Let's Talk About Metacurrency

[Nytmare]

I don't see how hard lines help the GM do their job. But then, the kind of games that explicitly limit the GM (rather then allowing personal judgement) don't really appeal to me anyway. I generally prefer toolkits rather than targeted RPGs (what @Reynard calls "opinionated" games).

I don't think I've ever seen someone Gadsden Flag an rpg mechanic before...

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, yeah, I still have my copies of the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe tucked away in longboxes.

The thing you are missing is that measurement itself, happening within a fiction, is a work of fiction, and works of fiction have narrative purposes.

The canons of the various comics universes honor those measurements more in the breaking than in anything else.

I'm missing it because it's not relevant to my concerns.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't think I've ever seen someone Gadsden Flag an rpg mechanic before...

I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Umbran]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

The Gadsden Flag is the famous, "Don't Tread On Me" flag - yellow field, with a coiled snake.

 

[Umbran]

I'm missing it because it's not relevant to my concerns.

But it is - because when and how that simulation is violated by the canon of the books is effectively part of the point.

As a simple example - the OHotMU stated that Spider-Man could lift about 10 tons. But then we have canon examples of him lifting tractor trailers (which are 15-40 ton, depending on how much they are carrying), train passenger cars (25-35 tons) and buildings collapsed upon him (goodness knows how much).

A simulation of a comic book universe that does not include the tendency for comic books to ignore their own established "facts" when dramatically appropriate isn't a great simulation of the comic book universe.

 

[Micah Sweet]

But it is - because when and how that simulation is violated by the canon of the books is effectively part of the point.

As a simple example - the OHotMU stated that Spider-Man could lift about 10 tons. But then we have canon examples of him lifting tractor trailers (which are 15-40 ton, depending on how much they are carrying), train passenger cars (25-35 tons) and buildings collapsed upon him (goodness knows how much).

A simulation of a comic book universe that does not include the tendency for comic books to ignore their own established "facts" when dramatically appropriate isn't a great simulation of the comic book universe.

Most supers RPGs have a mechanic that allows the character to occasionally limit break for exactly that reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The Gadsden Flag is the famous, "Don't Tread On Me" flag - yellow field, with a coiled snake.

Ok...what the heck is that supposed to mean? I've heard of the flag but am not completely familiar with the context, other than some unsavory associations with modern politics. Should I be insulted? It feels like I should be insulted.

Edit: ok, I re-familiarized myself with the flag. Still not sure which of its meanings (historical or contemporary) I'm supposed to take from the comparison. My reaction would be quite different depending on it.

 

[Umbran]

Most supers RPGs have a mechanic that allows the character to occasionally limit break for exactly that reason.

Yeah... but they are generally tied to metacurrencies.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah... but they are generally tied to metacurrencies.

Ok, but at least they're tied to the world, and like I said I feel genre emulation is more acceptable to me in supers games. I just don't believe it's all or nothing. A game like FASERIP or Mutants & Masterminds or the current Marvel Multiverse game is less dependent on meta-currency and narrativist mechanics than Marvel Heroic.

 

[Thomas Shey]

All of that is true, but nonetheless measurement happens for all of these. A lot, in games, within the comics, by individual. It's not necessarily consistent from example to example, but that kind of measurement and ranking happens all the time with supers.

If there's no consistency, I'm not really sure I see how relevant any fictional measurement matters. At that point its just color commentary.