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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deset Gled" data-source="post: 9851742" data-attributes="member: 7808">I recently got to play a game of Top Secret: New World Order with one of the creators, Jayson Elliott. We were just finishing up a stealthy break-in scene and about to leave in our minivan when a delivery truck pulled up. A couple rolls later, and we were in the middle of a car chase, being shot at by some goons who realized we weren't supposed to be there.The car chase used a sub-system of the game we hadn't used before. The game still used the same core dice mechanic, but the sub-system added in tables to consult and a different challenge system. I noticed that for a modern game, it used a number of older-school techniques. It definitely added a layer of complexity; some people would probably call it clunky.And it was 100% awesome. The notable shift in gameplay made it feel exactly like a big scene change in a movie. One minute we were being all sneaky and stealthy, and the next we were in a high action chase. We didn't have music playing, but everyone could still hear the soundtrack change from quiet tense strings to a rock-and-roll explosion. The game changing and using different mechanics was a huge part of communicating that change and making the game feel meaningfully different from one mode to another. We even ended in a dramatic crash.IMNSHO, this shows the real limitations of rules-light systems. When everything uses the exact same mechanics, eventually everything starts to feel the same. The crunch and complexity of a good sub-system, used the right way, doesn't just change mechanics. It changes the feel. It changes the style. When done well, it's amazing.OTOH, I also recently had a session zero for a new 5e game, and still got anxious when a player mentioned wanting to play a grappler. My 3e era grappling sub-system trauma kicked in for a few seconds. So there is a dark side to sub-systems, too. They're good for making a change when you want the game to feel different. But using them to break up something that should be smooth (like, in the middle of combat) is a mistake.</blockquote>

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