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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 7919301" data-attributes="member: 6779310">Not by most of the people over the last 40 years I've gamed with. They were modular - a campaign used specific book, not pick-and choose from the rules in those books. Which is why I ran a lot more Moldvay/Cook and Mentzer than AD&D1E. 2E claimed this in the text, but again, I haven't encountered many who played it that way; most who did seem to have had a binder elucidating the nasty snarl of rules they cribbed from elsewhere, and no one willing to play their "D&D"...A lot of it also seems to be that more players are less "social outliers" than in the past; the hobby still isn't mainstream, but at least isn't instant social pariah for gaming.Sounds like you weren't the one being bullied in the 'hood. "Is my sister pretty?" from a black kid to a white one in a black neighborhood was an intentional mine placed before the white kid, so as to excuse the beating of the white kid when asked what triggered the fight...  My childhood included a lot of running from bullies because I couldn't navigate the 1970's ethnic violence triggering social minefield. Not always true. Many a GM said, "If it's on your sheet, it counts"... and so if you chose not to play the angry, you got docked a chunk session XP. But if you played it, you got a bonus chunk. So, while it's entirely your choice to add that or not, the GM is (at least in AD&D onward) entitled to enforce it with XP awards/penalties.Even the rules of both SOTC and Fate Core make it painfully clear: Only put things into your aspects that you want to come up in play. Many of the people claiming to dislike it after playing it cite reasons that are explicitly against the RAW, so it's clear they haven't played the game as written.I'm not a preacher of it as the Überspiel... it's good, and it works well at pushing the character drama...... but I think Mouse Guard, Burning Wheel, and Modiphius' STA do better at that. (I may dislike STA's buying more dice, and next I run it, that goes away... but other than that, the system does make beliefs and goals both important and able to be required to be changed.I've found that many powergamers can thrive in Fate. Once they realize what's happening mechanically, they can be very, very effective. I know, because that's how I approach Fate as a player! Getting the stubborn powergamer to actually try it, however...Oh, and as of Fate Core, its Title Case, not all caps.It's not hard to use Fate to do a strong GM driven story... provided all you plot out are the encounters, not how they should end... For example, plan the encounter where the Camel Dealer has the information they need. He's got his aspects... and the players interact with him to get the information... but the GM plans for the 4-5 most common ways... and makes note of who later will be affected by various approaches. Beat it out of  him? NPC 13 is going to have a grudge against the PCs. Bribe him? NCP 12 changes his Nth aspect to "I can be bought, too!"...Lion Rampant published Ars Magica in 87, and it's chock full of Marc Rein•Hagan's story-first mentality.It's secret until the players find out about it. If the exemplar mentor turned werewolf disappeared without the characters' knowing why, and then find out the new werewolf is the mentor... it was a secret bit of backstory - the why and where - which may be based upon the player having chosen to have lost touch with the old mentor, leaving the GM room to push buttons and make decisions about backstory...</blockquote>

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