v4 Rules & Mechanics Discussion

[unipus]

Guess there's some crow being eaten over that whole "they're not changing ANYTHING" claim. A lot of changes have been made that are results of direct feedback that myself and others gave; seems to me they've been pretty receptive and open to ideas, as long as those ideas were presented thoughtfully.

But seems like most here have been innately hostile to this game since it was announced, basically. Kind of a shame, IMO -- I've been running a campaign with it for about 3 months now and while there are some glitches it's a pretty solid system and well-suited to the world.

[Raellus]

It's unfortunate. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I've been disappointed by the tenor of much of the discussion here re v4.

My greatest fear is that this relentless negativity, much of it pretty mean-spirited, is going to chase off new members whose gateway to this amazing legacy game and its rich history happens to be v4.

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[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by unipus

Guess there's some crow being eaten over that whole "they're not changing ANYTHING" claim. A lot of changes have been made that are results of direct feedback that myself and others gave; seems to me they've been pretty receptive and open to ideas, as long as those ideas were presented thoughtfully.

But seems like most here have been innately hostile to this game since it was announced, basically. Kind of a shame, IMO -- I've been running a campaign with it for about 3 months now and while there are some glitches it's a pretty solid system and well-suited to the world.

No. There's not.
They've changed some cosmetic issues, but the core problems are still there and in some cases the changes they've done have made things even worse.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by unipus

Guess there's some crow being eaten over that whole "they're not changing ANYTHING" claim. A lot of changes have been made that are results of direct feedback that myself and others gave; seems to me they've been pretty receptive and open to ideas, as long as those ideas were presented thoughtfully.

But seems like most here have been innately hostile to this game since it was announced, basically. Kind of a shame, IMO -- I've been running a campaign with it for about 3 months now and while there are some glitches it's a pretty solid system and well-suited to the world.

The problem I see is that the system isn't suitable for a sandbox or a linear campaign. For a one-shot hex-crawl, it's fine.

[unipus]

... what a strange take. Where'd you get that idea? Large parts of the rules are explicitly for campaign and especially sandbox play.

If anything, that's pretty much Free League's whole legacy as far as games go.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by unipus

But seems like most here have been innately hostile to this game since it was announced, basically.

That is simply not the case and shows a marked ignorance of the viewpoints and experiences of the people here. Very few people were innately hostile to FL's reboot when it was announced, we were mostly curious but cautious and some were even excited about it.
However there have been several attempts to relaunch the game in the past and only one of them ever got to market (that being 2013).
People here feel as though they have been promised a new version of the game only to be let down and when this happens several times over the last two decades, you get the feeling that you do not want to get burnt again.

Once we saw what FL wanted to do to the game, some people did become negative towards it and some even became hostile. I am certainly one of the people who has a negative reaction to this reboot because I do not see it replicating those elements that made T2k as memorable or enjoyable for me.
Now before it's even asked, I backed the kickstarter and have access to the beta material so I have the same information as anyone else. I also own Tales From The Loop and all its supplements.
While I enjoy the background material and overall concept of Tales From The Loop, I do feel that the Year Zero rules would work well for it given that your characters are inexperienced young people. However for the characters of T2k, they have acquired a much larger range of skills and experiences and newer game systems like Year Zero and also including D&D ignore the range of skills so as to "streamline" the play experience.
This is meant to speed up gameplay and simplify everyone's workload and reduce book-keeping.

Personally I find this lack of skills to be immensely unsatisfying, for example, where in the past editions of D&D you had a rope skill, now you default to Intelligence for any rope skill test. It's quick but oh so dull and does not give any impression that the character has a unique collection of skills and experiences that make them somewhat special and a useful asset for the group.
As for some of the other rules in Year Zero games, I find them dumb to the point of insulting. The one person per 10 kilometre hex for scavenging is a prime example - it's an artificial limiter to force gameplay and being so artificial it's incredibly immersion breaking because anyone who has ever gone into the forest to collect mushrooms or berries can tell you, you do not need to scour a 10 kilometre area to find a lot of food - and that's even without any sort of hunting.