What mechanics or subsystems do you use regardless of the game you are running/playing?

[aramis erak]

How so?

Because the rules are the basis for understanding how the setting differs from reality,

 

[VHawkwinter]

Do you have a favorite mechanic or subsystem that you port into most or all of the games you run (or play, but this is usually a GM level decision).

Do you have a mechanic you like that you import most or all of the time?

I made a homebrewed replacement for D&D alignment inspired by the old White Wolf personality traits and one of the psychological test + severe selfishness & severe selflessness that profiles a person's morality relative to the rest of the population on a number of axes that quantify moral values by type, though I simplified it to just a sort of +X, 0, -X granularity, and customised it a bit.

Anyway, I find it a useful way to sum up the values of an NPC, and I have found it a useful reminder to players (and me as the GM) what the PCs values are, if we miss a couple sessions, so we don't just slip into playing ourselves.

No mechanical impact, and yet, still useful.

 

[Li Shenron]

Do you have a mechanic you like that you import most or all of the time?

Not a mechanic as such, but rather a couple of "house rules" that are beyond the system:

- PC death is always negotiable between player and DM (e.g. traded for a penalty or another condition/outcome)

- PvP is not allowed by default, unless everyone at the table agrees

 

[DEFCON 1]

During character creation for any game that doesn't already have something similar, I give everyone the Hubris table from 7th Sea 1st edition so that everyone can select their one "fatal flaw" for their character that they can easily play. I have found that when players have a single "character problem" they always have at hand (like Greedy, Inattentive, Reckless, Trusting, Hedonistic etc)... it makes it simpler for them to really play different types of characters with different attitudes. The one Hubris colors all of their actions and interactions.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Less often but still regularly, I import the Warmachine and Domain Management systems from the BECMI rules into all forms of D&D and most D&D adjacent games, since they are effectively bolt-on.

I have used and am using worldbuilding mechanics from the ...Without Number series and ACKS II in my Level Up game. Did that yesterday in fact. I expect I would do the same in any game I run; it's really good stuff.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because the rules are the basis for understanding how the setting differs from reality,

Not for me. The setting description and worldbuilding details are the basis for that understanding. The job of the mechanics IMO is to explain how that translates to something we can play.

 

[Scott Christian]

This thread is a little mind blowing to me. I find it incredible that people seem to fall in love with a mechanic, and like a security blanket, can't play without it. And I don't mean that negatively. We all have things we love from different games.

But it's just, well, there is a bit of an assumption that you are the one that knows how to make the game - even more so than the designer. I am curious, who uses these subsystems prior to actually trying out the game as written? (Maybe my premise is wrong. Maybe people try the system, decide it needs X or Y, and then it just so happens that is the same X or Y that was needed in a different system. That could be, but if it is, it isn't clear in the replies.)

 

[Reynard]

This thread is a little mind blowing to me. I find it incredible that people seem to fall in love with a mechanic, and like a security blanket, can't play without it. And I don't mean that negatively. We all have things we love from different games.

But it's just, well, there is a bit of an assumption that you are the one that knows how to make the game - even more so than the designer. I am curious, who uses these subsystems prior to actually trying out the game as written? (Maybe my premise is wrong. Maybe people try the system, decide it needs X or Y, and then it just so happens that is the same X or Y that was needed in a different system. That could be, but if it is, it isn't clear in the replies.)

RPGs are and have always been rooted in DIY. Game masters are, if not designers, basically modders. It should not come as a surprise that they mix and match subsystems and house rule stuff. And that is the path to "actual design" (whatever that means). Scolding folks for not doing what the designer tells them to feels a little like an appeal to authority and a little tone deaf.

 

[Scott Christian]

RPGs are and have always been rooted in DIY. Game masters are, if not designers, basically modders. It should not come as a surprise that they mix and match subsystems and house rule stuff. And that is the path to "actual design" (whatever that means). Scolding folks for not doing what the designer tells them to feels a little like an appeal to authority and a little tone deaf.

I am not "scolding folks" as you put it. I am asking if they do this prior to actually playing the game first, to see how the intended mechanics played out? Or are they assuming their subsystem works better regardless of the mechanical base for the game? That seems like a legitimate question to me, especially considering the thread is asking about game design.

 

[Reynard]

I am not "scolding folks" as you put it. I am asking if they do this prior to actually playing the game first, to see how the intended mechanics played out? Or are they assuming their subsystem works better regardless of the mechanical base for the game? That seems like a legitimate question to me, especially considering the thread is asking about game design.

I am a proponent of playing a game as written at least initially. However,not all games have all the subsystems one wants. If I know I want to include domain management in my Shadowdark campaign, there is not a domain management system in that game. I have to bring in one I like. Or, as we see often, if I am going to run Shadowdark for kids, I am very likely to need to change the way carousing works for it to be appropriate for my players. These are not cases of "knowing better than the designer" -- these are cases of needing something the designer left out.

In any case, we should not exalt the designer. TTRPG design is as much art as science and is driven by preference as much or more than by math. Like I said, I generally believe it is a good idea to play games as written first, but I am also not going to fault someone who decides to use, say, popcorn initiative in Shadowdark because they know that works for their group.