Gear Matters

[Corinth]

Tabletop, console, PC and MMORPGs that achieve mainstream popularity all feature gear as one of the primary means for character differentiation and capability. Grades of gear are a key feature in this system. In D&D and WOW, this grade differentiation is in terms of magical power and rarity. In other games, this magical terminology is replaced with an expanded scale of masterwork grades. Some games take the time to differentiate gear along a series of factors other than damage--as Spycraft did in its first edition with the excellent Modern Arms Guide--and this causes a lot of talk about what gear to loadout at any given time. Couple this with a robust crafting system and you have the makings of a viable minigame within the primary game that can keep players playing when they're away from the table, turning downtime into its own arena of fun.

Furthermore, smart players (and their characters) know the value of good gear and take the time (and spend the resources) needed to acquire that gear, maintain it, and upgrade it when better gear becomes available. They know that good gear acts as a multiplier in their effectiveness, making them far more effective than would be the case otherwise. (While it can be a crutch for the scrub players/characters, good ones know that just because they have good gear they shouldn't neglect their own inherent skills for just that aforementioned reason- better inherent powers means greater base-level potency for gear to multiply; Conan in power armor with a lightsaber is always better than Conan with a rusty sword and a leather jerkin.) For this reason, games that try to minimize or eliminate the gear factor in gameplay inevitably fail regardless of what intention the designer or publisher had in mind.

 

[Matchstick]

City of Heroes/Villains, or Iron Heroes. I wouldn't classify either of those games as failures by any stretch of the imagination, yet neither are item dependent, or loot dependent.

 

[Corinth]

City of Heroes/Villains, or Iron Heroes. I wouldn't classify either of those games as failures by any stretch of the imagination, yet neither are item dependent, or loot dependent.

Soon to be fixed in the next patch for CoX. Not kidding either. This came up at RPG Net not long ago.

 

[GreatLemur]

It is possible, but HIGHLY unadvisable.

I don't see what's difficult about running a low- to no-magic-items game, as long as you're not trying to used prewritten adventures and characters. Just keep the PCs' lower power level in mind and don't blindly trust the CR values in the Monster Manual, and either avoid or ignore mechanics that obviously assume a magically kitted-out party. Your party of level magic-free PCs isn't going to get hugely outclassed if you just throw magic-free threats at them.

For this reason, games that try to minimize or eliminate the gear factor in gameplay inevitably fail regardless of what intention the designer or publisher had in mind.

That's a pretty strong statement. I'm guessing you've got a rather high bar for success, if World of Darkness is considered a failure. Furthermore, I think we could call most point-based RPGs either gear-free or gear-light--items in such systems are effectively just a special effect for a character's intrinsic capabilities--so GURPS, Hero System, and Mutants & Masterminds would have to be classed as failures, too. (This would basically make D&D the only successful pen-and-paper RPG in the English-speaking world, right?)

Soon to be fixed in the next patch for CoX. Not kidding either. This came up at RPG Net not long ago.

Yeah, they've got a crafting system and auction houses on the way. I'll be interested to see how this works out, but I'm not hugely excited about it. I've enjoyed the crafting in World of Warcraft, and a subsystem like that might be really nice in City of Heroes/Villains. At the same time, I really dislike the whole loot-drop-focused nature of WoW. Hell, I don't even like the enhancement system in CoX. It's got all the hassle of a loot mechanic, without being half as interesting. Crafting could end up being cool, but I'm probably not gonna be too excited about grinding for raw materials just to keep up.

 

[jensun]

It is entirely possible to run a high fantasy setting in which gear plays a far smaller role.

Examples from literature:

Tolkein
Conan
Elric

It is entirely possible to design a game in which gear has less of a role and still have high action, high fantasy without requiring the PC's to be dripping in magic itmes.

L5R and Exalted spring immediately to mind.

D&D in its current and previous incarnations doesnt work without the inclusion of some gear. The amount, type and availability will depend on the individual game.

 

[I'm A Banana]

A character wants upgrades. Gear is one of the best ways to do upgrades, and it has scads of documentation in myth, legend, and literature. "Important things" are fun. Call it the fault of a materialistic humanity.

 

[jensun]

Gear is one of the best ways to do upgrades

Power, influence, titles, land, contacts, castles, princesses, feats, spells, levels, skills, charms, honour, money, position, authority, organisations, territory.

Gear is only one of a many different "things" which a character may want and by no means necessarily the best. That can vary wildly by game.

Again, L5R and Exalted being the obvious high fantasy games which spring to mind immediately.

And that doesnt even touch on the issue of what players want between gear and other "things" as opposed to character development.

 

[Slife]

Magic Items fill pages. Even whole books. (Magic Item Compendium).

Filled pages and books = $$$

And WotC can just keep churning em out.

Heck, there's a D20 Modern book full of guns. Just guns. You might want to chop the "magic" off your post.

 

[Mark CMG]

You might want to chop the "magic" off your post.

Oh, yes. This isn't just about "magic" gear. I suppose we can look at anything being carried by adventurers and wonder how big a part it plays in the game. Could a half-naked barbarian with a sword (only) manage to go through a D&D game very far? Could any party of adventurers mane to survive long without having as many members as possible in the best available armor?