Well if it didn't cause cancer before..., ...it does now. Options

[knasser]

People may have noticed that I've been a little absent from Dumpshock for some months now. Basically, I've been working my socks off and there's been a big gaming hiatus in my life. But I intended to come back to RP'ing and I had in mind a change of pace, going back to some high fantasy. That coincided with a certain other game coming out in a new edition so I'm afraid I took a look. It was the game, after all, that started me off in RPGs when I was just an odd little immigrant kid trying to make friends.

Bad. Or at least critically flawed. I guess the game was always an unrealistic and rather simplistic game, but I ran a pretty atmospheric campaign once, despite that. The new system has gutted itself of what shreds of believability and internal consistency it possessed, however. I will say that they've produced what looks like a very fun and fast paced small scale fantasy battle game. But I've seen enough elements of the new system now that set themselves against role-playing to believe that it would take significant effort to immerse yourself in a game in any character sense.

Why am I posting this here on Dumpshock? I don't know - just that I've hung out here a lot over the past year or so and want to share what I'm thinking with my friends. And because I think my distaste for that new edition is partly a result of having been spoilt by Shadowrun. The elegance of Shadowrun 4th vs. The Other Game 4th, is marked. SR4 compares favourably in terms of the Simplicity for Gain ratio of the rules. But more than this, the difference in flexibility and fine detail that the systems are capable of is staggering - especially when you consider page counts. The designers of Shadowrun are to be commended (so I'm commending them) for such a well put together and balanced system. Reading through the WotC forums, is like running through a ghetto of shit-flinging monkeys. Dumpshock feels like sitting quietly in a holy place after visiting there. One of the many dogmas in that place is a set of rules doesn't stop you role-playing if you want to. I find that not to be the case. The system of that Other Game actively hinders immersion in the world through character abilities that have no internal justification but only their coolness from a game-play angle; and also through it's active forbidding of realistic actions to preserve its abstract nature. Conversely, the Shadowrun rules seem to gently encourage role-playing through their fine granularity. And it's no more complicated to learn (imo).

I guess I wanted to say that I'm impressed with SR4. That despite my taste for occasional world saving, lich-battling valour, the latest serving of TOG looks like it'll cause some severe after-effects, compared to the nutritious soy of SR. I now know what sort of cancer TOG causes - bowel. If you want a slick miniatures game it looks good, but it's not much more than that, imo. If I could work out how to make mundanes balanced with the magic users without automatic weapons, I'd seriously contemplate running a fantasy game using the SR4 system.

So there you have it people. My thirst for adventure has been quenched, I have learnt my lesson and come back to where the Ex-Ex rounds might kill your PC, but at least the player wont be harmed.

There be dragons, chummers.

Khadim.