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| Day 27. |
There's a conflict between the two images posted for RPGADAY 2020. This one says 'favour'. The other one says 'flavour'. Which shall I go with? Autocratik's blog is no use to solve this, as he's further behind than I am as I write this.
Flavour, I think.
Flavour matters. Traveller has a different flavour to Ringworld, which is a different flavour to Star Wars WEG which is a different flavour to Star Wars FFG, which is a different flavour to Starfinder, which is a different flavour to Blue Planet.
Flavour comes from many different places; I'd argue that in some games the distinctive flavour is the setting; sometimes it can be overwhelming and complex (hello Glorantha, Transhuman Space and Traveller); sometimes it can be a perfect helping of different (hello Blue Planet), and sometimes it's bland and generic and the spice comes from the MSG of the rules.
Familiar rules can be a good base to the flavour of a game, because they give comfort to players in a new setting that they know how this works. They can enable them to try something different. Being like something they like means they'll sample it.
Familiar rules can also leave an aftertaste when they don't match the setting, especially if that's defined fiction like Star Wars or Star Trek. If the rules do something different to what we expect in the setting, they jar and undermine the suspension of disbelief.
Flavour is important, and the best designers know how to season their games well.
27 August 2020
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