syllogz said:
Xenophile said:
I think that that many here hold those game systems in too high importance. Sure Fallout was a P&P emulation, but only because it was originally built on a "GURPS" license. I do think the developers held the "Tabletop Experience" as a primary goal, but the emulation was simply a fact of the licensing. (I am not saying that had they come in without the license that it might not have turned out the same)
So, Xenophile, why don't you just go and try to play some PnP for a change?
Nudge-nudge Knowwhatimean? Nudge-nudge
haha... yeah.. I grew up on Car Wars, Battletech, Palladium games, GURPS and Warhammer 40K. Even a bit of D&D thrown in. Though I tended to enjoy the tactical games more than the heavy RPG games. (Yes I see the irony here.)
What I was getting at is even the quote that BN pulled out of the interview was taken out of context in my opinion.
The question asked was "Give us an idea of the creative process involved in converting the game from pen and paper to a computer game."
So the answer "We emulated the pen and paper game" is in response to that. Of course they tried to emulate it as close as possible because of the original premise being an actual electronic version of GURPS that they could use as a foundation for many diverse adventures similar to what was tried with the "Worlds of Ultima". By the time that original goal had fallen to the side when the licensing deal fell apart it had obviously colored many of the original choices made.
For example Feargus "If you want to exactly represent GURPs, D&D or most other PnP RPGs then you have to go turn based, which was the decision for Fallout when it was GURPs."
I do think it was important and steered alot of the design of "Vault 13: A GURPS Adventure", but as "Fallout" I think taking the fiction and the tenets of the experience, but not the exact mechanics are perfectly sound way to create a sequel. So my point is the project began as a conversion of GURPS, but ended up something more.
Even with the change to the gameplay mechanics, Fallout 3 still follows most of the same "rules" as the originals, but it is less faithfull to the rules on the combat side. Those rules still remain in affect (though I am not a fan of skill-based damage). Your character skills still affect combat. Yes if you run and gun then player reflexive skill (in additon to the original tactical skill) now play into combat. The orignal non-combat skills still seem to be in much of their original form as to how they affect things (Though I do understand the mini-games mess with that a bit allowing player skill to compensate for lower character skill).
If however the game had been released as "Fallout: A GURPS Adventure" then you have tied the game and the franchise to a particular platform and in my opinion you would have a harder time seperating the two.
EDIT:
Those original "TES I" designer notes point to what I was saying before..
"TES I" Designers tried to capture the "Tabletop Experience" without a strict emulation of a pen and paper ruleset. It's just a different route to attempt to end up at the same result.
