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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Systems That Model The World Rather Than The Story
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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 9144168" data-attributes="member: 467"><p>In ye olde days, many RPG systems were constructed as the "physics engines" of the worlds of the game. That is to say, they were designed to describe the physical rules that governed the worlds, even if those rules were necessarily fantastic because the worlds they modeled were fantastic. In many cases, these systems became "universal" because, as physics engines, they could model many different worlds in different milieus because squishiness of flesh under duress (for example) was considered to be essentially the same between those worlds.</p><p></p><p>Those kinds of rules systems are less common now, with other concerns such as modeling genre tropes or story beats etc... have become popular. And those kinds of games are great for their purposes, but they don't quite scratch that "modeled physics" itch some of us have when we are pretending to be an elf.</p><p></p><p>I would like this thread to be a discussion of those sorts of games, old and new, and how to bring that feel to modern gameplay with an acknowledgement that there have been many developments in the hobby over the decades.</p><p></p><p>What I would not like this thread to be is a discussion about how this is bad and people should not want to do it, and if they do they are somehow playing wrong. I also do not want this thread to be a Theory discussion, particularly one that compares different approaches. You will not that I did not use the "S" word yet, and I would ask that if people do, they use the little "s" to indicate that we are not delving in to that area of discourse that seems to have been injecting itself into every thread of late.</p><p></p><p>Finally, I am not marking this a "+" thread, because I don't think it is necessary. That said, if you don't like games that model the world, and prefer games that model genres or media or stories or whatever, please consider just scrolling on by. Thanks.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 9144168, member: 467"] In ye olde days, many RPG systems were constructed as the "physics engines" of the worlds of the game. That is to say, they were designed to describe the physical rules that governed the worlds, even if those rules were necessarily fantastic because the worlds they modeled were fantastic. In many cases, these systems became "universal" because, as physics engines, they could model many different worlds in different milieus because squishiness of flesh under duress (for example) was considered to be essentially the same between those worlds. Those kinds of rules systems are less common now, with other concerns such as modeling genre tropes or story beats etc... have become popular. And those kinds of games are great for their purposes, but they don't quite scratch that "modeled physics" itch some of us have when we are pretending to be an elf. I would like this thread to be a discussion of those sorts of games, old and new, and how to bring that feel to modern gameplay with an acknowledgement that there have been many developments in the hobby over the decades. What I would not like this thread to be is a discussion about how this is bad and people should not want to do it, and if they do they are somehow playing wrong. I also do not want this thread to be a Theory discussion, particularly one that compares different approaches. You will not that I did not use the "S" word yet, and I would ask that if people do, they use the little "s" to indicate that we are not delving in to that area of discourse that seems to have been injecting itself into every thread of late. Finally, I am not marking this a "+" thread, because I don't think it is necessary. That said, if you don't like games that model the world, and prefer games that model genres or media or stories or whatever, please consider just scrolling on by. Thanks. [/QUOTE]
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