Hi y'all, I was interested in running a Buffy style Urban Fantasy game, I had a look through some of the more obvious and popular choices like the Buffy RPG and the World of Darkness and Curseborne options, as well as the Powered by the Apocalypse games like Monster of the Week.

My problem with those tho is that they're all rules lite, and I prefer a bit more structure to my games, can anyone offer any recommendations? cos otherwise I was thinking about homebrewing over the Dark Heresy rules.

Thanks in advance!

Well, if you're looking for something more structured, you might want to check out Urban Fantasy Hero from Hero Games. You can't get much more structured than the Hero System.

I haven't actually played UFH myself, but i run Champions which uses Hero System, and I've incorporated various urban fantasy elements for the mystical side of my campaign world. Vampire anarchs, feral werewolves, worm tainted corps, and cruel fey tricksters are just some of the varied urban fantasy encounters the player superheroes have encountered in the past.

Hero system is i think one of the best balanced systems for structure and creativity, allowing you to make what you want while giving you the structure to keep things from breaking down into debates about what ones character can or can't do in the rules.

If you're looking for something crunchier but not exclusively urban fantasy, you could always try GURPS.

Edit: or d20 Modern

For Buffy I’ll go D20 modern or DnD 5 Ultramodern. I feel that DnD work well for Buffy

If you want something more low on rules I’ll try Neon City Overdrive/Tomorrow City or Slugblaster with a new veneer (if you want to play out family drama)

AccoSpoot1@lemmy.world I don’t know if it was you that like my post but I’ve thought

Stars/Worlds/Ashes/Cities without Numbers by Kevin Crawford

Too

If you want a crunchy system that can do modern fantasy, I would just use GURPS. The core rules cover everything you absolutely need, and then as you encounter elements where you want more detail, you can drop in supplements as necessary: Horror, Undead, Blood Types (vampires), Magic or Thaumatology, Martial Arts, etc.

(Magic expands on the magic system presented in the core book, Thaumatology presents alternative magic systems.)

How does edition numbering work in Hero System? I see that core book is at 6ed but for example Cyber Hero is 4ed. Does that mean it's a 4th revision of Cyber Hero or that is should be used with HS4?

One game that might fit the bill or at least serve as a good base for a homebrew is East Texas University. It's heavily inspired by BtVS and uses the generic Savage Worlds system, which should make it easy to adapt, possibly making use of the Horror, Fantasy, and Super Powers Companions.
I haven’t played ETU yet but Savage Worlds as a system delivers pulp action with a good bit of crunch, especially for fights — somewhere in the middle between GURPS and Fate, I’d say.

They're on 6th Ed. currently, but the older edition books are usable, you just may need to make some adjustments to anything you want to use from the 4th ed. book.

You could learn the 6th ed. rules though, and then just use the 4th ed. stuff as templates to rebuild the ability, item, etc. in the 6th ed. rules, or just use a similar thing from one of the other 6th ed. books. They may not have a 6th Cyber Hero, but they may have other books for 6th ed. with similar things like cyber gear, hacking rules, etc.

If you ask on the Hero Games forums, they can probably tell you which books may have what you're looking for. And, some of the forum posters may have updated 4th ed. Cyber Hero stat blocks to 6th and would share if you ask them.

Those forums are a mine! Thanks for pointing me in their direction

I've digged up "HERO Designer" - software for character sheets. Is HERO System that crunchy?

You're welcome. Glad my suggestion was helpful.

And to answer your question, yes, it is that crunchy. But, once you get familiar with the system, it becomes intuitive. Because at it's core, the system strips things down to two core components of combat, damage and defense, and then allows you to modify them to fit your character concept within the points your GM has set for the campaign.

So, once you get familiar with the modifiers, things go much faster and easier.

I'm sorry, WoD is rules lite ?!
Yeah sounds like you need GURPS alright :,D

It's not a system recommendation thread until someone recommends GURPS.

It's the Linux of TTRPGs