https://anydice.com/program/c055
So why use 2D10 over 3D6? Serious question...in my opinion, one of the perks of GURPS is that you can get dice for it pretty much anywhere. Is it just because of the smoother curve?
IMHO The 3d6 bell curve is almost too perfect for rpg’s.
The cutoff points for skills where you will almost always fail a roll or almost always succeed are too predictable.
The flatter pyramid curve of 2d10 stretches the probabilities out so PC’s will have a wider range where their skill numbers are relevant but do not tend to deliver automatic results.
FFG might have had much the same issue when they tried to pull the narrative dice system out of Star Wars and put it out as Genesys. I don't know about its overall success, but with the players I've spoken to, they put up with the dice system because of Star Wars rather than going to Star Wars for the narrative dice. For them, Genesys just didn't have what they wanted.
Genesys is done as a system without Star Wars to back it. No one likes proprietary dice.
Star Wars is one of three RPG IP’s that sell almost regardless of the system attached to it. (Conan, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars.)
Most of their previous system iterations are nowhere now that they do not have the IP behind them. IMHO the d6 system had the most promise, but WEG ran into other issues.
… Most modern gamers don’t want to handle this customization and turn to something ready to go. All of the generic toolbox’s have the same issue….
My sneaking suspicion is that modern gamers don’t have as much of the time to do the DIY that was popular in the 80s and 90s due to all the distractions of technology in our lives. Publishers of these generic systems need to come up with a way to streamline the content to fit modern players.
I’ll quibble a bit…
I think that you are right about toolkits being too generic, but I think that DIY has taken a different turn due to the big effect of the OGL on the hobby.
Most people want to do an established game like D&D, but…
(Insert my better house rule here.)Why turn to a generic system where you do all the heavy lifting when you can pick up the OGL or SRD of a system that already has 80% of what you want and tune to taste.
Path of least resistance and all that…