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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5296591" data-attributes="member: 4937">I love the design of WtO as well, but I also consider it basicly unplayable. About the only way to play the game as intended is to play with one player and one DM.&nbsp; Which raises a point which I should have raised earlier, and that's that the more focused the game is on exploration of character, the more difficult it is to make it a game with equal participation by all involved.&nbsp; In a game that's about overt violent conflict, it's very easy to keep everyone participating equally all the time.&nbsp;&nbsp; But in a game that's about social conflict, exploration, investigation, and exploration of character, there are typically very long stretches where one player is the only one engaged in the scene.&nbsp; It's very hard to have a game that's primarily about internal conflicts within a character that features 4-6 primary characters that share equal time.&nbsp; This is one of the things that distinguishes an RPG from a novel.&nbsp; RPGs are social games.&nbsp; They don't have 'a protagonist'; rather they have a whole team of protagonists who must share screen time and relevance.&nbsp; It's easier to do that with violent conflict than just about anything else.&nbsp; Very deep conversations tends to run towards long monologues being exchanged.&nbsp; Very intimate conversations tend to break up into exchanges between two characters.&nbsp; Investigations tend to become focused on the specialists in a particular skill or area of knowledge, and in diplomatic situations the weak link is better off simply not participating.&nbsp; But everyone - even the weak link - can involve themselves in and contribute to a battle in some fashion especially if you use traditional ablative hit points as markers in the battle.It's possible to have a game that isn't about violence, but the more players you have the more they have to be willing to intimately RP with each other, the more skilled they have to be at impromtu theater, and the more willing and able they have to be to enjoy watching other people role play rather than actively participating all the time.&nbsp; Intimate exploration tends to make most people uncomfortable when its done face to face.&nbsp; Most people get bored watching some one else play a game.&nbsp; And not everyone is capable of, much less enjoys, a pure theater game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5296591, member: 4937"] I love the design of WtO as well, but I also consider it basicly unplayable. About the only way to play the game as intended is to play with one player and one DM. Which raises a point which I should have raised earlier, and that's that the more focused the game is on exploration of character, the more difficult it is to make it a game with equal participation by all involved. In a game that's about overt violent conflict, it's very easy to keep everyone participating equally all the time. But in a game that's about social conflict, exploration, investigation, and exploration of character, there are typically very long stretches where one player is the only one engaged in the scene. It's very hard to have a game that's primarily about internal conflicts within a character that features 4-6 primary characters that share equal time. This is one of the things that distinguishes an RPG from a novel. RPGs are social games. They don't have 'a protagonist'; rather they have a whole team of protagonists who must share screen time and relevance. It's easier to do that with violent conflict than just about anything else. Very deep conversations tends to run towards long monologues being exchanged. Very intimate conversations tend to break up into exchanges between two characters. Investigations tend to become focused on the specialists in a particular skill or area of knowledge, and in diplomatic situations the weak link is better off simply not participating. But everyone - even the weak link - can involve themselves in and contribute to a battle in some fashion especially if you use traditional ablative hit points as markers in the battle. It's possible to have a game that isn't about violence, but the more players you have the more they have to be willing to intimately RP with each other, the more skilled they have to be at impromtu theater, and the more willing and able they have to be to enjoy watching other people role play rather than actively participating all the time. Intimate exploration tends to make most people uncomfortable when its done face to face. Most people get bored watching some one else play a game. And not everyone is capable of, much less enjoys, a pure theater game. [/QUOTE]

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