Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9660873" data-attributes="member: 18">I feel like I usually want one of two different things out of an RPG system.Either:A) What [USER=7048197]@Bae'zel[/USER] said in this <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/what-do-you-personally-need-a-system-to-do-for-you.713383/#post-9660724" target="_blank">post</a>. I.e. a straightforward and reliable system for adjudicating stuff in an pretty intuitive way. BRP for example.Or:B) A custom-designed (though fine if it's variant of another system, like PtbA or Resistance) and specific system that is actually focused on evoking specific vibes, tropes, and so on, particularly ones which are not easily achieved in a more straightforward system.I'll take either, so long as its right for the game/setting, and it's very obvious from the last 35+ years of RPGs that there is no such thing as a system which can handle anything (or if there is, it's incredibly rules-light to the point of almost being freeform), and that all the best times I have had at the table, and seen others have, have involved systems which were well-suited to the subject matter.What I really dislike and don't want in a system is a system that may well be well-designed, clever, well-balanced or w/e, but that doesn't work with the proposed setting/vibes. For my money, quite a few superhero RPGs fall at this hurdle.I also really don't need a system where finding out whether someone succeeded or failed at a task, and/or by how much, takes time and effort. I like systems which aren't binary pass/fail, but for god's sake don't make me do math, like working out how many multiples of five the PC succeeded by or something!I honestly think that with those specific examples, the level of clarity is pretty much identical. In fact, I'd say "Maintain Spell" is more intuitive in its meaning than "Concentration" is, because Concentration does not actually mean you're "concentrating" on the spell in any meaningful sense of the word "concentrate", it's just a weird jargon term. And Fighting Retreat, I think is at least equally clear to Disengage. I mean, I know Disengage has tripped people up at my table before as they try and remember the word for moving away without being attacked (most recently it got called "small move" as in "I want to er... small move away from him without being hit!").Re: Elven Upbringing etc. that's for a fundamentally different approach to skills/stats, and I don't think it's at all unclear when you'd roll it or why. It's just the same as how some games have you roll "Sailor" to know stuff about ships, or to tie a knot, or w/e.Personally I struggle to think of any times with D&D where unevocative, mechanical language has genuinely produced more clarity in the rules than a more evocative term could have. I'm sure there must be some, but I think most examples of this are just jargon, which would be no less clear were it more evocative jargon!</blockquote>

Verification