It's been a bit, so let's do another round.
Ars Magica - Troupe Play - Got a character goblin in your group? What about someone who likes to ham up characters? Boy does Ars Magica have you covered. Everybody in the game is expected to have several characters. First, they have their primary character, their Mage. This is the character that has the most overall impact on the world, but often won't be on a given adventure. Sure, you may have gone to the Pheonix Flame Cavern to recover a drop of liquid sunshine, but you can't just handwave away your research that needed it. That takes time, and your mage will need to study it. This brings us to the Companion. Your companion shouldn't be tied to your Magus, because you can't play both at once. Instead, you bring them on an adventure with another player's Mage. It's great. These have stats, and advance and progress just like a Mage, but usually with lower build points. The third type are Grogs, which are your minor of the minor NPCs: soldiers, grunts, random librarians, tavern patrons... and you can have your players fulfill these roles on the spot for each other.
Armour Astir Advent - B-Plot - I love the idea of splitting the party. The idea that you can accomplish two tasks at once. Clearly, one will be the "main" focus of the action, so mechanizing and empowering people in the B-Plot is so cool. Having classes that thrive in this sort of support role owns too. A negotiator can be advancing the group's cause in the B-Plot while the A-Plot involves some huge battle. The people in the B-Plot can even complicate things for themselves to provide a bonus to a party member. It's like the thing in a show where the main character does something heroic, or starts to even out a fight, and then we cut to like, a questioning or interrogation of another character.
Technoir - Adjectives-as-Damage - I thought about doing Transmissions, because they make it super easy to do single standalone adventures, but the core mechanic of Technoir has stuck with me ever since I learned about it. Instead of inflicting points of damage, you put Adjectives on enemies (and also get them applied to you) that are either positive or negative, and either Fleeting (fades after an action is spent to clear it), Sticky (Needs assistance to clear), or Locked (needs significant effort to clear). It makes scenes feel dynamic and can really change up the narrative.
Cyborgs and Cigarettes - The Vibe - Short and sweet, 1920s prohibition noir mixed with cybernetics? Fuck yes.
Star Trek Adventures - Lifepath Character Creation - You have a 7 step process to make your character, with each step conferring benefits to your character: Species, Environment (type of world you were raised on), Upbringing, Academy Education Track, Career Length So Far (mainly helps paint how seasoned you are, confers the same quantity of benefits), Career Events (Even as a rookie, something has happened to you as part of training or interning or whatever), and Finishing Touches. Seems like a fun way to build your character from the ground up. Even if you do it mechanically, you can end up with a character with a more fleshed out history. (1. Denobulan, 2. Another Species World, 3. Agriculture or Rural, 4. Operations Track, 5. Young Officer, 6. Special Commendation and Required to Take Command, 7. Name (Anari [first entry on name list]), Ensign Flight Controller). Even just taking randomly rolled things, until step 7, gives me a good idea of what this character Is.
Hard Wired Island - Prep - I love how they implement Prep as a resource. You do your mission prep and get Prep asset. You spend it in the mission to negate penalties, activate certain items, or gain certain benefits. You were prepared for this, you had an angle if shit went sideways. It's cool.
These are always fun. It's fun to zero in on what you really dig about a game.