Author: London (---.ac.uk)
Date: 05-16-2001 06:30
Nice concepts, poor execution.
I think a lot of us here are big fans of the rpg-as-story and having a document like Window printed out makes it all a bit more arty and credible. I'm not going to argue about possible pretentiousness, because I'm a Vampire ST myself...
What irked me though was that the rules don't encourage the concepts of the setting. The game system (sorry, but it _is_ a game system and any amount of semantic argument won't change that) claims to use words instead of numbers, then assigns numbers to each of the words. It claims not to be about dick-waving, then puts Strength first on the character sheet and has a series of firefights and combats in every game example. The system claims to put the story first and dice rolling second, but then requires many different types of dice to play. It then presents the meat of the book in a self-embarassed way as "optionals".
Yes, they admit the ideas aren't original, but admitting your mistakes doesn't excuse them. All that using Window does is make your games less realistic.
For a truly story-oriented game how about a character sheet that reads like a story? Or a system that removes the random element of dice? IMHO, the intention behind Window is highly honourable, but the actual implementation of the idea is entirely uninspiring and no improvement on the game systems they so readily attack.
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