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I'm with BRP or Unisystem Lite on this. Give me the basic skeleton, one flexible enough I can adapt it as necessary, and I am happy. Give me too much and it is cumbersome and it imposes on my freedom of action. The best game systems get out of the way.

Surely if they can kidnap him they could steal him some tools?

I'm not saying your wrong, I'm just explaining why I think you have what I consider a faulty expectation. It's like expecting a cat to bark like a dog. It'll never track. I guess I just don't understand where you developed this idea, and why you persist in holding to it. If it's preventing you...

I guess what I am saying is that "but the rules don't simulate the world!" is a false contradiction. That isn't what gameplay is for, and the rules are for gameplay. Again, let me use Call of Duty 4 as my worked example. It is set in the real world, using real weapons. The characters are...

What...what....if it is all of the above? What if RPGs are about playing a character in a consistent world, a tactical game, and an exercise in storytelling? What if a game has to support all three? Also, I am officially declaring an moratorium on the statement "joint storytelling then I don't...

Feng Shui left it up to the PCs, as I recall, since it makes little difference to combat and it allows them to be merciful, save some for interrogation, etc. "Minion" isn't about power level, it's about dramatic heft. If you grab a minion, make the DM think of a name, and keep it around for a...

11, I think.

"They've got 'em hooked into your flesh and poking back out through a rib- it hurts, and when they pull you have no choice but to move with them or your whole ribcage will crack." (healing surge) "It hurts, and the wound leaves terrible scars- but it is mostly muscle, fat and chipped bone. It...

The trick with Traveller chargen is to treat it as a game in and of itself. Kind of a minigame. It's why making Traveller characters is fun all by itself, even without the prospect of using them. Like most random chargen systems, it helps to not go into it with a clear idea of what you want...

Until someone explodes and has to sit out two hours of game time...which is something I'm normally not prepared to accept. Half hour, tops, for character creation, and that's for someone who has to flip through the book. I can make a Cthulhu character in a matter of minutes, which is my...

I sort of agree with you overall, but what's stopping them from asking? Or, Players: "Hey, we expected to be able to heal these guys." DM: "Oh, technically you can't do that. But that's unfair to you guys, so go ahead. Just remember in the future- no healing." Player: "But wait, if we could...

It's too heavy. Character creation is a chore, campaign design is an even larger chore, and combat- even Lite combat- is not only too complicated but needlessly detailed. I like my games light and fast. Which isn't to say I don't like GURPS. I actually don't mind the system. But the problem...

GURPS is the pinnacle of simulationist systems. I've always wanted to love it, but the poor gal can't accept I only love her for her sourcebooks and not her system and so we fight all the time. They even have these "Dungeon Fantasy" books designed to emulate old-school D&D.

I agree wholeheartedly, though I'd add in a caveat about not necessarily being special or unique, but being in a special or unique situation is also fine. Call of Cthulhu is, after all, my favorite game. There none of the Investigators are anything special- I mean one might be a particularly...

I think people exaggerate the goal of the "Points of Light" setting. The goal is not a Monster Apocalypse, with a horde surrounding every settlement. The goal is uncertainty. Yes, you know there's a village up on top of that mountain. The last time anyone from your village went up there to...

Disagree with all the fiber of my being.

Real people don't have players. It isn't the character deciding he gets an Eagle, it's the player deciding his character gets an Eagle. Ultimately it's a pure gameplay thing. Playability trumps all other considerations, after all.

Yeah, GUMSHOE is designed with that very problem in mind. I run a lot of investigative games, and so I always prepared multiple trails of clues to get to the final confrontation, but in a poorly designed published scenario or with a GM who doesn't know how to run a mystery game, it can be a problem.

I'm not saying it is a problem! I am saying no one should complain their dog cannot shoot laser beams from its eyes, because that is not part of the "dog package", it wasn't what Canines of the Coast intended from their "dog" model. I am saying that whenever one these previews shows up, people...

Yes. There is a fundamental difference between house ruling to customize a game to particular tastes and house ruling to fix an inability of the game to achieve its default gameplay goals. It's kind of like the difference between taking your dog to the vet because the dog is sick, and taking...