RoseNonsense

clueless and loving it

I'm Rose and I like stupid things. Please enjoy.


Jama
@Jama

So, what's the difference between a "Rules-lite" system where conversational rules and rolls are are barely there and resolved with like, a d6 and a tactics RPG that doesn't put that much effort into the non-combat portion and tells you to resolve it with a d20?


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in reply to @Jama's post:

I feel like the way page-count gets distributed is a different thing. An explanation I've seen a few places that I like is the areas where failure hurts the most tend to get the most detailed rules. So in dungeon games like D&D, the biggest fail state tends to be character death, and given the history of that game as a spin-off of tactical war games, the surest way for character death is combat. So you want combat to be real detailed so when a character dies the players feel like they had a lot of influence over their fate and so the game master can disclaim blame on random rolls or other factors. Meanwhile, conversations in dungeon games might have high stakes... but frequently the most impactful consequences of a failed conversation to the players are "And your characters are attacked."

I don't think that's the only factor going on for where you put your effort and detail into rules, but I think it's one.

I think some of it is a marketing thing. Declaring yourself "rules-lite" is an easy way to also establish your game is "indie" - after all, the rules-heavy games are the popular ones, like D&D, Pathfinder, or Call of C'thulu.

That's why I'm wondering if it's just axe-grinding because D&D is the defacto "leader' in the space? Is it difference in expectation? Is it the positioning of D&D as like, "THE Tabletop game"? Probably the last one most I'm guessing, since everyone already tries to make it one-size-fits-all.

I imagine it's always a consideration. I do not and probably won't sell get into the game selling side of the hobby, but given just how big D&D is, I have to imagine you always are going to have to compare or disclaim yourself against it.