Hardcopy BRB books are just around the corner. To celebrate, Jeff Richard talks about some of the weirdest settings for BRP. Get the BRP book here: www.chaosium.com/basic-rolepl...
I really like that you guys aren’t shy about talking about and praising (or showing off on your shelves) non-Chaosium games as well. It’s pretty refreshing compared to a lot of these types of channels, and makes the content much more diverse and interesting.
Can weirdness be measured? I have something I call: *Exotics* Where exotics represent everything beyond what the real world has. Such as psionics, cyber-tech, magic, bionics, etc. So... I see settings as "No exotic", "Low exotic", "Medium exotic", and "High exotic". I think it is an interesting parameter, as: When exotics go up, logic becomes more demanding (with the risk of becoming too complex for the players, and/or the risk of logic holes/plot holes going up), and role-play becomes more difficult. (with the risk of role-play getting replaced with rule-play.) --- Now, that the role-playing game system/rule mechanics are mentioned, I will say: Rule mechanics are (should be! - come on dudes! should be!) to role-play as safety nets are to tightrope walking: Seems superfluous when things go well, but nice to have when things go awry. Thus I have another measure: *Attention-hogging systems* Where attention-hogging measures how much the role-playing game system/rule mechanics crave attention. Here I see ""No attention-hogging systems" as being the best. Because the more attention-hogging the system is, the more the game is pulled away from role-play, towards rule-play. --- To add to "Attention-hogging systems" I have *Attention-hogging dice* as some second-rank measure. Again a similar problem as before: The more attention-hogging the dice are, the more the game is pulled away from role-play, towards roll-play.
I appreciate the HeroQuest reference. A good step in the direction of more play, less rule discussions. :-) It is dormant though, with QuestWorld still in the making to pick up.
