August 14, 2017

RPGaDAY #14 - Favorite system for campaigns


Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play? 

I feel that the majority of RPG systems lend themselves to open-ended campaign play (Toon and Paranoia come to mind as systems/settings that would prove difficult for a sustained campaign). However, generic systems or those decoupled from a setting tend to allow for such campaigns fairly easily. So, to be honest, almost any rpg system will work.

That said, I believe that systems that are more widely known tend to be the best for such campaigns. It then becomes a case where the system takes a backseat to the campaign. People spend less time worrying about the rules and more time interacting with the setting. Right now that would mean 5E D&D.

5E is still young enough that there are not a lot of supplemental rules and additions (such as classes, races etc). That means a campaign is not trying to play catch-up with the rules. 3E and Pathfinder rules are well known by a majority of players, but they have so much supplemental information/rules that to create an open-ended campaign would be daunting if you were trying to include everything available (or more to the point, all the things the players want to have included). Sure, you can include or not include what you want, but even pruning such a campaign would be time-consuming.

5E is a nice place where a large number of people know the rules but there is not so much bloat that a campaign feels weighted down.

No comments: