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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edgar Ironpelt" data-source="post: 9694184" data-attributes="member: 32075">My thoughtsMy own druthers lean toward crunchy rules. In particular I want crunch that supports fluff descriptions and distinctions between characters. (And hat-tip to Theory of Games, above, rules that support genre and genre conventions.)Some complications are more inherently appealing to GMs than to players. Those are prime candidates for simplification.Certain fussy distinctions are prime candidates for simplification. E.g. different chances for an arrow being broken/lost if it hits vs if it misses, or a requirement that multiclass characters account for the skill points of their different classes separately, rather than putting those points in a single pool.I dislike critical hits, and rules for roll results that automatically hit or automatically miss. And I loath 'fumble' systems of any sort. Those are prime candidates for elimination in my house rules and homebrew systems. Especially fumbles.On the other hand, I do like 'called shot' systems, and am happy to incorporate that extra complication.One place where annoying complications come in is when it seems like a good idea to make a certain aspect more detailed and less abstracted than the rest of the system. (Detailed material components for spells rules ["You must have a white chicken feather and a black glass marble to cast this particular spell"] fall both under this and under "more inherently appealing to GMs.")Some situations are inherent tar pits for complexity. Grappling, for example. There's even a Trope in TVTropes: "Grappling With Grappling Rules."I find it useful to stress-test rules to make sure they work in extreme cases. It's better if the rule is elegant and works as desired at the extreme end without sudden breakpoints and special-case complications being needed.It's important to decide on and define just what effect you want a rule to produce in play. If what you want is complicated and hair-splittingly dependent on the situation, you're going to be hard pressed to devise a simple, elegant crunch rule for that. If you decided to go with something simple you (and your players) have to be willing to accept the harsh and unpleasant aspects of that simplicity. (OK, you want werewolves to take more damage from silver and less from non-silver weapons. Just exactly how do you want to have that work in play? Werewolves are easy to kill with silver? Hard to kill with non-silver weapons? Impossible to kill with non-silver weapons?  Impossible to kill unless the non-silver weapon does bodacious base damage? Something else?)I find it desirable to eliminate complications based on the order in which a character advances or a magic item is enchanted. Rules shouldIf a system has complicated character-creation, it's good to have a simplified version for monsters and minor, unnamed NPC types.</blockquote>

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