Author: Helios (---.248.13)
Date: 02-14-2002 08:55
I find it odd that one of the points being "my dagger doesn't hit as hard as a broadsword" and "a system in which a fist is just as effective as a handgun is good!" is used to promote drama.
I can understand the contention that "too many rules" can harm the drama (while not agreeing with it, rules only slow you down if don't bother to actually learn them well enough to use them & not have to keep looking it up or discussing them with others)... but I certainly don't see making the role-played events less believable as a cure.
If I don't believe it, there's no drama... it's the smurfs on their latest adventure and you know how it's going to turn out. I don't fear the handgun, because I punch just as well. When the guy pulls out his giant, nasty, spikey mace covered in irregular blades... well, it's no better than a club which is no better than my bare hand... which is no better than the bare hand of the guy next to me which is no better than the bare hand of that little old man or that infant. Because damage ranges for weapons ruin drama. ?!
"Why should I bother carrying this warhammer when I can just punch the guy to the same end? Why should I fear that gun?"
I wonder why you would even need rules or a system for a game when you just want the drama to rule. If you want to destroy the distinction among weapons in combat, you also destroy the need for different weapons. Hmmm, I can go unarmed, carry a sword, or carry a rifle... it's all the same. Yet the unarmed fellow has a ton of advantages in many settings (he's unarmed, can't be disarmed, isn't carrying anything, etc). I think the original D&D had all weapons listed as doing 1d4. I can't imagine not laughing at such a concept.
Many complex rules are created to simulated the desire to do more. "I want to parry the blow" or "Can't I just dive out of the way of the explosion?" or even "Can I pin him to the floor so my friends can escape?" If you're just going to willy-nilly it, you don't need a rules system, at all. Get a coin for random factors when the action isn't "important" because random things ruin drama.
In my group, 3E is a non-entity. We don't play it. It had zero impact. Keep in mind that my group has been together over 15 years and most of us have been playing for 20 or more and one campaign has lasted over 10 years. Half my group probably doesn't know it exists (we play weekly) and when I mentioned it one of them said "didn't they just do second edition last year or something?" ;)
But my points only help prove the author's stance to some regard. You need a system that *meshes well with the players.* I can't stand CoC, for example, and think it's a big pile of doodoo and yet there's a large number of people who kneel before it as the ultimate game. I like at WW stuff and think "this is nice if I want to sit around and see if I remember things, but it'd be a joke to fight with."
|
|
