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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 7877459" data-attributes="member: 6688937">hmmm....I guess I think like this: You have a system with flexible frameworks of dramatic "modes" instead of traditional attributes (even if you call them attributes). The other, more simulationist traits act only as minor bonuses and permission-granting. Thinking of  a system like MHRP powers...it really doesn't matter what the modes are, the power works the same way. Fate Accelerated could be tweaked to work the same way.So now, imagine, you have a character (pick one from fiction). First, ask yourself what attributes you would give him from....say the Wicked Age set, then do it again with the Fate Accelerated set. My thought is that its easier to "recast" dramatic attributes than it is to recast simulationist ones. Especially since they can work on the same abstract scale of affecting the story, rather than affecting the gameworld "physics".  You don't have to worry about inventing a "universal" Strength or Toughness scale that will include Inara from Firefly and the Hulk from Marvel without making either the difference between Inara and Jayne (also from Firefly) pointless or make the Hulk cost so much (whatever that will mean in the system) that he is an unstartable character.I think this is mostly right. But I think that tactical resolution systems are inherently limited in genre (although perhaps in an oddly specific way). You can rub the trappings serial numbers off and re-flavor them rather generically (your Savage Worlds power really doesn't care if its a fireball or a grenade), but the underlying tactical engine will always be relatively constant. That means that you are stuck with whatever genres that engine serves best (possibly limited to the way physical conflicts work in-genre). If you make one that features lots of close-in combat maneuvers and finely-grained movement and reactions...it groans a lot when you try to re-flavor it for gunfights or blaster battles, or try to include something like the Hulk.* Sure, many of those systems can kit-bash themselves to sorta work outside their normal modes....but there's always a bit of hammering on square pegs to get them into the round holes, or even re-working the genre to fit the existing engine (very common). IMO, this is proportional to the level of detail or resolution that the engine imparts. The better/best "universal" tactical engines are always the ones that are the least fine-grained. (Of course, if you're a hard-core simulationist, you might read that and wonder what the heck I'm talking about.)*Not that its an absolute impossibility, but there's a difference between when a system is "singing" and when its barely keeping up.</blockquote>

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