Do you have a "litmus test" setting for generic rule sets?

[Zadmar]

Quick "thank you" to Morrus for mentioning this thread in the EN World News email yesterday, otherwise I'd have missed it (I've not been lurking much over my Easter break). This is a subject I'm particularly interested in, as I love trying a wide variety of genres and settings, but I simply don't have the time or patience to learn lots of new systems (at least, not well enough to confidently run games).

So do you have a setting or milieu that is your "litmus test" for any given set of generic/universal/etc rules you want to try? Do you demand a rule set be able to do heroic fantasy or Star trek or Cthulhu investigations?

For me, a generic system doesn't need to support every playing style; each system is obviously flavoured by its mechanics, and you'll get a very different playing experience from Savage Worlds, Fate, GURPS, Cypher, and Risus, even if you use them all to play Star Wars. Rather, I consider a generic system to be one that isn't tied to a specific setting or genre by default.

The four main settings/genres I'd personally use for my litmus test are:

(1) Medieval fantasy with larger-than-life heroes. This should showcase magic, melee and ranged combat, trap-filled dungeons, and a variety of different monsters.

(2) Modern-day horror where the protagonists are regular people. This should showcase investigative scenarios, action sequences such as chases, how to handle fear, as well as modern vehicles and firearms (and also non-combat mysteries).

(3) Futuristic sci-fi with the option for playing robots and aliens. This should showcase exploration, starship travel, and perhaps even cybernetics.

(4) Superheroes. This should showcase customisable characters, allowing players to emulate popular superheroes from comics and movies.

There are plenty of other genres/settings I'd be interested in (wild/weird west, pirates, stone age, Robin Hood, urban fantasy, cyberpunk, etc), but the above four examples cover a lot of ground, and if the system can handle those, it can probably handle most other stuff I'd want to run.

Ideally, the publisher would offer several settings to demonstrate how the system can be used in different ways.

 

[Scott Christian]

So do you have a setting or milieu that is your "litmus test" for any given set of generic/universal/etc rules you want to try? Do you demand a rule set be able to do heroic fantasy or Star trek or Cthulhu investigations?

My test has always been to ask: How does the ruleset represent and support the setting? Basically the opposite.

But if I were to build a generic ruleset, then I would ask each part of the ruleset these two questions:
1. Is it fun?
2. Does it give players a choice?

 

[Reynard]

My test has always been to ask: How does the ruleset represent and support the setting? Basically the opposite.

But if I were to build a generic ruleset, then I would ask each part of the ruleset these two questions:
1. Is it fun?
2. Does it give players a choice?

Wouldn't that be true of any ruleset you were to create? So how is that specific to making a generic or "universal" ruleset?

 

[Scott Christian]

Wouldn't that be true of any ruleset you were to create? So how is that specific to making a generic or "universal" ruleset?

I think number one is true of any ruleset but not rule two. Some rulesets lock in a choice from the beginning, and then, as the game progresses, you get what you get. I think making a generic ruleset requires player choice.

 

[Reynard]

I think number one is true of any ruleset but not rule two. Some rulesets lock in a choice from the beginning, and then, as the game progresses, you get what you get. I think making a generic ruleset requires player choice.

Maybe I am not understanding what you mean by choice here, and how it differs between a bespoke system and a generic system. Can you explain?