Courtesy of /u/Cyberwolf1971

[Reddit] 7th Sea 2E Quick Start Rules - reflections

Thu, 03/10/2016 - 04:50

Last Sunday my RPG group went on a shakedown cruise with the QS rules (V2) for the 7th Sea Kickstarter. While our group switches regularly between game systems, we are playing 7th Sea since it was published and (lucky twist of fate) were right in the middle of our regular 7th Sea campaign, when the KS went live.

While I really like the world built by John Wick, I am less enthusiastic about how the new mechanics interact with the storytelling aspect of the game. I would like to share my observations and thoughts:

• I really like a more narrative approach to roleplaying, but I find the implementation in the QS rules rather forced and not very subtle.

• Instead of encouraging free-flowing story-telling, the structure of intent, raise, consequence (and opportunity) is very rigid and (at least for my tastes) too prominent: As a GM I find myself using these terms rather often - more often than I used the equivalent terms in other systems. It interrupts the flow of action and disturbs the immersion.

• The central resolution mechanism (dice away a pool of GM generated obstacles), as found in numerous indie-RPGs, is a bit generic for my taste... different actions should "feel" more different and produce more varied results.

• I found the aspect of building your raise and denying the GM unused dice to buy Danger Points too much "board game"-style. The use of D10s, is actually to much fuss here (look at the Ubiquity / HEX / Space 1889 systems for a much streamlined version of dice-roll resolution) and only motivated by nostalgia.

• On the same note: raising the required raise total from 10 to 15 is overcomplicated simplification - adjusting the TN is much more intuitiv.

• The Hero points / Danger point mechanism lacks the simple elegance of the old drama system - right now the group will (at least if they are into optimizing their results) use their Hero Points to scratch each others back, because it is much more effective. That is probably intended to encourage cooperation, but I found the effect rather boring and it lessens the sacrificial aspect of spending drama/Hero Points to help another.

• The Villain Rules: why do we need rules to play out a villains plot? Everything is geared to a more cinematic and narrative approach (at least that is the intent stated by Mr. Wick), but nonetheless players and GM are offered a mini-game-like subsystem... I don't see the added benefit.

• A matter of taste: Even if I am not into gadgets & gear, I still honor that some players like to have "shiny toys". The new system will make it much harder for me as a GM to satisfy those players.

Summary: While the new mechanics are usable and probably are evolving fast enough to leave room for hope, I have experienced them as to obtrusive and too much at the forefront of our gaming experience. A more traditional system, is - funnily - more suited for loose and cinematic roleplaying (while still leaving enough room for the crunch-loving-crowd).