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Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 2389149" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>Well, don't discount the possibility that the obscure bands speak to their personal muse simply because they are obscure bands. People have pretty seemingly arbitrary guidelines for what we like and what we don't. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This strikes me as *amazingly* obvious. If role-playing is your ultimate goal, congrats, you've been participating in a tradition as old as imagination itself. You don't need a *system* for role-playing. You just need to be a human being.</p><p></p><p>Fact is, Role Playing is only two-thirds of a Role Playing Game. And to assume that the game itself isn't important is to pretty much dismiss any RPG ever as trying to do something that doesn't need to be done. </p><p></p><p>The Game is that interface by which player meets role. It's the added layer between what you say and what your imagination does. That added layer, for me and for millions, is fun. That's not to say that pure role-playing without the game isn't also fun, it's just saying that role-playing isn't the only reason we're playing a role playing game. We enjoy it, in part, because it IS a game.</p><p></p><p>The best-designed RPG will include only that which adds to the enjoyment of playing the role. For me, a lack of rules doesn't make it any more enjoyable to play the game, because it feels less and less like I'm playing a game and more and more like I'm just making up a story, which isn't the reason I play an RPG. At the same time, the rules can reach a point where they get more and more in the way of playing a role (stuff like Rolemaster or Harn, where mechanics are the point), and rolling on tables isn't the reason I play an RPG, either. D&D 3e has so far been the best middle ground I've found. It errs on the side of more rules, but it is always easier to simplify than it is to add complexity. It contains, for me, the best options to date for setting the parameters for playing a role and maintaining consistency (which is as important in poker or monopoly as it is in an RPG).</p><p></p><p>RPG's, as far as I am concerned, don't exist to help people role play. Human beings have been doing that independant of Gygax and d6's for their entire bloordy existence. You don't need a system to facilitate role-playing. The system must facilitate the game, in a way so as to add choices that are meaningful in trying to "win" (and despite conventional wisdom, RPG's aboslutely have a way to win and a way to loose). </p><p></p><p>If some other system does it better for you, have fun. But I in no way have to respect that that system is somehow objectively "better" at chasing some ficticious ideal of what an RPG "should be." You enjoy chutes and ladders? Good! That doesn't mean that enjoying monopoly is wrong.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 2389149, member: 2067"] Well, don't discount the possibility that the obscure bands speak to their personal muse simply because they are obscure bands. People have pretty seemingly arbitrary guidelines for what we like and what we don't. ;) This strikes me as *amazingly* obvious. If role-playing is your ultimate goal, congrats, you've been participating in a tradition as old as imagination itself. You don't need a *system* for role-playing. You just need to be a human being. Fact is, Role Playing is only two-thirds of a Role Playing Game. And to assume that the game itself isn't important is to pretty much dismiss any RPG ever as trying to do something that doesn't need to be done. The Game is that interface by which player meets role. It's the added layer between what you say and what your imagination does. That added layer, for me and for millions, is fun. That's not to say that pure role-playing without the game isn't also fun, it's just saying that role-playing isn't the only reason we're playing a role playing game. We enjoy it, in part, because it IS a game. The best-designed RPG will include only that which adds to the enjoyment of playing the role. For me, a lack of rules doesn't make it any more enjoyable to play the game, because it feels less and less like I'm playing a game and more and more like I'm just making up a story, which isn't the reason I play an RPG. At the same time, the rules can reach a point where they get more and more in the way of playing a role (stuff like Rolemaster or Harn, where mechanics are the point), and rolling on tables isn't the reason I play an RPG, either. D&D 3e has so far been the best middle ground I've found. It errs on the side of more rules, but it is always easier to simplify than it is to add complexity. It contains, for me, the best options to date for setting the parameters for playing a role and maintaining consistency (which is as important in poker or monopoly as it is in an RPG). RPG's, as far as I am concerned, don't exist to help people role play. Human beings have been doing that independant of Gygax and d6's for their entire bloordy existence. You don't need a system to facilitate role-playing. The system must facilitate the game, in a way so as to add choices that are meaningful in trying to "win" (and despite conventional wisdom, RPG's aboslutely have a way to win and a way to loose). If some other system does it better for you, have fun. But I in no way have to respect that that system is somehow objectively "better" at chasing some ficticious ideal of what an RPG "should be." You enjoy chutes and ladders? Good! That doesn't mean that enjoying monopoly is wrong. [/QUOTE]
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