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Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8199450" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think these points are highly relevant to the idea that <em>system matters</em>.</p><p></p><p>I will assert, unequivocally, that Cthulhu Dark is a better RPG system both <em>in general</em>, and <em>for the special case of Mythos RPGing</em>, than CoC. Yet as you note the latter is far more widely played.</p><p></p><p>I will also assert, but a bit more hesitantly as I know I'm disagreeing with Greg Stafford, that Prince Valiant is a better system both <em>in general</em>, and <em>for the special case of Arthurian/knightly romance RPGing</em>, than Pendragon. (And to the extent that someone wants to use the Winter Phase stuff from Pendragon that can easily be folded back into Prince Valiant. We've used those charts to determine whether the knights in our Prince Valiant game have children following their marriages.)</p><p></p><p>Part of the virtue of both systems is that they're shorter and mechanically more straightforward. They also more reliably produce experiences, in play, that emulate the source material.</p><p></p><p>So why are they not more widely played?</p><p></p><p>This is one possible answer. To the extent that it is true, it shows that system matters <em>a lot</em>.</p><p></p><p>(There are also marketing/commercial dynamics that help feed into system choice, which probably also play some explanatory role here.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8199450, member: 42582"] I think these points are highly relevant to the idea that [I]system matters[/I]. I will assert, unequivocally, that Cthulhu Dark is a better RPG system both [I]in general[/I], and [I]for the special case of Mythos RPGing[/I], than CoC. Yet as you note the latter is far more widely played. I will also assert, but a bit more hesitantly as I know I'm disagreeing with Greg Stafford, that Prince Valiant is a better system both [I]in general[/I], and [I]for the special case of Arthurian/knightly romance RPGing[/I], than Pendragon. (And to the extent that someone wants to use the Winter Phase stuff from Pendragon that can easily be folded back into Prince Valiant. We've used those charts to determine whether the knights in our Prince Valiant game have children following their marriages.) Part of the virtue of both systems is that they're shorter and mechanically more straightforward. They also more reliably produce experiences, in play, that emulate the source material. So why are they not more widely played? This is one possible answer. To the extent that it is true, it shows that system matters [i]a lot[/i]. (There are also marketing/commercial dynamics that help feed into system choice, which probably also play some explanatory role here.) [/QUOTE]
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