Damon Griffin
First Post
I'm half of the opinion that the word 'crunchy' is in very serious danger of overuse, where it is applied to games (or games masquerading as foodstuffs) and not, say, actual food. At times it seems that no one ever says 'this product is rich in variant and optional rules and game mechanics for use by player and GM alike'; everyone just says 'it's crunchy'.
However, for now it's a concise way to convey meaning, so I suppose it's here to stay, along with 'fluffy' (sometimes 'creamy').
In the ongoing Forgotten Rums/Evil Overlords thread, and probably other places as well, a few people have tried to find a third term to describe a kind of middle ground between the two. I offered several myself, none of which I liked very much, so I won't repeat them here.
Since then (then = yesterday), it hit me: 'chewy'.
'Chewy' could describe those bits of any product which fail the 'crunch' test for some reason (being somewhat setting-specific, e.g.) but which can be ported to other campaign settings or even perhaps other genres with minimal effort. This is as opposed to 'fluffy' bits, which require major overhaul in order to be inserted into a campaign setting other than the one for which it was originally written.
Most of the organizations written up in Lords of Darkness might be considered 'chewy', for example; some elements of the background would have to be altered but their organizational structures can be used as is.
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"Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?"
-- William Daniels as John Adams, '1776'
However, for now it's a concise way to convey meaning, so I suppose it's here to stay, along with 'fluffy' (sometimes 'creamy').
In the ongoing Forgotten Rums/Evil Overlords thread, and probably other places as well, a few people have tried to find a third term to describe a kind of middle ground between the two. I offered several myself, none of which I liked very much, so I won't repeat them here.
Since then (then = yesterday), it hit me: 'chewy'.
'Chewy' could describe those bits of any product which fail the 'crunch' test for some reason (being somewhat setting-specific, e.g.) but which can be ported to other campaign settings or even perhaps other genres with minimal effort. This is as opposed to 'fluffy' bits, which require major overhaul in order to be inserted into a campaign setting other than the one for which it was originally written.
Most of the organizations written up in Lords of Darkness might be considered 'chewy', for example; some elements of the background would have to be altered but their organizational structures can be used as is.
---------------------------------------------------
"Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?"
-- William Daniels as John Adams, '1776'
