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What Makes One System Better Than Another?
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<blockquote data-quote="resistor" data-source="post: 4728043" data-attributes="member: 9142"><p>I'm not sure one can define a "good system" in the abstract. A good system is one that supports the game I want to run/play, whatever that may be at the moment.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes that means quirky, weird systems for quirky weird games. Sometimes that means rules lite systems for cinematic games. Sometimes that means genre-specific systems to games where the feel matters. And sometimes it means highly meta-level narrative systems when the story is all I care about.</p><p></p><p>Any system that fulfills a niche in my gaming spectrum is a good system.</p><p></p><p>----------</p><p></p><p>I think a lot of what people have been pointing out are what I would call "aesthetics" of games: design points that serve to differentiate games within a niche from each other.</p><p></p><p>For instance, "balance" only matters in games with a decent gamist element. It's irrelevant in strongly narrativist systems, at least in the normal sense. (Narrative balance remains important.) In strongly simulationist systems, it's practically antithetical.</p><p></p><p>Similarly mechnical elegance and/or weight. Lots of crufty systems do good jobs of fulfilling their niches in the gaming spectrum. Rifts and older versions of D&D come to mind.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="resistor, post: 4728043, member: 9142"] I'm not sure one can define a "good system" in the abstract. A good system is one that supports the game I want to run/play, whatever that may be at the moment. Sometimes that means quirky, weird systems for quirky weird games. Sometimes that means rules lite systems for cinematic games. Sometimes that means genre-specific systems to games where the feel matters. And sometimes it means highly meta-level narrative systems when the story is all I care about. Any system that fulfills a niche in my gaming spectrum is a good system. ---------- I think a lot of what people have been pointing out are what I would call "aesthetics" of games: design points that serve to differentiate games within a niche from each other. For instance, "balance" only matters in games with a decent gamist element. It's irrelevant in strongly narrativist systems, at least in the normal sense. (Narrative balance remains important.) In strongly simulationist systems, it's practically antithetical. Similarly mechnical elegance and/or weight. Lots of crufty systems do good jobs of fulfilling their niches in the gaming spectrum. Rifts and older versions of D&D come to mind. [/QUOTE]
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