Philsys manifesto

The Philsys Manifesto is a document that explains the goals, aims, and beliefs of Archmage regarding the Philsys system. It is at least partially intended to explain his decisions and opinions regarding the system, changes to the system, the function of the system and the purpose of the system.

The Manifesto

• Theorem 1: Philsys is never finished.
  • Corollary 1.1: The current Philsys version is not Philsys 2.0.
  • Corollary 1.1.1: Adding multiple attacks to Philsys does not necessitate a new version number.
  • Corollary 1.1.2: The next revision made to Philsys will not make it Philsys 2.0, either.
• Theorem 2: Philsys is a cinematic simulationist system.
  • Explanation 2.1: According to [GNS Theory], a simulationist player plays to explore and experience the game. He does not play to "win" (for the sake of the game itself). Players are rarely divisible into such clear-cut types, but systems do their best when they focus on making one type of player happy.
  • Explanation 2.2: Cinematic simulationist systems focus on modelling an environment, sometimes at the expense of ease of use and frequently at the expense of "game balance." The purpose of a cinematic simulationist system is not to perfectly model a realistic world; it eschews numerous small details in favor of dramatic flair. It is intended to be fairly realistic without eliminating the possibility for heroic roleplaying.
    • Explanation 2.2.1: Philsys is incredibly arbitrary, but for some reason, it works. As long as the premise is "create a system where people can do cool stuff," I believe it will continue to work.
  • Explanation 2.3: Being cinematic simulationist means being willing to make compromises. Taking ten minutes to resolve an attack is not worth the "advantage" of knowing exactly how deep the laceration on your enemy's left antebrachium is and whether or not that one more point of damage would have exposed his radial vein.
  • Explanation 2.4: Being cinematic simulationist means that the answer to the question, "what usually happens with people without guns go up against people with guns?" is not always easy.
  • Explanation 2.5: RPing is not concerned, generally speaking, with the lives of the commonfolk--it is concerned with the lives of adventurers.
  • Explanation 2.6: Philsys is designed to be incredibly stylish.
• Theorem 3: Philsys characters are custom-tailored to their players desires. Players can create whatever they wish and have it described by some set of numbers. Anything reasonable can be a skill. Anything reasonable can be a spell or tech. The only limit is imagination.
  • Corollary 3.1: Philsys characters should never be confined to character classes.
  • Corollary 3.2:
• Theorem 4:

• Form and Function: The rules of Philsys are structured to create complex characters for storytelling purposes. Most character definition happens off-sheet and outside of the boundaries of the system, and a character's numerical skills and abilities are intended to represent their boundaries accurately with as few constraints as possible. Game balance is secondary to faithful reproductions of character concepts. The system encourages RP if the GM does.