Comments on: What’s the Most Significant Thing About an RPG?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:32:15 +0000

*stands up*

“Hi, I’m Jim, and I am a book addict.”

“Hi Jim.”

“I have bought many RPGs and RPG books that I knew I would probably never use to actually play the game. There was FASA’s Doctor Who RPG, SJGames’ In Nomine, and AEG’s Spycraft to name a few. I get drawn in by the setting, and I enjoy reading the books, but I cannot find anyone else locally who is interested in playing them (or running them, so that I can play them).”

By: Kestral

Kestral — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:58:02 +0000

*stands up*

“Hi, I’m Kestral, and I am a book addict.”

“Hi Kestral.”

“I’ve wanted to purchase Hero 5 based on volume, but I was only stopped by not knowing where to get it. I purchased Shadowrun 4 because my friends mostly played Shadowrun.” (I don’t really want to know about where to find Hero, at the moment. It just would mean yet another system book I’d read and likely never use…)

The tribulations of system sluttery…

But seriously, I think definitely the most significant things about an RPG (there are two) are basically ease of play and ease of concept. But in order to get them, you must have.. consistency. Consistent mechanics go a long way towards ensuring that a game with slightly inconsistent flavor is enjoyable; consistent flavor makes a game more easily enjoyable despite a slightly inconsistent core mechanic. This is perhaps why I think the RPG market’s moved so heavily towards games with very consistent mechanics and theme. They’re a lot easier to run well, after all.

By: Telas

Telas — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:49:01 +0000

*Stands up*

“Hi, my name’s Kurt, and I’m a book addict.”

“Hi Kurt”

“I also purchased Hero 5 based on volume, and Shadowrun 4 because well, everyone else was doing it.”

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:56:25 +0000

(Darel) I have purchased books based on one or a combination of these factors:

- Size of the book. (HERO systems books, Talislanta 4)

*Stands up*

“Hi, my name’s Martin, and I’m a shameless book slut.”

“Hi, Martin.”

“I too purchased HERO 5th and Talislanta 4th largely based on their size.”

By: Darel

Darel — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:53:10 +0000

Whatever looks cool. I am an RPG book whore.

I have purchased books based on one or a combination of these factors:

- Size of the book. (HERO systems books, Talislanta 4)
- Pretty pictures. ( Palladium stuff, Buffy , Exalted )
- Nice artwork throughout. ( Palladium and Exalted again. )
- Tone of the writing. ( Any Eden Studios book )
- Fascinating mechanics. ( Wild Talents, Villains & Vigilantes )
- Nostalgia ( D&D, Palladium’s super hero game )
- Neat/interesting world. ( Talislanta, Buffy, AFMBE, Harn World, Forgotten Realms )
- Sheer Awesomeness. ( HackMaster )
- Super-nice layout. ( Buffy, Shadowrun 4 )
- Players want to play it. ( Shadowrun 4, D&D )

I’m sure there are other reasons. If I ever open a game shop my promise is to carry at least one of every RPG book I can get. Even if it just sits on the shelf for years… for instance, any FFG book…

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:30:12 +0000

Player options.

I like a system that allows me to think of a character and then make it. -Not make a character and then try to bend/break the mold.

By: Lisandro Gaertner

Lisandro Gaertner — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:58:08 +0000

Only one kind of character. The best games I played (Paranoia and Shadowrun) had only one kind of character with many variations, but only one kind of character (troubleshooter or shadowrunner). That didn’t leave any doubts to the players about what they were going to do. That’s very relieving.

By: Carolina aka Troy Taylor

Carolina aka Troy Taylor — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:25:06 +0000

Telas:

Appropriateness. How true. Even a hard-core D&Der/d20er like myself recognizes that some games are helped by different rules sets that evoke a different feel for the game.

Deadlands and 7th Sea (roll and keep) come immediately to mind. The d20 versions of those games fail to capture the essence that their original rules sets did.

I am sure there are other good examples, too.

By: J.H. Swain

J.H. Swain — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:46:02 +0000

The setting. I generally ditch the mechanics anyway. I have no interest in anything beyond what I already know, unless it really catches my eye (I use Fudge). So yeah, definitely the setting.

By: Walt C

Walt C — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:59:10 +0000

Since we’re talking about “looking at the core rules” here rather than the broader “looking at the total package on the shelf,” I’d put it like this:

“If I can hold my players’ hands through the chargen process, are the core mechanics simple enough to grasp in play that I don’t have to assign the rulebook as homework?”

My Sunday group is much easier:

“Is this a d20 game?”

By: Alan De Smet

Alan De Smet — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:14:10 +0000

The first that a game needs to pass is, “what sort of stuff do PCs do.” The stuff should probably be cool, exciting, scary, thought-providing, or anything that isn’t just dull. One industry writer (regrettably, I don’t remember who) admonished people trying to sell games at conventions to have a one line summary in the form “You play X who do Y”, and to make sure that X and Y were things that were appealing.

Now assuming the game will let me play an X doing Y that I’ll enjoy, then it’s time to look at the core mechanics, primarily with an eye to “does this reinforce, harm, or have no impact on the X/Y?” If it reinforces the X/Y aspect, great! If it has no impact, the game may yet be good. If it hurts the X/Y aspect, it loses. Lots of games fail at this point. A common mistake is to try and sell me a game about heroics, then give me a combat system that is highly dangerous and encourages conservative play.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:14:06 +0000

The first thing that grabs my attention about any roleplaying game is the setting and/or premise of the game world. That is what drew me in to many of the FASA and White Wolf games.

Second is whether the mechanics “get in the way” of playing in that world. If I have to look-up any tables from the book to do things in-game, my suspension of disbelief has been ruined. The more I can do using just the character sheet and the dice in front of me, the better.