On Thu, 14 Jun 2001 Noctifer@aol.com wrote:
> But I also love D&D3, which I'm running right now, for its simplicity
> and various options.
This is the funny thing about games... I hate D&D3 because of its
complexity, while you love it for its complexity.
Of course, "complex" doesn't mean "difficult to understand" it means "made
up of many parts"... all of which can be simple in themselves. D&D3's
core mechanic is simple. None of its rules are difficult to understand.
But as a whole, D&D3 is a massive set of rules, even if you count only the
Players Handbook. I don't like memorizing lots of rules, and I don't like
looking things up all the time, and one of these is required to play D&D3.
> The big thing, I think, isn't simple vs. complex, but options, options,
> options. Let the player create the character he wants to play, within
> reason. This results in rather dangerous freedom for min/maxers, but for
> true role players it gives them a concrete way to create the character they
> want to create.
Which is why I like rules-light games and find D&D3 to be too limiting,
despite its massive set of rules. There are just so many things I can't
do without changing the rules or writing new ones. Lighter games like
Fudge, where creating custom character traits is the norm instead of an
exception, grant more freedom through fewer rules instead of more.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net) GMAST List Owner
[ GMAST, GM Discussion -- http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/ ]
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