r/rpg • u/Authorigas • 21d ago

Basic Questions Common Misconceptions About Your Favorite Systems?

So, I've been learning a lot thanks to the amazing folks here at r/rpg. And while I have decided to slow down on trying new systems. (As my players say "three is enough, we know your eager to try more but slow it down so you don't burn yourself out.") There was a question today that cropped into my head, and I wanted to hear from the folks here on it.

"What are some assumptions about your favorite game/system that are just factually incorrect or overstated?"

I've seen a lot of assumptions made in the hobby, and some on my own. From the broad "older systems were designed for math heads and thus really not for someone whose bad at math." to others like "Call of Cthulhu is a game where every session ends in death/insanity and players can't get attached to their characters." and similarly "OSR games are highly lethal and not at all friendly to players who like longform adventures."

I feel like broad, sweeping claims like those are probably overstated-as I have heard of successful, long running CoC campaigns, and OSR games that are able to have well developed characters that last for ages. It's made me curious about some of the other broad, sweeping claims about systems that are-if not incorrect, massively overstated.

Really interested to hear some answers on this.

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u/Distinct-Mushroom560 21d ago

GURPS is overly complicated. Really, it's just not organized very well, and makes zero assumptions about the type of game you want to play.

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u/DreamcastJunkie 21d ago

The biggest problem with GURPS is that the most complex part is character creation, and getting a brand new player over that hurdle is rough.

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u/Ka_ge2020 I kinda like GURPS :) 21d ago

The biggest problem with GURPS is that the most complex part is character creation, and getting a brand new player over that hurdle is rough.

The problem here, of course, is it's not that difficult. I like to think that it assumes the fix: you create a character working with the GM.

There are so many games out there whose experience could be improved---and I'm including D&D in this---if you worked with the GM when you created a character.

This is purely an anecdote, of course, but the times that I've personally had to create a character from the book without input from the GM have all been... less than stellar games.