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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5905490" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>I'm coming late to this debate, but for me there's a key difference between the language of the core and the language of the rest.</p><p></p><p>Bluntly, I'm not going to get inspired by the details of the <em>sleep</em> spell or the fluff surrounding Orcs. Any text around the stat-blocks here is a waste of words as far as I'm concerned - all I care about is that these things exist, and what they do in game terms, because I'm going to use them in the game and <em>that's their only utility to me</em>.</p><p></p><p>However, the above is <em>not</em> true as soon as we move beyond core elements. Once you're into detailing new and unique monsters, new spells, and new magic items (that is: anything we haven't seen before), then I <em>do</em> care about the surrounding fluff, the flavour text, or whatever you want to call it.</p><p></p><p>So, yeah, for the core, please just give me the information I need to play the game, in the most straightforward "specification language" you can. Move beyond the core, and especially for setting and adventure materials, and you should move to a much more elaborate style.</p><p></p><p>(Of course, that's just <em>my</em> preference, as it best suits <em>me</em>. Given that every edition is someone's first edition, and given that they're unlikely to produce both a "specification version" and a "flavour text version", they should err towards benefitting new players - and that probably means producing rulebooks that are evocative and inspiring.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5905490, member: 22424"] I'm coming late to this debate, but for me there's a key difference between the language of the core and the language of the rest. Bluntly, I'm not going to get inspired by the details of the [i]sleep[/i] spell or the fluff surrounding Orcs. Any text around the stat-blocks here is a waste of words as far as I'm concerned - all I care about is that these things exist, and what they do in game terms, because I'm going to use them in the game and [i]that's their only utility to me[/i]. However, the above is [i]not[/i] true as soon as we move beyond core elements. Once you're into detailing new and unique monsters, new spells, and new magic items (that is: anything we haven't seen before), then I [i]do[/i] care about the surrounding fluff, the flavour text, or whatever you want to call it. So, yeah, for the core, please just give me the information I need to play the game, in the most straightforward "specification language" you can. Move beyond the core, and especially for setting and adventure materials, and you should move to a much more elaborate style. (Of course, that's just [i]my[/i] preference, as it best suits [i]me[/i]. Given that every edition is someone's first edition, and given that they're unlikely to produce both a "specification version" and a "flavour text version", they should err towards benefitting new players - and that probably means producing rulebooks that are evocative and inspiring.) [/QUOTE]
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