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D&D Next Q&A: Character Roleplaying Traits, XP as Reward & Inspiration
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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6163299" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>Oh, come on! New players have to learn the rules, for sure, but that's not the main purpose of rules. The main purpose of rules is to limit and define; this applies to society's rules as well as game rules.</p><p></p><p>In any competitive endeavour, the rock-bottom baseline is "the guy with the most powerful armament wins". That's why we have armies, it's why we have arms races and it's a solid underpinning rule of existence. The rules and laws we make for ourselves to overlay that are there to limit and to define the games that we play every day. That argument extends up to and including roleplaying rules. In many of the cases, including in roleplaying, some of the rules are even written down.</p><p></p><p>In roleplaying, though, the rules have other important functions. They communicate the nature of the imaginary world. They constrain the creativity of all the players, to enhance its quality. These things factor into art and sport, too, but this forum's topic of interest is roleplaying games, and they definitely perform that function there.</p><p></p><p>So, do rules teach? Well, they communicate, and that's a key part of teaching. But it's a key function even after the teaching part is done, too, so I would say that "teaching" is a pretty minor part of their role, all things considered.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6163299, member: 27160"] Oh, come on! New players have to learn the rules, for sure, but that's not the main purpose of rules. The main purpose of rules is to limit and define; this applies to society's rules as well as game rules. In any competitive endeavour, the rock-bottom baseline is "the guy with the most powerful armament wins". That's why we have armies, it's why we have arms races and it's a solid underpinning rule of existence. The rules and laws we make for ourselves to overlay that are there to limit and to define the games that we play every day. That argument extends up to and including roleplaying rules. In many of the cases, including in roleplaying, some of the rules are even written down. In roleplaying, though, the rules have other important functions. They communicate the nature of the imaginary world. They constrain the creativity of all the players, to enhance its quality. These things factor into art and sport, too, but this forum's topic of interest is roleplaying games, and they definitely perform that function there. So, do rules teach? Well, they communicate, and that's a key part of teaching. But it's a key function even after the teaching part is done, too, so I would say that "teaching" is a pretty minor part of their role, all things considered. [/QUOTE]
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