Let's Talk About "Intended Playstyle"

[payn]

That sort of repurposing is the YZ engine working as intended: it has a strong framework for general play, and then tools to dial it into a specific genre and/or playstyle. It is what makes it a good house system. As opposed to, say, d20 which was not as good of a house system.

Yeap, I think d20 was first and foremost built to be a Swiss army knife for power leveling fantasy. Thats is a good thing, but its also a only good for a general thing. Which is why horror, cyberpunk, mecha, anime, etc.. All just feel like D&D when using D20/5E.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Interesting. I find the investigative stuff and conspiramids and such from NBA to be great, but the actual combat system is a slog and is not Jason Bourne or John Wick for me.

I found it pretty fast to run combats and with experienced agents they did feel significantly high-powered. People were pushing opponents out windows, making called shots, using preparedness to activate traps, using MOS to do way over the top stuff (like jumping between helicopters) — that sort of stuff. I would recommend the Double Tap expansion book for a lot of extra combat options also — that got used a lot. Maybe I’m remembering selectively, but I don’t recall slogfests. If anything, combats could go very fast when players spend to go first, spend to do a called shot on the heart and then spend for damage. As a GM I leaned to make sure that any vampire I cared about had vampiric speed, or else they might never get an attack in!

 

[zarionofarabel]

What is a good example of a game, in your opinion, that had a strong intended playstyle and managed to support it in its overall design?

Burning Wheel

 

[Reynard]

Burning Wheel

What is the intended playstyle, and how does the game enforce it?

 

[MGibster]

What do you think about the topic of "intended playstyle"? Or, "opinionated" games, if you will? What is a good example of a game, in your opinion, that had a strong intended playstyle and managed to support it in its overall design? What ones tried and failed? Is it a worthy design goal? Why, or why not?

Oh, wow. Opinionated has such negative connotations that it's not a good way to start a conservation on a positive note. Personally, I prefer games with a focus and rules and scenarios that support that focus. And by focus, I want to read the back of the book and understand exactly what we're supposed to be doing when playing the game. If the game says it's filled with swashbuckling shenanigans then I don't want the rules making it nearly impossible for my character to swing from a chandelier.

I do think Free League's Alien does a pretty good job delivering on the experience they promise. Yes, the Stress system is flawed (at least the original incarnation was), but if you want someone that invokes the feeling of Alien and (to a lesser degree) Aliens, then it's a fine game.

 

[bsss]

I don't think "opinionated" has a necessarily negative connotation, at least coming from some fields. For instance, I see it fairly often as a point of pride from the author in software; a statement that the thing does what it's supposed to The Right Way (TM) and that its specific choices provide the kind of focus you describe.

The Right Way is kind of the duality of the problem, what's good for the author may not be good for someone else, but then it's pretty fortunate that we have so much variety in TTRPG material (and in software), for those like a different opinion or would rather build their own thing.

 

[payn]

I don't think "opinionated" has a necessarily negative connotation, at least coming from some fields. For instance, I see it fairly often as a point of pride from the author in software; a statement that the thing does what it's supposed to The Right Way (TM) and that its specific choices provide the kind of focus you describe.

The Right Way is kind of the duality of the problem, what's good for the author may not be good for someone else, but then it's pretty fortunate that we have so much variety in TTRPG material (and in software), for those like a different opinion or would rather build their own thing.

It still sounds awful. "Oh its one of dem uppity RPGs is it?"

 

[soviet]

Design that isn't opinionated has no value

 

[Reynard]

It still sounds awful. "Oh its one of dem uppity RPGs is it?"

Opinionated is NOT a term of judgment. It just means "has an opinion." Thinking it is negative says more about the reader than the system.

 

[MGibster]

Opinionated is NOT a term of judgment. It just means "has an opinion." Thinking it is negative says more about the reader than the system.

It means more than that. It means one is "dogmatic in expressing their opinion" or to "firmly or unduly adhere to one's opinion." I've never heard anyone described as being opinionated in a positive manner.