> In retrospect, looking at tabletop RPGs felt backward because, by using the video games I already knew as models instead, I was benefiting from decades of RPG system simplifications—half the job had already been done.
This is quite a narrow view. Computer RPGs have, for the most part, focused on the combat aspect of the game as that is the easiest part to implement on a computer. Table-top RPGs have gone in many other directions. I find games that focus on story telling to be much more interesting than focusing on combat, and there are some interesting game mechanics that have arisen in these systems. One example is https://wildletters.itch.io/move-quietly-and-tend-things
This is quite a narrow view. Computer RPGs have, for the most part, focused on the combat aspect of the game as that is the easiest part to implement on a computer. Table-top RPGs have gone in many other directions. I find games that focus on story telling to be much more interesting than focusing on combat, and there are some interesting game mechanics that have arisen in these systems. One example is https://wildletters.itch.io/move-quietly-and-tend-things