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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5635503" data-attributes="member: 17106">I guess I'll take a shot.I am unfamiliar with the specific rpgs you describe. That said, given the number of rpgs that do contain separate and relatively elaborate combat rules, I think this may be the exception that proves the rule. I think that physical combat lends itself more easily to a set of dice rolls describing the effects of concrete actions than does a heated argument or an investigation. That isn't to say the latter absolutely can't be well-represented within a ruleset designed to do so.Several of the stores you described have lines of characters shooting ineffectively at the enemies. In an rpg, players would expect to roll attacks and damage, even if in a book this is unnecesasry. In other cases, The Whisperer in Darkness and At the Mountains of Madness contain substantial battle scenes which occur "offscreen" (but which the participants in an rpg, as opposed to a book, would expect to see handled using detailed rules if their characters were involved). I would say the *ineffective* use of guns is not uncommon in his work. In a game, objectifying the ineffectiveness of weapons is specifically frightening to players who are used to other rpgs (and I think CoC in any form is designed for people who play multiple rpgs and are aware of certain conventions like killing things and taking their stuff).I also find it important to have rules for combat, even when I don't use them. In my last CoC session, there was a constant threat of violence, but most of the actual violent acts occurred when the PCs weren't present. Without rules for combat, however, I don't think the players would feel that potential enemies represented the same threat. The same could be said for a variety of other rpgs. Battlestar Galactica as a TV show could easily go several episides without a battle occurring, but its rpg focuses on combat because the threat of Cylons needs to be objectified for an rpg.Just like a movie, a book, or a song, an rpg session is an artistic medium. The rpg format, unlike the others, uses rules, and the expectations of players and the nature of combat suggest that those rules should focus somewhat on fighting. I describe that as a limitation of the medium-that it requires combat to be serviced (in the same way a book requires the author to explain things that would be obvious onscreen or a movie requires characters to voice their thoughts if the creators want the audience to be aware of them). So my conclusion is that modern D&D is not about combat much more about combat than the average of the many rpgs that have come about since its initial development, many of which are not battle-focused at all.</blockquote>

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