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Re: GZG DS2 Mikko: Genres for DS2.

From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@s...>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 17:14:01 +0300 (EEST)
Subject: Re: GZG DS2 Mikko: Genres for DS2.

On Thu, 10 Sep 1998, Oerjan Ohlson wrote:

> OK. *I* want to play a Mecha-inspired force in a Mayfair "Hammer's
> Slammers" game, or a Slammers-inspired force in Mecha Carnage. Can I
do
> this without changing the rules a lot? Is it really too much to ask
that
> I should be able to?

Not exactly a fair comparison, as neither of those games is marketed as
generic universal scifi game. And, actually I think you could do it in
Mecha Carnage without rewriting anything (don't expect to be king of the
battlefiled though -- only an equal contender).

> If all I got was a pile of bricks and a sack of cement, yes. However,
> that analogy doesn't hold - what you *do* get when buying DSII is the
> analogue of a fully functional flat or house designed to allow you to
> move most walls etc as you like, if you find that you don't like the
> current lay-out. (I live in such a house, and have done just that.)

Wouldn't you have gotten off with less work if you had just bought a
house
with the room design as you wanted it? Or at the very least as close as
possible?

Herein lies the rub: DS2 is sold as "can do anything" game. What it
really
can do (rather well, I admit), is Official GZG Universe(tm) or
distinctive
likeness thereof. Anything else is extra work. 

It suffers from the same problem I outlined with Mecha! - Yes you can
play
with/without X, but it's really stupid and you'll get hosed by an
opponent
who doesn't agree with that design limitation. 

And frankly, I can't really see the "designed to be customized" bit. 
Do we have a formula for costing new weapon systems? Err.. no.
Do we have a formula for costing new movement systems? Err.. no.
Do we have a formula for costing new defensive systems? Err.. no.
Do we have a formula for costing units based on capabilities without
reverse-engineering how they were built? Err.. no.
Do we have professionally published optional "genre modules" *I*
proposed
very early in this discussion? Errr... no. 

For the record, I am not moaning. I merely stated some of the reasons
why
I don't regularly play DS2. Andrew has been trying to convince me I
should
try to change DS2 into what I like. I don't see why. It's not the only
good game under the sun, it doesn't do what I want to do, and frankly
I'm
probably better off with something else that does.

I wouldn't mind if there was a fully thought-out, playtested "Slammers
for
Dirtside 2" module. I might even buy such a product. But I have no
obsession that I must do Slammers in DS2.

-- 
maxxon@swob.dna.fi (Mikko Kurki-Suonio) 	   | A pig who doesn't
fly
+358 50 5596411 GSM +358 9 80926 78/FAX 81/Voice   | is just an ordinary
pig.
Maininkitie 3C14 02320 ESPOO FINLAND | Hate me?    |	      - Porco
Rosso
http://www.swob.dna.fi/~maxxon/      | hateme.html |

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