I keep thinking of new ways to improve RPG's, but I think a great deal of the changes depend on what the game is about... or not. The D20 system and the Gurps system were based upon the idea that they could be applied to any format. Yet, Mutants and Masterminds (Or whatever their Superhero D20 game is called) has a drastically different format than D&D. If you're going to make a generic system, it needs to be generic and it needs to treat similar skills in a similar fashion (so superpowers would be treated maybe like spells that were always turned on - or could be turned on and off at a moment's thought). And spells would just be fantastic skills the magically inclined people could learn - like creating and throwing a fireball.

But this all comes back to my original question, what's it all about? Even in a universe as fantastic as Star Trek, there are millions of different games possible. What if someone were to take a Gurps type approach to a universe as wild and diverse as Heinlein's? In other words, supplements to a basic game that enhance the whole game - not just one part of it. Then you would need a universe that was pretty diverse. I've always believed that everything in the TAC universe was related, even if I couldn't always make the connection. So Mudpie and Fritz Jordan and The Thin Line all co-exist - even if on different timelines. This might be a good starting point for focusing our attention on the gaming system.

Its far easier to recreate some scenario as a game, than to just talk generically about gaming. If not TAC, then what will our scenario be? I'm open to suggestions.