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"With great power comes great irresponsibility."

The nearest I had to this was playing a HeroQuest Glorantha game. If you know the Glorantha world, it's a place where heroic PCs are close to their gods and walk in their steps. At times they can 'heroquest' - in other words enter the foundational myths of their society, play out those myths by...

The original:

I have fond memories of playing the Victory Games Bond TTRPG in the '80s. Beautifully produced, though I wonder how the system would stand up to modern TTRPGs. One thing it didn't do well was gritty. It was action all the way.

"I'm gonna love him, and hug him, and pet him, and call him George!"

IIRC Wild Talents went for a similar level of grit as Aberrant. The system was a little too crunchy for my taste, but the book did have some great material on worldbuilding a supers setting and is recommended just for that material.

I didn't really run into dice pools until around 13 or 14 years ago. My issue has always been that they sound great on paper, and in principle, but don't pass the 'post-10pm-with-a-drink-inside' play test. They require just a teensy bit more brainpower and thought than some groups have...

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying had some really interesting things going for it. I particularly enjoyed ratings that were more based on how the character functioned (for example, solo, or in a team). However, I ran aground on the shoals of the dice pool mechanic. Perhaps this is a crossover with the...

In the board wargames hobby there was a noticable shift in the noughties away from heavier, more complex games, towards lighter games. And it was largely led by the oldsters, who were either constrained on time or on the energy they required to handle complex rules.

May angels speed your flight. However, I am too broken to follow.

Can player moods and needs change from session to session? Undoubtedly. Concedo. But surely they are not consistently inconsistent? Surely they trend towards a mean?

That's a good approach that works when everyone is at the same level. However, comicbook RPGs have always had the scaling problem of 'what if a street-level hero meets a cosmic-level villain?' The answer, of course, is: 'don't be dumb and do that, GM!' But in games attached to strong IP, like...

I think that's why I've shifted towards narrative systems like FATE and QuestWorlds. Where narrative is the goal, mechanical balance is actually far less of an issue. Aspects or keyword systems like these push players towards storytelling their way through conflicts rather than combat...

For me, the problem is less: 'can the points system create balanced characters?' I assume you can. It's more: 'can you herd your player-group of system-novices to a place where they have viable characters?' The complexity of points building, and the opacity of the system to those who are new to...

It's arguably out of the remit of this conversation, but I'm not sure I agree with this. The lack of perma-death can be freeing, in that I've seen players empowered to do exciting, mad, memorable things in service of the story, who would have been timid and trepid in a game with permadeath. But...

Though a class is an indicator of roleplaying needs, it's not necessarily an indicator of player type. You can be a Socialiser and a Fighter. You can be a Killer and a Cleric. Explorers and Achievers can be any class. I think there's a separation here between what the GM needs to deliver for the...

Is class really a solid indicator as to player type? Superficially, Bards map to Socialisers, but I wonder how often that mapping is true. Particularly if you have players who want to stretch themselves out of their comfort zone. I can imagine a Killer who wants to min-max a bard to dominate...

I can imagine Champions being the closest to notional balance. But it's still too much crunch for my old age. Just the thought of prepping villains to fight in Champions gives me hives. I guess when I was younger this was far less daunting. Oh, to have the vitality of youth, again! I really...

When I began playing TTRPGs in 1982 I was already aware there was an older group who'd already been playing for six or seven years, and were already veterans. I'm guessing those folks are already approaching care home age.