Obviously not quoted word-for-word, but the substance is mostly there, I hope. But I'm curious if others out there might have approached this conversation differently, even if (or perhaps especially if) the game in question isn't Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.
I've had this conversation a few times myself. Im gearing up for a Traveller game that is launching on Sunday. I've been having a lot of talks with my group about Traveller's flatter progression and lack of body looting need. My experiences are that the flatter progression actually catches on pretty quickly for a lot of folks and they break the D&D loot and power template. However, usually there is at least one person who just sees gaming as collecting powerful stuff and gaining powerful abilities. We even see 5E's move away from loot importance as an irritation amongst some in the community.
I dont have nearly the irritation to game jargon that a lot of folks seem to have. What I do have is an understanding that only about 10% of gamers care enough about gaming to actual learn and make jargon up to explain it. So, yes, naturally its not going to be helpful to shout
trad, OC, story game at people if they dont know what you are talking about. I spend a good deal of time with folks not familiar with my style explaining how I envision play. I usually do this with a lot of examples of situations from past games to illustrate how it worked for player and GM so the players can get the gist of what im expecting.
One other thing that has occurred to me over time is my focus on character in gaming. I dont tend to form an idea of what type of character ill be playing is at the beginning. I've found having an archetype like Solo's
hard to be a saint in the city reluctant hero bit hard to bring to life. You need to have the right intuition of when its time to be a scoundrel and when its time to be the unlikely hero. An RPG isnt like a fictional story in that the moments are custom tailored for the characters as they need to be. So, its always felt a bit backwards to me to try and do that in an RPG thats less predictable and static. Thats before even mentioning that multiple other players are also trying to character arch at the same time often in disparate ways. I tend to start blank slate and let the game progression take me were it organically goes.
The point of all this, is that players have different styles and expectations. Its pretty rare that everybody will be on the same page. TTRPG gaming is often an exercise in compromise amongst the group. The big question is how far a bridge do you need to build to make it work. There is a point too far I think where it just doesnt work. I think your conversation was fine, but there is also going to be a certain amount of just doing it at the table. You will find out eventually if you can provide the type of game the player finds satrisfying. You might not, and dems da breaks. Just be cool about it if it happens there is no right or wrong way to do this, just a preferred way for each person.
