mhacdebhandia
Explorer
I will quote Mike Mearls from his LiveJournalhttp://www.livejournal.com/users/mearls/14412.html almost precisely two years ago, in a manner which I hope will answer the questions about the way he's presenting his game:
I think specific trumps generic every time.
I happen to strongly agree with him. I don't think Iron Lore should make any rules concessions to those interested in playing a game of political intrigue, because that's not what the game is for.Simply put, the more you do to drive away people who won't like your game's play style, the better your design will function.
It's a very simple idea. If I'm designing a car, I should design it with people who want to drive in mind. I don't ask people who hate cars what I can do to make my car more appealing to them. The same thing goes for all aspects of building an RPG. Pick your target play style, then build rules to support that . . .
. . . Character creation should ram certain options down players' throats, whether they like it or not. If you pick the right options to force on people, the only folks who won't like your design are the ones who wouldn't like it anyway.
I think specific trumps generic every time.