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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 9843841" data-attributes="member: 32164">For me, &quot;Modern&quot; game design means &quot;streamlined&quot; and not having different fiddly subsystems for everything.Do I have to look something up on a chart or table every time? That's not &quot;modern.&quot; Do I use a different subsystem for resolving a particular category of task for a reason other than &quot;streamlining&quot; or &quot;design choice?&quot; That's not modern.So I'd say the base resolution of &quot;Powered by the Apocalypse&quot; games is &quot;modern.&quot; They use a simple resolution mechanic, whether you're engaging in combat, searching a room, or swinging over a chasm. Sometimes, those resolutions are quick, more detailed, or highly involved, but that's determined by how narratively significant it is. Old School D&amp;D and OSR games where we resolve combat with d20 checks but some skills with a 1d6 and others by rolling percentile dice are...not modern. They also require me to look things up in a book, as opposed to being something I can easily memorize. THAC0 was more modern than earlier D&amp;D/AD&amp;D because a single mechanic that you could use to determine what you had to roll was easier. Attack Bonuses or Target numbers that are right there on your character sheet? That's easier still.Similarly, Advantage/Disadvantage or Hindered/Favored is more modern than having to determine a difficulty modifier by consulting a pile of tables of modifiers.One of the reasons why I like Shadowdark is that, while it's OSR-style it has what I generally think of as &quot;modern mechanics.&quot; The basic resolution check is &quot;Roll a d20, high numbers good.&quot; DCs are graded as Easy (9), Normal (12), Hard (15), or Extreme (18). Kelsey also encourages GMs to take the creature into account when setting DCs, so a task might be harder or easier for a particular character.My two cents.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 9843841, member: 32164"] For me, "Modern" game design means "streamlined" and not having different fiddly subsystems for everything. Do I have to look something up on a chart or table every time? That's not "modern." Do I use a different subsystem for resolving a particular category of task for a reason other than "streamlining" or "design choice?" That's not modern. So I'd say the base resolution of "Powered by the Apocalypse" games is "modern." They use a simple resolution mechanic, whether you're engaging in combat, searching a room, or swinging over a chasm. Sometimes, those resolutions are quick, more detailed, or highly involved, but that's determined by how narratively significant it is. Old School D&D and OSR games where we resolve combat with d20 checks but some skills with a 1d6 and others by rolling percentile dice are...not modern. They also require me to look things up in a book, as opposed to being something I can easily memorize. THAC0 was more modern than earlier D&D/AD&D because a single mechanic that you could use to determine what you had to roll was easier. Attack Bonuses or Target numbers that are right there on your character sheet? That's easier still. Similarly, Advantage/Disadvantage or Hindered/Favored is more modern than having to determine a difficulty modifier by consulting a pile of tables of modifiers. One of the reasons why I like [I]Shadowdark[/I] is that, while it's OSR-style it has what I generally think of as "modern mechanics." The basic resolution check is "Roll a d20, high numbers good." DCs are graded as Easy (9), Normal (12), Hard (15), or Extreme (18). Kelsey also encourages GMs to take the creature into account when setting DCs, so a task might be harder or easier [I]for a particular character[/I]. My two cents. [/QUOTE]

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