Mechanics are basically how things are done in the game. Rules are how the mechanics are explained, and how they are applied in certain situations. In DJ (Dangerous Journeys) the question of success/failure is determined through rolling percentile dice and rolling equal to or under a character' s adjusted STEEP (Study, Training, Education, Experience, and Practice; and, yes, E. Gary was a punster). In other games other mechancs are used.
The rules step in when it comes to the activity being assayed, and how success/failure work out. That is, in what occurs as the result of a success, and what occurs as the result of failure. What happens depends on the skill being attempted.
For instance, in DJ you have the skills of Agriculture, with a number of sub-skills, and the skill of Charismaticism. The former deals with growing crops, so success/failure deals with how well you grew crops that season. The latter deals with impressing and charming folks, so success/failure deals with how well you made friends with the dowager duchess or some other person.
With all that in mind I have a question for you; how would you distinguish between mechanics light and mechanics heavy games, and rules light and rules heavy games. Do you have any examples?
I have just one; Dangerous Journeys, which is mechanics light and rules heavy. Any others?
Quote from: mythusmage;603368Do you have any examples?
I'd put the distinction between the number of explicit rules, and the complexity of applying the rules in practice.
Nobilis, at least 2nd Edition, uses a point-based resource system. Each character has a ruling attribute (such a betrayal or strength or fire), permanent points in four traits, as well as a certain number of spendable Miracle Points per trait, and a list of anchors. Conflict between characters or against similarly-powerful enemies is simply ruled by comparing applicable resource values and the PC deciding if he or she wishes to spend Miracle Points for a temporary boost. There are a few other fiddly bits having to do with Chancels and Flower Rituals, but you could probably fit every rule from the core book onto a single sheet of paper.
Take Aspect tests, one of the four traits, and which corresponds with directly doing something that at least corresponds with human ability (if often taken up to 11, or 1100). A PC might be able to solve Fermat's Last Theorum on a napkin with Aspect 2, or jump up to the moon and yank it down to crush a villain at Aspect 8 (individual GMs might rate it higher or lower). Most PCs can do Aspect-2 tests automatically, but since permanent stats normally cap at 5, the Aspect-8 test would require burning at least three Miracle Points. It's also not a great use of Miracle Points, since Earth might be where you keep your stuff, there are easier ways to blow it up if you need to, and most villains worth an MP can dodge Earth-goes-boom attacks. But it's doable. Conflict against weak NPCs, such as small nations, or where an unopposed task is relatively trivial, such as a five-minute mile, don't require tests.
The mechanics of actually doing so get more complicated, and that's what the various play examples in the corebook are about. A set of Nobles trying to explore the Titanic could just burn Aspect 6 to just hold their breaths, but that's not the only solution. A Noble with a Domain of Circles or of the Sea or of Air could probably come up with a Domain-3 or even Domain-2 action that'd solve things. Nobles with a lot of Realm could bring the best deep-sea submersible imaginable out of their pockets. Nobles that don't want to mess with any of that stuff could bop over to a different level of reality and tell the spirits of the sea that they need to borrow the Titanic, if they didn't mind, and thank you very much. So on and so forth.
Exalted is both rule and mechanic-heavy. Combat phases (and social combat phases) have ten steps, some of which can be manipulated for stunts, and there are enough resource mechanics to require both sides of a page of paper per-character, especially at high level. Application, given the line's tendency to expand by adding Charms and Sorcery everywhere, are likewise not simple.
Don't Rest Your Head is rule- and mechanic-light. Playable characters have a Discipline pool of three dice, an Exhaustion pool of up to six dice, and a Madness pool of up to six dice, and a Snap counter. They roll against the GM (who selects a number of dice based on action or encounter difficulty): the individual with more dice with three or less as a face value wins, while the dice pool with the highest face number (or most of the highest face number) determines outcome within that action. Having Exhaustion determine outcome increases the minimum size of the Exhaustion pool, while having the Madness determine outcome forces a Snap event, and three Snaps increase the minimum size of the Madness pool by one. Capping Exhaustion or Madness (effectively) mean character death.