I think that Savage Worlds is a really good system that we could use. I like their style, their straightforward mechanics, and the versatility of the system to work in any genre. The rules book is downright hilarious.
Their design philosophy: Fast! Furious! Fun!
gotta love wikipedia
got off my lazy bum and looked it up lol. gotta say I donlt like the aceing roles idea from what I read it seems to make it more beneficial be weaker because with a d6 you're more likely to get the highest number(6) then on a d8 letting you role again and doing better then you would with the d8. I think we should look at specifying to the setting as much as possible to really give this game a unique feel.
It seems to me that we should
It seems to me that we should wait until a setting is selected. There are some things Savage Worlds, for example, does better than others. For example, it wouldn't be a very good game for investigation, or for anything that isn't primarily cinematic-style action-driven. It also has a particular way that things like magic and abilities function that could be limiting if it doesn't match with however the setting explains the existence of these things.
Good to wait / just research now
I agree with robosnake that we should wait until a setting is selected before getting too fixated on one system. Each does some things better than others.
That said, if you're not already familiar with the list of open-licensing systems we may have to choose from when that decision point comes around the bend, now would be a good time to start looking into unfamiliar systems and try some one-shots with your gaming group to test them out. That way the system discussion will be more productive when it occurs.
Unique
I stand by the idea that our system should use our own unique system it gives more of a "byswarm" feel to it rather then add is "savage world" feel or any other outside the swarm.
Advantages
I should mention that there are also some big advantages to choosing an existing system.
First is that it is a LOT of work and effort to create an entire system. While we could potentially create enough "fluff" for the setting over the course of four to six months to create our first products, it would take years to both design and test an entire system from scratch.
Second is to hook into the communities around existing systems. For example, if you ever visit the Pinnacle forums, you will see how vibrant their Savage Worlds community is. Or look at Pathfinder and how much people have been talking about it even before they released it at Gen Con. When we publish a setting for one of these settings, people familiar with an existing system can immediately get a feeling for how the mechanics will play and can focus their attention on the setting itself.
System
We will definitely not be building a system from scratch. In any system, there will be opportunity to create additional mechanics to make it into a bySwarm feel. Having been in rules debates even for published systems, I don't want the Swarm to to get bogged down into endlessly debating an entire system creation. There will still be plenty of debate on individual bySwarm elements whether it be Feats in Pathfinder, Edges in Savage Worlds, or whatever else we end up using.
I'm with matt.banach that we should be making ourselves familiar with the systems out there so that we can make informed votes when the time comes for Step Two.
Systems
I'll look around at the systems but I'm also going to start looking at ideas for our own, I don't like the idea of having an outside name attached to it, no one will see Byswarm, they will only see the name they already know.
Heh, ask RHManiac... he's
Heh, ask RHManiac... he's only got about 4 systems already designed (at least in rough form) which could be expanded upon. Although one of those would probably have some issues, since it was a collaborative effort involving at least 2 people besides ourselves.
Actually Starknight...
Looking at my hard drive, it is closer to six or seven now.
Some of them are more developed than others, but they all do the same thing fairly well... resolve conflict, either physical or social.
That's the thing with making new systems/settings. We all have to realize that we are just re-inventing the wheel and putting a different coat of paint on it. Some paints jobs look good... and some are just downright ugly... but they all try to look at least a little bit different.
Okay... now I'm rambling...
peace... RHM
examples or link
I dont know anything about savage worlds so can you give me a link to something or examples of the ideas.
Here's the intro pdf
http://peginc.com/Downloads/SWEX/TD06.pdf
link doesn't work permission
link doesn't work permission denied
They might not allow direct links to the PDF
Try this one and look for the test drive:
http://peginc.com/downloads.html#DL_SW