Up next in 10
Grappling rules can say a lot of things about an RPG, but they won’t tell you if an RPG is good.
#dnd #pathfinder #ttrpg
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Do I think grappling rules are a good
0:01
litmus test for how well a game is going
0:04
to run? In general, no. I'm a native of
0:06
third edition. I have played 30, 35,
0:10
fourth edition, Pathfinder, first and
0:12
second edition. I've played a ton of 5e.
0:14
I've played a lot of other RPGs.
0:17
Grappling is really, really hard to get
0:18
right cuz you have to strike a balance
0:20
between making it useful and like
0:23
plausible versus making the game
0:25
playable. And the more detail you put
0:28
into grappling, the less playable it
0:31
becomes. So, it's always a sliding scale
0:34
between like which problem do we want.
0:36
Like 3X, the 300 and 35 grappling rules
0:39
were an absolute nightmare. If someone
0:41
pulled out the grappling rules,
0:43
everybody just put down the game and
0:44
went home cuz no one was going to have
0:46
fun. The Pathfinder first edition rules
0:49
made some updates to make it a little
0:51
nicer, but still kept all of the same
0:53
options from 35. So, it was still really
0:56
really difficult to play with. But those
0:59
systems, other than a few rough edges
1:02
like like the grappling rules, they
1:04
played really really well. There's a
1:06
reason people love those games and still
1:08
play them today. By comparison, for's
1:11
grapple rules were very, very simple.
1:13
Um, a lot of systems in 4E were simpler
1:16
compared to 35 or PF1. Um, and I mean,
1:20
the game plays fine. Say what you will
1:23
about fore for what it set out to do. It
1:25
does the job pretty well. Similarly,
1:28
fifth edition's grappling rules are
1:29
very, very simple. They're quick. They
1:32
don't like they don't do a lot. There's
1:34
not a lot of buttons to push, but they
1:35
work fine within the system, and the
1:37
system plays really, really well. So,
1:40
grappling rules are just one subsystem
1:43
in any RPG. The grappling rules could be
1:45
an absolute dumpster fire, and the rest
1:47
of the RPG could be fantastic. At the
1:50
same time, the grapple rules could be
1:52
absolutely spectacular, and the rest of
1:53
the RPG could just be a flaming pile of
1:56
hot garbage. So, yeah, it's one
2:00
subsystem in a pile of other things that
2:03
make up an RPG. So, I don't think you
2:04
can use grappling rules as a barometer.
#Roleplaying Games
#Roleplaying Games
#Table Games