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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 7900206" data-attributes="member: 6688937">I'm not sure I hate any particular system (exception granted for silly things like FATAL). However, there are few things that irk me no end, and yet seem horribly common.1) Advertising your system as some kind of "story" engine....when its really just another bog-standard combat/skirmish system with some RP wrapping (i.e. a standard rpg). Or really, just missing the mark entirely on your genre or promises. Which, sadly, is just about so common that its painful anymore. And its not that I even hate that kind of thing. Heck, I'm happy to play a wargame or skirmish game....just tell me that's what it is upfront.2) lists...lists....lists.... weapons, spells, 50+skills/feats/tweaks. I'm old enough to be pretty done with it. In the end, the differences between most of the items on these lists are minor, and maybe matter within the combat (and usually nothing else) statistics/math of the system. Yet, players are always looking for those tiny bonuses, etc. I mean, really, if there's a narrative difference, either make it matter or shut up.3) Going along with #1. Mechanics that don't deliver what they're supposed to, especially if they create incoherent narrative. Things like Fate points and aspects don't bother me at all, because they at least do what they say they will.* But rules that create nonsense or incoherent narrative just curdle my blood. The generics of the traditional HP/damage are the worst offender for me (although some games and editions have taken steps to ameliorate it). I'm really done with "combats" that are glorified accounting exercises with die randomizers.Just to throw out an example. We are currently playing a Boot Hill 3e game. And I'm no expert on the system, so I don't even know if we are playing it correctly (I'm not the GM), but....  The damage/wounding mechanics are a vast improvement over just a pile of HP. However, the movement/initiative rules seem almost designed to ensure that perfectly sensible combat actions and positions are just about impossible to achieve.*Which, I think, is just another way of saying "stance" (Actor vs Author vs Pawn) is not so important to me as the nature of the story/narrative that gets created. Board game, war/skirmish, rpg...its all the same to me.</blockquote>

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