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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7381485" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Yes, but I don't just want to run a game. I'm trying to engage in an artistic and creative act of mythopoeic creation. (Pretentious, no? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ) So if the rules get in the way of that, the rules have to change. Of the three pillars of gameplay identified by Forge, I'm very much firmly in the Simulationist camp as my primary aesthetic of play. The rules and the world have to make sense to me, one implying and acting to affirm the other. For every rule, there needs to be a pretty good answer to the question, "Why?" that has an answer in the game universe. Yes, there will always be questions that are answered ultimately by game needs like ease and speed of play or game balance or what not, but if two reasonably speed of play options exist, I'll always prefer the more natural one.</p><p></p><p>Note I'm not expecting you in any way to have the same aesthetic standards.</p><p></p><p>That being said, as a game referee and manager, I also recognize that at a typical table there will be multiple competing aesthetics of play coming from the different players. The game also has to be a game, which is why it needs rules. I am completely uncomfortable with running a game in such a way that the answer to a player's proposition doesn't depend on the setting or the rules, but only on my own whim and desires. I'm thus uncomfortable with rules that only work when the GM's whim and desires shape the outcome. That's not how I resolve unexpected propositions. That's why to me the answer 'rulings not rules' is so bizarre. Because to me, needing a ruling utterly slows down play as I try to imagine how the setting should be or what the rule should be. </p><p></p><p>I also to large extent hate to say 'No'. If a player comes to me and says something like, "I want to ride a dinosaur and shoot lasers out of my eyeballs.", I'm ok with saying, "That's a bit powerful for a starting character.", but I'm not ok with saying, "No, there is no path for you to do that." unless the issue is "There are no dinosaurs in the setting." Note however, if there are dinosaurs in the setting, I have to have a "Why?" answered, because the game universe doesn't have the natural history of this world. Dinosaurs aren't extinct animals related to birds if they appear in my homebrew. They have to have some other explanation.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, you probably don't care, because you just want to play a game. I'm just airing out why I do care that the rules allow you to make a Chaotic Good paladin in the core rules as a base class, as the same class as the Lawful Good paladin, that yet fits with the ideology that the character is supposedly championing and isn't identical to the ideology espoused by law. In other words, since Charlemagne and his knights weren't a thing in my world, and since Christianity isn't a thing in my homebrew world, and since the middle ages didn't happen in my homebrew world, and since Europe doesn't exist in my homebrew, it would be really weird if in the homebrew world there was this first order base profession that was Idealized Medieval Christian Knight such as was spoken of in the Arthurian myths or the tales around Charlemagne. If something looks like that, it has to have a completely different origin and it has to reflect the polytheistic game reality well. All of that sounds like pet peeves, but for me that sort of coherence is a big part of what makes RPing fun.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7381485, member: 4937"] Yes, but I don't just want to run a game. I'm trying to engage in an artistic and creative act of mythopoeic creation. (Pretentious, no? :) ) So if the rules get in the way of that, the rules have to change. Of the three pillars of gameplay identified by Forge, I'm very much firmly in the Simulationist camp as my primary aesthetic of play. The rules and the world have to make sense to me, one implying and acting to affirm the other. For every rule, there needs to be a pretty good answer to the question, "Why?" that has an answer in the game universe. Yes, there will always be questions that are answered ultimately by game needs like ease and speed of play or game balance or what not, but if two reasonably speed of play options exist, I'll always prefer the more natural one. Note I'm not expecting you in any way to have the same aesthetic standards. That being said, as a game referee and manager, I also recognize that at a typical table there will be multiple competing aesthetics of play coming from the different players. The game also has to be a game, which is why it needs rules. I am completely uncomfortable with running a game in such a way that the answer to a player's proposition doesn't depend on the setting or the rules, but only on my own whim and desires. I'm thus uncomfortable with rules that only work when the GM's whim and desires shape the outcome. That's not how I resolve unexpected propositions. That's why to me the answer 'rulings not rules' is so bizarre. Because to me, needing a ruling utterly slows down play as I try to imagine how the setting should be or what the rule should be. I also to large extent hate to say 'No'. If a player comes to me and says something like, "I want to ride a dinosaur and shoot lasers out of my eyeballs.", I'm ok with saying, "That's a bit powerful for a starting character.", but I'm not ok with saying, "No, there is no path for you to do that." unless the issue is "There are no dinosaurs in the setting." Note however, if there are dinosaurs in the setting, I have to have a "Why?" answered, because the game universe doesn't have the natural history of this world. Dinosaurs aren't extinct animals related to birds if they appear in my homebrew. They have to have some other explanation. Anyway, you probably don't care, because you just want to play a game. I'm just airing out why I do care that the rules allow you to make a Chaotic Good paladin in the core rules as a base class, as the same class as the Lawful Good paladin, that yet fits with the ideology that the character is supposedly championing and isn't identical to the ideology espoused by law. In other words, since Charlemagne and his knights weren't a thing in my world, and since Christianity isn't a thing in my homebrew world, and since the middle ages didn't happen in my homebrew world, and since Europe doesn't exist in my homebrew, it would be really weird if in the homebrew world there was this first order base profession that was Idealized Medieval Christian Knight such as was spoken of in the Arthurian myths or the tales around Charlemagne. If something looks like that, it has to have a completely different origin and it has to reflect the polytheistic game reality well. All of that sounds like pet peeves, but for me that sort of coherence is a big part of what makes RPing fun. [/QUOTE]
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