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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8642859" data-attributes="member: 29398">Maybe, but my own suspicion is it was the desire for a unified base mechanic that ultimately killed modularity.Modularity works best when each module is - and uses - its own discrete mechanical subsystem that doesn't really affect much else other than itself.&nbsp; 1e, for all its other faults, somehow got this bang-on right: you could chop out, add, or tweak entire blocks of 1e without really affecting very much else in the overall system or setting any mechanics precedents other subsystems would then be expected to adhere to.Don't like the way turning undead works in 1e?&nbsp; Then feel free to change it, safe in the knowledge that as nothing else in the game uses that particular subsystem you won't be affecting how anything else works.&nbsp; Don't like the system 1e used for weapon vs armour type?&nbsp; Then feel free to change it or drop it, safe in knowing that you won't affect much if anything else.3e-4e-5e, with their reliance on unified mechanics, also carry a tone of mechanical precedent (for lack of a better term); by which I mean there's an inherent sense that if you change one mechanic you're expected to change all the other mechanics along with it in order to keep the whole thing unified; and while this may make things easier in play it fights like hell against modularity.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8642859, member: 29398"] Maybe, but my own suspicion is it was the desire for a unified base mechanic that ultimately killed modularity. Modularity works best when each module is - and uses - its own discrete mechanical subsystem that doesn't really affect much else other than itself. 1e, for all its other faults, somehow got this bang-on right: you could chop out, add, or tweak entire blocks of 1e without really affecting very much else in the overall system or setting any mechanics precedents other subsystems would then be expected to adhere to. Don't like the way turning undead works in 1e? Then feel free to change it, safe in the knowledge that as nothing else in the game uses that particular subsystem you won't be affecting how anything else works. Don't like the system 1e used for weapon vs armour type? Then feel free to change it or drop it, safe in knowing that you won't affect much if anything else. 3e-4e-5e, with their reliance on unified mechanics, also carry a tone of mechanical precedent (for lack of a better term); by which I mean there's an inherent sense that if you change one mechanic you're expected to change all the other mechanics along with it in order to keep the whole thing unified; and while this may make things easier in play it fights like hell against modularity. [/QUOTE]

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