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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 6956049" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>The concept of role-playing, as we know it, came to D&D between 1E and 2E. The mechanics of both editions are nearly identical, but the tone shifted significantly from wargaming to role-playing between those editions. As far as I know, that also marked the transition between selling mostly adventures and selling mostly campaign settings, but I'm not familiar enough with the AD&D 1E peripheral market to say with certainty.</p><p></p><p>One of the quirks of the eighties and nineties, while people were still getting used to the concept of role-playing, was that they would frequently under-estimate what their characters knew. This was the time when you might have a DM hide all of the damage rolls behind the screen, and not let you know how many HP your own character was missing, because "characters don't know anything about Hit Points, so that would be meta-gaming".</p><p></p><p>I think we have mostly moved beyond that point, as a collective. By now, I think more people are aware that characters <em>can</em> understand roughly how beaten up they are (even if they can't see HP numbers), just like they're aware that plate armor is better than chain and a longsword is deadlier than a dagger. They can't see the game mechanics, but they <em>can</em> see the in-game reality which those game mechanics represent. If something would be a smart move for the player, then the character can generally make that some decision for the same reason, so there's no need to meta-game anything.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 6956049, member: 6775031"] The concept of role-playing, as we know it, came to D&D between 1E and 2E. The mechanics of both editions are nearly identical, but the tone shifted significantly from wargaming to role-playing between those editions. As far as I know, that also marked the transition between selling mostly adventures and selling mostly campaign settings, but I'm not familiar enough with the AD&D 1E peripheral market to say with certainty. One of the quirks of the eighties and nineties, while people were still getting used to the concept of role-playing, was that they would frequently under-estimate what their characters knew. This was the time when you might have a DM hide all of the damage rolls behind the screen, and not let you know how many HP your own character was missing, because "characters don't know anything about Hit Points, so that would be meta-gaming". I think we have mostly moved beyond that point, as a collective. By now, I think more people are aware that characters [I]can[/I] understand roughly how beaten up they are (even if they can't see HP numbers), just like they're aware that plate armor is better than chain and a longsword is deadlier than a dagger. They can't see the game mechanics, but they [I]can[/I] see the in-game reality which those game mechanics represent. If something would be a smart move for the player, then the character can generally make that some decision for the same reason, so there's no need to meta-game anything. [/QUOTE]
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