Had the idea to do something similar with my group, then rejected the idea because I feared that this would become annoying for them over time. Did the chicken work out long-term at your table without causing annoyance?
My initial thoughts when posting the OP were something like "When the decision against a male antagonist is made, there's a higher probability of the baddie also having a more original motivation." However, others have rightly said that just changing the gender of male BBEGs already gives opportunity for some great ideas inspired by such thought experiments. And my general idea when writing the OP isn't too valid, either. Should have been less fixated on gender and more straightforward that what I'm looking for are unique personalities and original motivations of antagonists unlike the classics money, power, dogma.
Sometimes the simplest solution is the best... Actually didn't think of just changing their gender, thanks!
Also yeah, my head's must have been REALLY empty yesterday, 'cause of course I know the Dathomir witches, Hela and some others mentioned in other comments. Just didn't come to mind when I sat down, don't know why
Not-thought-through 1 Minute Solution #2: Using the one higher die for Martial Arts from the class table (always d6 instead of d4, d8 instead of d6 etc.)
Thank you very much for your replies! After some more research based on what you've told me, I'll settle with Worlds Without Number and keep Genesys and Mini Six as back-up plans.
I got the free version of WWN today as other reviews I've read gave a very positive impression. But it appears quite focused on one setting, do you think it's adaptable to other scenarios without too much work? (aside from Stars Without Number, of course)
Apart from that, Freeform Universal also wandered into the top tier of the original list after some more research.
I've looked up further reviews, and this one sounds really interesting, especially the way players set up their characters' abilities. However, there were some mentions about more or less frequent discussion of rulings during play that could take up some time. Does that match your experience? Was there a certain aspect of play that left especially much uncertainty rules-wise?
Do Old School Essentials and Worlds Without Number also work for long-term campaigns if that wish should arise?
PbtA seems to be too general to be usable without a lot of effort (as others have pointed out); I've read some more about The Black Hack and that probably won't click with me, too. The list's getting shorter, nice!
I don't mind game-specific dice.
Without having read the actual rules of it, Ironsworn's vow mechanic seems like a double-edged sword to me. Seems to encourage RP and progress, but also sounds like it makes any side-track activity pointless. Am I getting something wrong?
Also, is an Ironsworn game over once the PCs' vows are fulfilled? (It would be cool to have a system that makes longer campaigns possible. I'll add that to the original post.)
Sounds great! By mass battles, do you mean larger monster groups of like 20-100 entities or actually entire armies?
I'll stick to fantasy for the most part like you said, but it's good to have a system that's generally adaptable to different settings. Does the Pathfinder version run on Pathfinder rules, too, and if so, can it be used for the Savage Worlds rule system instead?
Had the idea to do something similar with my group, then rejected the idea because I feared that this would become annoying for them over time. Did the chicken work out long-term at your table without causing annoyance?