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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 7901346" data-attributes="member: 85870">I tend to agree with those who have said previously that it's pretty hard to "hate" a system. I forget who said it, but there would have to be an element of "forced engagement" with a system I didn't enjoy over an extended period of time for the emotion to go from simply not caring for a particular system to outright hatred. Even as ridiculously tedious and uninspiring I find GURPS most of the time, I've still managed to find snippets of fun here and there as a player in our current campaign. As to the reasons anyone would "hate" an RPG system, to me it always comes down to mismatched expectations, which is certainly the case between me and GURPS. That mismatch can operate at a number of levels, and in multiple combinations:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Mechanical realism/verisimilitude: the mechanics may be intuitive and easy to grasp, but don't output plausible outcomes relative to the in-fiction reality.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Mechanical over-complexity: the mechanics may output plausible in-fiction outcomes, but the inputs required to reach the output is too mentally taxing or time-consuming to maintain an effective pace of play.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Mechanical under-complexity: Conversely, if the mechanics are not complex enough, the produced results may feel too generic or overly broad to the situation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Genre adherence: Even if the mechanics produce plausible outcomes at a desired level of complexity, the outputs may not create the right "feel" for the assumed fiction. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Tone: This is somewhat related to genre, but not always. It's more about how the rules influence what is seen as relevant to the central tenets if play--Grim/gritty vs. heroic, magic as an unstable, malevolent force vs. whimsical fairy magic, etc. If you're wanting to play a game of "big damn heroes fighting evil", do you really need detailed rules about pestilence and disease that force the players to constantly make health checks to avoid getting the plague?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fictional stance (actor / author (pawn) / director): The rules either encourage or discourage certain player inputs relative to the fiction, or allow or disallow player control over areas of the fiction outside the GM's authority. </li> </ol>There might be other ways a system might mismatch a player's expectations, but these were the ones I came up with off the top of my head. For me personally, GURPS is an overwhelming mismatch for #2. For the particular campaign I'm in right now (supers), it's also a very strong mismatch for #4 and #5.</blockquote>

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