Quote Originally Posted by Quertus View Post
So, let’s say, right this second, I invent a new RPG. It’s really limited in scope of what it covers… maybe only “matches in a Magic: the Gathering arena”. The rules? They’re “play Magic decks to resolve combat”.

And… that’s it.

Extremely high complexity / high crunch / whatever, yet almost 100% pure Zeus.
This brings up a point that I hadn't considered, but there is an element of this which has to do with how you perceive parts of 'doing things at the table' to be work, versus to be playing the game.

Like, if playing MtG is a chore to you, that's going to feel like a lot of work compared to a system that goes 'to resolve a combat, sum up both sides' combat scores, and the higher wins'. Similarly, if you're doing the deck-building for your NPCs and monsters and such, that could feel strongly in the Hephaestus direction, unless MtG deckbuilding happens to be a thing you do for fun in your spare time anyhow and you've got an archive of hundreds of decks ready to go.