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
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Do I think grappling rules are a good
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litmus test for how well a game is going
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to run? In general, no. I'm a native of
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third edition. I have played 30, 35,
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fourth edition, Pathfinder, first and
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second edition. I've played a ton of 5e.
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I've played a lot of other RPGs.
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Grappling is really, really hard to get
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right cuz you have to strike a balance
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between making it useful and like
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plausible versus making the game
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playable. And the more detail you put
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into grappling, the less playable it
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becomes. So, it's always a sliding scale
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between like which problem do we want.
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Like 3X, the 300 and 35 grappling rules
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were an absolute nightmare. If someone
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pulled out the grappling rules,
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everybody just put down the game and
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went home cuz no one was going to have
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fun. The Pathfinder first edition rules
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made some updates to make it a little
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nicer, but still kept all of the same
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options from 35. So, it was still really
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really difficult to play with. But those
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systems, other than a few rough edges
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like like the grappling rules, they
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played really really well. There's a
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reason people love those games and still
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play them today. By comparison, for's
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grapple rules were very, very simple.
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Um, a lot of systems in 4E were simpler
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compared to 35 or PF1. Um, and I mean,
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the game plays fine. Say what you will
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about fore for what it set out to do. It
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does the job pretty well. Similarly,
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fifth edition's grappling rules are
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very, very simple. They're quick. They
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don't like they don't do a lot. There's
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not a lot of buttons to push, but they
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work fine within the system, and the
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system plays really, really well. So,
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grappling rules are just one subsystem
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in any RPG. The grappling rules could be
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an absolute dumpster fire, and the rest
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of the RPG could be fantastic. At the
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same time, the grapple rules could be
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absolutely spectacular, and the rest of
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the RPG could just be a flaming pile of
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hot garbage. So, yeah, it's one
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subsystem in a pile of other things that
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make up an RPG. So, I don't think you
2:04
can use grappling rules as a barometer.
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