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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6534488" data-attributes="member: 6696971">The whole post is 100 % on the money as an encapsulation of my posts and regarding the position I take here.I rarely speak of PC build complexity, or anything of the like, when I speak of my GMing preferences.  If I advocate in that arena, it is (a) solely for the players' preferences for which I GM and (b) because certain PC build features tightly focus genre or thematic interests and, as a result, naturally funnel play toward what we're interested in.  I'm not a fan of complex or vague rules GM-side.  I'd like to offload all of the mental overhead that I'm not interested in (which therefore distracts me from honing in on the things I want to spend all of my mental acuity on so that it produces the best game experience) onto the system.  In all the systems that I've read and played, I've only seen that accomplished through focused, clear GMing advice on best practices and robust action resolution mechanics that, together, always lead to interesting and dramatic outcomes.  I've said many-times-over that I don't want to be too heavily steeped in the action resolution mechanics, from management to interpretation.  Needlessly complex systems or systems that regularly require the interpretation of the resolution mechanics (and the things that interface with them) proportionally affect table handling time, the mental overhead I have to spend on them, and place me in a position where my interests are at conflict.  (1) Being a fan of the PCs (2) while aiming for a conflict-charged game that produces dramatic outcomes, (3) while simultaneously attempting to maintain the status of an impartial arbiter becomes untenable at some point when you are constantly involved in the nuts and bolts of the game's resolution mechanics. You'll get no disagreement from me on this.  In fact, you'll get agreement with me on this in every aspect of life.  However, where I'm coming from is that it must be supplementary to, not a replacement for, focused, clear GMing advice.  Best practices on how to achieve said fun.  What target the game or a specific system component or technique is aiming for. Copious designer notes (a la 13th Age) on their intent behind this or that and what it is supposed to produce in play.In other words, a strong, clear voice.  Or strong, clear voices (again, like 13th Age where Tweet and Heinsoo humorously joust back and forth on various things).</blockquote>

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