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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 6208869" data-attributes="member: 12037">The jump example is an interesting one. "Jumping" is a description of the fiction. When you say you're jumping, what you're saying is that in the fiction you're going to attempt to jump. That just happens to also be represented by a very specific skill in D&D 3e that only pertains to the fiction of jumping. Look at some other RPGs, perhaps FATE. In that system, you have the Athletics skill that encompasses most physical maneuvers. Suddenly, the fiction of jumping is separate from the mechanics of task resolution. You can't just say "I athletics my way past the obstacle." How are you using athletics to get past the obstacle? Are you climbing down and back up? Are you trying to move across the wall? Are you jumping? You don't know unless you describe the fiction. Each different application of the fiction onto the world will lead to a different outcome. Are there dangers at the bottom of the pit? What are the walls made out of? Is this dungeon known for illusions? Traps? All of these will help the player determine how they should approach the situation.Moving on to a different system that handles things fairly differently is Apocalypse World. In AW, you describe the fiction, and that fiction is what triggers a move. The thing being here that a move might be or might not be triggered, or a different move than expected might be triggered. It will be determined by the fiction of what is going on around you. And, as the game continues, the fiction described will affect how you have to act and react.So in AW you have moves like Act Under Fire and Go Aggro. You can never just say you're acting under fire. That doesn't mean anything without the context of the fiction and an explanation of what you're doing. If a you're pinned down by a bunch of knuckleheads with full autos, Jimmy's lying in a pool of his own blood out in the open, and your pickup's tire has been blown out, then shooting back, pulling Jimmy to safety, or patching up the rubber might all be acting under fire. The fiction's the thing.To take it to a more familiar milieu, take Dungeon World as another example. Lets say you're sneaking up on a goblin to try and take him out. Depending on the fiction of what's going on, maybe the GM declares you just kill him. Maybe you get to roll for damage. Maybe you have to roll Hack & Slash. Maybe you have to Defy Danger to get to him. You state what it is you are trying to do, and the fiction as set up by the group determines what rolls are going to be needed to accomplish the task.The same holds for attacking a roaring dragon. If you say you're attacking the dragon, the GM is well within his rights to ask how! How are you going to reach it? How are you going to get through its hide armor? Describe what you're doing, because in Dungeon World there isn't really an "attack" action like in D&D. You don't move your mini adjacent, roll to hit and damage, and call it a day. The GM might just say that your sword isn't enough to pierce the dragon's scales. He might say you have to perform some tasks to get into place, or maybe you can get where you're going fine. All based on the fiction.So, I think looking at roleplaying itself from a broader perspective helps establish how physical and social skills are not that dissimilar to each other, and how fiction and how we think of it is inextricably tied to the rules of the game. It's kind of like how our thought process is influenced by language, even though you don't need language to think, and learning a new language can help you think in other ways sometimes. In other words, this is why I think the way I do.</blockquote>

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