I was working on another post and decided to section this off from it.  Here is an overview on RP systems in general that will show up in most my system reviews from now on.

The basic ways of enjoying any RPG system can be broken down to a few groups.  Character Creation, Combat, Social and Story.  While each of these is dependent on the players who use the system, the game is amplified or degraded by Complexity and System Mechanics.

Character Creation is usually the first step in learning a system as well as one that impacts your game play overall.  Some systems keep this simple so players can move on to the story and action.  Others will have more complex setups that give a player more options and specifics that can help flesh out a character.  Neither are a bad thing but they impact the simple joy of creating your alter ego.

Combat is one of the two situations games really boil down to.  Each system has a multitude of rules on how to handle this and it can be as complex as you make it.  While the basic bashing of enemies can be fun, it can grow old fast.  Creativity will help bring more interest to Combat as players are given challenges along with an enemy to defeat.  While Story will give weight to your actions within the combat and the results afterward.

Social is the other half of the game that can either fill in the gaps between combat or be its own beast.  Even in the most combat heavy games there will still be some need for speech between people.  While a lot of bad situations can be avoided with a few choice words.  But besides being a necessity, this can bring about fun situations as much as combat can.

Story is more controlled by the Story Teller (Dungeon Master or whatever) though players will help fill in the loose details.  It is almost self explanatory, a story is the chain of events and connections that keeps your players going in the game.  The importance of the story might not matter as much as the game play itself but it is one of the main joys of it.  While smashing in heads or talking someone off a cliff can be fun, its even more so when your bashing in the skull of your arch nemesis or tricking that enemy to do your bidding instead of killing you.

Complexity is more involved with each of the four main factors.  While simplicity can keep a game running smooth without problems, it also doesn’t present as much of a challenge.  Though too much can just be frustrating instead of interesting.

Game Mechanics comes down to how many dice do you roll, of what type and what the numbers mean.  A d20 system uses a multitude of different dice and numbered mechanics for skills and abilities.  It can also involve alternate rules, special abilities and more.  This can create Complexity in a game and will impact the underlying story and play.