Wednesday, January 12, 2005
As a RPG player and game master for umpteen years, I've found there are far too many games with great concepts but game mechanics that are just plain bad ... or maybe not bad, but just don't work for me.
Shadowrun is the best example. What's this game got that others don't? Not a lot, really, but it takes elements from different genres and mixes them all together to form a pretty good whole with some interesting history to the setting. Shadowrun is set in a cyberpunk future (William Gibson-like, with cybernetic implants, a fully-immersive Internet dubbed the Matrix, a veritable ton of weaponry that is both useful and stylish, nifty physical augmentations and enhancements, etc.), but it's also a future where magic has returned to the world. Mages, dwarves, elves, trolls, orcs -- they all exist alongside high-tech devices. It takes two of my favourite gaming settings and mixes them together. What could be wrong with that?
Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with that. The system for the game mechanics makes me cringe. It's always seemed needlessly complicated to me, and I've never really been able to bring myself to learn it.. However, many fans of the game are likely to say that it's not too complicated once you know it -- with the possible exception of the Matrix rules, which are even more fucked up than the rest of the rules. Character creation isn't enjoyable at all, and since I dislike generating stats for characters as it is, Shadowrun's thoroughly painful character generation method turns me right off.
That said, I have a bunch of Shadowrun books, although not one of them is from the latest edition. I've read several of the books, but I've yet to really use them in a game. I have them, but they don't get played. And likely, they never will get used in a game because while I love the setting, I just can't get behind the rules. That is really too bad.
Shadowrun is the best example. What's this game got that others don't? Not a lot, really, but it takes elements from different genres and mixes them all together to form a pretty good whole with some interesting history to the setting. Shadowrun is set in a cyberpunk future (William Gibson-like, with cybernetic implants, a fully-immersive Internet dubbed the Matrix, a veritable ton of weaponry that is both useful and stylish, nifty physical augmentations and enhancements, etc.), but it's also a future where magic has returned to the world. Mages, dwarves, elves, trolls, orcs -- they all exist alongside high-tech devices. It takes two of my favourite gaming settings and mixes them together. What could be wrong with that?
Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with that. The system for the game mechanics makes me cringe. It's always seemed needlessly complicated to me, and I've never really been able to bring myself to learn it.. However, many fans of the game are likely to say that it's not too complicated once you know it -- with the possible exception of the Matrix rules, which are even more fucked up than the rest of the rules. Character creation isn't enjoyable at all, and since I dislike generating stats for characters as it is, Shadowrun's thoroughly painful character generation method turns me right off.
That said, I have a bunch of Shadowrun books, although not one of them is from the latest edition. I've read several of the books, but I've yet to really use them in a game. I have them, but they don't get played. And likely, they never will get used in a game because while I love the setting, I just can't get behind the rules. That is really too bad.
// posted by Chris @ 10:18 AM 
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Well in response to that I'd like to point out that D&D 3.0 (one of the games you do play and as such by extrapolation has a ruleset which you consider acceptable) requires you to own not one but three core rule books each of which is essential if you plan to run a game.
Shadowrun has only one core book which is roughly the same size as any one of the three core books for D&D. Add to that the fact that you can quite easily run your entire game with just that and I ask you, which of the two games really has a needlessly complicated system?
Mahap the only reason you find the D&D system acceptable is because you've been playing it for well over a decade and know the rules so well that you could probably recite them in your sleep?
I'd say that if you'd been playing Shadowrun for the same length of time you'd probably have no trouble with that ruleset either.
Some food for thought at least before you go around trashing another game system (specifically one which I do happen to like).
TBO
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Shadowrun has only one core book which is roughly the same size as any one of the three core books for D&D. Add to that the fact that you can quite easily run your entire game with just that and I ask you, which of the two games really has a needlessly complicated system?
Mahap the only reason you find the D&D system acceptable is because you've been playing it for well over a decade and know the rules so well that you could probably recite them in your sleep?
I'd say that if you'd been playing Shadowrun for the same length of time you'd probably have no trouble with that ruleset either.
Some food for thought at least before you go around trashing another game system (specifically one which I do happen to like).
TBO
# posted by 
: 1/12/2005 2:58 PM
: 1/12/2005 2:58 PM << Home
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