I think a lot of RPG stuff is designed without actual play at the table in mind. It drives me nuts when I see a new RPG and there isn’t a clear, obvious way you are supposed to run it. I hate games that start with fiction, or a gazetteer of the setting.
--Mike Mearls in his Treasure Tables interview
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Good quote. since i've been trying my hand at designing Legends of Steel. I always try to go back and review what I have done so far. I ask myself "Is this particular rule or passage bettering the game or am I just blabbing to satisfy my own ego?" I think Steve Jacksons approach with GURPS was a good one- he started with "Man to man" which was basically a game of two fighters hacking at each other- he then saw that his system could be much more. He expanded on the existing rules and eventually GURPS was born. I hope to mirror that in some small way. Today's qoute is in line with what the rpgpundit guy was talking about when he said essentially, that designers dont make games for kids anymore they make them for their egos. he had a good point, to bad he couldnt make it without trying to go for the shock value and trying to demean his readers.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff...
ReplyDeleteThis quote, as it stands, I agree with completely. Further down the interview, however, Mr. Mearls says some things which kind of tweak my grumpy button.
Like this one, which I have removed from much of the text surrounding it (regarding tourney adventures and their construction), but I don't believe I've taken it entirely out of context.
"D&D is the only game where you have truly creative game play. People can do whatever they can think of, and I want to reward that."
The absoluteness of the remark taht D&D is the only game that has truly creative game play rubs me wrong. Had Mike said something like "RPGs are the only type of game where you have truly creative game play" then I would have no issue.
Perhaps I'm being a bit anal, but having fun and creative escapades with SEVERAL different RPGs is why I continue to play RPGs in general. If I were limited to just having fun or being truly creative within the framework of D&D, I'd have quit playing LONG ago.
Just a thought...
peace... Dave
Evil DM: I still owe you a read-through of your game. I'm slow to act but I haven't forgotten!
ReplyDeleteRHM: When called on it in the comments Mearls said he meant 'RPGs':
"Ha! When I said “D&D is the only game…” I meant all RPGs. I wish I could be more provocative with that, but it’d be foolish to say that Vampire or Mutants & Masterminds don’t encourage creativity!
The basic idea is that in an RPG, a player can create solutions and options that the designer/DM never thought of or accounted for."