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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7022805" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Good post.System matters and it matters in very important ways.  I think one of the easiest ways to demonstrate this is the following: System 1: 1)      Very focused GMing ethos.  Very transparent, simple, yet robust procedures of play and resolution mechanics.  Well-integrated reward cycle. 2)      A clear directive to “follow the rules” which constrains GM latitude.3)      The predicate of the game’s design being that the synthesis of 1 and 2 perpetuates genre coherent action and archetypal PC actions as a result of merely playing the game. System 2: 1)      Very broad/abstract GMing ethos (“have fun…make an exciting story”).  Granular, complex, sometimes-at-tension procedures of play and resolution mechanics that may come with unintended, downstream knock-on effects (mechanically or to genre expectations).  Mildly incoherent or somewhat askew reward cycle.2)      A clear directive to the GM to “ignore the rules or the results of them as you see fit” which emboldens ultimate GM latitude over the action and resultant fiction.3)      The predicate of the game’s design being that GMs drive games, rules get in the way as often or more often than they help, and players are there to casually soak up a good time no matter how it is derived. Those two systems are different in a myriad of ways.  The play (and prep) experience for the GMs, for the players, and the actual output of play are quite distinct from one another.</blockquote>

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