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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7915705" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I agree with you mostly. I don't think that the introduction of ANY RULE means that the players will employ that rule. They may employ it, they may adjust it, they may discard it. So the intro of ANY RULE means that it needs to be addressed in some way. Such as my table deciding that Encumbrance can go take a poo.I think it's about how that rule may fit into the system. To go back to the Gear/Load system in Blades in the Dark....although it's a great mechanic, it can't simply be bolted onto D&amp;D in favor of encumbrance. It requires some of the elements of Blades to work....most specifically, phases of play divided to &quot;Downtime&quot; and &quot;The Score&quot;. So unless you also want to make a similar distinction in D&amp;D....like maybe &quot;In Town&quot; and &quot;Delving&quot; or similar, then it simply wouldn't work as intended. And yes, I agree with you that having rules can constrain choice. I don't know that it always must do so, but I agree that it certainly can. That's where the elegance comes in. Is the rule worth it? Does it enhance play? Or does it get in the way of or restrict play? Chances are it may do a bit of both. Are any drawbacks sufficiently offset by what's gained? Or is what's gained worth dealing with the drawback?To bring this back to the OP.....I think that any system that lacks mechanics that support the character driven style of play would be a &quot;con&quot; so to speak. It's a weakness of that game as it relates to this goal. So if someone said &quot;I'd like to play a RPG that is more character focused than adventure focused&quot;, which response would be better: &quot;Here's a game that has tools that will help you create character focused play.&quot; OR&quot;Here's a game that has no such tools. But it doesn't really have any obstacles if you want to kind of do it on your own while you play.&quot;Obviously, based on the differing stances in this thread, there's no right answer.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 7915705, member: 6785785"] I agree with you mostly. I don't think that the introduction of ANY RULE means that the players will employ that rule. They may employ it, they may adjust it, they may discard it. So the intro of ANY RULE means that it needs to be addressed in some way. Such as my table deciding that Encumbrance can go take a poo. I think it's about how that rule may fit into the system. To go back to the Gear/Load system in Blades in the Dark....although it's a great mechanic, it can't simply be bolted onto D&D in favor of encumbrance. It requires some of the elements of Blades to work....most specifically, phases of play divided to "Downtime" and "The Score". So unless you also want to make a similar distinction in D&D....like maybe "In Town" and "Delving" or similar, then it simply wouldn't work as intended. And yes, I agree with you that having rules can constrain choice. I don't know that it always must do so, but I agree that it certainly can. That's where the elegance comes in. Is the rule worth it? Does it enhance play? Or does it get in the way of or restrict play? Chances are it may do a bit of both. Are any drawbacks sufficiently offset by what's gained? Or is what's gained worth dealing with the drawback? To bring this back to the OP.....I think that any system that lacks mechanics that support the character driven style of play would be a "con" so to speak. It's a weakness of that game as it relates to this goal. So if someone said "I'd like to play a RPG that is more character focused than adventure focused", which response would be better: "Here's a game that has tools that will help you create character focused play." OR "Here's a game that has no such tools. But it doesn't really have any obstacles if you want to kind of do it on your own while you play." Obviously, based on the differing stances in this thread, there's no right answer. [/QUOTE]

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