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With Respect to the Door and Expectations....The REAL Reason 5e Can't Unite the Base
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<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6020094" data-attributes="member: 6688937"><p>This.</p><p></p><p>To be clear, this is only a problem with game systems that engage in a lot of Complexity and particularly Simulationism. One of my favorite games, Capes, has characters that are all objectively equal in their ability to affect the story. However, the game is structured very lightly and relies on the players to narrate the events to match the underlying dice play. </p><p></p><p>Some people would call this game completely "dissassociated". In Capes, one character's "Novice Swordsman: 5" trait would be more important than another character's "Master Swordsman: 2" trait. Its up to the players to illustrate <em>how</em> that happens as play progresses. None of the rules are actually trying to emulate any features of an imagined reality. Thus, you can't really paint yourself into a corner. Two groups running Capes at neighboring tables could be playing very different imagined realities. </p><p></p><p>To some extent or another D&D has always tried to have the character sheet reflect something about the imagined reality of its world. More importantly, it usually tries to have its mechanics reflect the operation of that world as well. Thus, when you pile enough mechanics on, you define the way the imagined world works. At the level of complexity and detail which the later editions operate, its very hard <em>not</em> to closely define the nature of the imagined reality.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't think that's true at all. Having a balanced game is a generally good thing, that's not the problem. The method of balancing the game, and the specifics of how its done can have much more impact on the breadth of campaign styles supported than the fact that the game is balanced or not. In the process of balancing the game, designers need to decide how and in what arenas the game will be balanced. Those decisions can create a drastic reduction in the types of playstyles, campaigns, and stories the game supports, especially in a simulation-style game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 6020094, member: 6688937"] This. To be clear, this is only a problem with game systems that engage in a lot of Complexity and particularly Simulationism. One of my favorite games, Capes, has characters that are all objectively equal in their ability to affect the story. However, the game is structured very lightly and relies on the players to narrate the events to match the underlying dice play. Some people would call this game completely "dissassociated". In Capes, one character's "Novice Swordsman: 5" trait would be more important than another character's "Master Swordsman: 2" trait. Its up to the players to illustrate [I]how[/I] that happens as play progresses. None of the rules are actually trying to emulate any features of an imagined reality. Thus, you can't really paint yourself into a corner. Two groups running Capes at neighboring tables could be playing very different imagined realities. To some extent or another D&D has always tried to have the character sheet reflect something about the imagined reality of its world. More importantly, it usually tries to have its mechanics reflect the operation of that world as well. Thus, when you pile enough mechanics on, you define the way the imagined world works. At the level of complexity and detail which the later editions operate, its very hard [I]not[/I] to closely define the nature of the imagined reality. I don't think that's true at all. Having a balanced game is a generally good thing, that's not the problem. The method of balancing the game, and the specifics of how its done can have much more impact on the breadth of campaign styles supported than the fact that the game is balanced or not. In the process of balancing the game, designers need to decide how and in what arenas the game will be balanced. Those decisions can create a drastic reduction in the types of playstyles, campaigns, and stories the game supports, especially in a simulation-style game. [/QUOTE]
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