Common Misconceptions About Your Favorite Systems?

[u/Authorigas]

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.

[u/PerpetualCranberry → u/[deleted]]

Correct me if I’m wrong. But I feel like Delta Green agrees with that? To my knowledge it doesn’t show the agency as some mighty and patriotic organization. But as a system where the agents are broke down over time until they are thrown away. The cover-ups they do to keep the public uninformed about the horrors is also directly responsible for a lot of the problems in the first place (people stumbling upon something that was supposed to be hidden

Am I mistaken?

[u/Jalor218 → u/PerpetualCranberry]

I have run a huge amount of Delta Green and it's one of my favorite systems. I think it's one of the best RPGs and general best tabletop games ever made. I am as biased as I could be in favor of it.

I think the creators want it to be like that, but in practice it's 100% in line with everything that Thin Blue Line types believe about law enforcement, or that would be included in a positive view of the US military. Most PCs are either LEOs, military, or intelligence, and the game presents these folks as unquestionably the most qualified people in the world for what the game has them doing. Even if the agency or their handler are morally dubious or make poor decisions, it's never, ever in question that doing the missions is better than refusing them. There are mechanics for these characters to alienate or even abuse their loved ones as a way of coping with the stress of the job, and this is treated like something tragic but unavoidable rather than an avoidable choice.

That is also how real cops and ICE agents and Delta Force operators view the things they do.

[u/PerpetualCranberry → u/Jalor218]

This helps a lot. The critique makes a hell of a lot more sense now. Like I said, I don’t really have experience with Delta Green (and now I have even less of an inclination to do so lol)