benlehman

A: I think you underestimate simple systems. I know I sure did.

B: That said, I think that I - and most of the people on this thread - are scuccumbing to the same problem that I always get when I talk about politics: I want things to be as perfect in execution as they are in principle. The fact is, often pragmatism is better than principle because if you follow pragmatism to its ultimate conclusion it gives decreasing returns and takes forever.

C: THAT being said, I think the best idea is to pick the closest system to what you want, modify it as best you can beforehand, and make sure that the other players are cool with the idea that 'if the system happens to be wrong in some unknown way about how the world works, we're going to alter it on the fly'.

D: On the other hand, I still dislike your Gandalf + Eagles example, because it seems pretty clear to me that the player in that instance isn't doing something that doesn't fit the metaphysic or the reality of the world, they're just doing something the GM doesn't want them to. And that smacks of railroading. I think there's better ways of handling such things than saying 'you can't do that'.