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Message: <blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 1700521" data-attributes="member: 16077">It depends upon the specific game...Whether fluff or crunch is better or worse or indifferent is really a function of the game itself.What I mean by this is that games such as D&D (all versions) are designed such that the crunch and the fluff can be separated with no ill effects to the game itself.  That is - you don't *need* the fluff contained in Forgotten Realms to play D&D.  You don't *need* a prestige class to describe a Purple Dragon Knight.  Because of this, there will be a dichotomy (real or imagined).Games such as TORG or Twilight:2000, by their very nature, *require* close cooperation between fluff and crunch, while other games require very little.For example, TORG has rules for stelae, possibility storms, and hardpoints *because* the fluff describing these items *needs* rules to implement them in the game.In a different way, Twilight:2000 intertwines fluff and crunch - an Order of Battle is both fluff *and* crunch because of the way the rules are written in this game.  Yes - it is great to know that 5th Infantry Division included 256th Mech Bde as it's round-out Bde (fluff), when you decide that your character will be a tanker from 256th Mech Bde, but its also great to know that 256th Mech Bde was an ARNG Bde that used M60 tanks instead of M1 tanks, which have different stats in the game (crunch).My point is this - a game's design determines to what extent the fluff and crunch need and support each other.  For D&D, you can get away with minimal fluff if desired.  For TORG and TW2K, they rely heavily upon each other.  For something like Vampire, you can get away with never rolling a single die during a game session.</blockquote>

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