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Do you enjoy playing roleplaying games in which you have no clue about the rules?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7492516" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>My starting point for this question is <a href="http://lumpley.com/hardcore.html" target="_blank">this</a>:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Roleplaying is negotiated imagination. In order for any thing to be true in game, all the participants in the game (players <em>and </em>GMs, if you've even got such things) have to understand and assent to it. When you're roleplaying, what you're doing is a) suggesting things that might be true in the game and then b) negotiating with the other participants to determine whether they're actually true or not. . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">So look, you! Mechanics might model the stuff of the game world, that's another topic, but they don't exist to do so. They exist to ease and constrain real-world social negotiation between the players at the table. That's their sole and crucial function.</p><p></p><p>Mechanics can take <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/5/" target="_blank">multiple forms</a> (I think this point goes back to Jonathan Tweet in Everway):</p><p></p><ul style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Drama resolution relies on asserted statements without reference to listed attributes or quantitative elements.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Karma resolution relies on referring to listed attributes or quantitative elements without a random element.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fortune resolution relies on utilizing a random device of some kind, usually delimited by quantitative scores of some kind.</li> </ul><p></p><p>If playing without knowledge of the mechanics means lots of "drama" resolution - ie when I say what my PC does, then most of the time that just happens in the fiction - then it's fine although potentially a bit unexciting (the situations have to be pretty evocatively set out by the GM so that it's fun to engage with them knowing how that engaging is all I need to do to have things happen). If I'm meant to be learning the fiction, like the magic system described by [MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] and [MENTION=813]jmucchiello[/MENTION], the GM had better provide me with the chance to learn!</p><p></p><p>If playing without knowledge of the mechanics means lots of "fortune" resolution but only the GM knows what is going on - only the GM can call for a check, interpret a check, etc - then it's really a form of GM fiat resolution - the mechanics are imposing pretty minimal constraint under these circumstances - with the players along for the ride. The GM better be a good storyteller!</p><p></p><p>Playing with heavily GM-mediated "karma" resolution makes me think of Amber diceless - I've never played it myself but that is how it looked when I saw others playing it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7492516, member: 42582"] My starting point for this question is [url=http://lumpley.com/hardcore.html]this[/url]: [indent]Roleplaying is negotiated imagination. In order for any thing to be true in game, all the participants in the game (players [I]and [/I]GMs, if you've even got such things) have to understand and assent to it. When you're roleplaying, what you're doing is a) suggesting things that might be true in the game and then b) negotiating with the other participants to determine whether they're actually true or not. . . . So look, you! Mechanics might model the stuff of the game world, that's another topic, but they don't exist to do so. They exist to ease and constrain real-world social negotiation between the players at the table. That's their sole and crucial function.[/indent] Mechanics can take [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/5/]multiple forms[/url] (I think this point goes back to Jonathan Tweet in Everway): [indent][LIST][*]Drama resolution relies on asserted statements without reference to listed attributes or quantitative elements. [*]Karma resolution relies on referring to listed attributes or quantitative elements without a random element. [*]Fortune resolution relies on utilizing a random device of some kind, usually delimited by quantitative scores of some kind.[/LIST][/INDENT] If playing without knowledge of the mechanics means lots of "drama" resolution - ie when I say what my PC does, then most of the time that just happens in the fiction - then it's fine although potentially a bit unexciting (the situations have to be pretty evocatively set out by the GM so that it's fun to engage with them knowing how that engaging is all I need to do to have things happen). If I'm meant to be learning the fiction, like the magic system described by [MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] and [MENTION=813]jmucchiello[/MENTION], the GM had better provide me with the chance to learn! If playing without knowledge of the mechanics means lots of "fortune" resolution but only the GM knows what is going on - only the GM can call for a check, interpret a check, etc - then it's really a form of GM fiat resolution - the mechanics are imposing pretty minimal constraint under these circumstances - with the players along for the ride. The GM better be a good storyteller! Playing with heavily GM-mediated "karma" resolution makes me think of Amber diceless - I've never played it myself but that is how it looked when I saw others playing it. [/QUOTE]
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