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<blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 8188981" data-attributes="member: 5142">IMHO Cook tends to get the lion's share of blame when it comes to LFQW design in 3e, though this tends to ignore that Jonathan Tweet was lead designer and that Skip Williams was likewise a co-designer. I liked Arcana Unearthed/Evolved quite a lot back in the day as well as a number of d20 system compatible products that he published under Malhavoc Press (e.g., Books of Eldritch Might, Beyond Countless Doorways, Books of Hallowed Might, etc.). IMHO, I think that he is a stronger setting designer. He's good at coming up with interesting settings, but as a mechanics/system designer, he falls fairly heavily in the traditional side of things (e.g., GM power/role, etc.) even when he's trying to push the story/narrative side (e.g., character options shopping lists in Cypher System and Invisible Sun, etc.). The Cypher System is a solid system that I quite enjoy as well, though not as much as I once did. However, my issue with the Cypher System at present is that I don't think that it's really being expanded in interesting ways right now, and the base game (i.e., Numenera) is fairly basic. (In let's say the way that Free League Publishing is doing different things with the YZE.) The past few years of publications have been mostly about expanding the system in terms of genre/setting books (e.g., fairy tales, hard sci-fi, superheroes, etc.) rather than trying to push the boundaries of the system in novel ways. Writing different genre/setting books seems more like showcasing the pig in different colors of lipstick.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Aldarc, post: 8188981, member: 5142"] IMHO Cook tends to get the lion's share of blame when it comes to LFQW design in 3e, though this tends to ignore that Jonathan Tweet was lead designer and that Skip Williams was likewise a co-designer. I liked Arcana Unearthed/Evolved quite a lot back in the day as well as a number of d20 system compatible products that he published under Malhavoc Press (e.g., Books of Eldritch Might, Beyond Countless Doorways, Books of Hallowed Might, etc.). IMHO, I think that he is a stronger setting designer. He's good at coming up with interesting settings, but as a mechanics/system designer, he falls fairly heavily in the traditional side of things (e.g., GM power/role, etc.) even when he's trying to push the story/narrative side (e.g., character options shopping lists in Cypher System and Invisible Sun, etc.). The Cypher System is a solid system that I quite enjoy as well, though not as much as I once did. However, my issue with the Cypher System at present is that I don't think that it's really being expanded in interesting ways right now, and the base game (i.e., Numenera) is fairly basic. (In let's say the way that Free League Publishing is doing different things with the YZE.) The past few years of publications have been mostly about expanding the system in terms of genre/setting books (e.g., fairy tales, hard sci-fi, superheroes, etc.) rather than trying to push the boundaries of the system in novel ways. Writing different genre/setting books seems more like showcasing the pig in different colors of lipstick. [/QUOTE]

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