I wouldn't say you can't fight a giant or dragon in MRQII, I'd say you're living in a dream world if you think you can win.

My judgements come from a few simple criteria:

Does the game sound/read like it would be fun to play?

Does the game look like the amount of effort required isn't onerous for what the game returns?


Can I get others to play this game?



The first two are personal, the latter group oriented. I've got two groups now. One sporadic the other fairly reliable. The sporadic groups will try anything I run, the reliable one now will as well for the most part. I used to have a third group, but they splintered over scheduling issues (and the desire of some of the 30 somethings to be in a band.)

The last group had issues with some players playing whatever, and one who only wanted to play humanocentric games, and preferably Zombie games. I don't tend to run Zombie games, because they get boring fast, no variability of environments (due to restricted movement.) No variability of enemies (zombies), and so I'm stuck with human drama--which while it can be awesome.

That particular group is more interested in shall we say--fighting the stuff, not watching each other break down, due to stress. (Which is perfectly valid way to play zombie games, it just means that the game is very narrow in play.)

Now mind you, I've run zombie games, mixed up the critters a bit. (I had multiple zombie sorts: Shamblers, Lurkers, Lopers, Maggots, Bloodwings, and Hunters.)


However, the long term is not everyone likes every game. I don't like certain editions of D&D for example. So its a valid consideration for me.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;548963I may have missed earlier parts of the discussion then. That sounds like a pretty subjective thing to measure.

Well, the thread is asking for a subjective opinion on which elements of a game we put at a high priority. I said the two things I liked in an RPG, and Gleichman got offended.

Quote from: talysman;549016Well, the thread is asking for a subjective opinion on which elements of a game we put at a high priority. I said the two things I liked in an RPG, and Gleichman got offended.

What a joke. I thought you made a interesting point only to find out tho have ou claim that it was a meaningless waste of bandwidth that said nothing.

Given your reaction however, I think you said something you wish you didn't.

Quote from: gleichman;549023What a joke. I thought you made a interesting point only to find out tho have ou claim that it was a meaningless waste of bandwidth that said nothing.

Given your reaction however, I think you said something you wish you didn't.

Really? Is that what happened?

Quote from: talysman;548890What's my priority in a game system? Not to suck up water.

No wait, that is The Law.

My priority is high variety from low effort. Stuff that focuses too heavily on the system itself is right out. Stuff that requires a lot of support material is also out.

Also a high priority for a system: can I play D&D with it? Somebody -- I forget who -- once defined an RPG as "something you could play D&D with". It's not as high a priority as "High variety, low effort" because it's not as narrow. There are lots of game systems I could play D&D with, but not all of them have high variety, and some that do require too much effort.

Quote from: gleichman;548912It's a pity you've fogotten who, because I think it's a very common mindset- especially on this board which is very tunneled-vision along the lines that only D&D is a RPG.

(Emphasis Added)

Somehow, you turned "it's not as narrow" and "lots of systems I could play D&D with" into "tunneled-vision" and "only D&D is a RPG". And kept it up for a couple posts, even though I said "no, that quote doesn't mean what you think it means". You wanted to play "bash D&D and people who play it" and I wouldn't comply. So now you say "it means nothing" because you don't want it to mean something.

Or you are trolling for attention. Again.

My main priority is the availability of reliable non-flaky players willing to play a particular system.

A particular system could be the best in the world with the coolest setting.  But if nobody wants to play it, or if it's mostly unreliable flaky players available, then such a system/setting is largely next to useless to me for all practical purposes.

Quote from: gleichman;548966Not to my mind, and that applies to all D&D. But then again I hate the game, so I'm biased a bit.

Ah here we are. The truth comes out.

I may pick up D&D Next/5E.

Though I don't think I'll ever pick up stuff like Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, lesser known d20 derivatives, Shadowrun, etc ... ever again.

If there's nobody local interested in playing, or mostly unreliable flaky players, then there's no point anymore in buying such rpg books.

Quote from: Benoist;549039Ah here we are. The truth comes out.

It's been out there for years for anyone with eyes and a memory.

Quote from: talysman;549029Or you are trolling for attention. Again.

I'm not interested in splitting hairs, I wonder why you are?

I have my share of likes and dislikes but I would say is my main criteria is for a system to be a simple as it possibly can while still preserving meaningful differentiation between characters.

I that respect I would cite Barbarians of Lemuria a gem of game design: very simple rules, rich and well rounded characters right out of the gate.

Quote from: The Traveller;548805So what do you like in a system, whats the first major thing that turns you on or off a game?

The RPG's story setting either interests me or it doesn't.  The timeline for a future setting has to be believable.

Quote from: The Traveller;548805So what do you like in a system, whats the first major thing that turns you on or off a game?

Does it look like fun?

If it doesn't look fun to me, then I don't want to fuck with it at all. And yes, there are a whole lot of twists and turns and special clauses on what is fun for me.

1) Easy to read and understand, and teach to others
2) Speed. Speed of play, speed of character creation
3) Nice to look at and well laid out. No bleeding eye walls of text.
4) Make it interesting. We've seen a zillion D&D clones. Mix it up, cross genres, but don't go 'too far' out there so that it's weird.
5) If the book is pricey at least offer a reasonable PDF price. Too costly for the PDF and you can guarantee, nailed on, the thing will be pirated and you lose sales as a result. Bundles. I like bundles that save me money. I buy bundles that I don't even play, because I think I saved money, and because I am an idiot.