster manual full of potential critters for heroes to fight against with some reskinning. I used it for an Avatar I the Last Airbender style game and it went off without a hitch.And best of all? It's all completely free.
This message was last edited by the user at 06:17, Thu 25 May 2017.