Quote Originally Posted by Knaight View Post
I'd argue some of this (starting with how a group of players all familiar with each other is arguably the default and not a special condition), but a broader point is that this varies highly between the cultures attached to different games. With D&D, or GURPS, or HERO, or Rolemaster, or really most high crunch systems this is the assumption. In lighter systems it routinely isn't. I mostly GM and play Fudge*, and it explicitly doesn't use the standard-variant setup, instead having multiple places where there are essentially a bunch of variants posited with something to the effect of "pick one or write your own"** written somewhere. Nobody with a clue is going into a Fudge game expecting standardized rules.

*Where the GM:Play ratio is something like 35:1.
**It's probably a paragraph or three, as Stephan O'Sullivan isn't great at being concise, but that's the result.
Once upon a time I'd certainly agree/expect that the "standard" group is the home-game you describe. I honestly don't know what the distribution would be like these days with the alternate venues and formats so broadly available.

I do certainly agree with your point on variability among games...but we wouldn't you agree that Pathfinder/DnD and other highly standardized/crunch systems have the lion's share of the market and, plausibly, the lion's share of the game play? I mean, there are recreational adult dodge-ball leagues...but they are the small minority compared to soccer and softball (or in my case, baseball).

- M