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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mortaneus" data-source="post: 64714" data-attributes="member: 485">Psion,I have played over 20 different role playing systems.  I personally own over 100.   I've been GMing for more than a decade.  I've written quite a few gaming systems when I couldn't find one that suited the kind of game I wanted to run.  I am often regarded as one of the best GMs in my area (and believe me, that's a lot of gamers).  Whenever I say I'm thinking about running something, people start lining up out the door.  D&D is one of the most limited gaming systems I've ever come across.  Because of it's classes, level system, and earth-shattering magic, it is only good at running ONE kind of game.  Hack and slash.  All other styles of gaming have to be forced apon the system.  Sure, you can run an intrigue laden game.  Sure, you can run a role-playing intensive game.  Does the system really support this?  Not nearly as well as other skill-based games.D&D is great if you want simplistic gaming, with lots of death, carnage, die rolling, and magic tossing.Classless skill-based systems, however, are universally better at non-heroic and non-fantasy games.  I have never ONCE seen a decent sword fight in D&D that didn't just devolve into a hit point contest.  When I look at a character, I want to see a PERSON that has a story to them.  I want to look at their skills, abilities, and traits and see a character that has a story built into them, not just another 10th level cleric, or 3rd level two-weapon fighter.I want to be able to make a 13 year old street urchin, who's had to learn to survive in the gutter, but who has survived through a combination of strangely good luck, natural talent, and periodic outbursts of great arcane power, which never occur when he wants them, but only when he really needs them.I want to be able to make a talented musician, whose coming is heralded thorughout the kingdom for his musical talent, and has a natural talent for languages, but is secretly a devotee of the thought-long-dead god of music, and for whom magic, even items, just doesn't work so well.I want to be able to look at a character sheet and see these things reflected, not see a 2nd level rogue with spellfire, or a 5th level bard, 2nd level cleric with a really strange feat.Currently, I'm running a Kingdoms of Kalamar game, using GURPS, and everyone is really enjoying it.  I've gotten complements from previously D&D laden players, who find the style of play GURPS allows to be quite a bit more entertaining than the standard D&D fare.  They like being able to see their characters get better every session.  They like being able to get better at something by taking time to study it, rather than go adventuring and hope for a level.  They like being able to dabble in a variety of interests, and actually possibly develop some skill in them, rather than being forced to follow some predefined class, or to multiclass and take a serious hit to their main skill advancement.  The players seem to be having fun, and they've told me that part of the reason is LACK of classes and such arbitrary restrictions.  And since this is a GAME we're talking about, fun is all that really matters.Your assertion that classes make for a better game is fallacious.  It's all in how it is run, and what style of game is being attempted.  You're making a broad generalization by stating that classes are always good, a statement that I know form EXTENSIVE experience to be completely false.  Classes are no better than any other system.  If it suits the type of game you wish to run, then fine, they're good.  If not, then they're a hinderance more than a help.  So quit preaching on your soapbox about the superiority of a inherently limited character creation system.  It's beginning to become annoying.</blockquote>

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