The RPG Room: Crunch vs. Lunch

GMS Magazine Podcast Channel - RPGs, Boardgames reviews, interviews and advice.

Are you a Crunch player or a Lunch player? Every RPG needs a rules system. Some are heavier, Crunch, and some are lighter, Lunch. But hardly all are the appropriate for each game, or even for the game you are playing. For example games that make you, or try to make you, roll for pretty much everything and have rules that, if you miss them, well… it doesn’t bode well for your poor adventurer/investigator/whatever. And there are other systems that tell you “just do what you want and have fun”, which might not work either if you have a power-gamer in your group. Or an idiot. But how do you decide if a crunchy system is the right system for your game? How do you reconcile that, sometimes, the rules are not the right ones, or the necessary ones to have a good game. Do you sacrifice fun or playability for the sake of rules? In this episode of the podcast, Liz, Jim and me discuss the advantages of a crunch system vs. a light system. Hope you enjoy the show!