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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 4159668" data-attributes="member: 1879">Fluff and setting information are deseminated by either print (almost always in a rulebook) or the GMs voice. If you have some other way of passing along this information I'm curious to know it. In any event this is information the player is given to let him come closer to understanding the world his character inhabits, it will inform his decisions in the same way that his understanding of the rules of the world do. If the fluff states that the Knights of the Greasy Hampster are the most puissant fighters on the plane then he will treat them as such until he learns otherwise. If someone is tied up and has their throat cut is uses the coup de grace rules. If someone is paralyzed and has their throat cut the coup de grace rules are used. But if someone is held hostage it really seems more reasonable to you to invent an entire other system, that circumvents the normal mechanics of the game entirely, than to make a minor change to an existing mechanic?More to the point, let me paint you the same scene done twice: For PCs we'll use our Iconic 4 and like most career criminals Lidda will be a bit of a rules lawyer.The nefarious Simon-bar-Sinister has kidnapped Princess Vapid and is being pursued by our heros who have tracked him to his lair. They burst into the room and see the villain in the corner holding the Princess tightly with his knife at her throat. "Hold it right there do gooders." He sneers. "Take one more step and I'll cut her throat."Lidda: "Wait, how can he do that?"GM: "I won't roll damage. if you do some funky maneuver, you'll make a Dexterity check. If you fail, then she has a slashed throat, if not, you break her away. The other guy's success will determine whether it's just a scratch or a grievous injury. A slashed throat needs medical attention in five minutes or so or she'll be dead." Redgar: "5 minutes? Bleeding out normally takes one minute tops."Jozan: "Okay.. so if there is no damage will I be able to heal her?"GM: "The threshold of medical attention being pretty low. I won't have them subtract hit points. It's not an abstract "hit" but a tangible injury emerging from the story."Jozan: "So is that a yes?"GM: "Yes, it's a deadly wound but a cure minor will fix it I guess."Redgar: "If it's a deadly wound why is it more easily cureable and take 5 times as long to kill as a normal wound?"Lidda: "Never mind that. How can I do this to NPCs? Or Miallee?"Miallee: "What?"Simon-bar-Sinister: "Hello? Heroes? Still over here."Redgar: "Yeah whatever villain. We can patch her up in a heart beat so go ahead and cut her and we'll get to kicking your ass."Princess Vapid: "What?"Scene Redux:The nefarious Simon-bar-Sinister has kidnapped Princess Vapid and is being oursued by our heros who have tracked him to his lair. They burst into the room and see the villain in the corner holding the Princess tightly with his knife at her throat. "Hold it right there do gooders." He sneers. "Take one more step and I'll cut her throat."Lidda: "Wait, how can he do that?"GM: "Sure. As a terrified non-combatant the princess counts as helpless so he'll coup-de-grace her."Lidda: "Crap. That could kill her instantly. Jozan?"Jozan: "I can raise her, but we don't have the diamonds and his evil lair is too far from the castle for us to make it back in time."Lidda: "Hey GM, can I do that?"GM: "Sure, when you find a noncombatant NPC you want to murder."Mialee: "Lidda you worry me sometimes."Redgar: "Shush"Redgar: "Okay foul villain just don't hurt the Princess. What are your demands?"End sceneWhich of those flowed better to you? Which required less out of game discussion and character breaking? Which suited the genre better?For my money, the less you disrupt the flow of the game with on the spot rulings the more enjoyable the game is.Yes, exactly. Situational modifiers are already a part of the existing rules scheme and require no breaking of immersion or stopping the flow of the game. A character in the game would easily be able to anticipate them with a fair degree of accuracy.I think it's pretty clear that I have seen many more bad GMs than you have. However what you don't seem to appreciate is that every single time I have to stop the action of the game to ask you how things are going to work in this situation I am forced to break the flow of the narrative. The action stops. The other players look bored. The dice stop rolling. All of this lessens immersion in the character. If you don't see that then you must experience roleplaying very differently than I do.</blockquote>

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