The Business: Why Tolerate Incomplete RPGs?

Author JD Cowen had a great post today about how wrong the tabletop RPG hobby has become. You'll want to read it, so go here and come back.

Let me build on a point he makes therein:

Games are created from distinct parts and histories that merge together to form a new set of rules for the gamers to conquer. A game is defined by its rules which the players work with in order to beat. In essence, you should only need one rulebook or instruction manual to understand how to play a game. Why would you ever need more than one unless the game is either broken, or the people who made it want to syphon more money off of you?

As I have said previously, far too many tabletop RPGs are not complete games.

They do not have a complete gameplay loop in mind when designed, so they lack the operational procedures--the rules and mechanics--and necessary information required for an end-user to actually play the game as intended.

Adventure games need rules for tactical and strategic movement; most lack the latter. Adventure games need to deal in logistics; most lack the information required. Far too many games don't deal in logistical matters that ought to be obvious--repairs in Robotech, for example--because of some retarded excuse or another.

The result is that things that shouldn't be ignored get ignored, like blast effects for explosives or training times for skills or transit times, and you get gameplay results that are not consistent with either the inspirational materials or the expectations of reasonable people and as a result frustrated users end up either resorting to external materials to fill the gaps or quit the game for a superior alternative.

This cannot be sloughed off on the users. This is the responsibility of the publisher and designer and no one else. The means to make this information managable to end-users are far superior now than it was in years past, so what needs to improve is the attitude of said parties towards their prospective users.

This, again, can be compared to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. As Jeffro and others have pointed out, the three core manuals are sufficient to run a campaign in perpetuity and no other materials are required; one can, in good faith, argue that they aren't even desirable- even favorites like Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures.

Very few tabletop RPGs reach this standard of completeness, and many of them have issues of their own.

It is time to start insisting that this standard be met, and those that either cannot or will not have their product forked and replaced. The path back to a healthy hobby scene is not a short one, but it has to start somewhere and insisting that tabletop RPGs be complete products at launch is a good one.