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What should be turned into a RPG?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hella_Tellah" data-source="post: 4563490" data-attributes="member: 52669"><p>To an extent, I agree, but too often the system encourages behavior that doesn't mesh with the narrative style of the source material. I could run X-Files with d20 Modern, but d20 Modern makes it way too easy to get into a gunfight and succeed. In X-Files, guns are used for posturing and threatening, and are almost never fired. I could use Mage: the Awakening to run a game based on the Dresden Files, but then I'd be converting all of the creatures of the Nevernever into spirits, which doesn't quite fit the sort of bargaining process Harry goes through--he wouldn't bring a faery a bowl of honey, a piece of bread and some milk just to get information. I could run Battlestar Galactica with Star Wars Saga Edition, and just cut out the Force, lightsabers, and non-human races, but I'd still have a game that encourages over-the-top action rather than gravelly-voiced, whispered threats in claustrophobic rooms.</p><p></p><p>I prefer a system that cleaves to the source material and makes scenes that resemble the source material the natural result of following the rules. Sometimes, I can do that by making a new setting for an existing game: <em>True Blood</em> with <em>World of Darkness</em>, <em>Ender's Game</em> with <em>Traveller</em>, etc. There are plenty of cases, though where the rules just don't help you tell the same sorts of stories. A lot of this can be done by encouraging players to play along with genre conventions, but you also need the die results to match the narrative logic of the source. The Man With No Name shouldn't miss when he's shooting Random Bandit Extra Number 5, but he would miss in almost every roleplaying game that has the player roll to hit. I think there's something to be said for a system that gives you narratively expected results.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hella_Tellah, post: 4563490, member: 52669"] To an extent, I agree, but too often the system encourages behavior that doesn't mesh with the narrative style of the source material. I could run X-Files with d20 Modern, but d20 Modern makes it way too easy to get into a gunfight and succeed. In X-Files, guns are used for posturing and threatening, and are almost never fired. I could use Mage: the Awakening to run a game based on the Dresden Files, but then I'd be converting all of the creatures of the Nevernever into spirits, which doesn't quite fit the sort of bargaining process Harry goes through--he wouldn't bring a faery a bowl of honey, a piece of bread and some milk just to get information. I could run Battlestar Galactica with Star Wars Saga Edition, and just cut out the Force, lightsabers, and non-human races, but I'd still have a game that encourages over-the-top action rather than gravelly-voiced, whispered threats in claustrophobic rooms. I prefer a system that cleaves to the source material and makes scenes that resemble the source material the natural result of following the rules. Sometimes, I can do that by making a new setting for an existing game: [I]True Blood[/I] with [I]World of Darkness[/I], [I]Ender's Game[/I] with [I]Traveller[/I], etc. There are plenty of cases, though where the rules just don't help you tell the same sorts of stories. A lot of this can be done by encouraging players to play along with genre conventions, but you also need the die results to match the narrative logic of the source. The Man With No Name shouldn't miss when he's shooting Random Bandit Extra Number 5, but he would miss in almost every roleplaying game that has the player roll to hit. I think there's something to be said for a system that gives you narratively expected results. [/QUOTE]
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