Rules lite TTRPG systems are a scourge on the hobby and a fundamental misunderstanding of what games are. Trying to "streamline" games is largely a pathological drive from capitalist pressures, we can surely make the most efficient rules lite system ever by simply having everyone gather on a Friday, declare themselves heroic, and have a pizza. The point of a game isn't strictly the outcome, it's the process as well. It's primarily the process even!

@PallasRiot I see you've chosen violence today! Although I like minimalist as well as inscrutably complex systems that strain the limits of spreadsheets to manage, it depends on what I want out of the game.

As I age (and have played dozens of systems) I tend towards the middle ground though. Enough of a framework to be interesting to interact with, but not so much that it creates too much mental load.

@SharpCheddarGoblin Honestly I think on mastodon my anarchist politics are probably less contentious than my TTRPG opinions lmao

Arbitrary complexity definitely doesn't mean better, but there's a point at which so much game process has been stripped out of a game that there isn't game left to speak of

@PallasRiot I kinda feel like that about free kriegsspiel. It's game-shaped, but there isn't really much "game" there IMO.