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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5913609" data-attributes="member: 42582">On it's own it doesn't have to detract. But in so far as its freeform rather than mechanically driven, it may not be appealing to everyone, and in some groups can take on a "mother may I" vibe. (It is possible to have RPGs based heavily around engaging the fiction, but still mediated mechanically rather than freeforming. But to the extent that D&D has used mechanical mediation for exploration and interaction, it's often been a bit ad hoc and underdeveloped.)And in D&D, this is related to it being a class and role-based game of fantasy adventure.Here is Gygax on character roles (DMG, p 86):Consider the natural functions of ecah class of character . . . Clerics who refuse to help and heal or do not remain faithful to their deity, fighters who hang back from combat or attempt to steal, or fail to boldly lead, magic-users who seek to engage in mele or ignore magic items they could employ in crucial situations, thieves who boldly engage in frontal attacks or refrain from acquisition of an extra bit of treasure when the opportunity presents itself . . . are all examples of . . . POOR [play].And here is Gygax's PHB (pp 18):The approach you wish to take to the game, how you believe you can most successfully meet the challenges which it oses, and which role you desire to play are dictated  by character class (or multi-class). . . [Magic-users cannot expect to do well in hand-to-hand combat, but they have a great number of magic spells of offensive, defensive and informational nature. They use magic almost exclusively to solve problesm posed by the game. . . Thieves use cunning, nimbleness and stealth.Every time my MU is throwing darts, every time my thief/rogue is binding the wounds of the fallen or watching at the door for reinforcements, or for that matter throwing burning oil, I am not engaging the game in the way that the rulebooks have told me I can expect and am obliged to.</blockquote>

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