Rules heavy = bad; light = good

[ShadowDenizen]

I think tabletop/RPG gaming relies on MANY factors, not just the ruleset being used.

My Monday-night group alternates systems. Currently we're using "Basic Fantasy" for our fantasy-worlld gaming, and it's served our needs pretty well, though it has been tweaked a bit [notably to add a small list of skills/specialites releveant to our PC backgrounds.]. (For reference, the group [including myslef] is mostly rules-light people, but we have a few optimizers/crunchy folks)

BUT, for our Super-Heroes we're trying "Icons" (which is a Fate-based system), which isn't sitting well with our group thus far, and we're considering switching to crunchier Mutants and Masterminds 3E.

Moreover, in our Saturday by-the-book Pathfinder game, (which includes 1 COMPLETE newbie to RPG'ing), we're rolling through 10-hour session with very few rules questions, and the new player has really gotten into the groove and proved his worth in playing a Sorcerer (which is, IMO, one of of the more complex of the "Core" PF classes.)

So, it's more about the players temperaments and knowledge than it is about the actual rules, in my experience..

I also just read the thread about the "Time Study" of rules light vs. rule-cruchy games, and I'm not sure how accurate an assessment that seems to me; unless I missed it, it's not noted the experience of the players overall with RPG's or their experiences witht he given rulesets listed.

 

[Argyle King]

I would be interesting in seeing if we can get RPGs to a larger audience by producing more "gateway RPGs" like that, and getting them into mainstream party gaming.

Don't tell them they've just played a "role-playing game" until after they are hooked...



Good observation. High quality settings might be the key. GURPS setting supplements apparently used to sell really well outside of GURPS itself, since they were known to be of such high quality and were mostly fluff. If game products made for an entirely different system can sell for their fluff, basing a mostly fluff book for a rules-light system, and making it very high quality, should be able to sell well to those who like the system (and maybe spread beyond it).

Even some of the non-fluffy books for GURPS are useful for outside of GURPS; the quality of research which goes into something like a book on guns, swords, or whatever is typically pretty high. Though, yes, I would agree that the books containing more fluff are probably of more value outside of the system. In particular, I've found both Horror and Zombies (both 4th edition books) to be very thought provoking. In the case of Horror, the discussion of different types of fears and how different monster choices might better portray certain fears was pretty cool. In the case of Zombies, I started to look at the concept of "zombie" in multiple different lights; I hadn't really considered before what else a zombie might be other than a slow shambling corpse.

For what it's worth, some of the old 3rd Edition setting and fluff books are awesome as well; they're also still available, and available for order rather cheaply from the SJ Games website. Some have even been updated to pdf form for those who prefer digital format.