@waxeagle mmmm, thinking on it - I don't think it's so much setting as style. Some settings make big assumptions on style and they need a system that can handle it.
@SimonGill yes. You define your setting and then pick a system that fits it. I doubt he would argue with that. just that you don't have to craft a system from scratch to fulfill the requirements of an arbitrary setting.
@waxeagle Almost. He does seem to say that any generic system can handle any setting - which falls down on when trying to run things out of style for that generic system.
The main argument does seem to be that no custom system could ever be better than a generic system though.
a system designed for a setting should be better than trying to fit a generic system. The abstractions in the generic system are likely to be off, even if only just.
DFRPG would be an interesting case, too, as an astonishingly generic system was the product of trying to design a game that reflected the ethos of a very specific setting.
@BESW It's much older than that - it's a refinement of FUDGE that eventually got turned into the product Spirit of the Century. Not sure when Dresden Files got involved or who approached who though.
@KRyan Sorry, went AFK to shower affection upon my wife. Yes, it is for my wife. However, the skill is still one I want to acquire for when games are more than just my wife.
so @BrianBallsun-Stanton, I've been considering starting a question on Meta about the possibility of doing homebrew contests here. I am given to understand that the Art SE does something similar, I think it could be interesting, and the SE format is fantastic for it. But it's an inherently subjective thing, experience is unlikely to play a large role, and it's not necessarily solving an actual problem someone has had in their games. Do you think it's worth even writing up?
@Kryan - Think you could convince any of the folks you suggested to register so that they could answer the question? That way their wisdom can benefit the community
@BrianBallsun-Stanton k, wasn't sure if the concept would even be conceivable, or if it was just a non-starter. I need to investigate more how Art SE does it and if there's any other precedents for that kind of thing.
@KRyan - If Fearth would be interested in grouping up with Nail, she spends a lot of time hunting Wildfey, who are considered dangerous scourges upon civilization (this consideration is accurate)
It'd certainly be deeds that gain the beast praise
@SimonGill I think the issue behind that setting/system blog post is that he's using the word "setting" when he means "experience" or "ethos."
Because place and system don't really have much need or ability to support each other, while the philosophy and atmosphere of a game can support each other.
Because honestly, every system imposes its style and ethos on the settings we try to play in. A goblin-dice system will always impose a goblin-dice ethos on the setting no matter how hard we try to make it otherwise.
Basically it's the idea that a system like the d20 games use has such a long and low bell curve on any individual die roll that single rolls are too unpredictable to be important.
In fighting a goblin, it doesn't matter which d20 roll kills the goblin; you're rolling so many that the goblin will die, and thus no single roll is significant.
The problem comes in when the system forgets that and makes single die rolls important --for example, in 3.5 social settings where one die frequently determines success or failure.
I think the evolution goes through JOhn Wick's games at AEG. Legend of the Five Rings and Seventh Sea have huge detailed settings (which includes people and organisations as well as places - that's an important point) supported by interesting rules.
In a system in which single rolls are so unreliable, the ethos becomes one of seeking out conflicts that support multiple undifferentiated rolls.
If combat systems support goblin dice and social systems don't, then the game is skewed heavily toward combat by the system itself regardless of how heavily the setting attempts to emphasize social interaction.
@SimonGill So, you're saying that Gleichman's conflation of location and atmosphere is a holdover from the days before people realized there were non-goblin-dice ways to build systems?
@BESW I suspect so. From the couple of articles I've read, he's definitely an old school gamer who thinks that adding special exceptions like classes are bad design.
@BESW ah, well, I have yet to really play 4e (despite wanting to), so I'd only be looking at them for ideas particularly for how it might educate Legend
@SimonGill wow, this guy... does not sound like he knows what he's talking about
