Lessa
Legendary Pubber
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- Aug 13, 2018
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I think the issue is not even experience systems but how a lot of the most popular hacks are designed around exploring a (very) specific theme with a more or less expected flow of "setup > buildup > climax > fallout".
Take Apocalypse World for eg. If you follow the advice by the letter you start with a disfunctional group of PCs scraping by to survive through scarcity, external threats and each other needs/ambitions. Then they get more powerful, join up, wipe out the external threats and make their community prosper. At this point the initial premise starts to crumble and with it the whole mechanical apparatus designed to promote it. You can continue from there but you'll have to make some conscious effort for it to continue making sense. Monsterhearts is like that, as is Night Witches, Undying, Sagas of the Icelanders, etc. We played around 10 or 12 sessions of those and the stories reached a natural point of closure for us. Could we keep playing? Totally. Did we feel the need? Not much.
I agree some hacks break that mold, though. The Sprawl is a good example, as is Dungeon World, Spirit of '77 and Legacy. I don't know Masks, Monsters of the Week and City of Mist so I can't say.
I think your traditional setting-exploration RPG ends up being potentially more longeve because a setting naturally offers more avenues for exploration: in Shadowrun you can start as a local gang fighting for turf, then turn into a crew doing heists for Johnsons, then join up some megacorp providing security detail, etc. In D&D idem. etc.
Don't know if I made much sense. Still in a hurry here. hehe
Take Apocalypse World for eg. If you follow the advice by the letter you start with a disfunctional group of PCs scraping by to survive through scarcity, external threats and each other needs/ambitions. Then they get more powerful, join up, wipe out the external threats and make their community prosper. At this point the initial premise starts to crumble and with it the whole mechanical apparatus designed to promote it. You can continue from there but you'll have to make some conscious effort for it to continue making sense. Monsterhearts is like that, as is Night Witches, Undying, Sagas of the Icelanders, etc. We played around 10 or 12 sessions of those and the stories reached a natural point of closure for us. Could we keep playing? Totally. Did we feel the need? Not much.
I agree some hacks break that mold, though. The Sprawl is a good example, as is Dungeon World, Spirit of '77 and Legacy. I don't know Masks, Monsters of the Week and City of Mist so I can't say.
I think your traditional setting-exploration RPG ends up being potentially more longeve because a setting naturally offers more avenues for exploration: in Shadowrun you can start as a local gang fighting for turf, then turn into a crew doing heists for Johnsons, then join up some megacorp providing security detail, etc. In D&D idem. etc.
Don't know if I made much sense. Still in a hurry here. hehe