Can someone explain Hunter's Quarry and Warlock's Curse to me?

[Simon Marks]

Shouldn't the fluff be convincingly defined in the books?

No, as shown by the HERO system and a number of examples in other games.

Well, maybe in D&D - but that's a different discussion. An RPG doesn't need to define the 'fluff' reason for everything to be an RPG or even a good RPG.

 

[hong]

I see the warlock's curse as psychic hate. His concentrated hatred is so strong it can cause physical harm.

"What do you mean, Han shot first? I'll show them! I'll show ALL of them!!!"

 

[Dalvyn]

In fluff terms the ranger deals extra damage cause he's a badass ninja hitman who's incredibly good at killing people. I see the warlock's curse as psychic hate. His concentrated hatred is so strong it can cause physical harm.

Those interpretations would suggest that the characters, thanks to their incredible skill or their terrible hate, would simply have a permanent +1d8 damage bonus to all damage. Why bother with having them select one character to focus on?

Well, maybe in D&D - but that's a different discussion. An RPG doesn't need to define the 'fluff' reason for everything to be an RPG or even a good RPG.

Well, in this case, I'm considering rules like "+1d8 to damage against this particular target", no "everything".

I would think that the full supporting/explaining the rules is actually what distinguishes a roleplaying game from, say, a game of Snakes and Ladders (*). Without fluff backing the rules, it becomes just a game of rolling dice and doing what the rules say - that can be a fun game, but that's not a roleplaying game in my book.

(*) I'm not entirely sure that's the correct name - I'm talking about that game where you roll a d6 to know how many squares forward you can move, then can either slide down or climb up on snakes/ladders.

 

[hong]

I would think that the full supporting/explaining the rules is actually what distinguishes a roleplaying game from, say, a game of Snakes and Ladders (*). Without fluff backing the rules, it becomes just a game of rolling dice and doing what the rules say - that can be a fun game, but that's not a roleplaying game in my book.

And that fluff can either be in the book, or you can make it up yourself. Cf HERO, GURPS, et al, as has already been said.

 

[Simon Marks]

Without fluff backing the rules, it becomes just a game of rolling dice and doing what the rules say - that can be a fun game, but that's not a roleplaying game in my book.

But that's like - just your opinion man.

For the record, the Hero system has an 'Energy Blast' power which more or less says "Spend 5pts to do 1d6 normal damage at range - define it any way you like". I say it's a roleplaying game. Maybe not in your book but I think you are in a minority.