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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
When did mixing editions become unusual?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 7527973" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>3e. 3e absolutely is the point where rules mixing stopped. I suspect because 3e is the first edition where mixing in different subsystems is actually harder than just playing the rules as written. 3e had a single mechanic - roll a d20 and add a bonus, compare to a difficulty number. The rules are tightly coupled to that unified mechanic, and it's not obvious how to include other systems even if you wanted to use them. </p><p></p><p>Conversely AD&D and BECMI were both built on a lot of different subsystems that were loosely coupled together mechanically. Saving throws were different from hit rolls were different from thief skill rolls etc. Swapping out one of those loosely coupled subsystems for a different subsystem was fairly easily done - you could replace the whole combat engine with different rules if you wanted (in fact if you go back to OD&D the combat rules there were just an "alternative system" for using Chainmail rules for miniatures). And sometimes it was easier to just swap in a system that you knew instead of dealing with the rules as written - a number of 1e AD&D games I played in back in the day basically used B/X rules for most of the at the table play and were "AD&D" games in the sense that players used classes/races from the PHB and the DM used monsters and treasure from the MM and DMG. </p><p></p><p>It's interesting that RPG design overall has trended towards tightly coupled systems - I suspect largely because it seems to be easier to <em>teach</em> people how to play the game when you have a single resolution system. Also because games are now designed to fulfill certain expectations about RPGs right out of the gate rather than organically grown over time to meet those expectations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 7527973, member: 19857"] 3e. 3e absolutely is the point where rules mixing stopped. I suspect because 3e is the first edition where mixing in different subsystems is actually harder than just playing the rules as written. 3e had a single mechanic - roll a d20 and add a bonus, compare to a difficulty number. The rules are tightly coupled to that unified mechanic, and it's not obvious how to include other systems even if you wanted to use them. Conversely AD&D and BECMI were both built on a lot of different subsystems that were loosely coupled together mechanically. Saving throws were different from hit rolls were different from thief skill rolls etc. Swapping out one of those loosely coupled subsystems for a different subsystem was fairly easily done - you could replace the whole combat engine with different rules if you wanted (in fact if you go back to OD&D the combat rules there were just an "alternative system" for using Chainmail rules for miniatures). And sometimes it was easier to just swap in a system that you knew instead of dealing with the rules as written - a number of 1e AD&D games I played in back in the day basically used B/X rules for most of the at the table play and were "AD&D" games in the sense that players used classes/races from the PHB and the DM used monsters and treasure from the MM and DMG. It's interesting that RPG design overall has trended towards tightly coupled systems - I suspect largely because it seems to be easier to [I]teach[/I] people how to play the game when you have a single resolution system. Also because games are now designed to fulfill certain expectations about RPGs right out of the gate rather than organically grown over time to meet those expectations. [/QUOTE]
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When did mixing editions become unusual?
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