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<blockquote data-quote="Chris_Nightwing" data-source="post: 5902175" data-attributes="member: 882"><p>I think we can learn a lot from, believe it or not, textbooks. The aim of the textbook is to teach you the material within, to act as a reference and to engage the reader.</p><p></p><p>The first thing that I think is favoured by the descriptive form, as opposed to the concise form, is cross-referencing. If you have a spell that creates visual and audible effects, it is worth placing a reference to whatever the rules are for perception, and perhaps for lighting. This encourages learning of the rules and spell effects that work logically within rules subsystems.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, one of the reasons that 4th edition powers became so bland wasn't that they were in concise-form, because they had short descriptions, it was that they never justified their effects. In a game with many damage types and many similar ongoing effects, there was often no justification. For instance, with Sleep, targets become slowed before they go to sleep. Why slowed? Why not dazed? Why not immobilised? When powers were subject to errata, effects became balance adjusters, rather than logical choices for descriptive effects. This make immersion difficult.</p><p></p><p>Third, descriptive effects have often led to exploitation of spells. We all remember the old Rope Trick super ambush trick. 4th Edition overcompensated for this, to the extent that even rituals became single specific effects. This discourages intelligent use of character abilities and (from a recent column) makes it more difficult for a player to say 'I have telekinesis, I want to do X' and leaves them frustrated that their abilities are so limited. Somewhere in between, giving spells a wider scope but making clear what they can't do would suit me.</p><p></p><p>I also don't think there's any point in saying there should be X paragraphs per spell, or even X maximum. Give them the space they need, but don't go crazy!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chris_Nightwing, post: 5902175, member: 882"] I think we can learn a lot from, believe it or not, textbooks. The aim of the textbook is to teach you the material within, to act as a reference and to engage the reader. The first thing that I think is favoured by the descriptive form, as opposed to the concise form, is cross-referencing. If you have a spell that creates visual and audible effects, it is worth placing a reference to whatever the rules are for perception, and perhaps for lighting. This encourages learning of the rules and spell effects that work logically within rules subsystems. Secondly, one of the reasons that 4th edition powers became so bland wasn't that they were in concise-form, because they had short descriptions, it was that they never justified their effects. In a game with many damage types and many similar ongoing effects, there was often no justification. For instance, with Sleep, targets become slowed before they go to sleep. Why slowed? Why not dazed? Why not immobilised? When powers were subject to errata, effects became balance adjusters, rather than logical choices for descriptive effects. This make immersion difficult. Third, descriptive effects have often led to exploitation of spells. We all remember the old Rope Trick super ambush trick. 4th Edition overcompensated for this, to the extent that even rituals became single specific effects. This discourages intelligent use of character abilities and (from a recent column) makes it more difficult for a player to say 'I have telekinesis, I want to do X' and leaves them frustrated that their abilities are so limited. Somewhere in between, giving spells a wider scope but making clear what they can't do would suit me. I also don't think there's any point in saying there should be X paragraphs per spell, or even X maximum. Give them the space they need, but don't go crazy! [/QUOTE]
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