Collected "Cyrano on a Rant" thread

[Adam]

Ah, I misread your original intent.  Sounds like we're more on the same page in terms of interest!

[bbmike]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

[Bison]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

Mental disorder or prototypical wargamer

[panzerde]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

Then you need a hat.

[bob48]

...an outrageous hat with cockades and plumes, presumably?

[panzerde]

...an outrageous hat with cockades and plumes, presumably?

There are other kinds?

[bob48]

One hears rumours..............

[Cyrano]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

Then you need a hat.

Been a weird, weird day.  Bordering on un-good.  This made me smile.

[mirth]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

Mental disorder or prototypical wargamer

There's a difference?

[bob48]

And if I like both "simulation", "gaming", and "role playing" each side?

Then you need a hat.

There is evidence to suggest that hats paid an important part in the Royal Navy's victory at Trafalgar. It seems that Nelson ordered all the officers in the fleet to wear their hats 'athwartships' thus catching the wind and producing an additional half knot of speed, which proved to be a decisive factor in the battle.

[panzerde]

This seems a reasonable historical anecdote to me.

[bayonetbrant]

from Jim's column

May I also say that it is strange (pilfering a point made by my friend Brant Guillory on a podcast somewhere hereabouts) to hear the howls of “these rules are to complex” thrown to heaven by those toting about the second edition of Pathfinder which has a core rulebook — note a single book of what will be many — that weighs in at 640 pages.  I will be closely scrutinizing the bookshelves of all who review games in the future to see who will strain at the gnat of most wargames while swallowing that particular camel.   

FWIW, I stumbled across this today

https://twitter.com/philipjreed/status/204203244648542209


that turned into a extended column
http://www.battlegrip.com/tabletop-roleplaying-games-are-too-long/

And without even jumping into sourcebooks I’m comfortable saying that the majority of roleplaying game books hitting store shelves these days are just too damned long. The core rulebook for the quite-impressive Pathfinder Roleplaying Game* (the successor to Dungeons and Dragons) comes in at 576-pages. The Battletech roleplaying game, A Time of War*, is over 400-pages. And even Shadowrun* comes in at almost 400-pages.

That’s too many pages for a game. How, exactly, is someone new to tabletop roleplaying supposed to get excited by a tome that makes textbooks look like light reads? And regardless of how much beautiful artwork is jammed between the covers the fact remains that these books are simply too damned thick. It’s a lot to expect someone to read and absorb all of these rules, let alone then convince friends to play a “game” that has such a massive rulebook.

We need shorter games. Games that don’t scare and intimidate the average person who might, just maybe, have an interest in a tabletop roleplaying game.

of note?

that was 7 years ago

[Capn Darwin]

You can have a RPG in 32 pages if you cut out all weapons, armor, spells, tech, skills, classes and any decent combat and initiative system. I would guess a RPG called Dinosaur would work. Plant or meat eater, move, fight, eat, sleep, and poop (that may need to be an expansion rule book). You could wrap that up in less than 32 pages with a few pictures.


Humor aside, RPG type games need source material to define everything in terms of the game system being used. You are not chained to a table to read every word before playing. You read and use what you need for the character you are playing. If reading RPG materials is too much, I would find a different game type to play.

[bbmike]

There are RPGs out there that have smaller rulebooks (cough, Classic Traveller, cough). That said, the problem with RPGs is that they aren't just rules. They also include settings, lore, tables, etc., etc.

[bbmike]

Dang, ninja'd by Capn Darwin!