Post originally by SteelCaress at 2003-11-28 12:13:27
Converted from Phorums BB System

I was fortunate enough (though I *do* have a copy of the rules) to have a GM who had played, among other things, Kult, and the original Call of Cthulhu (BRP).

His Cthulhu d20 game was about the smoothest one he ran, though there were still a couple "I need to check the rules" intermissions. When we played the same characters in d20 Modern it spiralled downward from there.

Every other d20 game I've seen has rules problems from leveling, from gameplay, up to and including character creation. By rules problems I mean everything from checking the rules, to figuring out what's changed from one game to another, to actual problems with character generation (why doesn't a Fighter get Intimidation as a class skill, why can't he take it, why does it have to be based on Charisma, why does a Speedster in d20 SAS have Streetwise as a class skill, why do none of the feats match up with what I want, etc).

It *is* a mood-breaker. I can give you some suggestions based on my fiancee's observations:

One of the main problems, according to her, was that once everyone knows the rules, everyone becomes the GM. To build a better character in at least d20, if not several other systems, you need to know the rules, which means everyone has their own take on what's going on mechanically. This is especially a problem in crunchier games, where the thinking becomes "I need to have this many squares of movement and this much defense here where they might think I'm weak but I'm not and this Feat here will eliminate this penalty which is usually this and blah blah rule X blah."

Maybe the answer isn't to have everyone knowing what's going on.

Just my couple coppers worth.