The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[Ryujin]

If you're talking about FATE, yes absolutely. It's designed to lean into the movie tropes, and does so very effectively. You're not gaming for the same things as in, say D&D or whatever. The metacurrency of the game is tokens, and you get them for leaning into the tropes, so that the game will encourage that sort of play.

In a game like D&D, the metacurrency is experience points and gold pieces. So, it encourages activities that gain the character more of that -- adventuring. That's what it encourages.

I agree completely that player assumptions can make or ruin a session, which is why, when starting with a new table, I try to manage expectations and question the players to see what kind of gameplay they're looking for.

If you want a game that seriously leans to the cinematic, then TORG would also be a good choice. Talking 1st Edition here as I have 2nd Edition, but haven't played yet. They explicitly use Acts and Scenes in adventure design. You use cards (the Drama Deck) in the game for perks during play and they are also played as round counters, that can have an effect on how play progresses. Some are explicitly "sub-plots" (Romance, Martyr, Nemesis...) that cause complications in play, while giving the benefit of more "Possibilities" (like Action Points, etc., from other games) being earned for dealing with the sub-plot. Sub-plots can become permanent (by using a Campaign card) thereby having an effect for the whole campaign, and not just a single adventure. I have played the "Martyr" card to sacrifice my character, in order to save the rest of the party. I have yet to see a more patently cinematic game.

 

[gorice]

I cannot fathom how, in the year 2022, anyone can believe that sales and popularity aren't driven principally by marketing concerns like hype, brand loyalty and recognition, and glossy products.

 

[darjr]

Well y’all can’t have any of MY karma.

As soon as I get any.

 

[Umbran]

In a game like D&D, the metacurrency is experience points and gold pieces.

I think gold has lost its status as metacurrency, seeing as you don't need a whole lot of it in 5e. And lots of GMs run by milestone levelling, so you never get XP, per se.

Levels, or the friends you make along the way, are the new metacurrency.

 

[overgeeked]

If you want a game that seriously leans to the cinematic, then TORG would also be a good choice. Talking 1st Edition here as I have 2nd Edition, but haven't played yet. They explicitly use Acts and Scenes in adventure design. You use cards (the Drama Deck) in the game for perks during play and they are also played as round counters, that can have an effect on how play progresses. Some are explicitly "sub-plots" (Romance, Martyr, Nemesis...) that cause complications in play, while giving the benefit of more "Possibilities" (like Action Points, etc., from other games) being earned for dealing with the sub-plot. Sub-plots can become permanent (by using a Campaign card) thereby having an effect for the whole campaign, and not just a single adventure. I have played the "Martyr" card to sacrifice my character, in order to save the rest of the party. I have yet to see a more patently cinematic game.

Almost no games come anywhere close to cinematic. The only designer I’m aware of that even really tries is Robin Laws. He’s managed a few times to get close, but it’s ultimately doomed to failure as most of the things that work for movies simply don’t work for games. Which makes sense as they’re different mediums. There’s a few points of overlap, sure, but that’s about it.

Primetime Adventures and Fate also come to mind, but many gamers recoil from meta-currency and the like. A lot seem to want medium-crunch rules sets that work as physics engines and want immersion in their character rather than focusing constantly on the narrative arc.

The more your play at the table resembles a movie, the less your “game” resembles a game and the more it becomes collaborative creative writing. Nothing wrong with that, but RPGs are not movies.

 

[Ryujin]

Almost no games come anywhere close to cinematic. The only designer I’m aware of that even really tries is Robin Laws. He’s managed a few times to get close, but it’s ultimately doomed to failure as most of the things that work for movies simply don’t work for games. Which makes sense as they’re different mediums. There’s a few points of overlap, sure, but that’s about it.

Primetime Adventures and Fate also come to mind, but many gamers recoil from meta-currency and the like. A lot seem to want medium-crunch rules sets that work as physics engines and want immersion in their character rather than focusing constantly on the narrative arc.

The more your play at the table resembles a movie, the less your “game” resembles a game and the more it becomes collaborative creative writing. Nothing wrong with that, but RPGs are not movies.

Still, without the Role Playing part of RPG, which is collaborative storytelling, it's not the same game. I've been in groups that treated the whole thing as just another game, with set victory conditions and the like, and it just plain suuuuuuucked. Everything is meta. Everything is about DPR. Not fun. For me, at least.

 

[Cadence]

Thread about IHOP.

A: <No one asks> "And Howard Johnson's was just a second-rate IHOP."

B: "Why won't you just admit that Howard Johnson's was better than any restaurant still open today, and would still be if again if it would just re-open!!!!"

* Howard Johsnon's was once America's largest restaurant chain, numbering over 1,000 location at its peak. There are over 1500 IHOP in the US.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I think gold has lost its status as metacurrency, seeing as you don't need a whole lot of it in 5e. And lots of GMs run by milestone levelling, so you never get XP, per se.

Levels, or the friends you make along the way, are the new metacurrency.

They've devalued gold pieces as metacurrency in 5E, yes, but I'm talking about "all D&D," and in the OSR sphere and older editions (AD&D1E, for example) it reigns supreme. In 3.0E/3.5E/4E/PF1E at least, gold is pegged to XP, making them equivalent. We used to joke that the coin says "1 GP" on one face and "1 XP" on the other.

The friends you make along the way are the best metacurrency, and practically the one universal metacurrency among almost all role-playing games. Almost all.

 

[el-remmen]

Still, without the Role Playing part of RPG, which is collaborative storytelling, it's not the same game. I've been in groups that treated the whole thing as just another game, with set victory conditions and the like, and it just plain suuuuuuucked. Everything is meta. Everything is about DPR. Not fun. For me, at least.

Me neither. I have played and and run for groups with different degrees of that, and I definitely into tactical play, using different environments and making terrain (though I am equally comfortable running ToTM style), but without the stakes that the role-playing a character aspect brings, it all loses its juice for me.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

@el-remmen

Given I just saw a perfect subjective/objective, and some of the other posts today (including the fact that there was a new thread by me) ...

I WISH I WAS PLAYING ENWORLD BINGO!