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How Crunchy is Too Crunchy, For You Personally
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9299878" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>For me, I treat RPGs like they are movies. I want to visualize what my character is doing and wants to do, with a knowledge of what the result would look like were I to succeed at it without any problems. But then, to add in drama and conflict to keep things interesting and on our toes... if there's a reason (any reason) why it might not work, do a very simple mechanical bit to toss the narrative wrench in. A simple skill check works fine. Then based upon the result of that simple check and an illustration by the GM as to what that "narrative wrench" was... I can now visualize where my character is in "the movie" and thus make a new reaction to the new situation.</p><p></p><p>For me, mechanics aren't there to "play a game", they are there to throw hiccups or bonuses into the story. So how "crunchy" those mechanics should be is based upon what kind of definitive or creative hiccups/bonuses they are capable of giving us. If all a mechanic is doing is giving us a 'Yes / No' answer... then it shouldn't be more than a single die roll with the least amount of calculation of modifiers for the player based on their character. But if it's a game that writes out narrative results on large charts to provide us with the specific hiccups or bonuses (like in Rolemaster, the Warhammer 40K RPG and the like)... then I'm okay with it being a bit more involved mechanically as it is working towards getting us to the next narrative point.</p><p></p><p>That being said... I recognize that <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em> has always had a 'tactical miniatures combat game' inside of its RPG... so if those rules have more complexity to make the "board game" work well and be more compelling / interesting from a gameplay perspective, that's fine. If I have to play a board game inside of my RPG, I'd rather that game be more <em>Puerto Rico</em> or <em>Everdell</em> than <em>Sorry!</em> or <em>Trouble</em> in terms of strategy and tactics. But the stuff outside of the 'tactical miniatures combat game' in D&D? Like the Exploration or Social pillars? Should be just as quick and easy and uncomplicated as what I talked about above.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9299878, member: 7006"] For me, I treat RPGs like they are movies. I want to visualize what my character is doing and wants to do, with a knowledge of what the result would look like were I to succeed at it without any problems. But then, to add in drama and conflict to keep things interesting and on our toes... if there's a reason (any reason) why it might not work, do a very simple mechanical bit to toss the narrative wrench in. A simple skill check works fine. Then based upon the result of that simple check and an illustration by the GM as to what that "narrative wrench" was... I can now visualize where my character is in "the movie" and thus make a new reaction to the new situation. For me, mechanics aren't there to "play a game", they are there to throw hiccups or bonuses into the story. So how "crunchy" those mechanics should be is based upon what kind of definitive or creative hiccups/bonuses they are capable of giving us. If all a mechanic is doing is giving us a 'Yes / No' answer... then it shouldn't be more than a single die roll with the least amount of calculation of modifiers for the player based on their character. But if it's a game that writes out narrative results on large charts to provide us with the specific hiccups or bonuses (like in Rolemaster, the Warhammer 40K RPG and the like)... then I'm okay with it being a bit more involved mechanically as it is working towards getting us to the next narrative point. That being said... I recognize that [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I] has always had a 'tactical miniatures combat game' inside of its RPG... so if those rules have more complexity to make the "board game" work well and be more compelling / interesting from a gameplay perspective, that's fine. If I have to play a board game inside of my RPG, I'd rather that game be more [I]Puerto Rico[/I] or [I]Everdell[/I] than [I]Sorry![/I] or [I]Trouble[/I] in terms of strategy and tactics. But the stuff outside of the 'tactical miniatures combat game' in D&D? Like the Exploration or Social pillars? Should be just as quick and easy and uncomplicated as what I talked about above. [/QUOTE]
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