Hey all,

I'm looking to take a break from fantasy RPGs for a while and give a new genre a try.

Currently I'm considering Traveller Mongoose 2e, Call of Cthulhu 7e or CyberPunk 2020, but the older I get the more I'm becoming "crunch" intolerant.

So my question is how crunchy are these systems? As a reference point, I consider:

• Dungeon World (PbtA) or White Box like a 2 on a 10 point crunch scale.
• D&D5e a 5 or 6 on a 10 point crunch scale.
• Palladium Rifts like a 9 or 10 on a crunch scale ('cause I could never figure out how to run it).

Obviously crunch is subjective. For me it's not just the core resolution mechanism, but the number of exceptions and sub-systems, ease of learning from the book, and how easy it is to run / referencing.

Let me know your thoughts.

If I rank them... well, yes with subjectivity, I'd hold them from most to least crunch as:

Call of Cthulhu 7e
Cyberpunk 2020
Traveller 2e

I think the BRP thing gets pretty crunchy in 7e. The core is simple enough, sure. I rank it tied with 2020. Both systems can be fiddled with to reduce the load. Now that said... it's pretty close, really. I mean, perhaps c2020 is mainly crunchy with systems overlays (and from supplements to bloat that, but you can pick and choose). Also, updating to actual 2020 is no mean feat. I await Cyberpunk RED. I liked the starter box well enough. RTalsorian could speed it up a bit, though, to get us the full set of the new rules. The box was a bit of a tease. Still, enjoyable, and using a tried/true system. Personally, I don't find Traveller all that crunchy in Mongoose 2e. But it is pretty close, so I am in the three-way tie level there, with slight nudges here and there in each system to rank them as medium to high-ish, like 1-10 scale stuff, make them run as CoC 6, C2020 5, and Trav2e 4. For reference, I consider Cinematic Uni at 2, D&D5e at 7, and so on.

I think DW is at 1. Heavily played here, though, so it's way past any learning curve.