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This has always struck me as weird doublethink. Have the courage of your convictions, let the rules do what they say they do. If you don't want fighters wading through lava, then you need to change the underlying set of rules, not start creating unknowable specific counter cases. The moment the...

NMS definitely suffered for years from having a procedural generation system that created a lot of stuff with nothing to do, though I hear they've done a lot since then through extensive updates.

Or perhaps we could go back to the start of this lineof conversation, and note that "avoiding narrative contrivance" a thing that TB routinely requires as a function of those systems, is the point, to save you the need to cope.

In specific, perhaps not from this exact thing (though maybe, depending how a GM presents things). In aggregate, yes absolutely: the more latitude a GM has over system, the more narrative curation will inevitably creep in.

I agree with your point here, and I think it points to divergence about whether the antecedents of a system, or the system itself matter toward "simulation" in this sense; is simulation a design goal that can underlie your whole mechanical architecture, or is it method for fulfilling a specific...

We're already running into definitions. I prefer to understand immersion as a scale that measures the distance between character and player decision making thus that less space->more immersion. That routinely conflicts with another (usually unstated) definition you run across, which is something...

I had no grudge against Minnesota until I learned this. I could even have understood a different bird.... But there's a whole extra syllable!

I admit, I was expecting something more inspiring than a zoom call here, but this is good news! I was pretty disappointed in Universe, and checked out pretty hard when all the rumors were focusing on a return to the original film.

Anyone else going to PAXU? I'm going to be having a very board game focused weekend, I'm largely going so I can do playtesting and network. I'll be up in Unpub on Friday and Saturday afternoon if anyone wants to say hi! Look for Sweet Success or Search and Rescue, I'm the tall one.

Probably the easiest option is the Fell Flight warlock invocation.

That's exactly the abdication of design I was talking about though! "Fun" is complicated and subjective of course, but ultimately it's an evaluation of an experience, not a trait that can be brought to one. You do things you think are fun, you have fun while doing things, you decide the bar...

No, that's exactly the transference that's being pointed out. You gave the player a problem to solve and tools to solve it, if the application of those tools is unpleasant, that's not on the player for engaging with the system you presented. That you can "only" control the tools and the problem...

Earliest attribution (in the usual slightly different form) seems to be Soren Johnson, a different designer working on Civilization. Sid Meyer's most referenced game design insight is "a game is a series of interesting decisions." This is a sore point for me, both because it's ridiculous to...

I think that's a little rose tinted. That, and it's only a problem that gets worse with time.

It's a pipe dream. The razors edge you need to tread with each new release gets tighter and tighter, until something has to give. You can float by with a ban list for a while, but you're always either risking stagnation or power creep.

Oh I think it's both. Nothing that's been said about loot boxes is not at least as true about booster packs, and the secondary "market" is just s slow motion ponzi scheme. Putting that aside though, you still need rotation in a competitive game with an evolving meta, or you'll stagnate pretty...

I don't think we can meaningfully proceed without a clearer shared definition of "role-playing."

I realize this is heresy, but maybe that's less a modern design decision and more an inevitable implication of the whole structure of dude-basher, life depletion, symmetrical objective card games when played well. There's actually not a ton of design space (or even all that much decision making)...

Fantasy Craft had a base playable dragon species and the Lancer class, that specialized in riding. You could easily pair up two PCs to pull that off. The Lancer gets an animal companion that could serve as a mount, but making that into same other kind of pet would be pretty neat.

Hold up, that seems like a substitution. The engine that makes Diplomacy work is a combination of negotiation and defection; you offer up a series of agreements and then either hold up your end or don't, with the precise timing and iterated playing out of each new position playing out the end...