Thomas Shey
Legend
Some simply don't seem to think playstyle is a system dependent thing. One doesn't have to agree with them there, but its clearly a view in some circles.
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From Bespoke to Universal: Let's Talk About TTRPG Systems and Themes
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Some simply don't seem to think playstyle is a system dependent thing. One doesn't have to agree with them there, but its clearly a view in some circles.
I don't think I have ever seen a claim about universal playstyles -- except maybe 5E (but it is implicit, rather than explicit). Most universal system focus on their ability to do genres.
payn
I don't believe in the no-win scenario
I was working on a 4E port to Mass effect years ago. Shields/armor down is bloodied and healing surges were medigel applications. The tactical nature of 4E fit well to the style of ME. I gave up because nobody wanted to play a ME RPG or 4E.I am baffled that such a person can be allowed to exist in this world. I can see hating what the game did to itself in games 2 and 3, but how can you hate Mass Effect 1? It's classic Trek-ian space-opera back when Bioware actually wrote good. And if you hate that I don't want to know you.
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But on a serious note --
I agree that most universal systems are only universal within their gamespace. Which is fine if you really like that gamespace and want to put different "skins" on it, or experience it in different genres. Just don't pretend that the system can actually do another gamespace just as well.
For example, I really enjoy the hyper-competent, hyper-dramatic characters that Fate tends to churn out and I'm happy to play that style in almost any genre, be it supers, steampunk, fantasy, modern-day spies, etc. I go in know I'm going to get "Fate, and you're spies" (or whatever) in the same way I'd go into a D&D game set in ancient Greece where it's "D&D, and we using the Greek mythology monster palette".
But I wanted to play a game set in ancient Greece where what matters is my attention to the concerns of the gods and we focus in on my virtues (rather than kill-monsters-take-stuff-level-up), then I've acknowledged that need to be a different gamespace from D&D. I need to bein the Agon gamespace or something designed to get me the feel I'm trying to get.
System Matters (tm).
I actually wrote and published a universal (in genre not playstyle) game called Other Worlds. Because it's a rules light, group worldbuilding, descriptor-driven style game, you can actually play it with some variety of styles because the tools are inherently in the group's hands. But I'm talking about the differences between narrativism vs genre sim, or cinematic vs grounded. It wouldn't be well suited to something that's meant to be more deadly or focused on resource-counting, for example.
Reminds me of the newish version of Aeon. The setting-/rulebook makes a big deal about how you can use it for all sorts of science-fiction stories and how the different regions are intended for different things: Future Crime or Social SF in Australia, Post-apocalypse or military in former France, Cyberpunk or political intrigue in the FSA, and so on. But there's little in the game that actually promotes that kind of thing in those places, and the setting material is a little too sparse to do anything with without expanding a lot on it yourself.
I know I've seen the lead developer talk it up online about how flexible it is and how you can do "any science-fiction story" in it, but I'd rather have a game that does one type of story well.
On the other end of the scale, there's FFG's Star Wars games. These are three different games, albeit using the same engine, that explore three different types of Star Wars games (civilians/lowlifes, rebels, and force mysticism). I know they got a lot of flak for it when they released them, but I think it was a pretty good idea because it let them focus in on what makes that particular type of game tick and adapt the engine to do that kind of thing.
Joshua Randall
Legend
I would play the naughty word out of that game since I love both ME and 4e.I was working on a 4E port to Mass effect years ago. Shields/armor down is bloodied and healing surges were medigel applications. The tactical nature of 4E fit well to the style of ME. I gave up because nobody wanted to play a ME RPG or 4E.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Yeah I considered a 4E variant but it seemed too much like hard work. I would absolutely have adored a 4E-rule Mass Effect if someone else made it though!I was working on a 4E port to Mass effect years ago. Shields/armor down is bloodied and healing surges were medigel applications. The tactical nature of 4E fit well to the style of ME. I gave up because nobody wanted to play a ME RPG or 4E.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Me and one of the other players who was a huge ME fan (who are also old, old friends of this guy) tried to like, get out of him what his problem with it is, but we've never been able to get anything really coherent, apart from like, he doesn't like some of the characters? But it's not even clear which ones. And he's a huge Star Trek fan and so on, especially DS9 which is the most similar to Mass Effect.I am baffled that such a person can be allowed to exist in this world. I can see hating what the game did to itself in games 2 and 3, but how can you hate Mass Effect 1? It's classic Trek-ian space-opera back when Bioware actually wrote good. And if you hate that I don't want to know you.
Our theory is that he somehow feels "outcompeted" by male Commander Shepard/Wrex/Grunt because they're all pretty close to the kind of characters he normally plays, but maybe kind of better at it?
payn
I don't believe in the no-win scenario
Interesting. When I feel my archetypes are outclassed, I tend to make those the new standard.
