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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7180447" data-attributes="member: 6816692">Yep, that's an interesting point. To me, D&D is a very "vanilla" RPG system that can be spiced up by adding 3rd party cream or homebrew almond liquor or rainbow crumble settings. It can and maybe should offer you a fair "fits all" basis that can be experimented upon. Now, if I compare this to a system which is set in a specific setting, like ASOIAF or LOTR or even Harry Potter, then I consciously would throw away a lot of choice I had in D&D. Because as you said, a Green lantern in feudal Japan wouldn't make much sense. Unless you want to play the whole Justice League/Superhero RPG game and abridged it to feudal Japan, but... that's a bit off <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (and yes, even a "low magic gritty system" like Rolemaster allowed you to play some sort of Superhero if your GM allowed it. But I'm getting OT...)What I would expect in a setting-specific game where not every hero was equal would be "equal participation". Which means that for, say, feudal Japan, skills like court etiquette or Ikebana or dressing up or conversation or poetry would be as important as swordsmanship or knowledge (Bushido). Or equal skills in a ASOIAF setting where we all know that half of the important characters are basically noncombatants who outwit, out-power, out-pay or out-talk their opponents. Combat in such settings would play not that big of a role as it does in "everyone can fight" systems like D&D. And there would be big reasons to avoid it. And I wouldn't want to limit these setting specific or niche RPGs to real world parallels. Maybe you'd want to play in an Amazonian society? Or in a setting with very different "racial" (as in species) or gender roles. Or in a setting where everyone is a pony (No, you CAN'T play your Green Lantern here either). I wouldn't even mind to play in a specific game which features such differences. Even if it would try to "simulate" eras that were touched by RL sexism (even if such simulations are almost always simplifications of often false historical premises. Because history books sucked in portraying actual history.). But I would need a sensible group for that. I would, as a player who'd play a more "vulnerable" character, make sure to 1) have a part to play and 2) to not have that character exploited by immature players. My reasons for playing in such a setting would be really different from what I've done in D&D or DSA or FF. Exploring the boundaries, finding the niches where such a character can succeed (and others not), and especially finding different solutions than "I hit it with my sword until it's dead".(And then again, I'm currently playing a "high elf woman" from a matriarchal society thrown into a quasi-victorian (but more or less equal) society who's living with the knowledge that some rich folk of the neighboring countries like taking people like her as trophies/slaves. Yeah, I'm happy to have a mature group <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />)</blockquote>

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