Quote from: PseudoephedrineGames with lifepaths seem particularly difficult to convert to other settings - Fading Suns, Burning Empires and WFRP all seem like they'd be a big hassle to convert.

StarCluster (SF) -> Blood Games (Horror) -> Sweet Chariot (Steampunk) -> Book of Jalan (Fantasy) -> Cold Space -> (SF) -> FTL Now (SF) -> In Harm's Way (Napoleonic) -> Aces In Spades (WWI Aviation) -> Blood Games II (Horror)

-clash

Quote from: Erik BoielleI reckon its the same with D20 - you wanna play something in D20 its MUCH easier to get a book that already has classes and whatnot designed for you than to make them up yourself (I remember trying to do a D20 converstion for I-war many years ago, and deciding it was all to much hassle).

Thats more campaign design than system though.

I think that's actually the opposite trick. Almost every d20 combination of setting and mechanics is easier to convert to another d20 setting and set of mechanics than to any other sort of system.

Quote from: J ArcaneMy counterpoint would be Traveller.  Which is really very generic in it's core, and could easily be dropped into whatever SF or even modern with some tweaking.

Possibly. I'm not very familiar with Traveller, so I can't really make an informed comment.

Quote from: HinterWeltI am a universal system guy myself but some folks talk about seriously focused games. By this I mean a situation where:

1. The system reinforces the setting. More than "It has some specialized skills" but the core mechanics are some how arranged to not support play in other genres.

2. The scope of the setting is such to make it focused in one area. So, you play some rabid western squirrels out to brand Christianity on any who oppose you and all the material supports that, and only that.

Now, as way of disclosure, I do not believe in the micro-game. I believe any system that supports task resolution may be adapted to another genre. You may not want the elements of that system or the way it reproduces the task resolution but others might. For example, I have never, remotely, enjoyed d20/dnd in sci-fi. It just does not work for me. Does that mean it does not work for sci-fi? Absolutely not, just not for me.

So, can anyone give me hardcore examples of micro-game mechanics that restrict you to the genre of the setting? i.e. could I play space pirates with ditv?

Thanks,
Bill

Is that actually the right question though Bill?  I mean sure, I can run anything with pretty much anything, but some games are going to be such a total pain that it's really not worth the bother.

Currently I'm running Qin, a game with magic, wuxia powers, combat techniques and lots of ancient Chinese goodness.

Now, in theory I could retrofit the system to run a gritty modern day police game set in inner city Chicago, but I'd be a total cretin to try when I could just use Gurps or CoC or something and do the same far easier.

So, are there examples where it's impossible?  A few of the niche-ier Forge style games and a few of the more specialised mainstream (whatever that means in this context) games, but really the point is that Qin is better at wuxia stuff than most games because somebody has done the adaptation for me already.

Now, a generic ruleset can be bloody useful if your group changes setting frequently, it can just save loads of time and get you down to play and the marginal improvement you might have got from a better adapted system might well be hugely outweighed by the benefits of speedy resolution using a system everyone knows backwards, but just as there are benefits to using a generic system for all your games so there are some downsides.

At the end of the day, you compare the benefits and downsides and make your choice as your tastes take you...

Quote from: BalbinusSo, are there examples where it's impossible?  A few of the niche-ier Forge style games and a few of the more specialised mainstream (whatever that means in this context) games, but really the point is that Qin is better at wuxia stuff than most games because somebody has done the adaptation for me already.

And that is my point precisely. Adaptation to me is what we are talking about and I will never argue about allowing someone else to do the adaptation. This is my bread and butter. Essentially, I have the same system running sci-fi as I have running New England pseudo Cthulean squirrels.

Now, I have had discussion on RPG.Net where I have been told a system is inviolably tasked to one genre or even a setting. The reasoning, as far as I am concerned, is little more than discussion of the adaptation (you CANNOT run a victorian game with GURPS because it has a Laser Pistol skill in it, for example).

So, in the end, yes, IMHO, adaptations can be highly beneficial. System, though, is horribly broken if you cannot apply it to another genre/setting.

I hope that is clearer?

Bill