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A GMing telling the players about the gameworld is not like real life
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7573441" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>All of this depends heavily on the conceits/themes, win conditions, and game mechanics what game you're playing. </p><p></p><p><strong>Dungeon World</strong>, frex, keeps track of the following very important resources:</p><p></p><p>Hit Points</p><p>Rations</p><p>Ammo</p><p>Adventuring Gear</p><p>Bandages</p><p>Poultices and Herbs</p><p>Bags of Books</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">(There are others, but these are the primary ones)</span></p><p></p><p>Is it tedious? No. Its extremely low overhead and minimal handling time because the numbers are small (eg 5 Ammo is a full quiver)</p><p></p><p>These also hook into a trivially easy to use Encumbrance (which is again, a small and easy to account number).</p><p></p><p>Is it realistic? Thresholds differ here, but my guess is you would say no, because the accounting/expenditure (and even type; Adventuring Gear can be anything from a Torch to Flint and Steel to a Rope) is abstract.</p><p></p><p>But all of this is integrated elegantly and holistically in the game because moves (all of player moves, player choices on costs on a 7-9, and GM moves in response) taxing these resources is a fundamental part of the changing gamestate and the attendant tension and choicepoints for the players as the fiction snowballs down the hill and threat/danger builds (and decision-points become more weighty).</p><p></p><p>Contrast with standard D&D where the numbers and accounting for gear and encumbrance are extremely tedious and you spend too much table time and mental overhead on these things...and overwhelmingly groups just elide them haphazardly or handwave them altogether. Groups whose play priorities actually connote a need for such accounting as an important facet of play!</p><p></p><p>And contrast all of this with <strong>Torchbearer</strong> , which is a grinding, grueling dungeon crawl game (in a Points of Light setting) where logistics and strategic management of resources and exploration turns is more brutal and punishing (but rewarding) than any D&D game...EVER.</p><p></p><p>Ammo in your Quiver isn't tracked at all! But it can be lost or complicated via a Twist (which can happen as a result of a failed test).</p><p></p><p>However, Light is preciously tracked for all light sources (as number of Turns) because the game demands it (as managing the "Light Clock" is one of the primary pillars of play).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It can be.</p><p></p><p><strong>Torchbearer </strong>and <strong>Blades in the Dark</strong> are structured almost exactly the same way.</p><p></p><p>Blades has <em>Free Play, Score,</em> and <em>Downtime</em> with Free Play being the time where you're scoping out potential scores and sorting out strategic moves.</p><p></p><p>TB has<em> Adventure, Camp</em>, and <em>Town </em>(and Winter as a special phase) whereby Town is basically a combination of Blades Free Play and Downtime where you're scoping out potential Adventure, recovering, and regear-ing.</p><p></p><p>But I think its probably different than what you're intimating because Free Play and Downtime/Town are all "purposeful", "purposeful" here meaning they are all "gamestate relative." You're not taking baths for hours in real time (like [MENTION=6972053]Numidius[/MENTION] intimated in the game he suffered through). If you're taking a bath its to (a) recover, (b) indulge a vice (also recover), (c) perform reconnaissance, (d) attain some gear/illicit goods from a front operation, (e) deal with a problem in a mostly elided vignette (that has mechanical resolution and significant mechanical implications involved). </p><p></p><p>You aren't just taking a gamestate irrelevant bath because of bath and funny bath-jokes or make light of pranks/antics/mishaps that occurred on the last journey. Those jokes may, and likely will, take place incidentally in the course of play...but Free Play/Town/Downtime isn't devoting any time (let alone hours) specifically to that as a matter of course/intentional play conversation.[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>Games like 4e and Cortex+ ...they don't focus on that minutiae at all. Not because its impossible to make those things low overhead (as DW, TB, and Blades demonstrate...encumbrance/load-out and gear can be relevant and easily handled without a ton of handling time and mental overhead). It doesn't focus on them because the games are entirely about Action Scenes that hook into theme/premise and hard Transitions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 7573441, member: 6696971"] All of this depends heavily on the conceits/themes, win conditions, and game mechanics what game you're playing. [B]Dungeon World[/B], frex, keeps track of the following very important resources: Hit Points Rations Ammo Adventuring Gear Bandages Poultices and Herbs Bags of Books [SIZE=1](There are others, but these are the primary ones)[/SIZE] Is it tedious? No. Its extremely low overhead and minimal handling time because the numbers are small (eg 5 Ammo is a full quiver) These also hook into a trivially easy to use Encumbrance (which is again, a small and easy to account number). Is it realistic? Thresholds differ here, but my guess is you would say no, because the accounting/expenditure (and even type; Adventuring Gear can be anything from a Torch to Flint and Steel to a Rope) is abstract. But all of this is integrated elegantly and holistically in the game because moves (all of player moves, player choices on costs on a 7-9, and GM moves in response) taxing these resources is a fundamental part of the changing gamestate and the attendant tension and choicepoints for the players as the fiction snowballs down the hill and threat/danger builds (and decision-points become more weighty). Contrast with standard D&D where the numbers and accounting for gear and encumbrance are extremely tedious and you spend too much table time and mental overhead on these things...and overwhelmingly groups just elide them haphazardly or handwave them altogether. Groups whose play priorities actually connote a need for such accounting as an important facet of play! And contrast all of this with [B]Torchbearer[/B] , which is a grinding, grueling dungeon crawl game (in a Points of Light setting) where logistics and strategic management of resources and exploration turns is more brutal and punishing (but rewarding) than any D&D game...EVER. Ammo in your Quiver isn't tracked at all! But it can be lost or complicated via a Twist (which can happen as a result of a failed test). However, Light is preciously tracked for all light sources (as number of Turns) because the game demands it (as managing the "Light Clock" is one of the primary pillars of play). It can be. [B]Torchbearer [/B]and [B]Blades in the Dark[/B] are structured almost exactly the same way. Blades has [I]Free Play, Score,[/I] and [I]Downtime[/I] with Free Play being the time where you're scoping out potential scores and sorting out strategic moves. TB has[I] Adventure, Camp[/I], and [I]Town [/I](and Winter as a special phase) whereby Town is basically a combination of Blades Free Play and Downtime where you're scoping out potential Adventure, recovering, and regear-ing. But I think its probably different than what you're intimating because Free Play and Downtime/Town are all "purposeful", "purposeful" here meaning they are all "gamestate relative." You're not taking baths for hours in real time (like [MENTION=6972053]Numidius[/MENTION] intimated in the game he suffered through). If you're taking a bath its to (a) recover, (b) indulge a vice (also recover), (c) perform reconnaissance, (d) attain some gear/illicit goods from a front operation, (e) deal with a problem in a mostly elided vignette (that has mechanical resolution and significant mechanical implications involved). You aren't just taking a gamestate irrelevant bath because of bath and funny bath-jokes or make light of pranks/antics/mishaps that occurred on the last journey. Those jokes may, and likely will, take place incidentally in the course of play...but Free Play/Town/Downtime isn't devoting any time (let alone hours) specifically to that as a matter of course/intentional play conversation.[HR][/HR] Games like 4e and Cortex+ ...they don't focus on that minutiae at all. Not because its impossible to make those things low overhead (as DW, TB, and Blades demonstrate...encumbrance/load-out and gear can be relevant and easily handled without a ton of handling time and mental overhead). It doesn't focus on them because the games are entirely about Action Scenes that hook into theme/premise and hard Transitions. [/QUOTE]
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