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Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8200062" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p><em>Better</em> in this context obviously is relative to some goal. I've spelled some of that out in my post and implied more.</p><p></p><p>Surely only among fanatics and the immature.</p><p></p><p>I read post after post in these General RPG threads that either assumes or asserts that D&D is better than other systems at <em>X</em>, where <em>X</em> ranges over a very wide range of possible goals for RPG play. I often disagree. I don't feel resentment. What is it to me that others prefer a different system from the ones I do?</p><p></p><p>I don't find it terribly outrageous that a game calling itself <em>Cthulhu Dark</em> should presuppose familiarity with Mythos concepts and literature. Similarly, I think, Top Secret presupposes familiarity with the spy genre, and Classic Traveller with basic sci-fi ideas like starports, starships, humanity colonising the starts, etc.</p><p></p><p>It's true that probably no one can learn to play RPGs from Cthulhu Dark but as I posted upthread, nor can they learn to play from Classic Traveller. That doesn't stop Classic Traveller from being a masterpiece of RPGing.</p><p></p><p>As for the claim that <em>characters in Cthulhu Dark are all the same</em> or someone would be puzzled by the idea that <em>your roll a die if something is within your occupational expertise</em> - seriously? The first game of Cthulhu Dark I played had a longshoreman, an investigative journalist and a legal secretary. These characters were not the same, even if we focus on nothing more than their jobs. As for what is within their occupational expertise - you don't need a rulebook to tell you that, just a bit of familiarity with the real world as filtered through whatever thematic and stereotypical conceptions the players bring to the table. Legal secretaries can take shorthand and compose memos and book meetings. Reporters can develop film and snoop. Longshoremen can lift things and rouse crowds of their fellows.</p><p></p><p>13th Age uses <em>exactly the same approach</em> for applying bonuses to non-combat checks based on PC backgrounds. I've never seen anyone suggest that in 13th Age all characters are the same out of combat. Conversely, if someone can only play a RPG if their ability to earn bonuses is specified with the sort of detail that Gygax's RPG specifies the perception of elves and the mining abilities of dwarves, that is a clear sign that system matters!</p><p></p><p>What is quite ironic about this is that those posters, and RPGers, who assert that <em>system matters</em> are the ones who are playing and supporting a diversity of games. (The iterative causation here is obvious: playing multiple diverse systems will quickly reveal that system matters, and the fact that system matters is what generates the desire to play a diversity of systems, to get those different experiences.)</p><p></p><p>It is those who play only D&D or its immediate derivatives who most prominently deny that system matters, and who most prominently sneer at the diversity of games.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8200062, member: 42582"] [i]Better[/i] in this context obviously is relative to some goal. I've spelled some of that out in my post and implied more. Surely only among fanatics and the immature. I read post after post in these General RPG threads that either assumes or asserts that D&D is better than other systems at [i]X[/i], where [i]X[/i] ranges over a very wide range of possible goals for RPG play. I often disagree. I don't feel resentment. What is it to me that others prefer a different system from the ones I do? I don't find it terribly outrageous that a game calling itself [i]Cthulhu Dark[/i] should presuppose familiarity with Mythos concepts and literature. Similarly, I think, Top Secret presupposes familiarity with the spy genre, and Classic Traveller with basic sci-fi ideas like starports, starships, humanity colonising the starts, etc. It's true that probably no one can learn to play RPGs from Cthulhu Dark but as I posted upthread, nor can they learn to play from Classic Traveller. That doesn't stop Classic Traveller from being a masterpiece of RPGing. As for the claim that [i]characters in Cthulhu Dark are all the same[/i] or someone would be puzzled by the idea that [i]your roll a die if something is within your occupational expertise[/i] - seriously? The first game of Cthulhu Dark I played had a longshoreman, an investigative journalist and a legal secretary. These characters were not the same, even if we focus on nothing more than their jobs. As for what is within their occupational expertise - you don't need a rulebook to tell you that, just a bit of familiarity with the real world as filtered through whatever thematic and stereotypical conceptions the players bring to the table. Legal secretaries can take shorthand and compose memos and book meetings. Reporters can develop film and snoop. Longshoremen can lift things and rouse crowds of their fellows. 13th Age uses [i]exactly the same approach[/i] for applying bonuses to non-combat checks based on PC backgrounds. I've never seen anyone suggest that in 13th Age all characters are the same out of combat. Conversely, if someone can only play a RPG if their ability to earn bonuses is specified with the sort of detail that Gygax's RPG specifies the perception of elves and the mining abilities of dwarves, that is a clear sign that system matters! What is quite ironic about this is that those posters, and RPGers, who assert that [i]system matters[/i] are the ones who are playing and supporting a diversity of games. (The iterative causation here is obvious: playing multiple diverse systems will quickly reveal that system matters, and the fact that system matters is what generates the desire to play a diversity of systems, to get those different experiences.) It is those who play only D&D or its immediate derivatives who most prominently deny that system matters, and who most prominently sneer at the diversity of games. [/QUOTE]
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