RPGs I just don't 'get'

[Not another shrubbery]

A recent thread over at rpg.net about Nobilis made me think about some of the systems or settings I just haven't been able to wrap my head around:

1. Nobilis - A very pretty book, that I've tried twice to read and I just can't get the concept. It sounds something like the old WoTC product, The Primal Order, a game which I understood, but didn't like the mechanics nor the concept of too much. That might be causing a 'mental block' in this case :/
2. Feng Shui - Another book with a lot of color (pictures and text). I wanna like it, but it's all so confusing :? Too many distractions, maybe... dunno. I DO like Hong Kong Action Theatre, which covers most of the same playing style.
3. Amber - Loved the stories (the first series, at least), but it took me a long while to figure out the fuss of the diceless system. I finally 'got it' [to my satisfaction :p], but I still don't see what makes its proponents so convinced it is the best way to game the setting.

[Xenarthral]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Feng Shui... ...I DO like Hong Kong Action Theatre, which covers most of the same playing style.

Only in practise. In theory, in HKAT the characters are Hong Kong movie
actors playing parts in Hong Kong movies (in the stereotypical genres,
usually), while in Feng Shui the characters live in a universe that take the
kitchen sink approach the the stereotypical Hong Kong movie genres.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Amber - Loved the stories (the first series, at least), but it took me a long while to figure out the fuss of the diceless system. I finally 'got it' [to my satisfaction :p], but I still don't see what makes its proponents so convinced it is the best way to game the setting.

I totally don't get Amber. It starts of promisingly with that bidding system of character generation, but after that, everything seems to be "whatever the GM wants, with some sort of non-specific preference in favor of the character with the highest stat." Is it me? Am I missing something?

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

[list=1][*]Nobilis - A very pretty book, that I've tried twice to read and I just can't get the concept. It sounds something like the old WoTC product, The Primal Order, a game which I understood, but didn't like the mechanics nor the concept of too much. That might be causing a 'mental block' in this case :/

Are you interested in the attempt of an explanation, from one Gurps player to another, or are you just sharing your experiences? (Serious, not-snarky question.)

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I totally don't get Amber. It starts of promisingly with that bidding system of character generation, but after that, everything seems to be "whatever the GM wants, with some sort of non-specific preference in favor of the character with the highest stat." Is it me? Am I missing something?

That's pretty much it, I think. The stats look like they should be an anchor, but in practice (and IME, mind you), the better roleplayers can find ways to turn situations to their advantage with little regard for stat levels, so long as they're at least Amber level. Too subjective for my tastes, but it does have its ardent supporters.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by zorg

Are you interested in the attempt of an explanation, from one Gurps player to another, or are you just sharing your experiences?

Just sharing, really. A post of RPK's prompted my last re-reading, with an unfortunate result similar to Plateau Eyes 8[ The thread over at rpg.net got me to thinking that maybe it's time to try it again... but I'm still fighting the temptation :/ Did you contribute there?

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Did you contribute there?

No, I'm zorg everywhere I go. You'd have noticed.

[Þorkell]

I don't get Warhammer FRP. The world, the system, the whole damn lot of it.

Ironically, my name is among the names of the playtesters of that RPG.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I totally don't get Amber. It starts of promisingly with that bidding system of character generation, but after that, everything seems to be "whatever the GM wants, with some sort of non-specific preference in favor of the character with the highest stat." Is it me? Am I missing something?

I just re-read intensively re-read the Amber DRPG a couple of weeks ago. I was mostly using it as a concordance to the series while participating in a Gurps Amber thread.

...and the answer is "no, you're not missing anything". It's almost totally freeform roleplaying with the GM arbitrarily arbitrating anything that comes up.

Take the attributes. Me, at least, I want to take the number of points bid on the Attribute and use it as a numerical rating and it just doesn't work that way.

Take Strength. We are given guidelines on how strong Gerard is in terms of physical feats he can accomplish but we are even not given a canonical numerical rating for his Strength. We're just told that it's greater than anyone else's.

So how strong is the strongest PC compared to Gerard or any other character in the books?<shrug> Not as strong as Gerard is all you know. Whether or not your two Amberites can pick up the car is entirely up to you.

Then matters like "Can I switch from Warfare combat to Strength combat without getting skewered?" are also up to the GM. Everything is.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

I don't get Warhammer FRP. The world, the system, the whole damn lot of it.

I understand the world (dark pseudo-medieval). I understand the mechanics (minimalist thrown together percentile-based crap). I just don't get why anyone likes it.