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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dbm" data-source="post: 9657503" data-attributes="member: 8014">I think it’s complicated, to give a non-answer. If I consider GURPS with it’s huge lists of advantages, for example, I still find that a system that fosters creativity whereas looking at something like feats in 3.x derived games I find them to be constricting. So I don’t think it is how long the lists are that encourages or discourages creativity, I think it how the game uses those lists and what other things the system emphasises. I also suspect there is a population effect with D&D in particular. Many people prefer to consume content rather than create it (which is fine - no moral weight is applied to either preference). Given the relative ease of getting into a D&D game (through the network effect) I suspect people with a strong preference for consumption over creation will likely get into a D&D game and be very happy picking from the options presented. This probably becomes a self-reinforcing situation as other people will create stuff for this relatively large audience (by TTRPG standards) to continue consuming while getting the novelty of new stuff that more creative people might just create for themselves. More niche games have less of an audience for ‘commercial’ creation so players of these systems are more likely to DIY or move on to another system if they don’t want to do that. People’s ’on ramp’ for games is also probably a factor, again most notably in D&D or similar systems where there are computer game implementations of the rules. Since CRPGs can’t (yet) handle highly creative PC actions well there is, again, a tendency to present lists of exclusive options for the players to pick from. People who enjoy CRPGs may well decide to switch to a TTRPG at some point but still not make a big step-change in exercising personally creativity beyond using their character’s stated abilities in more novel situations presented by a real-world GM.So to summarise, I think how you handle lists is more a feature of the people playing a game than the game itself.</blockquote>

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