Mechanics are more than just functions

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 3:58 pm

fectin wrote: Unrelated: does anyone else keep reading "*World" as AnusWorld?

I wasn't before, but now that you mentioned it, I will think of it as such for the rest of my life. That's one of those things I can't un-remember.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:31 pm

virgil wrote:Not weird in a good sense. Weird as in I keep getting a vibe of smugness from the behavior.

No one is as smug as someone who has no claim to be. No one is as sure that D&D is a terrible game as someone who has never read it or played it.

silva · Post by **silva** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:50 pm

silva wrote:Could we consider Shadowrun pre-4e an example where the funcionality (= working odds) is in that mid range I said before, where the odds do not quite work, but is not quite broken yet ? I mean, Shadowrun has the problem of being almost a cartoon game when you habe Target Numbers below 6 (with everyone succeeding at all tasks attempted), and an extremelly gritty game when you have TNs higher than 6 - so, its not totally coherent statistically, but also not totally broken (specially if you dont mind that kind of disparity).

Further, I dont think Shadowrun system ever managed to have a form that fits its theme and premise at all. For the sake of comparison, I suspect Leverage is much more Shadowrunny than Shadowrun ever managed to be.

Looking at my post again, I realize Shadowrun is not so good neither function-wise nor form-wise. Yet its fucking popular. Go figure.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:58 am

silva wrote:Yet its fucking popular. Go figure.

There are a lot of crazed fan boys around here, but don't let them fool you, it's popularity is solely a function of it's age.

sabs · Post by **sabs** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:06 am

All of the Shadowrun fan boys around here like the world represented in SR3.. but very few like any of the game systems used to represent them.

Even AH and Frank who WROTE for 4th edition, have major issues with SR3, and SR4. (I don't count SR5. It's like Highlander 2)

silva · Post by **silva** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:18 am

Yeah, Im a Shadowrun fanboy too. Even if I acknowledge its system problems.

I prefer the 2nd edition myself (it was my first RPG book ever) as I find it the more simpler one. Though it may be a factor of familiarity instead of some objective truth.

vagrant · Post by **vagrant** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:37 am

SR4 is still the only system I can run regularly without days of prep-time, but that's probably due to familiarity. It's faster to grok the base mechanic, I think, and simply more enjoyable than most other products.