Zinegata wrote:Not talking about Shadowrun or Blades in the Dark specifically but...
Modern designers pay great attention to "user interface" and "rules creep", which are sadly two aspects that tabletop RPGs still totally ignore to this day.
More specifically, many games have come to realize that a very complex game system can be made more comprehensible through the use of intuitive player boards and iconography; of which Scythe must be held up as a prime example. It's a fairly heavy Euro 4X game with many subsystems (e.g. Technology, Military Combat, Production), but because the player boards are organized very well and the iconography is clear and consistent it's actually one of the easiest games to teach how to play.
By contrast RPG books still tend to be organized the same way as they were in the 70s; and still tend to be just a mass of rules with very few examples of play to facilitate teaching especially when no one in the group has ever played an RPG before.
Instead, RPGs have remained rooted in the mindset of bloat: More is better, regardless of what people can actually use. Never mind the fact that I probably only ever used less than 1/5 of the available creatures in the Monster Manual because so many are just "goblin with a gimmick". Meanwhile actual examples of how to actually run a game session tend to be taken for granted.
Sure, Shadowrun 5e... just kidding .I don't know much about Ptolus. Could you tell me more of it? In my limited experience and offg the top of my head, here are some games that innovated in the organization or interface in some way in the latest decade or so:Zinegata wrote:Would you have any specific examples of RPGs that have improved their organization and interface?
- Powered by the Apocalypse games (the crop of games inspired by Apocalypse World) created the concept of "playbooks", a combination of charater generation rules + character sheet + character specific rules, in just 2 pages (including advancement) as "tickable" options, so you create a character super fast by just ticking what you want, and never need to consult any other source of rules. Plus the GM needs just 1 page of rules to play. Examples: a set of playbooks for the Supers game, and another for the Icelandic sagas one. Notice how it combines usability with thematic color in both cases. That's something I really like in these games.
- Vornheim is a fantasy city book for supporting urban games with ideas and on-the-fly elements through the use of random tables. What is interesting (and a novelty) is that it uses the very book pages as "little boards" of paper for playing dice over, and immediately getting results. It's one of the most useful acessories I've ever seen. Take a look at it if you can. Here is a review (which coincidently cites Ptolus as a reference): Link
- Gamma World box set for D&D 4e. This one I never actually played, but I got it here and it's basically a very simple adaptaion of the 4e rules into a sort of gonzo post-apocalyptic theme. What's interesting about it is the fact it uses visual cues to organize play: Cardboard sheets, token chips, cardboard maps, even cards! The game is very visual and tactile in a way that makes it easier to learn and play. The downside is that it ended up depending on those same visual cues in the form of supplements with new cards and stuff. (I think the 3rd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying attempted something similar, but I don't know it in detail or how successful it was).
I'm sure there are lots of new things being attempted these days with rules, organization and interface. Please post more stuff you think applies!