Quote:
Originally Posted by Saving Throw
I absolutely agree. I see the Indie movement will be the drive for a shared system. Without a common game system to work from (Lingua Franca) players will have to learn a new system for every little game - too much work. If the small publishers want to compete with big systems they'll need one of their own - a shared game mechanic.
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On the other hand, I don't agree. I think indie games will drive to
simpler systems, something one can learn in 15 minutes. However, one of the points of indie systems is to push the boundaries of gaming, which almost requires creating systems from the ground up. Complexity arises when you have some sort of detailed system of modifiers, or a complex combat system ... but most indie games shy away from those.
A shared
language of systems might help. Let's face it, every game has some set attributes/characteristics/skills/abilities/etc with a numerical value. In most conflicts you roll dice to get a number to compare to a difficulty factor or target number (which might also be randomly determined); an applicable a/c/s/a/e, and other factors determine the number of dice, the target number, and/or the total value of the dice roll. Comparing the dice result to the target number determines the success or failure of each party. The fact that there's no consistent terminology for anything I described in this paragraph makes it harder to explain a second RPG to someone who's already learned their first.