Re: [Ogf-l] Consistency checking: D20 design flaw?

[Doug Meerschaert]

Douglas Ian Linder wrote: Basically, in my view, the d20 system is nice, but a hideous mess for the purposes of consistency checking. The d20 System isn't a real system--it's just a rulebook for playing a game.  It's by far more akin to baseball than any software or data-set simulation. The game is created when a bunch of people get together, somehow choose one among them to "run" the game, and then they have fun with it.  As long as everyone has about equal ammounts of fun, the game is "balanced." That said, there have been several attempts at deconstructing the d20 system to give a more adaptable set.  Unfortuantly, most of them aren't really worth the effort--the time to learn and create with the informal method of "game bit" creation is less than the time to learn and create with a formal "game bit" system.  Your best bet, IMO, is to sketch out a system for drafting reasonable bits of one type (such as spells), automate this system, and see if the market sees it as worth using. DM