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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7566817" data-attributes="member: 4937">Absolutely, but I wanted to start out by saying that it wasn't inherently bad to go one way or the other. I think it depends on what 'cinematic' quality you are trying to achieve.&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Cinematic' is a word that is used often but vaguely defined in RPGs, but for these purposes by 'cinematic' I mean that the process of play tends to aid in imagining the scene.&nbsp;&nbsp; A game is more 'cinematic' the less the process of play resembles, &quot;The monster hits and you take 16 points of damage&quot;, and the more it naturally resembles, &quot;As you fend of the creature with your shield, the monster rakes you with its talons, ripping your cheek and slicing your shoulder.&nbsp; Blood drips into your right eye, blurring your vision and you feel a white shock that promises at some future point to become throbbing pain.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; You can of course turn a non-cinematic system into a more cinematic one through a process of play - the later description could have easily been prefaced to 'take 16 points of damage' - but a 'cinematic' game decreases the arbitrariness and mental burden of doing so by giving concrete answers regarding positioning, tactics, wounds and so forth.So whether you want your game to feature decapitations is partly like saying, &quot;What sort of movie are you wanting to produce/direct?&nbsp; Is it a pop-corn munching summer blockbuster with largely cartoon violence and a stylized confrontation between good and evil?&nbsp; Or is it a gritty drama that emphasizes the weakness, suffering and humanity of the heroes?&nbsp; Or is it violent splatter-porn that celebrates gore and over the top violence as heroes exercise their ego in dominating their foes?&quot;&nbsp; All those things are possible by tweaking a system, the skill comes from creating a system that helps achieve what you wanted to achieve without bogging play down in complex processes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7566817, member: 4937"] Absolutely, but I wanted to start out by saying that it wasn't inherently bad to go one way or the other. I think it depends on what 'cinematic' quality you are trying to achieve. 'Cinematic' is a word that is used often but vaguely defined in RPGs, but for these purposes by 'cinematic' I mean that the process of play tends to aid in imagining the scene. A game is more 'cinematic' the less the process of play resembles, "The monster hits and you take 16 points of damage", and the more it naturally resembles, "As you fend of the creature with your shield, the monster rakes you with its talons, ripping your cheek and slicing your shoulder. Blood drips into your right eye, blurring your vision and you feel a white shock that promises at some future point to become throbbing pain." You can of course turn a non-cinematic system into a more cinematic one through a process of play - the later description could have easily been prefaced to 'take 16 points of damage' - but a 'cinematic' game decreases the arbitrariness and mental burden of doing so by giving concrete answers regarding positioning, tactics, wounds and so forth. So whether you want your game to feature decapitations is partly like saying, "What sort of movie are you wanting to produce/direct? Is it a pop-corn munching summer blockbuster with largely cartoon violence and a stylized confrontation between good and evil? Or is it a gritty drama that emphasizes the weakness, suffering and humanity of the heroes? Or is it violent splatter-porn that celebrates gore and over the top violence as heroes exercise their ego in dominating their foes?" All those things are possible by tweaking a system, the skill comes from creating a system that helps achieve what you wanted to achieve without bogging play down in complex processes. [/QUOTE]

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