So, I had a club. A captive audience. I could test my new 'system' on these new minds.
My clubs age group was roughly 11-19. Some kids from the after school care I worked at, some from Highschool, and some my own age.
Could I develop a system which was, to my mind, a roleplay system. not a wargaming system.
I had, subconciously, not liked any roleplay system, because it was based around a table-top concept. miniatures might be needed (which none of us could afford) many, MANY books might be needed (AD&D, I'm looking at you) and the biggest part. RULES were needed..
You have to realise, I'm writing this as a 40yr old. some of my thoughts have been stewing in my mind for 21 years, realisations occured about what it was I was thinking.. Back then I didn't like it because it felt wrong. I didn;t know WHY it felt wrong, it just did. 4 years ago, I clicked, when talking to a 19yr old. It felt wrong.Therebecause it WAS wrong. They had created a set of rules that went against what was possible in reality.
Bandaids solve the problem for now, cover the wound until it heals. If the wound is not properly cleaned & sutured, this bandaid will not be a solution, the wound may or may not heal, will likely leave something, a scar or problem that might need to be ignored, or fixed later.
Many Game systems, created a set of rules that suited the needs of the designers, for now. They test it, but its broken and the cost to fix is above that they are willing to do. Many fixes are bandaids. They find a problem and fix the bandaid for that problem, but in turn that sometimes breaks and they need to fix it again.
This actually turns out to be a good business model. D&D is up to 5th edition now? Make a game, realise its flawed, make a magazine which addresses the flaws, bring all the flaws together til you have a nice big list. fix the flaws with an Uber bandaid, print new edition. Ad-infinitdum!?
So over 1994, I was trying to find a game system that wasn't all bandaids. I failed.
So I decided to make my own.
My clubs age group was roughly 11-19. Some kids from the after school care I worked at, some from Highschool, and some my own age.
Could I develop a system which was, to my mind, a roleplay system. not a wargaming system.
I had, subconciously, not liked any roleplay system, because it was based around a table-top concept. miniatures might be needed (which none of us could afford) many, MANY books might be needed (AD&D, I'm looking at you) and the biggest part. RULES were needed..
You have to realise, I'm writing this as a 40yr old. some of my thoughts have been stewing in my mind for 21 years, realisations occured about what it was I was thinking.. Back then I didn't like it because it felt wrong. I didn;t know WHY it felt wrong, it just did. 4 years ago, I clicked, when talking to a 19yr old. It felt wrong.Therebecause it WAS wrong. They had created a set of rules that went against what was possible in reality.
I've come to refer to it as Bandaid Gaming.
Bandaids solve the problem for now, cover the wound until it heals. If the wound is not properly cleaned & sutured, this bandaid will not be a solution, the wound may or may not heal, will likely leave something, a scar or problem that might need to be ignored, or fixed later.
Many Game systems, created a set of rules that suited the needs of the designers, for now. They test it, but its broken and the cost to fix is above that they are willing to do. Many fixes are bandaids. They find a problem and fix the bandaid for that problem, but in turn that sometimes breaks and they need to fix it again.
This actually turns out to be a good business model. D&D is up to 5th edition now? Make a game, realise its flawed, make a magazine which addresses the flaws, bring all the flaws together til you have a nice big list. fix the flaws with an Uber bandaid, print new edition. Ad-infinitdum!?
So over 1994, I was trying to find a game system that wasn't all bandaids. I failed.
So I decided to make my own.
