Character customization? Fast game play? Easy to GM? Setting or genre?
I want to know how you personally feel, not some textbook definition. Thanks!
Fun to play for me and still stays fun to play after multiple sessions. I want to like both the crunch and fluff of a game.
Rules that don't get in the way of the fun. I leave it up to you to define fun. Therefore I am glad I can play Becoming Heroes, Dogs in the Vineyard, Smallville, Pathfinder, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, World of Darkness, and many more. As who I am playing with and what I want to play with can be addressed by having options. I am not game-monogamous.
There is no ONE SYSTEM TO RULE THEM ALL.
Rules that don't get in the way of the fun.
Could you give me an example or two of rules that do get in the way of the fun? Or is this another way of saying rules-light?
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It is not the system that makes a game great...or for the most part lousy...it is the people you play with.
I have played games that I absolutely hated the rules for...but the GM made it work...the players were fun to RP with...etc. I have also played games where I love the system....and due to different play styles with the other players hated it.
I really appreciate freedom in character generation that's done in a way that aids in the players and GM creating an engaging, interactive story. I definitely prefer flavor over balance.
The game also has to have a system that's flexible, yet comprehensive, enough to handle most situations, and give everyone playing a unifying point of view in regards to what can and can't be done. Coincidentally, this is exactly what I'm working on creating at the moment.
A great game needs to be easy to learn, paint an evocative setting, enable making differing and interesting characters and storylines, deal well with the balance between GM influence, rules and player influence, and, at least to my thinking - be easy to create new material for.
If it's thousands of special cases and tons of spell lists or whatever, it becomes intractable. If the setting is ho-hum, magnificent rules matter very little. If you can make characters, but all of them end up vaguely the same (for example, because there is only one efficient way to do things), it's boring. Worse are the games where only a few plotlines are actually feasible. If the GM calls EVERY shot, to the point that it's all his or her improvised story, the game fails. And the last point, ever tried to make a new class for 4th edition D&D?
Coincidentally, this is exactly what I'm working on creating at the moment.
I'm about halfway there myself. That's kinda why I queried on this topic. Want to make sure it's not deficient in any areas.
When I read through the book, and instantly start coming up with a character concept and start building the character in my head as I go along reading the book.
Rules that don't get in the way of the fun.Could you give me an example or two of rules that do get in the way of the fun? Or is this another way of saying rules-light?
That is actually why I gave game examples running from rules light Becoming Heroes an indie story game focused on conflict resolution (did you rescue the town) rather than task oriented like PF (roll each hit record damage take hits repeat) up to things like Shadowrun/ d20 systems which are rules crunchy and minutiae heavy. I can have fun with all of them some allow me to tell more of what I am doing with few breaks for conflict resolution others require many more breaks in the narrative to resolve an intention but allow me to focus on the value of each shot each sword stroke. Do I power attack this round? Sometimes I want that level of micro decision. Sometimes I want to be able to activate a trait like "silent death" and be able to make a single check to see if I can sneak/kill my way into the daimyo's bedchamber and then move to the next conflict can I kill him/ steal the battle plans/McGuffin.
Sometimes it's about time management. MY PF group can rarely get through a combat/ plot important encounter in less than 30-45 minutes of real time. Playing Becoming Heroes Tuesday for 1.5 hours (a space-opera setting as it a generalized system) we: got involved in a firefight in a spaceport between telepathic Hive-mind and the rebellion, stole a craft and flew to a planet that had been destroyed by a BFG, invaded said BFG looking for parts to repair our own ship, dealt with a characters sister who is now part of the hive mind, destroyed said vessel, and my gestalt sand being merged with the power source of the BFG and now is partially a psychic energy being. Each thing I described was a separate rolled "encounter". We spent 20 minutes making characters. But this is a system where the designers want Movie/TV style "beats" and intend for each session to feel like a movie and play a session in the same amount of time as a movie.
