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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 3288952" data-attributes="member: 5122">Okay, fair enough.  My point, though imperfectly expressed, wasn't that the rising skeletons was the only possible cool visual ... my point was that it's the cool visual the writer was clearly writing toward.  Just like a monologuing villain is a writer's way of imparting information ... it's not the only way, but as something the writer selected, it's entitled, IMO, to some deference.All true, but relatively minor in the scheme of things.  A good writer will stress the sarcophagi and allow the scout to draw his own conclusions.  The rest is simply design ... obviously if a writer is striving for a certain set-piece, he should have the rules of the game in mind as well.I obviously disagree.  It's much cooler to describe the quick clickety-clack and the lighting of glowing red eyes as the skeletons rise and assemble.  I think that coolness is worthwhile.In both cases, the villains monologued.  Tommy Lee Jones chewed some scenery up, in fact.I understand the appeal for players to believe their characters are hyper-competent and I understand the benefit of that kind of substance-over-style action in our real world.  I just don't care for it in gaming.  IMO, players who want to be the cool and dealy loner lethal weapon can always go play Splinter Cell.  I want Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, and Ladyhawke.As an aside: Ironically, one of my favorite games of yesteryear, Cyberpunk 2020, constantly stressed "style over substance" in the game literature.  Yet never was a game system more "do as I say, not as I do," and never was a game's player-base populated by gamers who wanted to play exactly the opposite style espoused by the game itself.  Apropos of nothing ... just a wry remembrance.</blockquote>

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