New game features from Bill.McKinley_at_mailhost.dpie.gov.au on 1997-10-20 (Glorantha Digest Vol 05)

From: Bill.McKinley_at_mailhost.dpie.gov.au
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 10:14:34 +1000

                      New game features                            20/10/97

Shannon Appel offered a list of possible features of the new game, including:

> Fewer dice types ("Which one of those is the d8?")

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, using fewer dice types is convenient, say d20s and d6s. On the other hand, polyhedral dice are the symbol, the very essence as it were of RPGs, and it would be a shame to lose our connection to the misty past when there were no gem dice and d4s were deadly than caltrops.

I also think it's important to stick to a linear probability system for success/to hit rolls: the current wave of d6 based systems are very illogical.

>Different methods of gamemastering and playing (by which I mean
things like the troupe style role-playing method which I first saw in Ars Magica -- which break downs into two possibilities, rotating gamemasters and rotating player characters).

It's fun to speculate about the various different methods of gamemastering and playing, but I really wonder how many groups actually adopt them. I think troupe styles and so on should be clearly optional to cater for us traditionalists.

Cheers
Bill