What Do You Think Of As "Modern TTRPG Mechanics"?

[Fenris-77]

So, think this highlights different tasks the GM may need to engage in.

"Adjudicating" is about determining how the player's declared actions interact with the rules - determining if what they are trying can work at all, what the difficulty is, and so on.

"Interpreting results" - is about the narrative change as a result of the attempt.

Yup, but those two things are usually tied up in the same recursive moment before the scene is handed back to the players, which was my point.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think you should interrogate those assumptions pretty thoroughly. The tilt of the field toward the GM based on prep and 'mastery' of the setting is not something that's integral to RPGs generally, but rather a subset of RPGs that rely on deep prep and the unveiling of that prep. There's nothing wrong with that playstyle at all, but it's also not in any way the central or core version of what RPGs are to which everything else is 'other'. That's an appeal to history and a gross mischaracterization (IMO) of what a lot of newer games try to do vis a vis prep and world building.

Maybe you don't play newer games, or don't play them the way you suggest? I don't think you can discuss play styles and rulesets in a generalized, "neutral" way, with no personal bias whatsoever. Everyone has preferences, and they shape the games they play and the games they enjoy to play. If you run games in a more traditional, higher prep way, other methods aren't going to matter to you as much, so your thoughts are going to follow your preferences. If that means your comments don't apply to everyone listening, well of course they don't! Doesn't mean that folks who play differently from you are wrong, just that your preferences may not apply to each other. It's a big hobby.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Mastery is a loaded word there IMO. Facilitator is probably closer to the actual role (generally speaking). Trying to argue that the GM isn't a player (usually to valorize the role) doesn't carry a lot of water.

Doesn't carry a lot of water to you. That's your own bias. Everybody has one.

 

[TwoSix]

What @Umbran said above in post 950 is pretty much the point I was attempting to make.

I don't want to expend much mental energy getting to the point where we've determined if a character's actions and intent have succeeded or failed. I want to devote my energy to painting the picture of what has changed because of that success or failure.

Basically, I don't want to waste time determining if the PC jumps the ravine. I want to use my imagination telling you what's past the ravine (if you succeed) or what's in the ravine (if you fail).

 

[Micah Sweet]

This. I'm always looking for systems that relieve me of as much of the "master" burden as possible. I don't want to make a bunch of adjudication calls; I want the game engine to decide the results as much as possible! I want my focus to be on presenting cool challenges and interesting NPCs, not on being the "referee".

And that's a preference as much as any other, that's ok to express in a general discussion like this, even if it doesn't apply to everyone who reads it.

 

[Fenris-77]

Maybe you don't play newer games, or don't play them the way you suggest? I don't think you can discuss play styles and rulesets in a generalized, "neutral" way, with no personal bias whatsoever. Everyone has preferences, and they shape the games they play and the games they enjoy to play. If you run games in a more traditional, higher prep way, other methods aren't going to matter to you as much, so your thoughts are going to follow your preferences. If that means your comments don't apply to everyone listening, well of course they don't! Doesn't mean that folks who play differently from you are wrong, just that your preferences may not apply to each other. It's a big hobby.

Maybe you have no bloody idea what I play or don't play and you probably shouldn't use wild speculation on that point to try and make an argument.

Using the straw man of my implied bias isn't making any part of this discussion easier or more useful. You've retreated here into some kind of testudo defensive posture based on implied bias on my part. I want no part of any of this.

I've run everything from exhaustively keyed hex crawls to the lightness of things like Cthulhu Dark. My RPG experience is wide, deep, and broad minded. Feel free to interrogate my potential biases in any kind of useful way if it seems like that would add something to the conversation.

 

[TwoSix]

And that's a preference as much as any other, that's ok to express in a general discussion like this, even if it doesn't apply to everyone who reads it.

My general expectation is that everyone is speaking with personal bias, unless they're calling out with explicit language that they are attempting to be objective in their characterizations.

But that's just my preference! You do you.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Maybe you have no bloody idea what I play or don't play and you probably shouldn't use wild speculation on that point to try and make an argument.

Using the straw man of my implied bias isn't making any part of this discussion easier or more useful. You've retreated here into some kind of testudo defensive posture based on implied bias on my part. I want no part of any of this.

I've run everything from exhaustively keyed hex crawls to the lightness of things like Cthulhu Dark. My RPG experience is wide, deep, and broad minded. Feel free to interrogate my potential biases in any kind of useful way if it seems like that would add something to the conversation.

Where did I suggest that I know your bias? I assume you have one, because no one is completely neutral. And what is a "testudo defensive posture"?

 

[Micah Sweet]

My general expectation is that everyone is speaking with personal bias, unless they're calling out with explicit language that they are attempting to be objective in their characterizations.

But that's just my preference! You do you.

And my preference is that one shouldn't make objective statements about things that aren't proven facts, or about their personal lived in experience. But people still do it all the time.

 

[Fenris-77]

Where did I suggest that I know your bias? I assume you have one, because no one is completely neutral. And what is a "testudo defensive posture"?

Very specifically in the first sentence of your post. I'll quote you to save time: Maybe you don't play newer games, or don't play them the way you suggest?