In the interest of full disclosure: I am more story oriented rather than simulations oriented so that is where i fall on the "spectrum" of gamers I have no doubt others would look at what i want form a game and be offended.
Frogboy and Audrin you may find some traction by looking at story/ indie games for their conflict resolution rather than task resolution process to get at flexibility and inclusiveness.
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In my experience, it's really the mood and the enthusiasm of the players, not any one system itself, that dictates how great a game will turn out.
That is not to say that I haven't appreciated one set of rules over another in my time.
But I can say that we've had trememdous fun just making rules up as we went along, to match or even surpass the fun we've had with any standardized system. And we've managed to have some level of fun in all of those we've tried.
So I guess I'm just emphasizing that the most important aspect of why a game (session, campaign, whatever) works, is probably one that cannot be quantified.
Great RPGs have most of the following traits. This is not all inclusive and I'm sure plenty of things will come to mind later.
General
- Immerses the player in the world of the game
- Has a learning curve that makes it easy to pick up (preferrably from the rules alone) but which allows for more experienced players to have a lot of options to explore
- Supports creating characters that encompass a broad range of concepts reasonable to the game
- Has the option at least of fast character creation, from a mechanical perspective
- Can support playing with 2 people or 8 people just as easily and everything in between
- Can be understood by older children (10-12) but doesn't feel dumbed down by adults
- Can support a variety of play styles - from simple hack & slash to puzzle solving to heavy roleplaying
Support
- Books and other supplements can be found minimally at any decent comic or game store, and ideally at large book stores and mass market outlets
- Has an online web site that supports the game in a lot of capacities such as providing errata, sample adventures/locations/NPCs, a community to answer questions, future product announcements, free downloads of things like character sheets, etc.
- Electronic tools to support character, adventure and campaign generation and management
- Offers the game in PDF form, and possibly other ebook platforms
Physical
- Books have high production value with sturdy bindings, great paper, excellent color and layout and art
- Books have a standard size that makes them easy to put with other books
- Boxed Sets have sturdy boxes and all you need to play in the box with some room for additional items
- Has the base game available in a format that let's you buy a single product (single book or boxed set) that you can play without ever buying anything else
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For me, it's has to be a very open-ended game, allowing for lots of freedom in character creation, but have a sturdy ruleset in place. Things in the game have to make sense in a realistic context, and not "just because."
If I want to make a Priest who is proficient with a Meteor Hammer, I should be allowed with minimal fuss, as long as I spend whatever required build resources to do it. I like a system that encourages gamers to use every piece of the rules as building blocks, not pigeon hole players into specific roles and play styles counter to their concept.
I have yet to play a classless fantasy RPG, but I'd like to sometime.
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I have to agree with Josh that freedom in character creation is important. I would add that game setting and style is important as well.
I also think there is a correlation between complexity and fun but it is a fine line. There are many games that are fun to play once or a few times. Unfotunately if they do not have sufficient complexity after a few times you start to feel same ol same ol. On the other hand if a game is too complex it becomes difficult to play especially for new gamers.
I thus feel you need enough complexity to allow people to play the character they want the way they want but not so much that people feel overwelmed by options and GM's have trouble keeping up.
I think this is why so many people are concerend with rules bloat.
I've always thought that freedom in character creation, for players and GM alike, helps build better stories. With what I'm working on, anyone playing my game should be able to put their idea for a character on paper pretty much verbatim, without much hassle. As long as he, she, or it fits into the story, and the GM approves, anything goes.
One of the systems that has inspired/influenced me in my game design is the Star Ward D6 System. I started my gaming life playing Palladium's TMNT and Other Strangeness including Ninjas and Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, a little Robotech, and eventually Rifts. We then switched to GURPS for a bit. When I finally picked up the Star Wars D^ game, I was a little dumbfounded at being able to learn how to play the game, which was incredibly deep and comprehensive, in about ten minutes.