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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 5170868" data-attributes="member: 23240">That's how it looks IMO:1. There's no good game without trust between players (including the GM). No system will help here, as it is impossible to protect one from jerks and at the same time allow flexibility and freedom of choice. You either trust the people you play with or become a slave to the mechanics. A trend of creating more restrictive, balanced and munchkin-proof game mechanics correlates with widening the player audience. It's an unspoken suggestion: "we made the game in such a way that you don't need to be afraid of some dick ruining your fun". One may hope that the game will play as described in the book no matter who sits on the other side of the table - at the cost of everyone being limited by the system.It's worth noting that most indie games (that, by definition, aim for a small group of players) have mechanics that work great in game's designed style but easily fall prey to abuse. They assume the trust and build on it instead of assuming distrust and trying to work around it.It's important to see that the trust-based design is not limited to a single design approach. A game may have a strong GM control - the players know it won't be used to mess with them in an unfun way. It may have a shared narration - the players are reasonable people, so the GM needs no tools for blocking their ideas. etc.2. No system, no matter how well designed, will not make a game good if the players have widely divergent preferences, or when there are simply bad players. A good game will make these differences visible and help build a group that fits (maybe by a harsh but honest statement: "That's how I'm designed to be played. If you don't like it, I'm not for you - buy another game instead."). A bad game creates the illusion that everything is alright and then blows people in faces in the middle of a campaign. 3. If you have a group of people who trust each other and who have similar game preferences, you will have a fun play. But it is also a place where the game itself matters. If it fits the style the players prefer with its genre, setting and mechanics, it makes the play smoother and more satisfying. If it doesn't, players will find a way around it, ignoring or modifying what they don't like, but it will take time and effort.</blockquote>

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