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Killing In The Name Of Advancement
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<blockquote data-quote="Pauper" data-source="post: 7743513" data-attributes="member: 17607"><p>I'll agree -- I'd definitely be curious to see how Tynes reacts to the changes in the hobby over the past two decades since his original Power Kill essay.</p><p></p><p>Game design has in many ways evolved beyond the simpler 'kill and get XP' systems of gaming's past; as noted by other posters in this thread, a number of current RPGs reward 'defeating' rather than killing foes, which leaves open a variety of different scenarios whereby the enemy doesn't have to be killed to be worth XP. (Even in my own D&D games, I found the degree of 'chasing down and murdering every last monster in the combat' dropped significantly once I made it plain that the PCs would still get full XP for surrendering/fleeing opponents. Though one enterprising munchkin considered releasing a surrendered opponent, then immediately engaging him again to force another surrender and get additional XP...)</p><p></p><p>Then there are games like the modern Delta Green, now a stand-alone system that borrows heavily from BRP rather than a BRP-based game itself. The Sanity system in Delta Green explicitly contains a potential Sanity cost for killing other human beings, even in self-defense, with a greater cost for killing those who aren't a threat or who are otherwise helpless -- and it also provides a mechanic for becoming 'adapted to violence' which significantly reduces or even eliminates those costs, leaving open the question of how much of a monster you are willing to become to pursue your goals of protecting humanity from the uncanny.</p><p></p><p>One of Tynes's key points from the Power Kill essay is of particular interest in this sense:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Despite the presence of games that explicitly model the kind of 'trapping' Tynes mentions here (the Leverage RPG and Blades in the Dark immediately come to mind), there are still plenty of games that unwittingly foster this kind of illicit thrill -- heck, both the Pathfinder Society and the factions of the D&D Adventurers League could easily be envisioned as criminal organizations for which PCs labor to advance their goals in the greater world (and one of the factions in AL is explicitly an organization of criminals -- the Zhentarim).</p><p></p><p>Many game designers and game designs have come a long way here, though by no means all of them. Many gamers, not so much.</p><p></p><p>--</p><p>Pauper</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pauper, post: 7743513, member: 17607"] I'll agree -- I'd definitely be curious to see how Tynes reacts to the changes in the hobby over the past two decades since his original Power Kill essay. Game design has in many ways evolved beyond the simpler 'kill and get XP' systems of gaming's past; as noted by other posters in this thread, a number of current RPGs reward 'defeating' rather than killing foes, which leaves open a variety of different scenarios whereby the enemy doesn't have to be killed to be worth XP. (Even in my own D&D games, I found the degree of 'chasing down and murdering every last monster in the combat' dropped significantly once I made it plain that the PCs would still get full XP for surrendering/fleeing opponents. Though one enterprising munchkin considered releasing a surrendered opponent, then immediately engaging him again to force another surrender and get additional XP...) Then there are games like the modern Delta Green, now a stand-alone system that borrows heavily from BRP rather than a BRP-based game itself. The Sanity system in Delta Green explicitly contains a potential Sanity cost for killing other human beings, even in self-defense, with a greater cost for killing those who aren't a threat or who are otherwise helpless -- and it also provides a mechanic for becoming 'adapted to violence' which significantly reduces or even eliminates those costs, leaving open the question of how much of a monster you are willing to become to pursue your goals of protecting humanity from the uncanny. One of Tynes's key points from the Power Kill essay is of particular interest in this sense: Despite the presence of games that explicitly model the kind of 'trapping' Tynes mentions here (the Leverage RPG and Blades in the Dark immediately come to mind), there are still plenty of games that unwittingly foster this kind of illicit thrill -- heck, both the Pathfinder Society and the factions of the D&D Adventurers League could easily be envisioned as criminal organizations for which PCs labor to advance their goals in the greater world (and one of the factions in AL is explicitly an organization of criminals -- the Zhentarim). Many game designers and game designs have come a long way here, though by no means all of them. Many gamers, not so much. -- Pauper [/QUOTE]
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