Designing a game, including the game system and mechanics, can be really difficult. I know, you're thinking, "Gee, if it was easy, everyone would do it." And you are absolutely correct, but even beyond that, you have to be willing to dump system mechanics or sub-systems that don't really fit your game. A designed has to be willing to kill a sacred cow, if it means the game will be better.

Twice in the last three months, we have contemplated, and in one case, actually did, completely trash one major system for the game. While I cannot reveal any of the details, the rules system that we dropped actually worked well, and mostly fit the story for Lore: Origins. It was only when Troye asked the question most hated by a designer, "So, I was thinking, what if we dropped XXX System?"

My first reaction, as is the norm, was, "What??? No!" My second reaction, not 30 seconds later, was," Ummm... OK? What are you thinking?" About 5 minutes into his explanation, I was all for the idea. About 2 hours later, I had figured out that we could use the system with Lore: Uprising. Keep in mind, the system mechanics that we were subsequently trashing accounted for the about 3/4 of the advancement system, as well as had been worked on and pretty much perfected for Uprising, which was being used for Origins. Once we made the decision to toss literally years of work away, we then had to convince our playtesters.

Convince the playtesters that we basically just threw out 3/4 of the entire advancement system, which they were not only used to, but they were enjoying playing. Needless to say, there was a "fair bit" of grumbling and skepticism. All that changed when we went through the system mechanic, they realized that it was a vast improvement over the previous system.

This new change that we're contemplating? It'll be even more drastic.