Re:The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons
by pfooti on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @01:10PM
(#15551909)
Yeah, I'm also in favor of experimentation and a rich ecosystem of ideas. Worst case is one of those heavily-contextual rpg engines that only lives in one system, such as Rotted Capes. It's an okay enough system (but mathematically flawed in some ways), and a pretty neat idea (zombie and b-list superhero mashup), but it would be considerably better if it were built on a different game engine. Then the author could spend more time building out the world and storyline, instead of making lists of superpowers and stuff.
Even then, though, I often back stuff on Kickstarter at the PDF level knowing full well what I'll really be doing is mining the product for ideas, setting, and story rather than mechanics.
Then again, I'm probably just like one of those people who says, "why would you write code in anything but LISP?"
I slightly disagree, only inasmuch as I like to see exploration and innovation. Sometimes you're right it really doesn't work, But setting specific mechanics are important, sometimes essential, if very difficult to get right. Call of Cthulhu never worked in it's d20 incarnation, imho. Sometimes, I think, it is better to try and fail, than to take the safer route.