Why Systems Matter
I've had countless conversations now with players and game masters about how you can use systems to enhance storytelling, because certain systems are just designed better for certain types of game play. Sure, you can use 5E D&D to run your space drama, but wouldn't it be easier to use Starfinder? Sure you can use Savage Worlds to run literally anything, but wouldn't it be better to use Clockwork Dominion to run your steampunk campaign? When the system is crafted to support a storytelling genre or style, it makes the whole game more exciting. It's easier on the game master. It's more fun for the players.
When I criticize a system the response is often:
"Well, if your game master is good enough the system doesn't matter."
To which I respond:
"Then why play with a system at all?"
So, yes, why have a system? I love systems. I think systems are amazing. But why? The system is what makes it a game. Without the system it's just play. And there is nothing wrong with play. Play is good. Play is fun, and can be compelling. In play there are only the stakes that you choose and the only bad things that happen are things you choose to have happen. That's fun. That's fine. But a system provides a set of rules that a person must navigate and use to their advantage to accomplish goals in the face of built in adversity and chaos. That's what makes it a game.
Think about a giant heavy ball. It's round. It doesn't bounce well. It's huge - like, 10 feet in diameter. Imagine you give a group of kids this ball. It's twice as big as the tallest kid in the group. What will those kids do? Will they just push it aimlessly at each other? Maybe at first, but that aimless pushing will transform. Those kids are going to organically create a game. The rules will be made up and the points won't matter, but they will make a game. There will be unspoken rules, like you can't just pass it to the person next to you, you have to try and push it to someone far away. Why will they make these unspoken rules? Because that makes it fun. Just pushing the ball from one person to the other is boring. Trying to push the ball across a circle of kids as quickly as possible and touching it with only your finger tips? Now that's fun because it's challenging.
Games are fun because they are hard.
Choosing a system that provides the right kinds of challenge is essential for keeping the game fun, in my opinion. If the system you are using doesn't have rules to resolve the story you want to tell, then it's not a great system. If you try to play soccer with a 10ft ball, it's going to be challenging in a way that not many people will enjoy. Can a good game master make the goals big enough, and give the characters magic boots to kick the ball? Sure. But at that point, are you playing soccer?
But wouldn't it be easier to play soccer with a soccer ball?
The right system for the right games results in the right play. There is a reason why so many systems have their own worlds. If you are trying to accomplish a particular style of game, or experience a particular type of story, you and your players will have a better time using a system designed to support the desired experience.