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<blockquote data-quote="Oryzarius" data-source="post: 7682677" data-attributes="member: 61736"><p>If crafting is going to be a fun game activity, then it should involve some of the same kinds of opportunities and hazards as more traditional pursuits like combat, exploration, and social engagement.</p><p> </p><p>"Getting new stuff" is an obvious lure — but you don't always know *what* new stuff you're gaining from the dungeon, forest glade, or grateful noble. So some uncertainty is good, rather than just feeding everything into fixed, pre-known routines. That growth could be as modular as discovering new "recipes" in the same way as wizards discover new spells, or could involve a more elaborate system of experimentation and development for specific, player-initiated inventions or "development paths".</p><p> </p><p>"Margin of success" is another feature: *how well* (or how sloppily) you clear the dungeon, explore the map, or flatter the duke is sometimes just as memorable as the simple fact of accomplishing it. D&D tends to have rather rough quantization of effects, but allowing positive benefits and negative quirks would add more character and fun than, again, a set of cut-and-dried routines, or simple success-or-failure mechanics.</p><p> </p><p>*Improvement* rather than *replacement* is another consideration. Classic D&D is all about grooming a PC on a "hero's journey" through increasing levels of power, ability, and influence; crafting should allow specific items to enjoy some of the same growth. I remember ancient *Dragon* articles lamenting that a PC's ancestral +1 sword might be tossed aside in favor of a later, better weapon, despite the in-world story associated with the former; crafting is one way of accommodating such upgrades, though the hazard lies in making all items into mere arrangements of elemental components that can be re-arranged at will. Balancing rewards with the possibility of absolute failure or ongoing effects is also important: yes, maybe you clear out the troll fens, or re-forge Anduril, but maybe you fail and lose the PC/sword instead, or maybe you mess up and have to live with a puffy scar or annoying lack of balance in the blade until further adventures or further crafting can redress those deficiencies.</p><p> </p><p>Basically, crafting seems mostly of appeal to those gamers sometimes classified as "nesters." For that category of gamers, it's fun and important; for others, it may be unbelievably tedious. To work well, the rules have to offer a variety of scope and, yes, "adventure" comparable to other activities in the game... but not in a way that destroys or denigrates those other parts, such as by wrecking the delicate fictional economy, encouraging PCs to spend their time doodad-designing alone instead of dungeon-delving with their party-mates, or allowing too much of an end-run around accepted setting ideas or rarity or scarcity.</p><p> </p><p>So it's a complex and delicate set of rules which appeal to a limited set of players and actively turn off others. No wonder it's seen limited attention in the already-small pool of tabletop RPG rules sets, companies, and players.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oryzarius, post: 7682677, member: 61736"] If crafting is going to be a fun game activity, then it should involve some of the same kinds of opportunities and hazards as more traditional pursuits like combat, exploration, and social engagement. "Getting new stuff" is an obvious lure — but you don't always know *what* new stuff you're gaining from the dungeon, forest glade, or grateful noble. So some uncertainty is good, rather than just feeding everything into fixed, pre-known routines. That growth could be as modular as discovering new "recipes" in the same way as wizards discover new spells, or could involve a more elaborate system of experimentation and development for specific, player-initiated inventions or "development paths". "Margin of success" is another feature: *how well* (or how sloppily) you clear the dungeon, explore the map, or flatter the duke is sometimes just as memorable as the simple fact of accomplishing it. D&D tends to have rather rough quantization of effects, but allowing positive benefits and negative quirks would add more character and fun than, again, a set of cut-and-dried routines, or simple success-or-failure mechanics. *Improvement* rather than *replacement* is another consideration. Classic D&D is all about grooming a PC on a "hero's journey" through increasing levels of power, ability, and influence; crafting should allow specific items to enjoy some of the same growth. I remember ancient *Dragon* articles lamenting that a PC's ancestral +1 sword might be tossed aside in favor of a later, better weapon, despite the in-world story associated with the former; crafting is one way of accommodating such upgrades, though the hazard lies in making all items into mere arrangements of elemental components that can be re-arranged at will. Balancing rewards with the possibility of absolute failure or ongoing effects is also important: yes, maybe you clear out the troll fens, or re-forge Anduril, but maybe you fail and lose the PC/sword instead, or maybe you mess up and have to live with a puffy scar or annoying lack of balance in the blade until further adventures or further crafting can redress those deficiencies. Basically, crafting seems mostly of appeal to those gamers sometimes classified as "nesters." For that category of gamers, it's fun and important; for others, it may be unbelievably tedious. To work well, the rules have to offer a variety of scope and, yes, "adventure" comparable to other activities in the game... but not in a way that destroys or denigrates those other parts, such as by wrecking the delicate fictional economy, encouraging PCs to spend their time doodad-designing alone instead of dungeon-delving with their party-mates, or allowing too much of an end-run around accepted setting ideas or rarity or scarcity. So it's a complex and delicate set of rules which appeal to a limited set of players and actively turn off others. No wonder it's seen limited attention in the already-small pool of tabletop RPG rules sets, companies, and players. [/QUOTE]
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