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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8506601" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>I guess then it comes down to what any of us would consider the definition of "actionable" then?</p><p></p><p>I mean for me... a description of an attack can be useful for players to then make choices to act on, just like a narration of game mechanics can. "The sword slides into the orc's abdomen and cause a huge gash, large amount of blood coming out" can tell the players their situation and how they want to take their next turn just as "The sword attack caused 7 hit points of damage, the orc now has 5 hit points left" can. To me, those are equally "actionable" narration. So if both of them are serving a purpose of passing on information to the players, the question then comes down to what would be the "better" way to do it? And for me... as the whole point of D&D and all RPGs is to contextualize a board game into a narrative and descriptive setting to create a story out of... the former is much more important and much more useful and much more fun to me.</p><p></p><p>Now admittedly this is my blind-spot-- the mechanics and the board game of Dungeons & Dragons to me are just so meh compared to the strategic and tactical assessments of other board games out there that I could be playing that I would never select the mechanics of D&D over another board game to play. And I don't think I'm alone in this, because all the times WotC has tried to make a "miniatures game" out of D&D (the 3E era Miniatures Handbook, Wrath of Ashardalon, Dungeon Command etc.)... they all have gotten barely any recognition or play or traction after the first several months of release grace period. Most people just don't find the game mechanics of D&D fun for long-term play <em>in and of themselves</em>. I think it is ONLY because we layer the fiction and the roleplaying and the story on top of that combat board game that D&D becomes something magical.</p><p></p><p>If we want to quibble as to what is MORE important, the fiction or the rules... that's something we will never be able to come to a consensus on, so I don't think it's worth even arguing. But I will say that just numbers-wise... there are millions of more people who have played traditional non-narrative board games who then made the move into adding the narrative and story aspects of RPGs into their board gaming by trying D&D... than there are traditional improv actors who have then added the game mechanic aspects of RPGs into their fully-narrative improvisation by trying D&D. So quantitatively you will find a lot more people who will say the added story and roleplaying of D&D makes the mechanics more fun than there are people who will say adding the game rules of D&D makes their improvisation more fun. Not that that fact necessarily means anything.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8506601, member: 7006"] I guess then it comes down to what any of us would consider the definition of "actionable" then? I mean for me... a description of an attack can be useful for players to then make choices to act on, just like a narration of game mechanics can. "The sword slides into the orc's abdomen and cause a huge gash, large amount of blood coming out" can tell the players their situation and how they want to take their next turn just as "The sword attack caused 7 hit points of damage, the orc now has 5 hit points left" can. To me, those are equally "actionable" narration. So if both of them are serving a purpose of passing on information to the players, the question then comes down to what would be the "better" way to do it? And for me... as the whole point of D&D and all RPGs is to contextualize a board game into a narrative and descriptive setting to create a story out of... the former is much more important and much more useful and much more fun to me. Now admittedly this is my blind-spot-- the mechanics and the board game of Dungeons & Dragons to me are just so meh compared to the strategic and tactical assessments of other board games out there that I could be playing that I would never select the mechanics of D&D over another board game to play. And I don't think I'm alone in this, because all the times WotC has tried to make a "miniatures game" out of D&D (the 3E era Miniatures Handbook, Wrath of Ashardalon, Dungeon Command etc.)... they all have gotten barely any recognition or play or traction after the first several months of release grace period. Most people just don't find the game mechanics of D&D fun for long-term play [I]in and of themselves[/I]. I think it is ONLY because we layer the fiction and the roleplaying and the story on top of that combat board game that D&D becomes something magical. If we want to quibble as to what is MORE important, the fiction or the rules... that's something we will never be able to come to a consensus on, so I don't think it's worth even arguing. But I will say that just numbers-wise... there are millions of more people who have played traditional non-narrative board games who then made the move into adding the narrative and story aspects of RPGs into their board gaming by trying D&D... than there are traditional improv actors who have then added the game mechanic aspects of RPGs into their fully-narrative improvisation by trying D&D. So quantitatively you will find a lot more people who will say the added story and roleplaying of D&D makes the mechanics more fun than there are people who will say adding the game rules of D&D makes their improvisation more fun. Not that that fact necessarily means anything. [/QUOTE]
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