No frills system design

[AbdulAlhazred]

I don't think it is a matter of percentile dice vs d20's. Like I said above, it has to do with things like power curve and base competency. There are other things like what kind of character you're modeling too.

CoC is a good example that contrasts well with D&D. Your character is modeling fundamentally a normal everyday person. You're basically average guy off the street. Maybe you can shoot a gun, drive, read, write, fix a car, perform research. Maybe you know have some unusual knowledge etc, but still you're normal. A bullet will kill you. No amount of adventuring will change that much. You can get better at shooting, swordfighting, investigating, etc, but a bullet will still kill you. There's very little in the way of fantastical equipment, items, spells, etc that will really change that.

Now, look at D&D. Even in say old school BECMI where your character starts out weak he's still (depending on class) wielding magic and at least slightly more competent than an average joe off the street. Mostly though you have a large amount of growth potential and you can expect to be a VERY powerful figure after adventuring for a while. You'll be able to do things that no normal average person could hope to accomplish.

Either system could be built using any old kind of dice. It would make no difference. CoC uses % dice for whatever arbitrary historical reason, and likewise D&D. The reason d20 doesn't support the same genre as CoC so well is A) it still has a pretty steep power curve, and B) maybe just pre-existing player familiarity with the 2 systems creating expectations.

 

[Jhaelen]

I must say that I've never understood why there is a need for different mechanics for different genres. I've never seen a need for it.

Myself I've never understood why some people buy specialized tools. I use my swiss army knife for everything and it's totally sufficient!

Sure, it takes ages to fell a tree, and changing my car's tire is a bit tedious, but it totally works!

Imho, if you've never seen a need for it, you've never seen a system that works extremely well to do exactly what you'd like to see in your setting.

Have you seen Pendragon or Ars Magica? oWoD Mage or Wraith?
You could probably use d20 for all of these, but you'd miss what makes these settings great.

 

[Dausuul]

Myself I've never understood why some people buy specialized tools. I use my swiss army knife for everything and it's totally sufficient!

Sure, it takes ages to fell a tree, and changing my car's tire is a bit tedious, but it totally works!

Imho, if you've never seen a need for it, you've never seen a system that works extremely well to do exactly what you'd like to see in your setting.

For some people there isn't a need. Certain approaches to gaming, and certain settings, demand specialized mechanics. Others can do fine with generic systems, if the GM is willing to do the work to "color them in." As I indicated above, I like a fair amount of specialization, but not everyone does.

In many ways, however, there's no such thing as truly "generic mechanics." Every system has built-in assumptions, like the shape of the power curve, the amount of risk involved in combat, etc. Just because these assumptions are unstated doesn't reduce their impact.

 

[nnms]

The way I see it, there are two approaches to RPG design:

1) Make focused rules that deal with what the game is about

2) Make rules to determine if you succeed and how well.

An example of the first type would be In A Wicked Age. The characters have stats like "With love," "Indirectly," "For myself," and "For others." So if you are attempting something, you look at how you are doing it and why you are doing it.

Whether or not you succeed and how well aren't connected to the competency of your character, but your character's motivations and methods. For example, you could win a sword fight by using "With love" and "For others" and not engage with any statistic about how good of a sword fighter the character is.

For an example of the second, you have most games out there. d20, GURPs, etc.,. Any of the games where the point is to have stats or skills that tell you about how good your character is at something. When you need to find out if you succeed at something, you engage the system and it tells you how well you succeeded or failed.

There are hybrids of the two, but generally speaking more game systems embrace one approach or the other.

 

[DEFCON 1]

John Wick (one of the co-designers of 7th Sea) has several YouTube videos talking about how the best RPGs have specific game mechanics that reflect the game's story (and he uses the new game he designed, Houses Of The Blooded, to illustrate it).

I also tend to agree with that side of the equation, pretty much along the same lines that Dausuul points out (power curve, risk etc.)