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Vincent Baker on mechanics, system and fiction in RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9197057" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think it might be worth elaborating on some fundamentals.</p><p></p><p>At the core of RPGing, as Baker is addressing it, is a relationship between <em>shared fiction</em> and <em>participation in the game</em>.</p><p></p><p>Shared fiction: the game participants are collectively imagining characters in situations, such that those characters <em>do things</em>, as a result of which <em>the situation changes</em>.</p><p></p><p>Participation in the game: this can mean <em>establishing a situation</em>, or <em>declaring an action for a character</em>, or <em>establishing how the situation changes as a result of a character doing something</em>. Typically, there is a tight correlation between particular participants and particular characters, such that the same person gets to declare the actions attempted by a given character.</p><p></p><p>A well-designed RPG should make it clear which participants, and when, gets to contribute to the shared fiction in these various ways. Mechanics are one technique for doing this.</p><p></p><p>It's the mechanics-fiction relationship, <em>together with</em> the centrality of the participant-character alignment (at least for many of the game's participants - ie those in the "player" role), that imposes distinctive demands on RPG design, which Baker is addressing in the blog referred to in the OP.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9197057, member: 42582"] I think it might be worth elaborating on some fundamentals. At the core of RPGing, as Baker is addressing it, is a relationship between [I]shared fiction[/I] and [I]participation in the game[/I]. Shared fiction: the game participants are collectively imagining characters in situations, such that those characters [I]do things[/I], as a result of which [I]the situation changes[/I]. Participation in the game: this can mean [I]establishing a situation[/I], or [I]declaring an action for a character[/I], or [I]establishing how the situation changes as a result of a character doing something[/I]. Typically, there is a tight correlation between particular participants and particular characters, such that the same person gets to declare the actions attempted by a given character. A well-designed RPG should make it clear which participants, and when, gets to contribute to the shared fiction in these various ways. Mechanics are one technique for doing this. It's the mechanics-fiction relationship, [I]together with[/I] the centrality of the participant-character alignment (at least for many of the game's participants - ie those in the "player" role), that imposes distinctive demands on RPG design, which Baker is addressing in the blog referred to in the OP. [/QUOTE]
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