For those of you who thought there was a Mad Scientist RP that you had missed, I'll be glad to inform you that no, there isn't one going on that you'll have to be on the waiting list for months for. BUT, I am planning one, and, for all those DMs/GMs reading this, I could use some help.
Rolling Mechanics: I'm not doing the RTD system, that's for sure. I know Digital Hellhound's MS RTD's were pretty popular but they always kind of stalled because of all the twos that got rolled. I was thinking something like either D20 or GURPS, but D20's system seems to disallow customization and GURPS, while it looks more customizable, lacks a charisma type stat, which would be important for the defect system it looks like it allows. Anybody got any suggestions for a roll system or should I try to kludge one together and see how it plays out? I want this to be less stat focused and more equipment/skill based.
SCIENCES: I've ran a Mad Scientist suggestion game that ended really quick (I'm over that I swear), and I was still having problem deciding what should be a science and what should be a skill. I definetly think BIOLOGY and CHEMISTRY should remain a skill, especially for the scenario I have planned, but, I still have problems with other sciences. Should there be a MECHANICS/ROBOTICS split? Should NUCLEAR really be it's own thing or should it join CHEMISTRY for a super science? Do LASERS really need to be their own thing, or should I combine them with sound waves and PSIONICS it some kind of applied physics thing?
I was also wondering about stuff that comes with high levels of certain skills, like a Magyver skill with a certain level in a perception type stat and mechanics would allow you to create things faster.
Inventing/Realism: This isn't going to be at all realistic, and will take place in a futuristic setting where, although mankind has discovered other races, they are reluctant to leave earth at the moment (more on this later). The island of stability has been discovered, and the heavy carbon equivalents are allow dangerous advances in the synthesis of new organic compounds and the like. The other portions of the periodic table are not to be discounted, however.
As far as inventing stands, it takes quite a while to build something (a looong turn) and the parts aren't particularly specific (high quality computer parts would be a common description and enough to put together a pretty good robot). I'd also like to try to do different levels of scrap and materials, sort of like
Caves of Qud's tinkering system (look for a screenshot).
So, post suggestions on how I should do things. I'm thinking about doing an LCS style character sheet (I love LCS's character test and think it'd be hilarious to do again.). Label your suggestions with the topic you're addressing bolded if you want to be nice.