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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 9237133" data-attributes="member: 42040">“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer.If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” - C.S. LewisI have a recent example of reading a gaming book and being almost instantly turned off by the system. I picked up Free League's "The One Ring" on a Black Friday sale. Normally, I like Free League's content, and there's certainly a bit to like about TOR: the art, the physical presentation, and of course the deep Tolkien lore. But then there are design choices that made me sit up and ask "What are they thinking?"[SPOILER="My complaints about The One Ring - which isn't really the focus of the post."]You have three Attributes (Strength, Heart, Wits). You have three skills that could basically cover the same thing: Awareness, Scan, and Explore. Awareness (basically perception/initiative) is tied to ... Strength? Your beauty/appearance, also tied to Strength? So in the world of Lord of the Rings, we would describe the lovable Samwise Gamgee has a high Strength attribute? A nasty orc leader with a high Strength would be beautiful? The dice you roll based off your skills are called "Success Dice" instead of simply "Skill Dice" - because, you know, they're based off Skills. You have another die called a "Feat" die, which isn't based on your Feats. Your Target Numbers are based off subtracting your Attribute from 20 (or 18 in some cases) to set a THAC0-like Target Number. This post isn't intended to be a gripe session about The One Ring. We can apply my concerns to any game system (for example, I recently brought up my complaints about the SEIGE Engine for Castles and Crusades). When I imagine teaching a new system to a group of more casual players, I worry about the use of language in the system. I worry about extra steps like subtracting and adding (and dividing, in the case of Savage Worlds) during the same die roll. There are also common ways we're accustomed to RPGs working from a hobby being around for decades (d20, percentile, dice pools, 2d6) - why create a new method? Does it improve the game so substantially?[/SPOILER]I sat down with this system for about 30 minutes and started reading the rules. Within those 30 minutes I went from a curiosity (and generally positive disposition) to thinking "I'm never going to run this." Do you have such a quick turnaround? Do you suggest trying something that you don't expect to work? Or do you just put it back on your shelf and move along - knowing there are many other games out there?</blockquote>

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