Post originally by Ralph Mazza at 2003-06-16 08:59:45
Converted from Phorums BB System

Thanks Marco. We're going to have to get you playing a game of Uni some time.

Actually, I don't know whether I'd really consider Universalis to be "universal". The name is actually a play on "Universe".

I think every game that tries to be flexible needs to have some part of the system nailed down. Universalis has no particular setting, so you can pretty much play anywhere, or anywhen from fantasy to sci fi to modern to horror to surreal experiments of the bizarre. But that's only because the focus of the game is on players crafting a story. Since a story can be told about anything all of the rest of the setting and genre information can be inserted as desired.

So on the yard stick of "what setting or genre is it" its pretty universal. But on the yard stick of "how do you play" its pretty strictly defined. There's a lot of room to customize, and believe it or not with rules gimmicks and obsessive Trait defining in effect it can get pretty crunchy, but no one is going to mistake it for GURPS.