Forum > Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion
Mechanics or Setting - What sells a game to you?
tenbones:
Don't give me some fence-sitting answer and say "both". Think really hard and pick which is more important.
If you need help deciding, simply ask yourself if you'd ever play your favorite setting in a different system. Yes I realize that some systems are tied irrevocably to a setting, but are those mechanics what define what is cool about that game or is the setting itself what drew you in and spent your hard-won gold to buy it?
Gold is at stake here people. GOLD.
Bedrockbrendan:
--- Quote from: tenbones on January 10, 2022, 12:07:26 PM ---Don't give me some fence-sitting answer and say "both". Think really hard and pick which is more important.
If you need help deciding, simply ask yourself if you'd ever play your favorite setting in a different system. Yes I realize that some systems are tied irrevocably to a setting, but are those mechanics what define what is cool about that game or is the setting itself what drew you in and spent your hard-won gold to buy it?
Gold is at stake here people. GOLD.
--- End quote ---
I don't quite think it is fence sitting. I tend to find both genuinely important. I wouldn't want to play the Ravenloft setting using Runequest, but I also wouldn't want to play Glorantha using the Ravenloft and 2E rules. That said, if I had to give it a percentage, 60% setting, 40% system. Ultimately I can't deny that what drew me to Ravenloft was reading knight of the black rose, and the setting is what caught my interest. But if the setting didn't have stuff like powers checks and all those rules and advice for customizing monsters, I might not have stayed as long as I did there.
Itachi:
Mechanics.
Good mechanics can carry a weak setting. But a good setting can't carry weak mechanics.
jeff37923:
--- Quote from: tenbones on January 10, 2022, 12:07:26 PM ---Don't give me some fence-sitting answer and say "both". Think really hard and pick which is more important.
If you need help deciding, simply ask yourself if you'd ever play your favorite setting in a different system. Yes I realize that some systems are tied irrevocably to a setting, but are those mechanics what define what is cool about that game or is the setting itself what drew you in and spent your hard-won gold to buy it?
Gold is at stake here people. GOLD.
--- End quote ---
Mechanics.
However I judge mechanics by how well they emulate the genre of the setting. I prefer Traveller/Cepheus Engine mechanics because they emulate the literary science fiction that I read. I can't see myself playing any other anime style giant robot game without using the Mekton rules because they emulate the genre so well. Star Wars has got to be d6 system because in play it just feels like the right mechanics for the science fantasy genre.
Likewise, mechanics will turn me off of a game for the same reason. I tried to love d20 Star Wars, but every time I played it was like D&D in Spaaaaaaace.....Same thing with Stars Without Number and host of other OSR SFRPGs that try to be Traveller with a D&D type character and combat system, actual play again feels like D&D in Spaaaaaace.....because of the mechanics and how they interact with the genre emulation.
In my mind, the D&D based mechanics are only fitting for D&D style fantasy gaming.
Bedrockbrendan:
--- Quote from: jeff37923 on January 10, 2022, 12:40:39 PM ---
Likewise, mechanics will turn me off of a game for the same reason. I tried to love d20 Star Wars, but every time I played it was like D&D in Spaaaaaaace....
.
--- End quote ---
I played d20 star wars for years and had the same reaction. I think with Star Wars especially it was an odd fit. I tend to have less of a reaction like that with the post 2010 OSR stuff, but games made in that d20 boom really had a feel that sometimes pulled me out (I did like d20 Cthulhu though, despite initially thinking I wouldn't). Personally I do like having lots of different systems that are fit to the setting
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page