The gaming group's divorce is finalized

[ShinHakkaider]

The fun is what each person defines as fun, so they may not be on board for your definition. And that would explain why someone would not play a game to avoid a rules-set.

This.

It's probably why most people on this board arent using HERO System or M&M to play fantasy role-playing...

 

[Steely Dan]

I think the game system makes a huge difference.

Yeah, I'm one of those DMs of over 20 years who will not run any other system than D&D. As a player, I'm a little bit more flexible, but not much, my friend back in the day ran me through a Call of Cthulhu campaign, and the whole time I was saying things like can’t we just use D&D rules, a bit modified, instead of this Chaosium system (which I detest)?

That's why I was so jazzed when d20 Call of Cthulhu and Star Wars came out, as I never had a desire to play the old d6 system (or Chaosium as I have already said).

Though having said that, as I am always a bridesmaid (the DM) and never the bride (a player) *sad eyes*, at this point I might join as a player with whatever system is being used…I would give it a shot.

So, while role-playing transcends any system or edition, for some of us it makes a HUGE impact on the experience.

Am I being shallow?

 

[MadMaxim]

Am I being shallow?

I wouldn't say that, because familiarity with a system makes you able to look past the rules and roleplay more effectively, because they're so familiar with the rules. When you first try out a new system you're pretty much spending all your energy on learning and very little on roleplaying (or at least that's how I feel), because you have to get the basics right. When they're nailed down, you're roleplaying almost automatically gets better. So I don't it the least bit surprising that many people want to stick to just one type of system, because they're comfortable with it.

This also seems to be what Halivar's former DM might be suffering from. He doesn't like the new system even though he figured the rules out. It just goes to show that just because you understand a system doesn't have to mean you like it. Perhaps he's just more comfortable with the 3.5 ruleset.

 

[Ginnel]

I'll play whatever system is being used, whether its a coin flip or 3.5D&D
but then I like roleplaying in general (with friends) not a particular game with a certain ruleset, if something is up with the game which I think can be improved upon I'll mention it to the DM.

I too find the concept of someone in a group of friends not wanting to try a game/campaign because they don't find it to their tastes bizarre, this is probably because my previous roleplaying circle consisted of around 4-5 people and everyone had a similar open minded approach to roleplaying and also the fact I've played a ton of systems and never had the mechanics or flavour get in the way of my fun.

 

[Steely Dan]

This also seems to be what Halivar's former DM might be suffering from. He doesn't like the new system even though he figured the rules out. It just goes to show that just because you understand a system doesn't have to mean you like it. Perhaps he's just more comfortable with the 3.5 ruleset.

Yeah, that was me with the Chaosium system, I totally understood the system, and played with friends, but the system itself just left me a little underwhelmed, despite the role-playing fun and hanging with my buddies.

I would often think man, I would love to run a Cthulhu campaign, but with a different system.

Oh, but I always wanted to run a Marvel (TSR) game, for some odd reason, but could never find enough interest, so there you go.

 

[mattdm]

When you first try out a new system you're pretty much spending all your energy on learning and very little on roleplaying (or at least that's how I feel), because you have to get the basics right.

It can work the other way too, though. With our 3.5E game, we had several people who were experts in advanced minutiæ of the rules, and we'd often get distracted by long technical discussions. With our new 4E game, not necessarily because of any virtues of the system (although I do think it's partly that), there's been a lot of good roleplaying, because we don't know so much about the rules to worry about them.

 

[MadMaxim]

It can work the other way too, though. With our 3.5E game, we had several people who were experts in advanced minutiæ of the rules, and we'd often get distracted by long technical discussions.

Of course, there's always the chance that the very experienced players get into the very technical discussions of the game when deciding how to handle events that aren't entirely explained in the rules (so how do I get up from my prone position when there's a monster standing on top of me...?). They happen once in a while in my current group.

 

[Remathilis]

So the 3e/4e switch is tearing my game group apart, same as yours. I empathize with ya.

UPDATE

My "I hate" player has decided to stay home and play WoW. My others are still willing to play.

I'm recruiting two new players. Neither have played 4e before.

Hope it works.

 

[Halivar]

I got an update, too. The DM will start a new campaign on an off-night using his homebrew sci-fi d6 system (he's always tinkering with it). He asked me if I'd be willing to be in a third game ever week (holy crap, that's a lot of games!), with just him and two others from the core group. He also intimated that it's too soon for him to switch gears on D&D, and will need an extended hiatus before he can consider 4th Edition.

IOW (cross fingers), he'll run another 2-year long sci-fi campaign, and then consider jumping into a 4th game, after 3.5 is long out of his system.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I simply cannot grasp why someone would not play a game to avoid a rules-set. The rules is not the game. The rules is not the fun. The fun is to meet with friends who share a common interest and roll dice.

There can be a lot of reasons. A big one is time.

Most of the gamers in my 2 active groups are married with children. They don't have a lot of time to game, so when we can gather, they want to play. Their interest in learning something new is almost nil.

Another reason is genre. Some people I know only like High Fantasy RPGs and have no interest in Sci-fi, Horror, Modern Fantasy and so forth. Some are even more limited, only liking a particular game within a genre.

Each genre has its preconceptions, and they get codified into the ruleset. If you don't like the preconceptions, you're not going to have fun playing any game in the ruleset. Consider Vancian spellcasting, which some (not me) consider the bane of enjoyable fantasy roleplaying- if you honestly hate Vancian casting, you probably avoid games with it like the plague.

Personally? I'll play just about anything. My taste in games I'd run is much more limited, of course.