Kiero
2007-03-10, 08:34 PM
I accept that there may be nothing that qualifies for some people who might be playing in essentially the same way as they always have. Or indeed that it wasn't a game that caused significant change in their play style.
For those who this does apply, what was your gateway game to a different kind of experience? I've gone on at length elsewhere (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=252750)about the effect of Wushu, but while that's my every-game now, it isn't what kicked off my journey that ended there.
My gateway game was Feng Shui in 1997. It came at a time when I'd been through AD&D 2e, and was starting to burn out on all things White Wolf (though it wasn't the last I'd see of their games). It was a breath of fresh air, a complete change to everything I'd seen up to this point. The idea that effect, rather than the composite of actions should determine difficulty was completely new to me. That you should get creative with the narration of what you were doing (stunts).
Also the distinction at the mechanical level between those who mattered (named characters, like the PCs and Big Bads) and those who didn't (mooks). It gel-ed really well with the source material, to which I was (and still am) a big fan. I think it was the first time I say mechanical genre emulation of any kind. Or at least recognised it.
Freeform magic was another revelation. Sure it gave the GM a whole load of power with fiat, but it ditched all the kludge of spell lists and the like.
"The map is not your friend". First time I'd seen this very advice to forget about sweating the details of what was where. And letting players invent stuff in the environment without asking the permission of the GM.
Something else that I'd never considered before: having a defined structure for any game. Three fight scenes with a linkage between them, an ideal format for any action game, really. Starting out with a fight too.
The only bits I didn't like were the arcanotech from 2056, and the sheer volume of Fu schticks (nothing in comparison to Exalted, say, but still too much for me). Even so, they were minor considerations. I'd still consider running Feng Shui now if I thought my players needed a little more direction than Wushu.
So how about you? Does anything qualify for you?
For those who this does apply, what was your gateway game to a different kind of experience? I've gone on at length elsewhere (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=252750)about the effect of Wushu, but while that's my every-game now, it isn't what kicked off my journey that ended there.
My gateway game was Feng Shui in 1997. It came at a time when I'd been through AD&D 2e, and was starting to burn out on all things White Wolf (though it wasn't the last I'd see of their games). It was a breath of fresh air, a complete change to everything I'd seen up to this point. The idea that effect, rather than the composite of actions should determine difficulty was completely new to me. That you should get creative with the narration of what you were doing (stunts).
Also the distinction at the mechanical level between those who mattered (named characters, like the PCs and Big Bads) and those who didn't (mooks). It gel-ed really well with the source material, to which I was (and still am) a big fan. I think it was the first time I say mechanical genre emulation of any kind. Or at least recognised it.
Freeform magic was another revelation. Sure it gave the GM a whole load of power with fiat, but it ditched all the kludge of spell lists and the like.
"The map is not your friend". First time I'd seen this very advice to forget about sweating the details of what was where. And letting players invent stuff in the environment without asking the permission of the GM.
Something else that I'd never considered before: having a defined structure for any game. Three fight scenes with a linkage between them, an ideal format for any action game, really. Starting out with a fight too.
The only bits I didn't like were the arcanotech from 2056, and the sheer volume of Fu schticks (nothing in comparison to Exalted, say, but still too much for me). Even so, they were minor considerations. I'd still consider running Feng Shui now if I thought my players needed a little more direction than Wushu.
So how about you? Does anything qualify for you?