D&D General Letting a Game feel like a Game ~ Mechanics and Simulationism
As we have seen from this thread, I think it depends on the individuals in the group, but I think it also depends on the information.
Many of us in my current groups, we're big fans of strategy games. Fire Emblem, XCOM, Darkest Dungeon, Banner Saga. . . these games tend to be very upfront with information. Health remaining, etc. Hell Fire Emblem will let you look at an enemy's stats, weapons, items, health. . . everything! Being more transparent I don't think would harm my current group. But most of us are DM's also, we know common HP numbers can often guesstimate a monster's HP or AC, etc.
But I absolutely hate seeing the non-combat stuff. I don't want to know the Perception DC, I don't want to see your list of names, how you nerfed or buffed the BBEG statblock, and I especially don't want to know what the town was called in 3rd Edition Greyhawk before you converted it to 5th Edition Midgard. That stuff pulls me out of the game and kills my suspension of disbelief.
Combat is combat, a minigame in it's own right so I can accept the rules don't mirror reality so much, but don't mess with the story.
Many of us in my current groups, we're big fans of strategy games. Fire Emblem, XCOM, Darkest Dungeon, Banner Saga. . . these games tend to be very upfront with information. Health remaining, etc. Hell Fire Emblem will let you look at an enemy's stats, weapons, items, health. . . everything! Being more transparent I don't think would harm my current group. But most of us are DM's also, we know common HP numbers can often guesstimate a monster's HP or AC, etc.
But I absolutely hate seeing the non-combat stuff. I don't want to know the Perception DC, I don't want to see your list of names, how you nerfed or buffed the BBEG statblock, and I especially don't want to know what the town was called in 3rd Edition Greyhawk before you converted it to 5th Edition Midgard. That stuff pulls me out of the game and kills my suspension of disbelief.
Combat is combat, a minigame in it's own right so I can accept the rules don't mirror reality so much, but don't mess with the story.
Oofta
Legend
I'm mean. It's a standard action medicine check to know HP. For some reason nobody has taken me up on it.
loverdrive
Prophet of the profane (She/Her)
I tell explicitly pretty much everything mostly because I don't want to bother with tracking naughty word myself. "Ok, one attack hit, 15 damage" is like 10x times faster than "Ok, three attacks, 15, 17, 19... Ok, so one hit..."
Hell, everything I know about the game, the players know too. I think it establishes good amount of trust and helps players to, well, engage and take initiative.
Hell, everything I know about the game, the players know too. I think it establishes good amount of trust and helps players to, well, engage and take initiative.
clearstream
(He, Him)
They're all just symbols, that communicate a narrative. For me the crucial step is how well the mechanics structurally capture the narrative they intend to represent. The worst, do something that might be reasonable mechanically, but have insufficient of the dynamic being represented in them.
A bladesinger might have the same AC as a fighter in full plate, but the former has an additional mechanic that allows foes to turn off their armor. Without that mechanic, a narrative that the 'singer is singing means nothing.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
As I posted before did this exact thing (in my old group even the players did it describing their injury level to each other!), but I use the language of lightly, moderately, seriously, critically, because before 5E that corresponded to the various cure wounds spells
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
For me it's more like (without hard % ranges, just general overview, rarely the same description twice, and amended to suit the particular foe)
Full hits, or just down a very few "I can do this all day"
Been hit hard once or twice: "You hit it for 9. It's got a lot more 9s to give."
Maybe around half: "It's starting to look a little beat-up"
Getting low: "It's starting to look a lot beat-up"
Into body points: "It's definitely wobbling and starting to bleed."
Below 0 but still standing (i.e. made its consciousness check): "It's gushing blood all over the place."
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
Video game designers have mastered the art of using game mechanics to create a desired emotional experience in the audience. But in the RPG space, and especially D&D, many designers are still stick thinking about game mechanics as a tools to simulate... something...
That and something to just dismiss a problem outright with "no I just do it" like with some of the ranger stuff, many many background features,some of the monk stuff, etc. "GM: solve for x" ->PC: actually I automatically solve it so lets keep going."
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