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Agree strongly. In fact I really like (and subscribe to) Rascal because when I disagree with them I know why and appreciate why they think the way they do. Plus they really do great coverage of Indie games.

Nice article. I have run games using several systems for younger players, and this was the trickiest thing for them. Traditional RPGs define a character, essentially, in terms of what they can do - skills. But players don't think of their characters as "what actions they can take"; they think...

THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION, Patrick O'Brian, for Napoleonic ship warfare shenanigans. RED SIDE STORY, Jasper Fforde, which I should have read a long time ago, but lent to a friend. RESPONSIBLE GRACE, Randy Maddox, for a dose of Wesleyan theology (likely an acquired taste)

This seems D&D (or other combat-focused games) specific. I could state equally well: Gumshoe: I think the reason dice work well for investigation is because it involves so many rolls, so there's excitement around the ebb and flow, and there are ways for players to react and adjust, and...

Yeah, that doesn't seem like a recipe for a fun session. I'd expect a toughness of more like 5 or 6; you should be able to wound a non-wild card opponent without requiring a raise.

SW isn't my favorite system, but my experience has been that combats are pretty fast. If players are spending all their time looking up rules, my suggestion would be just to start off with simple characters using just one book. When I run a game in any system, I try hard to make it so the...

Very much so. I am involved in a number of Generative AI projects in Healthcare (this is one of them), but most of the systems labeled as "AI" use rule-based models, neural nets, or other what I am now referring to as "traditional ML" models. Part of my work is to review incoming technology...

Yup, that is also my experience. I used a system for Fate that had a few simple rules for magic Create an aspect for yourself that is supernatural; it should be at about the “street level” power ability. As for any aspect, it is then a fact and all logical consequences follow from it Each...

I think we have all converged on generally saying "yes" when the rules give the GM latitude to do so as being the normal way most people play when they have a group that trusts and works well together. I can't think of any time in the last few campaigns I've straight up said "no" to anything. It...

I have no interest in playing the “my special definition of a common word is the only one I’ll consider valid” game. This is a common English word with a meaning that everyone else, for example, @pemerton and @Thomas Shey, seem to have no problem with. Permission means "the consent of a person...

Although that is one style of play — always asking permission, it’s not the only way people interact with the world — and in fact some games specifically state that it’s not the way they want to work. Another way players can interact is to state their desired outcome, rather than just asking a...

Basically, the same. I might term them as passive and active permission: In most games the GM gives passive permission to take action based on established fiction, and the players only need active permission when they are unsure if an action is reasonable. The GM may also override the passive...

The latest edition is much more self-contained. I haven’t given it a play yet, but the 2024 version has a lot of options, and has made a big effort to make them work together. It’s one of the most dense books with the highest ratio of rules-to-fluff that I’ve read (and I’ve run campaigns in a...

Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium) can, and it is definitely in the camp of providing many, many options for you to choose from. It’s much like GURPS in that respect, but I find it cleaner and much more consistent. The single volume currently available which contains specific systems for all the above...

Well, of course, it doesn’t. That’s one problem. A second is that having everything is not good if you don’t need most of it. A third is that a generic system still imposes its style on the game and that style may be a poor fit. This argument has been made many times in the group over the...

You really cannot understand that having to make a thousand decisions about what to include and what not to include, understanding how they interact and will affect your game play is not what everyone likes? Really? Power level is the least of my concerns. M&M is a fine choice for 4-color older...

Yup, I'm in this boat also. The all-encompassing generic games -- Savage Worlds, d20, GURPS, Heroes, etc -- they contain too much that is not useful to my game or actively unhelpful. The only generic system I really run now is FATE -- mostly because it's so minimal you really need a world-book...

That is not the premise of this thread. If you re-read it, they specifically say that the GM gives up any hint of control including "using die rolls or negotiation to craft play"

Examples of GM's saying no to the player's request to sneak into the wizard's tower: "You are spotted. Roll initiative" "The wizard has an alarm spell. You fail to sneak in" "The wizard has a lookout familiar with the aspect watchful and so spots you" "Roll skill vs the lookout familiar's skill...

Since traditional games have the basic principle that if there is any doubt as to the result of an action, you roll dice, this doesn't seem much of a difference -- and because the GM sets the difficulty, the GM can use that effectively to say yes or no. So if rolls can override a player's...