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Rules Transparency - How much do players need to know?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6965134" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Nothing. In fact, many players often play better when they don't know the rules. They engage the environment better, are more creative, and spend more time RPing their character rather than looking for 'edges' in the rules.</p><p></p><p>In practice though, it greatly smooths most game if the player knows enough about the rules to perform their mechanical functions when prompted. It's nice for example when a player knows the rules well enough to add the bonuses for a roll correctly, and knows what dice to throw when asked to make a check of some sort. Also, it can be an aid to the DM if at least one player knows the rules well enough to act as a check on your insanity, just in case you forget the rules or are otherwise ruling bizarrely.</p><p></p><p>As for translating natural language propositions to game language, IMO, that's one of a GM's primary jobs and the answer to your question about climbing a tree is unequivocally "Yes!" The game goes better if the player makes his propositions more naturally, and then you turn those propositions into a fortune mechanic expressing the player's intention and chance of success. If that doesn't happen, players and DMs tend to get hidebound, with the result that they never think out of the box and tend to treat all propositions that aren't couched as rules as impossible or invalid. The rules are their to help resolve propositions - not limit the sort that can be made.</p><p></p><p>The only thing that a player really needs to understand here is some idea of the scope of his abilities and what they mean, so that they have some idea of what sort of propositions they can attempt: "Is my character athletic enough to jump over this pit?" In that, the DM should guide the player enough that the player has a sense of how much risk they are taking in doing so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6965134, member: 4937"] Nothing. In fact, many players often play better when they don't know the rules. They engage the environment better, are more creative, and spend more time RPing their character rather than looking for 'edges' in the rules. In practice though, it greatly smooths most game if the player knows enough about the rules to perform their mechanical functions when prompted. It's nice for example when a player knows the rules well enough to add the bonuses for a roll correctly, and knows what dice to throw when asked to make a check of some sort. Also, it can be an aid to the DM if at least one player knows the rules well enough to act as a check on your insanity, just in case you forget the rules or are otherwise ruling bizarrely. As for translating natural language propositions to game language, IMO, that's one of a GM's primary jobs and the answer to your question about climbing a tree is unequivocally "Yes!" The game goes better if the player makes his propositions more naturally, and then you turn those propositions into a fortune mechanic expressing the player's intention and chance of success. If that doesn't happen, players and DMs tend to get hidebound, with the result that they never think out of the box and tend to treat all propositions that aren't couched as rules as impossible or invalid. The rules are their to help resolve propositions - not limit the sort that can be made. The only thing that a player really needs to understand here is some idea of the scope of his abilities and what they mean, so that they have some idea of what sort of propositions they can attempt: "Is my character athletic enough to jump over this pit?" In that, the DM should guide the player enough that the player has a sense of how much risk they are taking in doing so. [/QUOTE]
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