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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7573161" data-attributes="member: 4937">The answer is &quot;Yes.&quot;A game can concentrate it's complexity in preparation while having a simple mechanical resolution mechanic.&nbsp; If a game does that, the player's have a one time investment in complexity, but after that their experience of play tends to be fairly smooth.&nbsp; Some proponents of the HERO system will make this claim, that all the complexity is front-loaded in the options and set up for the game, and once play begins (if it ever begins) then the complexity largely goes away.&nbsp; While I'm not an expert in HERO system, I think from my experiences with GURPS this is mostly the case for GURPS as well.The problem is that if you concentrate your complexity investment in preparation, you can create a huge burden for GMs to prepare the game.&nbsp; As you note, GMs can avoid this by refusing to dot every 'i' and cross every 't', and game systems like GURPS explicitly call this out but then this can feel wrong for a GM that doesn't like to wing it and associates fiat rulings with lack of neutrality as a referee.&nbsp; Alternately, in a game like 3e, you could avoid most of the potential complexity of preparation by only using stock content - old school flipping to page of the monster manual when a monster was called for.&nbsp;&nbsp; But, if you do this, then as a GM you feel like you aren't getting the most out of the system and utilizing the creativity that the system allows or which you want to engage in.&nbsp; The worst thing in 3e D&amp;D is when you need to stat up a high level NPC, complete with spell selections and some sort of gear, and you are intending to hit some CR/EL/wealth by level standard to pace the game according to its default assumptions.&nbsp;&nbsp; At that point, all the complexity that exists to provide a rich experience to the players is working against the DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7573161, member: 4937"] The answer is "Yes." A game can concentrate it's complexity in preparation while having a simple mechanical resolution mechanic. If a game does that, the player's have a one time investment in complexity, but after that their experience of play tends to be fairly smooth. Some proponents of the HERO system will make this claim, that all the complexity is front-loaded in the options and set up for the game, and once play begins (if it ever begins) then the complexity largely goes away. While I'm not an expert in HERO system, I think from my experiences with GURPS this is mostly the case for GURPS as well. The problem is that if you concentrate your complexity investment in preparation, you can create a huge burden for GMs to prepare the game. As you note, GMs can avoid this by refusing to dot every 'i' and cross every 't', and game systems like GURPS explicitly call this out but then this can feel wrong for a GM that doesn't like to wing it and associates fiat rulings with lack of neutrality as a referee. Alternately, in a game like 3e, you could avoid most of the potential complexity of preparation by only using stock content - old school flipping to page of the monster manual when a monster was called for. But, if you do this, then as a GM you feel like you aren't getting the most out of the system and utilizing the creativity that the system allows or which you want to engage in. The worst thing in 3e D&D is when you need to stat up a high level NPC, complete with spell selections and some sort of gear, and you are intending to hit some CR/EL/wealth by level standard to pace the game according to its default assumptions. At that point, all the complexity that exists to provide a rich experience to the players is working against the DM. [/QUOTE]

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