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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8103542" data-attributes="member: 16586">Most of games that people have mentioned having exposure to in this thread (including games like Vampire, Mutants and Masterminds, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun and Savage Worlds) are what I would call kissing cousins to Modern D&D (late 2e going forward). They share incredibly play loops, GM and player priorities, and structural organization.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They are largely location or point crawls where players are tasked with group problem solving and providing characterization as they make their way through a predetermined adventure/story either designed or purchased by the GM. So much of this become encultured that the processes are just like an assumed part of play and not clearly communicated by most games.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You have characters that are mechanically defined by their capabilities and usually some form of rationed bits of awesome that players must effectively managed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Part of character creation often involved covering the team with a range of skills so they can effectively surmount the games' challenges. Also niche overlap is usually discouraged.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Detailed slow motion combat and loose task resolution (consequences established after the roll by the GM) outside of combat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Detailed setting material is fairly normal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Open ended campaigns that are assumed to go for as long as possible.</li> </ul>These games make up the vast majority of play. They primarily differ in terms of technical details rather in terms of the structure of play. Playing or running any of these games share the same fundamental skills and expectations. They are also very weighty and require long term commitments to get the most out of. I play and run a fair portion of these games. I like them a good deal although I usually bring some techniques from outside the wheelhouse.Do not get me wrong. The technical details of mainstream games absolutely matter, but structurally they are so similar that many people feel they do not get enough of a different experience for the juice to be worth the squeeze. I think this where most people's sense of system not mattering comes from. Most experiences of roleplaying games come from games where system matters in exactly the same way.For me personally that focus on group problem solving and finding the right clues makes it more difficult to feel empathy for the characters because there's a mystery to be solved and an adventure to be won. The character sheet with limited resources to manage and turn by turn combat saps the tension away that's necessary for the pacing to feel right for horror to me. The open ended nature of campaign play also means we are probably not focused on personal stories as much as I prefer particularly for horror. The adventure play loop wherein I take cues from the GM as to what my characters goals should be is not conducive to the type of character driven stories that make for the best horror stories in my opinion.Soon I will do a post looking at the structure of Quietus more in depth.</blockquote>

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