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What is the epitome, of an RPG?

Started by Man at Arms, March 19, 2024, 12:01:13 AM

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ralfy

I think historically it was a combination of wargaming and the need to simulate microwargaming, e.g., involving medieval combat. After that, storytelling was brought, and the mechanics for that involved the same as that used for wargaming: attributes determining movement, attack, defense, etc., capabilities, with randomization affecting that and thus the outcome.

From there, attributes were determined by roles, such as races, types of players, etc., together with types of armor, weapons, etc., and combined with the same mechanics.

Finally, new "skins" were used (sci-fi, sci-fi fantasy, etc.).

It's like simulating reality by categorizing and quantifying its elements.

Ratman_tf

Quote
e·pit·o·me
/əˈpidəmē/
noun
1.
a person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type.

I'm having trouble picking out any single RPG to be the "perfect example" of an RPG. I think one of the strengths of RPGs is that there are multiple different genres, rulesets and approaches. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I'd have to go with GURPS.

But I'd be grumpy about it. Because I'm not that much of a fan of GURPS. It's just that it can cover everything.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

zer0th

Quote from: Brad on March 19, 2024, 12:26:12 PM
The one you come up with yourself that never quite seems to meet exactly what you had in mind, no matter how much you play test and revise it. This is like asking what the epitome of a burrito is...there's always SOMETHING you'll want to change.

Ain't that true? I've been working on my own game system since D&D3 came out and I never had one document that I could call it v1.0, or even v0.1! I lost the count of how many complete re-designs I did already.