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Message: <blockquote data-quote="practicalm" data-source="post: 8192815" data-attributes="member: 6777923">As we dance around the meaning of matters, I want to add another concept into the discussion.Intent of the system or design has an impact on how both the GM and the players approach their games.Some examples.  First Edition Paranoia was a bit of a mess.  Here was something that was to be humorous and light in a Computer run world but the first edition game rules did not make it easy to keep it light.  The resolution system was more complicated than the game needed.  It was played but the intent of the design did not match the intent of the rules.Ghostbusters RPG is a great example of intent of rules matching the intent of design.  Toon as well.I would argue that while Champions (later Hero System) was a fun superhero game, it never was able to capture the feeling of comic books until you tweaked the character to make it so.  Champion fights tended to be a slugfest of running one side out of END.  Or finagling some NND power to stun your opponents or killing powers to kill.  I think Champions worked because it created the kind of game people were willing to play but it didn't really match the source material quite as well as some later games.D&D is about power acquisition.  Gaining levels.  Gaining magic items.  Gaining wealth.  All to increase power.This is why I don't like playing modern or future settings in D&D because I feel the intent of the rules runs counter to what I want the intent of a modern game setting to be.James Bond RPG works for spy games because you are already assumed to be fairly competent and the agency you work for is going to make sure you have the tools for the job (or at least the tools it thinks you need)The players (including the GM) are coming together with the intent of building a type of story.  The story might shift during play as opportunities and challenges are taken and responded to.  Rules should support the intention of the story the players are building.I think a lot of tables don't think about what story they are interested in or leave it up to the GM to pick the story intent.  People in this discussion are probably an exception.  I like to ensure session 0 makes it clear the kind of story that is planned and people need to build characters to support that.  If they do not wish to, they should find another game.  Many people will just go along with the flow and so D&D works for them because their story is gaining power.  They want to do cool stuff.  Not realizing there are games where they can start with their character being able to do that cool stuff.I find that I want players to think about where they want their character to go not just in gaining power but how the character will develop over the campaign.</blockquote>

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