From: Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: Y/TCT Minirules
Date: 14 Oct 92 05:59:23 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

dfn@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (David Nalle) writes:

> The Sixth Edition of Ysgarth and the Fourth Edition of TCT are the new
> standard for roleplaying rule design. They feature simple, flexible,
> comprehensive mechanics.

I hate to tell you this (sort of  (-: ), but the mini-rules do not seem
simple or elegant.  They can hardly be called elegant if in my first
read-through I could find places where I could see room for simplification.

I have no major objections to the basic characteristics.  I think Zeal and
Social Status assume a particular type of gaming universe (very
class-conscious, and I'm not sure how Zeal applies).

The secondary characteristics look clumsy at first glance, with all the
addition, multiplication and division, but the results might form a viable
compromise in terms of how to represent a character in as few numbers as
necessary.

The skill benefits are hard to comment on without seeing the full rules and
actually working through a character.  I like the concept of skill
contributions (or skill webs, etc), but I'm not sure how successful they can
be with a large number of skills, unless you use a computer.  Skill
contributions could make character generation a very time-consuming task.

Your system for using skills is definitely not as elegant as possible.
Having facility, aptitude, skill levels, skill ratings, and difficulty
factors seems to me to be too many factors.  Facility and difficulty rating
could be merged into one factor.  I'm not sure of your connections between
skill levels, ratings. and aptitudes, so I can't comment on that.

Your system of rolling against skills seems clumsy.  Each roll requires one
addition and one subtraction, then a comparison against a chart?  I've seen
more elegant systems (Legacy is one).

Like the basic skill task resolution system, the combat and spell casting
systems seem to involve an excessive amount of number-crunching, particularly
during game play.  Number-crunching during character generation can be
forgiven if it adds enough detail to be worthwhile.  Number-crunching during
game play is less easily forgiven.  If the characters are in a tense
situation, it rather spoils the atmosphere to have to dig out calculators and
enter several sets of numbers before you can even roll the dice.  :(


My impression of TCT and Ysgarth--from the mini-rules and other examples
you've posted--is that you started on the path towards a good framework, but
only went partway in implementing it, and froze the rules short of elegance.
I've seen worse systems, but I've also seen better systems.

> We think our mechanics are so powerful, so elegant and so playable that
> once youUve tried them youUll want to use them to replace the mechanics in
> your current campaign.

Replacing Legacy rules with TCT would definitely be a mistake.  Legacy
is--IMO--significantly simpler and faster to run, and overall more elegant.


> Any feedback on the minirules would be appreciated.

YAFIYGI  :-)

--

Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.games.design