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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5665333" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>1) More than one book required to play the game. D&D and Pathfinder get a pass on this for tradition's sake, but even those should move to a single core rulebook with their next editions.</p><p></p><p>2) Any required subscription, miniatures, collectable component, or computer software. Even when as "required" as minis in 4e - that is, you <em>can</em> play without, but lose a lot in the process. 4e gets a pass on this, but 5e will not.</p><p></p><p>3) Requires funky dice, whether that's WFRP 3e's symbol dice, or DCC's d7 and d30.</p><p></p><p>4) Death spirals. Being wounded can reduce my character's effectiveness, but it <em>must not</em> make my character easier to hit, easier to wound, or less able to run away.</p><p></p><p>5) Option bloat. This isn't an issue with "new systems" but it can be with "new systems to me". If there are too many books out there already, I won't bother buying in.</p><p></p><p>6) Legacy metaplot. As with option bloat, it's not new systems with a metaplot that bother me, but if the game already has an extensive metaplot, I'm not interested in playing catch-up.</p><p></p><p>7) 80's cyberpunk assumptions. This one is genre-specific, but if you're writing a cyberpunk game I don't want it to look like Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun. Those games were good at the time, but they were very much products of their time; we've moved on, so too must our assumptions about the near dystopia.</p><p></p><p>8) Lots of new terminology. If you're writing a class-based system, just call them "classes". Any other name just means I have to learn a new language to play the game, and I can't be bothered.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of learning new stuff:</p><p></p><p>9) New systems without purpose. Look, if you've got some new fancy mechanic that ties wonderfully into your setting, and it all makes perfect sense and flows one from the other, that's great. But if you're being different just to be different... don't. Use the d20 system, or Savage Worlds, or some other existing ruleset. Don't reinvent the wheel just to be different.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and it's not a deal-breaker (since I'll have read the game by that point), but when using an existing system <em>don't fill your rulebook with lots and lots of fiddly new exceptions</em>. That really irritated me about the oWoD, and it really irritated me about all those d20 games that were put out - the rules were always <em>almost</em> the same, but were just different enough that I had to relearn a whole bunch of minor changes just because. If using an existing system, <em>use the system</em>, and if you are making changes, make them big and obvious and easily remembered!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5665333, member: 22424"] 1) More than one book required to play the game. D&D and Pathfinder get a pass on this for tradition's sake, but even those should move to a single core rulebook with their next editions. 2) Any required subscription, miniatures, collectable component, or computer software. Even when as "required" as minis in 4e - that is, you [i]can[/i] play without, but lose a lot in the process. 4e gets a pass on this, but 5e will not. 3) Requires funky dice, whether that's WFRP 3e's symbol dice, or DCC's d7 and d30. 4) Death spirals. Being wounded can reduce my character's effectiveness, but it [i]must not[/i] make my character easier to hit, easier to wound, or less able to run away. 5) Option bloat. This isn't an issue with "new systems" but it can be with "new systems to me". If there are too many books out there already, I won't bother buying in. 6) Legacy metaplot. As with option bloat, it's not new systems with a metaplot that bother me, but if the game already has an extensive metaplot, I'm not interested in playing catch-up. 7) 80's cyberpunk assumptions. This one is genre-specific, but if you're writing a cyberpunk game I don't want it to look like Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun. Those games were good at the time, but they were very much products of their time; we've moved on, so too must our assumptions about the near dystopia. 8) Lots of new terminology. If you're writing a class-based system, just call them "classes". Any other name just means I have to learn a new language to play the game, and I can't be bothered. Speaking of learning new stuff: 9) New systems without purpose. Look, if you've got some new fancy mechanic that ties wonderfully into your setting, and it all makes perfect sense and flows one from the other, that's great. But if you're being different just to be different... don't. Use the d20 system, or Savage Worlds, or some other existing ruleset. Don't reinvent the wheel just to be different. Oh, and it's not a deal-breaker (since I'll have read the game by that point), but when using an existing system [i]don't fill your rulebook with lots and lots of fiddly new exceptions[/i]. That really irritated me about the oWoD, and it really irritated me about all those d20 games that were put out - the rules were always [i]almost[/i] the same, but were just different enough that I had to relearn a whole bunch of minor changes just because. If using an existing system, [i]use the system[/i], and if you are making changes, make them big and obvious and easily remembered! [/QUOTE]
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