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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5496903" data-attributes="member: 82106">Yeah, I guess I left it unsaid that RM was a fairly early system, contemporary with 1e basically (even earlier if you count the various * Law 'add on' books, though they weren't quite a whole system).</blockquote>But your broader point still stands. For an example of a rather simple yet elegant modern game, I would suggest Robin Laws' HeroQuest second edition.[/quote]Right, a much later system chronologically, but moving in the direction of greater simplicity.Hmmm, interesting question. There do need to be some details represented, which does require rules. OTOH I don't think you need to get very complex to have a good tactical game. A system of the complexity of Basic D&D could be tactically rich. Older D&D (even 2e) really wasn't, but that was more due to poor choices of how the rules worked than anything else. Movement rates were too high compared to attack rates for instance, and none of the pre-3e rules systems actually explained how or even IF you could move once melee was engaged. The overwhelming effectiveness of spells didn't help either. Notice too that while 1e and 2e were vastly more complicated than Basic they added nothing to the game's tactical depth as they contained the same fundamental flaws in the combat system that existed is Basic/OD&D.I have to agree on this. Feats are a royal mess. Beyond that they have large but rather obtuse impacts on the character's combat effectiveness. My players don't read about 4e, they know nothing about the various ways to stack things up using feats. They just pick feats as they go, taking whatever strikes their fancy at any given moment. They have many of the standard expertise etc bread-n-butter feats, but a lot of what they pick is really not the best choices and they don't usually build on what they have. It is just too hard to figure out or at least the better choices are lost in the noise. Honestly I think the number of feats in 4e is about 5x too large at this point.[/QUOTE]

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