While the system I made may be brutally geared towards high profile combat, I've run sessions with the system that have lasted 6+ hours and barely involved combat. I'm more the type of GM that likes to take a lot of time to build a complex and highly interactive storyline that makes combat feel important rather than gratuitous, so a system that focuses primarily on noncombat would be fun to play and easy for me to run.
Max Out RPG
Max Out is a universal role playing system with extremely aggressive character growth and totally unique skill trees with endless possibilities. It is a hack for AD&D 2nd edition and is any munchkins wet dream and nightmare combined. It will make combat faster and more powerful than ever. With Max Out no two characters will ever be alike again. Chances are they won't even be remotely similar after a few sessions. With Max Out cookie cutter is a thing of the past. Play one game of Max Out and you will never go back to regular AD&D again.
Foreword:
I used to run a Final Fantasy campaign with AD&D 2nd edition that took place in a campaign world which incorporated all of the squaresoft games. Since each game had its own system of combat and utilized different things (like materia, guardian spirits, summoning, ability points, items that used ability points) I had to come up with different ways that each system could be incorporated into AD&D. The campaign flourished and lasted for a long time, but there were a few blaring problems that existed. Due to tons of different abilities and factors, calculating damage would take a long time.
Calculators became the norm and combat slowed down tediously. For any game this can spell doom for an attempt at keeping a fast pace, and can whittle away suspension built by good story. Another problem was that it was difficult to determine just what new abilities would be gained after each level up. This would be very taxing for any game master trying to come up with different progressions on the fly. I became dedicated to solving these problems and creating a streamlined rpg hack that would incorporate every different unique character progression as well as make combat much quicker. Meanwhile, Rogue Galaxy for Playstation 2 was due to be released and I was desperate to create a new system and campaign. Thus Max Out was born.
Requirements:
The only things needed to play Max Out is 6 sided, 10 sided, and 20 sided dice, and basic understanding of the way AD&D works in second addition. A second edition players handbook would be ideal, but the only thing it is ever used for is bonuses gained from attributes, so a 3rd edition players handbook can be substituted.
Anyone who has never played AD&D before could easily start playing Max Out. While the spells and the modifiers for attributes in the players handbooks are used in my gaming group, it is possible to use many different styles of magic in the system, and attribute modifiers could easily be made up or copied from a web site. Once you know how to play Max Out you could easily play without any books. All you need is a knowledge of the system.