mearls said:Here's a simple test:
Name a "rules lite" RPG that remained in print and actively supported by a publisher for more than 5 years.
I think only Amber (a completely genius design, BTW) meets this criteria.
In the current marketplace, I can't think of a single rules light game that's thriving. What I think is interesting, and this ties in Ryan's point that people *want* rules lite gaming to succeed, is that I suspect a lot of people think a game is rules lite when it's not.
What's even more interesting is that if you look at the industry over the past 30+ years, only rules heavy games have found and sustained audiences. Amber is perhaps the only exception I can think of (and again, that's a genius design).
Except that the issue raised by the original quote wasn't "Do rules light rpgs sell better than rules heavy rpg?"
That isn't much of an issue to the actual players of the games in question.