Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7526978" data-attributes="member: 42582">But it doesn't tell you what to move. You can make whatever permitted move you like.Huh? In chess there are no characters, so you can neither take control of them nor be prohibited from doing so.My point is that an RPG also has prohibited moves. I've participated in a lot of ENworld threads, as you know, about player and GM functions. And the most common refrain I here on those threads is that a player cannot make a move along the lines of The Duke of Geoff rides up and gifts me a warhorse. There is all sorts of circumscriptions around the way the players are allowed to change the fiction (in fact some tables don't allow players to make moves at all, and only allow them to make suggestions to the GM, but I'm prepared to treat those as rather extreme cases).Another example of a limit: in most RPGs, if the established fiction is that my PC is trapped in an oubliette in the desert, then I jump into the ocean and swim for shore is not a permitted move. Because it doesn't engage the established fictional context in which my PC finds him-/herself.I know people like to say that in a RPG you can do anything but it's not literally true. What they mean is that in a RPG you can declare any action for your PC that engages the established fictional context your PC finds him-/herself in and is the sort of thing that this game permits your sort of PC to do. That's a prescription for how to play the game. It has to be learned, just like any other game's rules.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7526978, member: 42582"] But it doesn't tell you what [I]to[/I] move. You can make whatever permitted move you like. Huh? In chess there [I]are[/I] no characters, so you can neither take control of them nor be prohibited from doing so. My point is that an RPG also has prohibited moves. I've participated in a lot of ENworld threads, as you know, about player and GM functions. And the most common refrain I here on those threads is that a player [I]cannot[/I] make a move along the lines of [I]The Duke of Geoff rides up and gifts me a warhorse[/I]. There is all sorts of circumscriptions around the way the players are allowed to change the fiction (in fact some tables don't allow players to make moves at all, and only allow them to make suggestions to the GM, but I'm prepared to treat those as rather extreme cases). Another example of a limit: in most RPGs, if the established fiction is that my PC is trapped in an oubliette in the desert, then [I]I jump into the ocean and swim for shore[/I] is not a permitted move. Because it doesn't engage the established fictional context in which my PC finds him-/herself. I know people like to say that [I]in a RPG you can do anything[/I] but it's not literally true. What they mean is that [I]in a RPG you can declare any action for your PC that engages the established fictional context your PC finds him-/herself in and is the sort of thing that this game permits your sort of PC to do[/I]. That's a prescription for how to play the game. It has to be learned, just like any other game's rules. [/QUOTE]

Verification