A lot of posts on the network are about fluff vs. crunch or at least use those words a lot. Even I have used both fluff and crunch several times in this blog. There are people out there who think fluff is less important than crunch and when they buy a book that contains way more fluff than crunch they feel ripped off.
So, what are fluff and crunch anyway?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictonary, fluff is one of the following:
- down (soft feathers)
- something fluffy
- something inconsequential
- blunder; especially: an actor’s lapse of memory
- an act of crunching
- a sound made by crunching
- a tight or critical situation: as a: a critical point in the buildup of pressure between opposing elements : showdown b: a severe economic squeeze (as on credit) c: shortage <an energy crunch>
- a conditioning exercise performed from a supine position by raising and lowering the upper torso without reaching a sitting position
Kid #1: “Bam! Bam! You’re dead! I shot you!”Kid #2: “No, I am not, you missed me”Kid #1: “No, I shot you, so you have to lie down and stop moving!”Kid #2: “I won’t!”Kid #1: “You will!”
For a long time I couldn’t think of anything that could make someone think fluff is a waste of paper. But if you made your first steps into roleplaying from wargaming or you started with older edition of D&D this probably makes some sense. D&D core books are usually almost fully devoid of fluff and the rules were cleary evolved from wargaming. Early players and DMs were probably to create the fluffy part of gaming themselves.
More modern roleplaying games tend to be more light on the rules (less crunch) and there’s a lot of background and flavor texts (aka fluff). Just look at the White Wolf games. So it’s probably more a question of how you were introduced into the hobby when the like or dislike of fluff is concerned. What do you guys think? Am I completely off track? Is fluff something inconsequential after all? Please leave your comments below.
I think you meant that modern RPGs have more background and flavor text (aka FLUFF).
I’m a fluff addict. I think any game can be run on fluff alone and my preference for game design is design before development, which means the fluffy concept comes first and then figure out how to make it work mechanically.
Unlike crunch, fluff can be carried over to other systems and you can surprised how they can work differently too even though it’s still the same concept.
My opinions are probably biased but Fluff FTW!
Questing GMs last blog post..Menacing the Icy Spires
Oops, I corrected that error. Thanks for letting me know. I just should not type down my posts without enough caffeine in my veins… 😉
I think fluff is just great. 😀