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  1. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    I haven't yet, we usually play Pathfinder 2e, we tried a couple of Masks games that petered out after a few weeks, I've got some Chronicles of Darkness sitting on a shelf waiting for the right time and the same for Avatar Legends and Blades in the Dark which I've now read, and we're on the third...
  2. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Largely I agree with you, I typically create characters that fit the system I'm playing in, I tend to notice that the frustration some people have is that they don't really start with the idea of playing a given system as the goal act, they tend to start with a fantasy that the game nominally...
  3. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Maybe, I've thought about the possibility before, I do know (from experience) that Masks style playbooks did not work for them because they did not process the basic idea of conflict with the other members of their 'legacy' as core to the experience-- which is kind of concerning because all the...
  4. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    My experience is that since we're still playing a roleplaying game, the neo-trad desire for character definition is always in conversation with other gameplay elements, whatever the mechanics happen to be-- absolute control is more or less disqualified by the multiplayer nature of the activity...
  5. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    You are correct, it can be both too though, the same player I've been talking about actually has in the past, basically designed for me a setup where their character's bullying brothers appeared as minor antagonists through the campaign (e.g. showing up as hired muscle by other bad guys) so he...
  6. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Sorry that was me attempting to imply that play had already been taking place or the players had come to an arrangement about shared backstory elements, I have seen that happen organically as you assumed it had here but if so it would have been accompanied by a quick (ooc: [question planning...
  7. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Yup! This description I think captures a lot of the essence of the mindset, and I think the earlier reference of problem statements rather than complete arcs intersects well with this-- the baggage that the character carries around with them defines their story as much or more than the external...
  8. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    This really is something that shows up with literary movements too, you have authors who in retrospect were doing things that would become the norm even centuries before the movement actually seems to take place, when that happens we just talk about them in those terms, alluding to them as...
  9. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Avoiding getting too caught up in the semantics and categorization, but I wanted to touch on this, the thing about degenerate forms of play is that they sort of suggest an intrinsic value judgement that comes from somewhere (it's actually a really unfortunate term, given the concept of...
  10. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Universal systems would indeed have the benefit of latching directly onto the roleplaying without much fuss, but I also agree that crunchy systems that include lots of character options give a toolbox for self-expression that can get the player excited by letting them sort through it looking for...
  11. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    There's an expression that Collville turned me onto "The Map is Not the Territory" where it emphasizes that while a map is useful for navigation it doesn't necessarily describe the perfect reality of what it is attempting to depict. Collville was discussing how rulebooks and forum discussions...
  12. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    This is an interesting idea and I think you're absolutely correct about childhood make-believe being a kind of patient zero for the behavior, but my impression of Nordic is that it's more focused on achieving the psychological bleed and then breaking it down afterward-- e.g. it's kind of high...
  13. The-Magic-Sword

    Pathfinder 2E Free Archetype Variant Rule - if you DON'T use it, why, and how did your players react?

    I do recognize that session was saying that, but the things I bolded taken together heavily suggest that the intent is that you can also use the free feats for other archetypes after, since the clause that gives you the feats is distinct, and it still promotes taking other archetypes, and even...
  14. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    I think you're right in that I should have made the fact that those two concepts were different clearer, to me, they came together under what you outline as their commonality of premeditation. I've also noticed that you can get tension if they get it too fast and then the player has to figure...
  15. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    What were some of your (general audience of this post) favorite characters ever?
  16. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Yup, or an example on this forum, you might find that even if you want a heist game BITD doesn't fit your needs because your conception of a heist game includes way more strategic planning and execution-- like playing Payday 2 or something but in tabletop RPG form.
  17. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    This seems a bit too hostile to actually respond to, but giving it the benefit of the doubt-- six cultures of play isn't gibberish and the overlap isn't particularly damning as the same person can be influenced by more than one game over the course of their life, or community-- e.g. I started...
  18. The-Magic-Sword

    D&D General How much control do DMs need?

    So, one of the things I base my choice of system off of, is actually the way the texture of the mechanics and player options align with the theming and fantasy of what they express. Your system, in theory, should be able to perform any of these narratives, but it's texture will remain static as...
  19. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Yeah, my own group does make them somewhat compatible but there is some friction (mainly between the desire for instrumental play and the desire for purely expressive play) the main thing about compatibility is the degree to which the activities interfere with each other. My players still...
  20. The-Magic-Sword

    Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective

    Yup, in fact, some examples of these kinds of RPs include things like Wolf Pack RPs where things (in my experience) were mainly happening to let the PC wolves interact, dicker, and so forth, or indeed yeah you could have your RP be a bar setup of people who regularly show up and banter with each...
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