ORS Flaws
I've been reading through your rulebooks and I thought I'd provide some feedback and give you my thoughts.
1. The main problem is that the system is far too complicated. Normally, complicated things are good, but in this case it makes it highly inaccessible for a PnP game. For example, if I really wanted to get a group going under this system, teaching them the rules would take an eternity and it would probably take multiple sessions to actually get playing. In D&D, for instance, I can teach players as they play, and we can have new players gaming very quickly.
2. There are too many skills. The list of skills overwhelmed me, as it will other players. I can't help but wonder if it could be reduced? Is it really so necessary to explicitly state every conceivable skill?
3. One thing I do like is the magic system giving options as to how they want to cast (if I'm reading right). Someone merely channeling their will to create a spell will always create it faster than someone who has material components etc. This is a nice system if only because it helps describe simultaneous actions. I'm pursuing a similar system in my PnP system but one that effects all manner of casting conditions and attributes through choosing an arcane focus.
4. The developer's biases towards complex equations, graphs, and models of real life (adolescent development, wear and tear, entropy, etc.) is quite evident. Unfortunately, most of these serve to obstruct gameplay in my opinion. If a graph is not useful for either the GM or the players, then it should not be there. Formulas should be very simple and capable of being multiple times in the GM's head per time increment so that play can keep moving quickly and resolutions determined.
5. Your book gets way too caught up in the notion of simulating earth (but with magic/folklore). I don't need to see climate maps, the effects and remedies of constipation, nor an explanation of sexual prejudice. I don't need to see a language tree, and I certainly don't need to see an explanation of how characters need to pay taxes. While all of these things are useful for DMs wanting to understand historical precedent so they can react appropriately to player actions in their games, I feel like a lot of the DM's guide is more or less just reference for real-life without much truly useful information for running a game. It also seems to imply that Terra is the only setting that will work in this system, or at least an earth-like setting with some historical basis.
6. Your rulebooks need more tables and less graphs and things of that nature. Tables help players and DMs quickly understand information as well as compare rows of information to come to decisions about events, objects, people, etc. Your rulebooks read more like a research paper than a game.
7. I can see plain times when having an intuition, memory, or creativity derived stat could come in handy, though it seems to me that filling out the entire "block" of states is a bit unnecessary. It seems strange to have stats for things like morality and spirituality.
8. Character creation is confusing and a bit too complicated. In D&D or other more simple systems, a new player can create a character in one game session no problem, and advanced players can create them in hardly any time at all. This helps get the players going and get interested in the system, setting, and story. I'm not certain how long it will take to create a character in your system though it looks to be a long time.
9. Your game seems to require a laptop for the DM and PDAs for each player. This poses several problems. One, it prevents players without access to these resources from playing. Two, it takes some of the fun out of playing a PnP roleplaying game. After looking through your system I'm not certain if I could play the game without resorting to using your software, which is frustrating and prevents the longevity of the system (what happens after it falls out of maintenance and doesn't work with new operating systems? Is the system abandoned?). I like playing with a pencil and paper and dice, and maybe a mat with some miniatures or tokens. It's a lot of fun that way and it keeps things simple. Interacting with software isn't the same as interacting with a group of people, so I can't help but wonder if it will block the social element so critical to PnP RPGs. Also, rolling dice is fun and it adds some tension to the game. Reducing that down to a RNG is a little lame in my opinion.
I'm going to download and store all 3 of your rulebooks, but not for playing. I find them mostly useful for referencing the latin names of plants and animals, the costs of various random goods and services in pounds, and realistic rates of taxation for the time period :-p
I can tell you put a lot of work into the system and it's good for reference but I can't say that it's at all playable. I'd love to try out some indie systems with my group but the system is far too complicated and requires too many resources to handle properly.
I'm not certain what advice to give since it seems that the system is designed around many of the problems I find in it, so I wish you the best of luck in gaining a player base or at least in your future gaming experiences.
rule set is now available for download.</span></p>
WTF. There are probably more RPG-systems without classes than with them. Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, WoD, just to name a few big ones. Breaks the mold, gimme a fucking break.
