Crunch vs. fluff in supplements
- Thread starter Thurbane
- Start date
It would be nice if more companies did things like Pirates Guide to Freeport so that people can easily adapt it to their rules system of choice. There are a lot of good ideas out there that aren't always easily divorced from a game setting. They generally only sell to players of one system. More generic splat books would have a wider audience, theoretically selling more copies.
DrunkonDuty
he/him
Well I'd say more fluff. Sorry, flavour.
But it's a fine balancing act. Sometimes there must be both. There's a concept which works best as a cool mechanic or requires a cool mechanic to make it work. (sorry can't think of any actual examples at the mo.)
In terms of presentation of the fluff: well there's some good ways to do it and then there's some bad ways. Long pieces of second rate fiction: not so good. Sometimes a quick piece, well written is fine. But all too often you get page long waffles that are nothing so much as a frustrated author using the excuse to indulge. I think fluff is best presented in a more text book way. The author tells the reader "this is what is intended," giving a few examples of in game play.
But it's a fine balancing act. Sometimes there must be both. There's a concept which works best as a cool mechanic or requires a cool mechanic to make it work. (sorry can't think of any actual examples at the mo.)
In terms of presentation of the fluff: well there's some good ways to do it and then there's some bad ways. Long pieces of second rate fiction: not so good. Sometimes a quick piece, well written is fine. But all too often you get page long waffles that are nothing so much as a frustrated author using the excuse to indulge. I think fluff is best presented in a more text book way. The author tells the reader "this is what is intended," giving a few examples of in game play.
Jackelope King
First Post
It depends entirely on what I'm buying the supplement for. If I'm buying the Complete Warrior's Guide to Smashing, I'm probably buying it for new feats/prestige classes/whatever, and I want those mechanics to be as divorced from fluff as possible so that I can work them into my game with the bare minimum of effort. I want the feat to be "Death From Above" and not "Shi'Rondel Diving Talon Rend".
If, on the other hand, I'm buying a campaign setting supplement, I want each and every page of the book to drip flavor and fluff. I want to turn every page with a better feel for and understanding of the setting, regardless of whether that page was full of feats or maps or just a big full-page picture of a fantastic location.
These are, of course, ideals. But the difference between The Magic Splatbook and The Eberron Magic Splatbook should be that everything in The Magic Splatbook should be divided into nice, bite-size chunks that I can drag and drop into every setting, while a page in The Eberron Magic Splatbook that doesn't develop the Eberron setting for me is a wasted page.
If, on the other hand, I'm buying a campaign setting supplement, I want each and every page of the book to drip flavor and fluff. I want to turn every page with a better feel for and understanding of the setting, regardless of whether that page was full of feats or maps or just a big full-page picture of a fantastic location.
These are, of course, ideals. But the difference between The Magic Splatbook and The Eberron Magic Splatbook should be that everything in The Magic Splatbook should be divided into nice, bite-size chunks that I can drag and drop into every setting, while a page in The Eberron Magic Splatbook that doesn't develop the Eberron setting for me is a wasted page.
Psion
Adventurer
I went 50/50.
But I'll qualify this: if you can't write good, pertinent fluff (and I don't use the term flavor, because flavor almost defines "impertinent" to me), then I'd rather you spend more time on crunch.
In the early going, I really hated fluff heavy supplements, or at least I thought I did. But that's until I read a product that had good fluff in it. Then I realized that a lot of fluff I disdained really isn't all that good.
(For reference, the book was Necromancer's Book of Taverns.)
But I'll qualify this: if you can't write good, pertinent fluff (and I don't use the term flavor, because flavor almost defines "impertinent" to me), then I'd rather you spend more time on crunch.
In the early going, I really hated fluff heavy supplements, or at least I thought I did. But that's until I read a product that had good fluff in it. Then I realized that a lot of fluff I disdained really isn't all that good.
(For reference, the book was Necromancer's Book of Taverns.)
griff_goodbeard
First Post
/agreeJackelope King said:
Doug McCrae
Legend
Depends on the system. 3e has the best crunch going, but almost all of its fluff is terrible. RuneQuest and related games otoh almost always have tremendous fluff.
It depends on the supplement. Of course, quality of the fluff or crunch is the most important consideration. For splats, I prefer the balance in any the following products:
- Psychic's Handbook
- Shaman's Handbook
- Witch's Handbook
- Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth
- Blood and Fists
- Psychic's Handbook
- Shaman's Handbook
- Witch's Handbook
- Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth
- Blood and Fists
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Plus it's easy to overcome the crunch more than it is to get ideas without fluff.
It's hard telling. As a DM, I tend to like crunch from a certain perspective -- new monsters, magic items, magical environemns, etc... -- but fluff can be very useful for getting the tired imagination back in gear. As a player, I tend to like crunchier supplements since everything else about my character is mine, of my invention, and I really don't need the fluff -- all I have to worry about is one guy and his background, so it is a lot less work and my creative synapses aren't as overloaded.
Having said that, though, one of my favorite game lines of all time was Earthdawn (1E) and the vast majority of that game's supplements are fluff -- and they are awesome (why, oh why, was there never a d20 Earthdawn?). There's class books and race books that are 90% in-character fluff. God I love that game.
Having said that, though, one of my favorite game lines of all time was Earthdawn (1E) and the vast majority of that game's supplements are fluff -- and they are awesome (why, oh why, was there never a d20 Earthdawn?). There's class books and race books that are 90% in-character fluff. God I love that game.
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