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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A discussion of metagame concepts in game design
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<blockquote data-quote="Emerikol" data-source="post: 7466762" data-attributes="member: 6698278"><p>Okay I'll be your huckleberry.</p><p></p><p>Hit points are a method of communicating in game state. The DM says you were hit for 14 points of damage. You deduct that from your total. You are that much closer to death. This is in game knowledge. However you define hit points. Whether they are wounds or stamina or whatever. I've tried to keep it simple by saying they are just a measure of your closeness to death.</p><p></p><p>And it matters not even a tiny twit whether you can give me a description and I can reverse that out to some hit point total. That is a strawman and matters not one iota. It is a communication device. It is abstract. But the very fact that it references in game state makes it non-metagame. If you reach zero hit points, you really are dying in the game. However you got there that is real. </p><p></p><p>Most of the abstract concepts like Hit Points and AC are ways to quickly communicate ideas from DM to PC. Yes the player hears the term and translates it down to the character who then acts. The character though is acting on real knowledge. When he falls back, from the fight due to low hit points he is acting on in game knowledge.</p><p></p><p>Whereas, a martial power that is daily and non-magical, is not something the character can ever conceive. Right after he pulls off the manuever can he really know for a fact that he can't do this purely physical thing he just did a minute ago. Can he know that by sleeping he can again have the option at any time during the day to perform a very specific manuever but only that one time. The character knows none of this. The player is making those decisions from the author stance. The character is likely played as "noticing" an opening and getting an opportunity and that is the character knowledge. The character also likely thinks for the rest of the day he could get another such chance even though the player knows he will not.</p><p></p><p>The same is true for encounter powers on a smaller scale.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emerikol, post: 7466762, member: 6698278"] Okay I'll be your huckleberry. Hit points are a method of communicating in game state. The DM says you were hit for 14 points of damage. You deduct that from your total. You are that much closer to death. This is in game knowledge. However you define hit points. Whether they are wounds or stamina or whatever. I've tried to keep it simple by saying they are just a measure of your closeness to death. And it matters not even a tiny twit whether you can give me a description and I can reverse that out to some hit point total. That is a strawman and matters not one iota. It is a communication device. It is abstract. But the very fact that it references in game state makes it non-metagame. If you reach zero hit points, you really are dying in the game. However you got there that is real. Most of the abstract concepts like Hit Points and AC are ways to quickly communicate ideas from DM to PC. Yes the player hears the term and translates it down to the character who then acts. The character though is acting on real knowledge. When he falls back, from the fight due to low hit points he is acting on in game knowledge. Whereas, a martial power that is daily and non-magical, is not something the character can ever conceive. Right after he pulls off the manuever can he really know for a fact that he can't do this purely physical thing he just did a minute ago. Can he know that by sleeping he can again have the option at any time during the day to perform a very specific manuever but only that one time. The character knows none of this. The player is making those decisions from the author stance. The character is likely played as "noticing" an opening and getting an opportunity and that is the character knowledge. The character also likely thinks for the rest of the day he could get another such chance even though the player knows he will not. The same is true for encounter powers on a smaller scale. [/QUOTE]
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