Unnatural Twenty

GNS and the Big Model TTRPGs consist of three pillars, Gamism (use mechanics to have an enjoyable game), Narrativism (tell an interesting story), and Simulationism (create a credible story). Players can enjoy each to lesser or greater degrees, and some games are better at some than others, or are generally recognized as such. I recently realized that I like the Gamist part of games to be light enough that I can get down to playing pretty quickly, the Narrativist part is something I try to contribute to, and Simulationism means adhering to genre conventions, not trying to overturn them. GNS Theory at the RPG Museum Challenge versus Genre The most important thing in some games is to maintain the expectations of the genre, so that the story that is created seems appropriate. In other games, the genre informs some things, but the most important thing is to have fun in whatever way drives the characters to achieve their own goals. I don't think I really care about challenge ...

Which RPG have you played the most since August 2016? I haven't played much in the last year. I played two online sessions of Microscope and one face to face. I ran two sessions of the Sprawl, and about six of the Black Hack, both of which followed on from games of Microscope. I played Call of Cthulhu and D&D5 at a convention last December, and last week I played the first session of a new campaign of Spellbound Kingdoms. So I guess the Black Hack is my most played game in the last year.

I found myself wondering about a game like Pathfinder, that by now has a very long list of playable classes and races, and something like the Black Hack, which has no rules for races at all and only four classes. At first glance it looks like Pathfinder gives you more options for classes, since it has rules for hundreds. But in the case of races, the Black Hack actually gives players more options. Since there are no rules for races, the number of racial options is truly infinite. In Pathfinder there is a need to have rules for your race, so you tend to only choose from the options that are already there. Does having only four classes make the Black Hack limited? Again, you can use the warrior class in many many ways, it's possible to use it to describe many different types of martial characters. What I think I'm realizing is that, going into a new campaign, I don't want there to be a book that lists all the options for race, class, homeland, skills, and so on. I want ...