Different RPG systems

[Willie the Duck]

* But not heard of, apparently there is a system that does not include character creation rules because all possible player characters in its single campaign are premade. That beats out even the narrowest Powered by the Apocalypse system. And now that I remember it maybe Blades in the Dark is more specialised also having a fixed setting.

A game that only includes pre-mades seems more like a party game you pull out when so-and-so (who used to game with the group but moved away) is in town for the weekend and wants to game with the group and you play this instead making them play a onetime character (the GM has to figure out how to shoehorn into the story) or play Talisman or Axis and Allies or whatever.

Sadly, the sort of thinking that lead to those ideas is still pretty wide-spread in RPG discussion circles. In discussions about PbtA or narrative games I've read, every time somebody's brought up the idea that they find narrative games difficult for beginners to play or teach to, there's been somebody claiming that actually it's D&D players who have a uniquely hard time learning new systems.

And Grognards/OSR players and players of modern versions still battle over who is playing the better/more mature/more skillful game while at the same time calling the other condescending. And D&D players and players of all other games battle over who is playing it right and who is being a jerk. There’s even some in some circles that continue to suggest that storygames and the related genre aren’t TTRPGs at all. It seems a reinforcement of the truisms that the closest of cousins are the bitterest of rivals and the smaller the stakes the higher the vitriol (and one I’ve been slowly formulating, that is something along the lines of ‘forget the jocks in high school, no one is worse to nerds than other nerds’).
Ron Edwards certainly was one of the worst offenders, both in terms of the toxic framing of his opposition, and in general condescension. I am a little surprised how frequently people still have axes to grind with him, though. He said bad things, and got reputationally trashed for it. R.E./The Forge being condescending is right up there with 90s White Wolf being pretentious or 90s T$R being litigious in terms of memetic negative reputations in the industry.

IMX, almost anyone who has only played <SYSTEM A> struggles to move to any other system. But those who have played all sorts of things (or no things at all) can switch more freely. And that's for any value of <SYSTEM A>.
It's like that first system embeds itself deeply and creates ruts; coming at it fresh or having lots of other paths eases things.

Oh definitely. I’m running a nice, serene, pastoral journey tale for my niece and nephew and brother using Ryuutama, and the kids are doing great just taking it for what it is. My brother, who started gaming with my using a D&D/AD&D hybrid BITD, cannot get out of the habit of making sure the combat rules are right at hand. Myself, I’ve been reading a few Cepheus Engine games as of late, and find myself having to remind myself every few pages that I don’t need to thing of it in Traveller terms. Habits are hard to break.