Scion is a complex game. Certain decisions and tactics work better in specific situations or at various Legend or Strength ratings. On one hand, I wish it were all perfectly balanced, but on the other hand I imagine there'd be less room for individual coolness if everything worked the same.Myself, I prefer the play-balance and consistency side of things. I'm largely a system-minimalist. Setting and story are more important to me than mechanics.
That's a tough rope to walk as a game designer: do you want play-balance and consistency, or a game system that rewards players who spend some time getting to know the twists and turns of the rules?
Friday, December 21, 2007
a couple lines on game-system style
From something I posted elsewhere...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I couldn't possibly agree more.
The "sweet spot" for me is a system where there are clear strengths and weaknesses per character, but where the system itself runs smoothly enough to keep the flow of the game very quick.
What I like about the game I'm running on Fridays is the amount of system: in a typical session, each player will roll the dice between five and twenty times. (Sessions typically run for four or five hours.) That's pretty minimal.
And since there are no charts to consult or weird modifiers to apply, it's basically something along the lines of "That's hard. Roll." If they get a result of "Great" or better, they've succeed.
Despite this minimalism, the characters definitely have their own unique feels to them, and the players have settled into them quite comfortably. In fact, at our last session, James had something of a dramatic moment, when he contracted a very serious (and ostensibly fatal) disease: he let his character get darker and more vengeful, because, as he put it, "he had watched his mother die a slow death". System-wise, that could turn into an Aspect, when the players next level, and he would be able to draw on that detail for bonuses on rolls, as needed.
I've definitely enjoyed it.
Despite that, I think that once this game lapses (which I expect to happen in about another nine sessions or so), I will switch to another system, to test-drive it.
Presently, I'm considering a handful of sessions using the Paladin system, which has a lot of similarities to Fate, but is even more minimal.
My players, however, are pushing for a game set in the Firefly universe. ; ) ...If we do that, I think I'll stick with Fate: it would work *very* well to give it that cinematic feel.
My players, however, are pushing for a game set in the Firefly universe. ; ) ...If we do that,
...I will hate you forever. :)
To clarify, that was a joke. Hence the smiley.
Post a Comment