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<blockquote data-quote="Nightchilde-2" data-source="post: 2934652" data-attributes="member: 4109">My benchmark for determining if a rule system is &quot;elegant&quot; or not consists of two parts.1.&nbsp; How often do I, as GM, have to reference the rulebook (I'm counting GM screens in this).And...2.&nbsp; How many houserules are necessary to get it to where I want it to be.&nbsp; Not that I always USE said house rules (I'm very much a RAW kind of GM), but if I were to design it, how much would I change from what is in the book?A third category, should the first two be fairly even, would be &quot;how quickly can I explain to people how to play this game if they don't own the rulebook?&quot;Therefore....by those definitions (and YMMV, certainly, as not all people play the same)Inelegant systems include d20, Champions, GURPS, Ars Magica and Earthdawn.Elegant systems include World of Darkness (et all), Exalted, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun 4th edition and Deadlands (Classic).It should also be noted that I really can grok &quot;dice pool&quot; mechanics better than &quot;roll and add&quot; mechanics for some reason.&nbsp; I'm sure there's a deep-seated psychological reason for it.That's not to say that I don't enjoy the inelegant systems...I loves me some Earthdawn (if only I could get my online group to play it..le sigh) and Mutants &amp; Masterminds.My point?&nbsp; Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.&nbsp; :-D&nbsp; What oen person might find elegant, another might find clunky and unuseable.&nbsp; So the &quot;elegant vs. not&quot; argument is somewhat of a personal issue.(Note:&nbsp; Edited for clarity)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nightchilde-2, post: 2934652, member: 4109"] My benchmark for determining if a rule system is "elegant" or not consists of two parts. 1. How often do I, as GM, have to reference the rulebook (I'm counting GM screens in this). And... 2. How many houserules are necessary to get it to where I want it to be. Not that I always USE said house rules (I'm very much a RAW kind of GM), but if I were to design it, how much would I change from what is in the book? A third category, should the first two be fairly even, would be "how quickly can I explain to people how to play this game if they don't own the rulebook?" Therefore....by those definitions (and YMMV, certainly, as not all people play the same) Inelegant systems include d20, Champions, GURPS, Ars Magica and Earthdawn. Elegant systems include World of Darkness (et all), Exalted, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun 4th edition and Deadlands (Classic). It should also be noted that I really can grok "dice pool" mechanics better than "roll and add" mechanics for some reason. I'm sure there's a deep-seated psychological reason for it. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the inelegant systems...I loves me some Earthdawn (if only I could get my online group to play it..le sigh) and Mutants & Masterminds. My point? Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks. :-D What oen person might find elegant, another might find clunky and unuseable. So the "elegant vs. not" argument is somewhat of a personal issue. (Note: Edited for clarity) [/QUOTE]

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