Single System Monogamy

[Sepulchrave II]

I play D&D (various iterations), Classic Traveller and Pendragon, and nothing else at this point.

I guess that makes me some kind of sororate trigamist.

 

[Scott Christian]

I have never been monogamous with a single system, though I did play almost nothing but World of Darkness for a decade.

Honestly, though, I don't understand why anyone would want to be system monogamous. Why not try new things? There's so many interesting RPGs out there!

Adding a new RPG system takes time, money, and an acceptance from the group.

Most campaigns last 6 to 12 months. People only play once or twice a week. And to top it off, it is a group venture, meaning the group has to be okay with switching, not just one person. It is a unique blend of characteristics that make TTRPGs a very single sided affair.

There is also the money. For some people, to run it the way they want to can require quite a bit of money. I remember running a Numenera game quite a few years back. The best minis I could find that represented the setting and game were those Malifaux minis. After the book, printing the maps, and the minis, the price was close to $300. Worth it? In my brain, yes. But for others, it could be a barrier.

 

[Blue]

Or, try this hot take: They found something they like, and that's enough for them. They're good, thanks.

I find this tendency or desire to paint those who don't do things they way you do as wrong is rather more disturbing than someone who plays only one game.

I never said it wasn't good for them. I was saying that people with only narrow information seem to be making different choices then those with more information, and wondering if that was an artifact of only having a single viewpoint to evaluate from.

 

[Umbran]

I never said it wasn't good for them. I was saying that people with only narrow information seem to be making different choices then those with more information

There is still the implication that making a different choice is somehow important or relevant.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You can pick up chess in 15 minutes. Good luck mastering it in ten ^10 times that number.

Context is a thing. I was talking about RPGs.

 

[Blue Orange]

I'm solo poly. I'll play with anyone, though I do prefer certain roles. Always important not to annoy the DM though.

I don't think there's anything perfect out there. I'm certainly not unicorn hunting.

 

[thullgrim]

I’ve seen learning curve/ time to learn a new system mentioned in the thread. For me personally it’s not much of an issue. The issue becomes trying to teach it, while also running the game. In my regular 5-7 pool of players I can rely 1 to learn the rules independently or at least look them over. I can rely on 1 more to at least learn the rules their characters interface with. The rest I can’t rely on at all to help with the rules overhead portion of the game.

Sometime it just becomes easier to convert to a game system they already know than try and teach them something new from scratch.

 

[payn]

I’ve seen learning curve/ time to learn a new system mentioned in the thread. For me personally it’s not much of an issue. The issue becomes trying to teach it, while also running the game. In my regular 5-7 pool of players I can rely 1 to learn the rules independently or at least look them over. I can rely on 1 more to at least learn the rules their characters interface with. The rest I can’t rely on at all to help with the rules overhead portion of the game.

Sometime it just becomes easier to convert to a game system they already know than try and teach them something new from scratch.

Between RPGs and BGs, I find a lot of folks are just simply poor teachers. If folks dont have help groking it, they tend to not to adopt it.

 

[hgjertsen]

Between RPGs and BGs, I find a lot of folks are just simply poor teachers. If folks dont have help groking it, they tend to not to adopt it.

Definitely. I think part of that comes down to realizing that not everyone is like you and not everyone finds it fun to sit down reading every rulebook sequentially and thus won't want the rules explained to them sequentially. It's much easier to hand a player a character, tell them how to do the basic things (attacking, casting spells, healing, etc.) and they will gradually figure it out themselves from there.

 

[payn]

Definitely. I think part of that comes down to realizing that not everyone is like you and not everyone finds it fun to sit down reading every rulebook sequentially and thus won't want the rules explained to them sequentially. It's much easier to hand a player a character, tell them how to do the basic things (attacking, casting spells, healing, etc.) and they will gradually figure it out themselves from there.

Yes, I agree. I think there are important high level things to mention immediately. For example, in BGs what are the victory conditions/points and how you score them. The particulars then, are best walked up in complexity. Though, a lot of folks either give people the firehose, or they just want somebody to play with and assume they will figure it out on their own like they did.