Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6052290" data-attributes="member: 6696971">A lack of candid, philosophical explanations in the beginning texts (particularly for those who have not been exposed to alternate rule-sets) + something else.&nbsp; I've said it in a few places.&nbsp; The largest hurdle I've seen for people running Skill Challenges is the predisposition of one of two (or a hybrid of both) mental frameworks/table agendas:Gamist - &quot;Skill Challenges are nothing more than the practice in dice rolling.&quot;&nbsp; They look at the construct from an optimization standpoint (what are my best Skills...yeah, I'll use those) and the GM caters to it by not facilitating otherwise.Simulationist - &quot;Skill Challenges are just complex Skill Checks.&quot;&nbsp; They hold that the result of each check should be a binary pass/fail interpretation that follows rigidly from coupled &quot;cause and effect, PC internal-locus-of-control logic.&quot;&nbsp; The most functional mental framework through which to run dynamic, fulfilling Skill Challenges is a hybrid of High Concept Sim (genre emulation be it Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Star Wars, Comic Books, LotR, what have you) + Narrative/Story Now agenda (Fiction First, Genre Logic interpretation of checks).It seems that a decent chunk of D&amp;D players have come from a mental framework/table agenda that is something of a hybrid of Gamist/Simulation.&nbsp; It logically follows that from that would emanate dry, boring, sameness, exercise in die rolling, jarring, nonsensical results and accompanying opinions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6052290, member: 6696971"] A lack of candid, philosophical explanations in the beginning texts (particularly for those who have not been exposed to alternate rule-sets) + something else. I've said it in a few places. The largest hurdle I've seen for people running Skill Challenges is the predisposition of one of two (or a hybrid of both) mental frameworks/table agendas: Gamist - "Skill Challenges are nothing more than the practice in dice rolling." They look at the construct from an optimization standpoint (what are my best Skills...yeah, I'll use those) and the GM caters to it by not facilitating otherwise. Simulationist - "Skill Challenges are just complex Skill Checks." They hold that the result of each check should be a binary pass/fail interpretation that follows rigidly from coupled "cause and effect, PC internal-locus-of-control logic." The most functional mental framework through which to run dynamic, fulfilling Skill Challenges is a hybrid of High Concept Sim (genre emulation be it Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Star Wars, Comic Books, LotR, what have you) + Narrative/Story Now agenda (Fiction First, Genre Logic interpretation of checks). It seems that a decent chunk of D&D players have come from a mental framework/table agenda that is something of a hybrid of Gamist/Simulation. It logically follows that from that would emanate dry, boring, sameness, exercise in die rolling, jarring, nonsensical results and accompanying opinions. [/QUOTE]

Verification