tooley1chris

Attract attention may be an innate natural spell like ability of that lil one! 

I think it's naive to believe there's a single system "to rule them all". It would have to be mechanics free with complete customizability. What I think is beautiful others will find either too crunchy or not crunchy enough. Round and round we go.

Grab a system comparable to what YOU want, house rule and adapt as you see fit, shaken not stirred, enjoy.

What people are upset about (IMO) is actually finding and loving THAT system only to find support for it is lacking, non-existent, or recently pulled out from under them.

Their "soul mate" has found another love and all they (we) can do is think "WTF is so great about this other person? Oh...they make more money."

I always make charisma rolls against a different species a difficult roll as well as social skills if the races are opposed. 

Since the dawn of roleplaying  (at least for me) my players have always used this as a dump stat. You'll see the same stories on a multitude of forums. I've ALWAYS put a value on all characteristics in my games. Now that being said my players are just as likely to slap someone as try to negotiate with them so it's not always easy to give Charisma a solid chance. If you WANT Charisma to be a used characteristic then make it more important in your games. Give the character with the highest a love interest (who is actually beneficial), or some charmed hireling who decides to help the party just to be close to the charismatic character. Let them negotiate lower prices when trying to buy/sell goods. Have people buy the character with higher charisma a meal or drink at the tavern. But it's important not to leave other players out because they dumped Charisma. Play on everyones strengths and weaknesses. Only you, the chronicler, can give value to aspects of a character. 

I have much the same story as you. Played D&D since the late 70s. Made my way through more systems than I care to remember. Was never quite happy with anything I tried.

A few years ago I decided to design my own system and set to work. Came up with a good core rule set. Cruising other forums for advice, someone told me I was reinventing BRP, which I never even heard of. I found Trifletraxors wonderful site here and have been quite happy since. Hopefully you have the same success!

When I can't meet face to face I get my RP fix doing PbP here:

http://www.unseenservant.us/forum/index.php

As far as I know I'm the only one running BRP games currently but you could start one.

Your frustration is understandable and even justified (IMO).

As one of those here who actively hope for the Chroniclers Companion I can say I was a bit depressed to see the "riding off into the sunset" posts as well. It even got me thinking, like you, about other systems. That and the stunning lack of viable news concerning the system I've been in a short term love affair with has me frustrated. It's like I found my soul mate and a couple months into the relationship I find out she's seeing someone who makes more money. (And has a squid face)

"It's still early." I keep telling myself. "Restructuring an entire company takes time, much less absorbing and combining two."

But then, as I said above, the lack of ANY news has me wondering if my hopes are misplaced. I "hope" not...