tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post208470746541684586..comments2024-03-28T15:32:19.036-04:00Comments on Dungeon Fantastic: Innovate in Systems, or Settings?Peter Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-57867122609719009282015-05-24T09:58:01.237-04:002015-05-24T09:58:01.237-04:00Good point. I come down on the side of "what ...Good point. I come down on the side of "what matters is play at the table," and even the least innovate game with the most cliche setting is fine if it results in a lot of sustained fun for the participants. After all, that's really why we play.Peter Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-72442730959739189112015-05-24T08:55:35.082-04:002015-05-24T08:55:35.082-04:00I think the hobby is overly preoccupied with innov...I think the hobby is overly preoccupied with innovation, as if distinctive was a more favorable word than good. Of course I encourage trying stuff, and it's important that we keep getting weird, incomparable stuff like Paranoia and In Nominee Satanis/Magna Veritas once were, because we wouldn't want to miss out on those.<br /><br />But the truth is, it's perfectly okay to make the best version yet of something that's been done and redone. GURPS wasn't especially innovative thirty-ish years ago (building on simulationist trends and Champions' points system) and while it's evolved rather masjestically, none of it flipped the game on its head - but I'll be damned if The Fantasy Trip didn't evolve into the very best most-purposes RPG rule system out there.<br /><br />Robin D. Laws's take in HeroQuest reads like rules poetry, and should be framed and hung in a museum - the thing feels refreshing like a backpacking vacation across Eurasia. But I wouldn't want to live there. When I sit down at the table to run (or play) something, I need to stand on former ground, and GURPS is the one that's always done this for me.Archon Shivahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18161660999691918584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-37864275665502004062015-05-22T23:18:54.770-04:002015-05-22T23:18:54.770-04:00Yeah. I like what Joseph Bloch said - it's DIY...Yeah. I like what Joseph Bloch said - it's DIY, but only if YDI.Peter Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-35325143530160389552015-05-22T23:16:27.070-04:002015-05-22T23:16:27.070-04:00Yeah, that's pretty much my point. If you writ...Yeah, that's pretty much my point. If you write a system + setting, and you innovate at all, you will end up doing something that innovates a little at least in each. Even if it's only an odd dice mechanic that shifts the odds of success in some way, it's a decision that affects the world. If you affect the world, the system must reflect that.Peter Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-12263028485667458862015-05-22T20:20:02.896-04:002015-05-22T20:20:02.896-04:00The reason I use GURPS is because I like the innov...The reason I use GURPS is because I like the innovation of combining all of the game material I love into one world. The dungeon delving of AD&D, the Mythic Earth setting of Ars Magic with real world religions, cultures and geography, the Elder Things of Call of Cthulhu and lots of stuff from GURPS historical books and also stuff from the World of Darkness and Ravenloft.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12896361121217230594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-85124967345019149542015-05-22T13:29:22.883-04:002015-05-22T13:29:22.883-04:00Yup. I have problems with this "A or B" ...Yup. I have problems with this "A or B" thing that every one seems to push. Because it's always somewhere in between the two extremes. Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02857101727053100364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817710432110712270.post-69722212354238358972015-05-22T10:58:43.308-04:002015-05-22T10:58:43.308-04:00I'd agree immensely. What keeps me rooted in ...I'd agree immensely. What keeps me rooted in GURPS is the relative ease in which the system facilitates "innovation" in rules to support one's setting. Now the hard part is actually innovating, and innovating usefully at that!MEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08086901374821838288noreply@blogger.com