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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6104837" data-attributes="member: 4937">On the spectrum of 'System Matters' to 'System Doesn't Matter', I'm a lot closer to the later than the former because Mechanics != Aesthetics, rather Mechanics =&gt; Dynamics =&gt; Aesthetics.&nbsp;&nbsp; However, even I wouldn't say system matters that little.&nbsp; If you created a 'social combat' mechanic that was sufficiently intricate and objective you could concievably resolve all RP mechanically without recourse to IC verbalization.&nbsp; In such a system, you could add IC verbalization on top of the system, but it would be purely optional color - no more important to the system than describing speaking IC as the pawn or bishop in a game of chess.&nbsp; In such a case, I don't think you could convince me that the system wasn't tending to force the aesthetics of play in a particular direction away from emmersion in the scene and towards emmersion in the game mechanics.&nbsp;&nbsp; Simply saying to the players in this case, &quot;I expect you to offer up RP in social scenes&quot; doesn't strongly change the experience of play toward a natural Turku interaction if 5 minutes of dialogue involves 20 dice rolls and 20 declarations of game rule intent.This is what I think am181d means by saying, &quot;I don't want rules for that.&quot;If pemerton doesn't blow his fuse reading that, then I don't think he's paying attention anymore.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6104837, member: 4937"] On the spectrum of 'System Matters' to 'System Doesn't Matter', I'm a lot closer to the later than the former because Mechanics != Aesthetics, rather Mechanics => Dynamics => Aesthetics. However, even I wouldn't say system matters that little. If you created a 'social combat' mechanic that was sufficiently intricate and objective you could concievably resolve all RP mechanically without recourse to IC verbalization. In such a system, you could add IC verbalization on top of the system, but it would be purely optional color - no more important to the system than describing speaking IC as the pawn or bishop in a game of chess. In such a case, I don't think you could convince me that the system wasn't tending to force the aesthetics of play in a particular direction away from emmersion in the scene and towards emmersion in the game mechanics. Simply saying to the players in this case, "I expect you to offer up RP in social scenes" doesn't strongly change the experience of play toward a natural Turku interaction if 5 minutes of dialogue involves 20 dice rolls and 20 declarations of game rule intent. This is what I think am181d means by saying, "I don't want rules for that." If pemerton doesn't blow his fuse reading that, then I don't think he's paying attention anymore. [/QUOTE]

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