I want smaller, leaner core books.

[Argyle King]

And yet the success of an RPG is nearly always measured by the number of supplements it has.

Is that real irony, or Morrissette irony?

My guess/thoughts?

Restaurants still flourish, despite the plethora of food available at a grocery store.

Part of it may also be that an algebra text book makes for a rather boring game (for most people).

 

[Reynard]

no argument it is pure Irony

Like rain on your wedding day...

 

[pemerton]

And yet the success of an RPG is nearly always measured by the number of supplements it has.

Is that real irony, or Morrissette irony?

Neither. It just shows that - like most other areas of popular culture - most fans internalise the commercial measures of success that publishers adopt.

This is obviously in the interests of publishers, who make money by selling those supplements!

 

[PsyzhranV2]

But some games (like Apocalypse World) come up with good frameworks that I wouldn't have.

This

 

[Jd Smith1]

Part of it may also be that an algebra text book makes for a rather boring game (for most people).

I've been gaming since '79, and I've yet to find a RPG other than Sword's Path: Glory that remotely came close to that comparison.

From this thread, a disconnect seems to be between people who like to read RPG books, but play very little or not at all, as compared to people who see the books as rules for a game that is actively played (the board game comparison).

The artistic versus the practical.

 

[Mistwell]

I can only assume I skimmed and missed it. My apologies.

No worries. Thank you for the apology.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Well that depends on how many splat books are gonna be made after?

 

[aramis erak]

Savage Worlds is also very short.

You have a curious definition of short...
SWADE is 211 6.75x10" pages counting covers.
1E was 146 letter sized pages, counting covers.

 

[Neonchameleon]

And yet the success of an RPG is nearly always measured by the number of supplements it has.

Is that real irony, or Morrissette irony?

It's capitalism and I'm not even joking. The success of something under capitalism is measured by how much money it makes - and to make money you want to sell a lot of stuff. Also to get mindshare and media buzz you want there to be continual new stuff to remind you of $thing

 

[TwoSix]

From this thread, a disconnect seems to be between people who like to read RPG books, but play very little or not at all, as compared to people who see the books as rules for a game that is actively played (the board game comparison).

The artistic versus the practical.

Or I think even more commonly, that disconnect happens within the same individual. There are game books that I love that I've never gotten the chance to play, or not play often, and I love them despite recognizing that they're a chore to actually reference during play. (90s era White Wolf comes to mind here.)

I think game books can get away with being tightly constrained in their presentation when they're doing a new spin on a well-worn style of play (like a lot of fantasy heartbreakers); that approach doesn't work as well if they're trying to build up a whole new setting or type of play whole cloth.