Let's Talk About Metacurrency

[pemerton]

For D&D, I’ve gone full LitRPG. Hit points are explicitly supernatural resilience, that people are aware of and talk about. Not the actual numbers, but a general sense of magnitude. No one is surprised to see a 5th level character heal up from multiple stab wounds after some rest.

Just say no!

 

[Umbran]

I don't see how hard lines help the GM do their job.

Also, to add... you don't have to see how.

You get that, right? That you don't have to understand what works for others? You have to (on this site, at least) accept that others might like and work differently, and be okay with that, but your understanding is optional.

But then, the kind of games that explicitly limit the GM (rather then allowing personal judgement)

And also to add - you make it sound as if in games with GM meta-currencies, GMs use no personal judgements whatsoever. That position, and the truth, have very little overlap.

And it isn't like simulation games don't limit the GM, by the way. The GM's discretion in those is limited by the bounds of the simulation - break the limits, you break your sim.

 

[Umbran]

Just say no!

"You will not break me!"

 

[Umbran]

It’s not about “doing their job”. It’s about enjoying doing it that way. Enjoying how that makes the game work.

With respect, sometimes it is about doing the job. The metacurrency, and its economy, can support the operation of the game - Daggerheart being the currently obvious example, but there are others.

 

[LordEntrails]

A lot of metacurrency doesn't automatically come to you either. But I think if you don't understand why the "meta" part of that matters to some people, them trying to explain it is unlikely to get anywhere.

FYI, I said later in this discussion I do understand the differences but was interested in discussing the why.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am not sure what "hard lines" means to you.
But, not everyone is at their best with absolute freedom to do whatever they want. Some folks are helped by having a frame work to follow.



Not eveyrone's judgement is great, Micah.

And, even among those who have good judgement, they don't all not feel their judgement is great, and they relax more when there's a framework.

And in some cases, like Daggerheart, the GM's meta-currency is actually a direct feed into balance in the game - the GM is limited by how much Fear the dice produce. That puts some long-term balance into their play, by design.



Great for you. Have fun with them.
Never mind that some of the games with meta-currencies are toolkits. Don't worry about that at all...

I do have fun with them, and avoid meta-currency and other rules not representing something in the setting whenever possible. If my judgement as a GM isn't great, my players tell me and we adjust.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Also, to add... you don't have to see how.

You get that, right? That you don't have to understand what works for others? You have to (on this site, at least) accept that others might like and work differently, and be okay with that, but your understanding is optional.



And also to add - you make it sound as if in games with GM meta-currencies, GMs use no personal judgements whatsoever. That position, and the truth, have very little overlap.

And it isn't like simulation games don't limit the GM, by the way. The GM's discretion in those is limited by the bounds of the simulation - break the limits, you break your sim.

But the GM makes the world in games I prefer, so they set the bounds of the simulation.

And I can accept that other people's opinions are valid and still not understand or agree with them. That's why I always try hard to present my opinions as just that.

 

[Umbran]

I do have fun with them, and avoid meta-currency and other rules not representing something in the setting whenever possible. If my judgement as a GM isn't great, my players tell me and we adjust.

Awesome.

Now, do you realize that you've hit the self-limiting portion of your position?

You have done the equivalent of walking into the pizza joint and gone, "Ugh. Pizza. I don't eat pizza!"

Good enough to know, I suppose, but it leaves us little reason to engage with you about pizza.

 

[hawkeyefan]

With respect, sometimes it is about doing the job. The metacurrency, and its economy, can support the operation of the game - Daggerheart being the currently obvious example, but there are others.

Sure, if the game is designed that way, it’s certainly then the “job” of the GM to run the game accordingly.

My point was about why someone would enjoy that. It’s not a necessity for doing the job of GM in general. It’s about enjoying the play experience that is created by handling things that way.

 

[jian]

I’m generally pretty OK with metacurrency and tend to include it in any RPGs I design, but am more interested in how they affect the feel of a game.

Obviously this depends on what the MC can do - if it just lets you reroll a failed check, that can feel different from regaining Health, using abilities, or declaring narrative changes to the world or setting. If the MC powers abilities, that’s very interesting because it means the ability isn’t always under the character’s control and is limited in use by whatever gets you the MC. If your character can only fly if they have Destiny Points, how does that feel in the fiction? Is their flying dependent on their confidence, faith, standing with their deity, or something else?

Generally, I think that if the game has no MC at all - older RPGs and OSR games often fall into this category - then that does feel more like a let the dice fall where they may approach. It doesn’t have to, of course - depends what the social contract and assumptions at the table are, how generous the GM is, and so on.

Personally the main beef I tend to have with MC is players forgetting to use it, which honestly tends to indicate it wasn’t particularly necessary to begin with (or that the game has more resources and fiddly bits than the players have headspace for right now). I’m looking at you, Fate points.