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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vrykyl" data-source="post: 3459787" data-attributes="member: 3644">Hey people.I've been reading this thread with interest, and though I'm definitely not feeling a room full of love I'm always ready to see what people have to say about the game system.I had a few goals when I started working on the game. They were: • Create a game experience that reflected the source material; • Make the game easy to learn; • Facilitate fast play without need to constantly reference the rules; • Write a book that was fun to read.With a focus on characters, story, and fast-moving action over other elements of game design, I knew that I would be shifting away from some of the popular designs currently out there. And like a lot of rules-light RPG designs, the Cortex System puts more of a burden on the GM to understand his role than more rules-heavy systems that quantify everything in terms of numbers and balance and have a rule to fall back for everything.Yes, it's more fast-and-loose, and we have high expectations on Cortex System GMs to understand how to tell a story and use the game system as a tool for storytelling. It's not for everybody.When we first started playtesting, most of our review groups comments were: "Use Savage Worlds/GURPS/Cinematic Unisystem/d20 Modern/etc." Now, I like own all of those rule sets and have played with them all, but I wanted to do something a bit different. Not necessarily innovative, because I've never claimed to have come up with any new or revolutionary game design concepts. Instead, I took some tried-and-true ideas and put them together in a game that could be learned quickly and played intuitively. While there are some real cutting-edge game designs out there, especially in the Indie game design community, most of them are useless in trying to design something destined for the mass-market.Because when I created the Serenity RPG, I knew that tons of Browncoats who had never picked up an RPG before would try to learn and play. I wanted something that was self-contained and wouldn't scare them away with too much rules and not enough flavor. You might argue that's because they haven't seen "good" game design, and you may be right. But based on responses at conventions, online forums, and weekly e-mails, I accomplished my mission.I don't have a problem with some of the negative opinions, except for the non-helpful "Serenity RPG Sucks" without any sort of clarification. Hopefully you'll see how the rules have evolved with Battlestar Galactica and... the thing I can't tell you about yet. Maybe you'll give the game another try in the future. For those of you who've enjoyed and supported the game, I thank you and hope you continue to have a good time!Jamie ChambersVice PresidentMargaret Weis Productions, Ltd.</blockquote>

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