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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7822065" data-attributes="member: 42582">We are talking here about a leisure activity, and so moralised or mandatory language (should, ought, would be wrong to, etc) is largely out of place.Rather, it makes sense to talk about what means are well-suited to what ends. Given the hobby we are talking about, relevant means will include GM techniques, player approaches, choices of setting and theme, etc. And relevant ends must encompass the known variety of RPG play, as well as anything new that someone thinks up and is seriously engaged in.In the play of a 4e game it makes no sense for the PCs to be fundamentally opposed to one another. The game has no tools for supporting PC vs PC conflict in any seriouos fashion; and its conflict resolution mechanics, particularly for combat, only really show their strength when the PCs are working together.The contrast here with (say) Burning Wheel is pretty marked. I know from play experience that BW can support PCs who are opposed to one another, or who shift back-and-forth in their allegiances.This doesn't make one system superior to the other in any objective sense. It does mean that you wouldn't try and duplicate the 4e play experience using BW, nor vice versa.Setting is just another tool like anything else. It has no magical status, and no special role in setting priorities. If a player wants to play an X, and the GM has conceived of the setting as X-less, then the basic social situation is no different whether X is a gnome or a ninja. If the GM has conceived of the PCs as non-Xs, then likewise the basic social situation is no different whether X is an evil elf, an uncooperative loner, a serpent worshipper, or a demigod. There is no a priori rule of RPGing that says that just because X exists in the setting it is therefore fair game as a player character. This is all part of the process of setting things up.A concrete example: the setting of Cthulhu Dark clearly contains Great Old Ones, various alien/old one races, evil cultists, etc. But none of these is fair game for being played by the players. That would be at odds with the whole genre and theme the system is meant to support.</blockquote>

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