So, I had this idea . . . your character is a scholar/sage of some sort and the game is centered around exploring ruins, etc., looking for artifacts, knowledge, etc.

So, not really fighting the baddies, but more exploration and seeing the world. Maybe some traps. Maybe some politics.

Any games out there that do this well?

I got thinking of this more and more as I was playing Diablo III, and hearing about Deckard Cain and Leah exploring ruins, studying prophecies, retrieving artifacts, etc.

AD&D?

Seriously though. Gold value as XP would work fine there. It'd be all in the set up of the dungeon ruins and the types of challenges faced, the ambiance... it could work. You could have the PCs play specialized henchmen instead of regular classes, such as the sage, and go from there.

So Ars Magica then?

Quote from: 1989;557171So, I had this idea . . . your character is a scholar/sage of some sort and the game is centered around exploring ruins, etc., looking for artifacts, knowledge, etc.

So, not really fighting the baddies, but more exploration and seeing the world. Maybe some traps. Maybe some politics.

Any games out there that do this well?

I got thinking of this more and more as I was playing Diablo III, and hearing about Deckard Cain and Leah exploring ruins, studying prophecies, retrieving artifacts, etc.

WEG Indiana Jones.

Hero System

GURPS

OD&D

AD&D
etc.

Yeah, good ol' GURPS.

Man, too bad that game is not doing so well these days.

GURPS is one of my favs for this sort of thing. Nice, low-powered, gritty, non-combat characters.

Damnit.

I also thought about BRP CoC, as well.

GURPS vs. BRP . . . which would you choose, and why?

Use CoC and Cthulhu Dark Ages, and/or retool Cthulhu Invictus?

Wait - of course.  Call of Cthulhu (BRP).  The game where the characters with the highest Running and Library Use are typically the longest-lived.

AD&D could work.  

I know some folks on story-games were re-purposing old-style dungeon-crawling rules so that they focus more on exploration, giving more XP for correct mapping and areas discovered than gold or baddies killed.  You could also give bonuses to XP if the party pieces together clues and figures out the history/origin of an artifact they've found, and then maybe allow them to sell the artifact at a higher market price.

Thinking about CoC and GURPS, and low-power, average-Joe protagonists, what other systems are out there today for that niche?

Like mentioned over at the other thread: WFRP.

With careers like Student, Scribe and Scholar, not mention the priestly and wizardly carriers, it's hard to go wrong.

Also you've got a setting and system that support people gathering scraps of ancient lore against demonic forces out to devastate the world.

Traveller.

You can throw your characters at some completely bizarre environments and ecosystems to explore. Vacc suit optional.

Quote from: jeff37923;557312Traveller.

You can throw your characters at some completely bizarre environments and ecosystems to explore. Vacc suit optional.

Those Gamelords Environment books are chock-full of awesome shit you can adapt to any system, too.

Well, it would be pretty funny to run a CoC exploration/archeology campaign, and just not mention it to your players that you don't actually plan to have any supernatural stuff happening.  They'll be going apeshit with paranoia waiting for the really terrible tentacle thing or guessing who's the cultist.

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