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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6948857" data-attributes="member: 4937">In any science fiction game with a focus on space ships, that's certainly a consideration.&nbsp; But there is more to than that.&nbsp; Not only does everyone need something to do, but everyone needs to be making decisions.&nbsp; Imagine a hypothetical system in which someone has to make an engineering check every round to determine how many 'initiative points' or 'power points' or whatever are available on that round.&nbsp; Clearly this is an important position, and it will be important to have a character that is very skilled in engineering.&nbsp;&nbsp; But in terms of engagement by the player, this system does absolutely nothing for the engineer, because all the player experiences each round is making a per forma role that could be made by anyone at the table.&nbsp; His character is contributing via his skill, but the player himself doesn't have the experience of contributing.Compare that experience with a typical fantasy tactical combat game where the player has to decide what action to take on his turn and you'll see the difference.&nbsp; To fix the system, the engineer needs not only to have the job of making some roll, but a job of deciding what to do with the ship's engineering resources.And again, that works only if there are decisions to be made for all the positions.&nbsp; Imagine you've got a guy whose job it is to fire the laser guns.&nbsp; His character is contributing, but how is he contributing?&nbsp;&nbsp; Note the very different experience of manning a laser turret in a PnP RPG versus manning a laser turret in a first person shooter style video game.&nbsp;&nbsp; In one the player contributes through his player skill at tracking and selecting targets.&nbsp; In the other, he can be replaced by an automated dice roller.&nbsp; Or each &quot;seat&quot; in the ship has to choose between one of several tasks to perform on that turn.UPDATE: Wednesday Boy keeps beating me to the punch on this.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6948857, member: 4937"] In any science fiction game with a focus on space ships, that's certainly a consideration. But there is more to than that. Not only does everyone need something to do, but everyone needs to be making decisions. Imagine a hypothetical system in which someone has to make an engineering check every round to determine how many 'initiative points' or 'power points' or whatever are available on that round. Clearly this is an important position, and it will be important to have a character that is very skilled in engineering. But in terms of engagement by the player, this system does absolutely nothing for the engineer, because all the player experiences each round is making a per forma role that could be made by anyone at the table. His character is contributing via his skill, but the player himself doesn't have the experience of contributing. Compare that experience with a typical fantasy tactical combat game where the player has to decide what action to take on his turn and you'll see the difference. To fix the system, the engineer needs not only to have the job of making some roll, but a job of deciding what to do with the ship's engineering resources. And again, that works only if there are decisions to be made for all the positions. Imagine you've got a guy whose job it is to fire the laser guns. His character is contributing, but how is he contributing? Note the very different experience of manning a laser turret in a PnP RPG versus manning a laser turret in a first person shooter style video game. In one the player contributes through his player skill at tracking and selecting targets. In the other, he can be replaced by an automated dice roller. Or each "seat" in the ship has to choose between one of several tasks to perform on that turn. UPDATE: Wednesday Boy keeps beating me to the punch on this. [/QUOTE]

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