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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 6990233" data-attributes="member: 6775031">Why do you care about the cubes, though? Why does a player care about whether their sword inflicts 1d8+2 damage or 2d6+15? Is it because they're trying to ensure that their 70% chance of scoring X number of points toward meeting a group goal of 96 points is sufficient to beat the race condition where another group is scoring points against their own threshold of 35? Or is it because they want their team to successfully slay the monster and rescue the hostage, while suffering a minimum of casualties?In an RPG, the cloud is the end-game. The narrative is what we care about. In an RPG, the -2 penalty to your Persuasion roll, or the total outcome of 17 on the check, is not important; what's important is the in-game reality which corresponds to those numbers, and whether the Duke decides to help you or not. The numbers are just tools. A cube is meaningless if it doesn't somehow lead back to a cloud. If someone rolls a 17 on a Persuasion check, and we don't follow that up with learning whether the Duke decides to help us or not, then the Persuasion check was pointless - it was a right-facing arrow which opened a clause that wasn't properly closed by a left-facing arrow.To contrast, in a board game, the cloud isn't important. You can play a board game, and score your points, and never care whether or not it means anything. The cubes are a means to their own end; they don't have to be justified.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 6990233, member: 6775031"] Why do you care about the cubes, though? Why does a player care about whether their sword inflicts 1d8+2 damage or 2d6+15? Is it because they're trying to ensure that their 70% chance of scoring X number of points toward meeting a group goal of 96 points is sufficient to beat the race condition where another group is scoring points against their own threshold of 35? Or is it because they want their team to successfully slay the monster and rescue the hostage, while suffering a minimum of casualties? In an RPG, the cloud is the end-game. The narrative is what we care about. In an RPG, the -2 penalty to your Persuasion roll, or the total outcome of 17 on the check, is not important; what's important is the in-game reality which corresponds to those numbers, and whether the Duke decides to help you or not. The numbers are just tools. A cube is meaningless if it doesn't somehow lead back to a cloud. If someone rolls a 17 on a Persuasion check, and we don't follow that up with learning whether the Duke decides to help us or not, then the Persuasion check was pointless - it was a right-facing arrow which opened a clause that wasn't properly closed by a left-facing arrow. To contrast, in a board game, the cloud isn't important. You can play a board game, and score your points, and never care whether or not it means anything. The cubes are a means to their own end; they don't have to be justified. [/QUOTE]

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