System does (not) matter

System does matter. It defines the rules of the fiction world everyone at the table must inhabit. The system is as fundamental to the imagined world as the laws of thermodynamics are to the real world.

System does not matter. The GM/Warden/Referee is the ultimate arbiter of the rules. They are god of the fictional world, the resolver of ambiguity and, if they so choose, the changer of rules.

System does matter. Even as rules are there to be rewritten, they still inform decisions. The world the rules imply will always influence the resulting play. Art is not just the result, but the hands that made it and the tools those hands use.

System does not matter. The world implied by the rules can be rewritten and replaced. Genre is not prison, it is a choice ultimately in the hands of everyone at the table. Tools can be used as not intended; bent and broken into their user’s image.

System does matter. Adventure writers chose systems with intention. The events are moulded to the mathematic of the system.

System does not matter. Anything can be converted. The differences in mathematics can be resolved. Even then statistics are not reality. They can be manipulated.

System does (not) matter. I will (not) pick the right system for the game. There is (not) a right system.

This is the sound of one hand clapping.