Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?

D&D historian Jon Peterson asks the question on his blog as he does a deep dive into how early tabletop RPG enthusiasts wrestled with the same thing.

Based around the concept that 'D&D can do anything, so why learn a new system?', the conversation examines whether the system itself affects the playstyle of those playing it. Some systems are custom-designed to create a certain atmosphere (see Dread's suspenseful Jenga-tower narrative game), and Call of Cthulhu certainly discourages the D&D style of play, despite a d20 version in early 2000s.

Does System Matter?

Dungeons & Dragons started out as a game with such an adaptable and open-ended set of rules that early adopters questioned whether any fur...

playingattheworld.blogspot.com

 

[Ath-kethin]

An interesting read, if not a surprising one.

To my mind, a TTRPG should provide rules for things that require rules; combat and magic need rules because they need a measure of fairness in their adjudication. A character is assumed to be much more skilled with the use of a sword (for example) than a player is. Combat rules provide a framework in which the character can operate in that environment independent of the player's skill.

Social situations, on the other hand, can be more easily handled by a player's capabilities. At most, a mechanic can exist that allows for a character to be more socially capable than the player (on the same logic as the combat rules, above), but as players can reasonably be expected to know how to talk and carry on a conversation such interactions just require less rules coverage.

Does a game with more detailed combat rules than social rules actually encourage combat over discussions? Only inasmuch as the game relies on dice rolls to function. I've yet to see a rule set with detailed social interaction mechanics that didn't feel like its purpose was to restrict what options I had in social situations rather than accommodate what I might want to do in them.

 

[willrali]

Yes, system does absolutely matter. There are more than a few popular systems out there (I shall not name) that are extraordinarily bland and same-y. Interchangeable spells, powers, weapons, abilities, so on.

A system provides the framework, and inspiration, for the power fantasy that players are living out.

 

[AmerginLiath]

While the focus here is of course on OG games, I was amused by the idea of D&D being predicated on “the seeking” and combat as something to be gotten past as quickly as possible, similar to ways I’ve heard OD&D and AD&D described as being basically puzzle-boxes where combat was an obstacle to be avoided. Yet (and I don’t mean this as a judgment for or against), the main discussion particularly online over the past twenty years of the d20 era has been combat and combat optimization. Even within D&D, system matters!

(I’ve noted before that I’ve played since my childhood in late 1st edition but didn’t run any games until the tail end of 2nd edition and then into 3.0/3.5, so my own views on system generations is in-between)

 

[Waller]

If system doesn't matter, why are we all playing 5th Edition D&D and not 4th Edition?

Clearly system matters.

 

[Stalker0]

Having played several systems now, the system absolutely effects the play experiences. Everything is colored by the system's underpinnings, and the same group playing a different system will play differently....I have seen it many times.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

System Matters.
I'm looking at universal game systems and GURPS plays different than HERO different than Genesys and all of them are different from Cypher. The structure of a system can push a type of play, and within that structure character choices are limited or encouraged by the system.

 

[Morrus]

Different systems just feel different. You can use any system to play any genre, sure, but sometimes you're just putting it in a costume. A specifically tailored system can make the game feel completely different, even with the exact same players and GM.

 

[MGibster]

Based around the concept that 'D&D can do anything, so why learn a new system?', the conversation examines whether the system itself affects the playstyle of those playing it. Some systems are custom-designed to create a certain atmosphere (see Dread's suspenseful Jenga-tower narrative game), and Call of Cthulhu certainly discourages the D&D style of play, despite a d20 version in early 2000s.

The d20 Call of Cthulhu doesn't get enough credit for being one of the best introductions for new players and GMs to Cthulhu. There was some excellent advice in those pages for new GMs on how to run a horror game, great ideas for running campaigns in different decades (40s, 50s, 60s), and even ways to adapt the Cthulhu mythos for use with D&D. And while it did use the d20 system, they set it up in such a way as to discourage D&D style hack & slash combat while keeping things relatively easy.

I am one of those players who argues that system matters. I came to this conclusion nearly thirty years ago when I tried to use AD&D to run a campaign based of a fantasy book I liked and found the rules were largely incompatible with that idea. D&D is fairly generic but it's not generic fantasy. These days, I much prefer it when designers create rules designed elicit a particular style of play for their games. Alien is a fantastic example of a recent publication with its rules designed to emulate the sci-fi horror or even the action seen in the movies the game is based on.

 

[Morrus]

Alien is a fantastic example of a recent publication with its rules designed to emulate the sci-fi horror or even the action seen in the movies the game is based on.

The recent Aliens RPG is fantastic.