Started reading an interview with the designer of a new RPG and this was a couple of lines into the introduction:
"…a rules lite tabletop RPG that puts creativity first. Instead of restrictive classes or long lists of predefined abilities, players and MCs work together to build completely custom characters, abilities, and stories that fit any setting. The goal is to let people finally play the exact kind of character they have always imagined without fighting against the system to make it work."
And so I closed the article. Clearly we can't expect every game to add something truly innovative and worthwhile to a hobby that's half a century old (and which now has a cascade of new publications every day), but what's described above was a useful approach in the eighties. After that it became a solved problem, with the question being more about how best to develop a good game along those lines, rather than acting as though the whole concept was new. I think this is why I find it increasingly hard to engage with much of the current RPG discussion. The whole field seems a bit stale, but also as if recent history has been forgotten and we are forever to be presented with retreads sold as innovation.
I'm not actually a grumpy old bugger, by the way. Usually I'm quite cheerful.
#RPG #Games #HereWeGoAgain