Jackcarter
First Post
When buying non-splat books, how much of a book do you want it to be rules and how much of it background/setting? At one extreme spectrum, you have 3e, where three books with 1000+ page counts amount to 1000+ pages of rules and maybe 10-20 pages in DMG about variant settings and roleplaying. At the other end, you have Adventure! where about 1/3 to 1/4 of the book is devoted to the rules.
What seems to be the right amount for you? I'm a rules guy; in core book (s), I want rules, the crunchy bits. Period. More pages spent on the setting or background, more I feel having wasted money. I'm perfectly willing to buy a secondary product that has the setting; that's what I, and you, did in buying the 3 core books and then many of you buying a campaign book. In fact, I think that FRCS would've been better served if it cut out most of the rules section and instead concentrated on the setting more. In other words, if I like the rules and don't feel like making up my own setting, I'm perfectly willing to buy another product to do so. But I would like to have such an option, i.e., no-frills rules-only core book.
However, there are those who feel differently. Who can forget John Wick (one of the better rpg designer)'s rant on 3e? He blasted PHB for being sterile, a math textbook-like feel that bores you to death with endless crunchy bits. All questions about Wick's sanity aside, he does have a point. I've often wondered how a total neophyte group would handle 3e; by neophyte group, I mean a group of people who, to a man, has no experience with any editions of dnd. I know of few people who've never tried dnd try 3e, but gave up because it was too much of chore to read through PHB. However, this is anecdotal and statistically irrelevant.
From reading different messageboards, though, I do get the impression that there are sizeable number of people who like their main book to be rules-lite and setting-heavy. Fans of WWoof come to mind. I recall people praising Exalted not just because of the rules, which make up only about 2/5 of the book, but also because of the setting; some even liked the setting more than the rules. In fact, some liked Exalted DESPITE WW's bucket o'dice rules!
Legend of 5 Rings is another game that people seem to like for its setting more than the rules. I wonder how people would feel if L5R was 99% rules? Heck, I know I would buy that, but others?
What seems to be the right amount for you? I'm a rules guy; in core book (s), I want rules, the crunchy bits. Period. More pages spent on the setting or background, more I feel having wasted money. I'm perfectly willing to buy a secondary product that has the setting; that's what I, and you, did in buying the 3 core books and then many of you buying a campaign book. In fact, I think that FRCS would've been better served if it cut out most of the rules section and instead concentrated on the setting more. In other words, if I like the rules and don't feel like making up my own setting, I'm perfectly willing to buy another product to do so. But I would like to have such an option, i.e., no-frills rules-only core book.
However, there are those who feel differently. Who can forget John Wick (one of the better rpg designer)'s rant on 3e? He blasted PHB for being sterile, a math textbook-like feel that bores you to death with endless crunchy bits. All questions about Wick's sanity aside, he does have a point. I've often wondered how a total neophyte group would handle 3e; by neophyte group, I mean a group of people who, to a man, has no experience with any editions of dnd. I know of few people who've never tried dnd try 3e, but gave up because it was too much of chore to read through PHB. However, this is anecdotal and statistically irrelevant.
From reading different messageboards, though, I do get the impression that there are sizeable number of people who like their main book to be rules-lite and setting-heavy. Fans of WWoof come to mind. I recall people praising Exalted not just because of the rules, which make up only about 2/5 of the book, but also because of the setting; some even liked the setting more than the rules. In fact, some liked Exalted DESPITE WW's bucket o'dice rules!
Legend of 5 Rings is another game that people seem to like for its setting more than the rules. I wonder how people would feel if L5R was 99% rules? Heck, I know I would buy that, but others?
