Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Justifying high level 'guards', 'pirates', 'soldiers', 'assassins', etc.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4938570" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I'm not sure that there is a fixed definition. Alot of the terms bandied around with RPG's end up serving double or triple duty. I've certainly heard 'cinematic' used in that sense, but I never have really thought it very useful used in that way. For one thing, movie/dramatic conventions are not tightly established for fantasy, and certainly not for swords and sorcery, so I'd have a very hard time knowing what was being modeled.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps you can site for me the dramatic works which set the conventions of fantasy so I'd know what you meant by 'cinematic'.</p><p></p><p>For my part, I consider the game 'cinematic' (in my sense) if the rules encourage envisioning what the players do. For example, one area of play in D&D that I've always considered poorly cinematic is the attack. In D&D, the attack is abstract, so its up to the DM/player to provide the cinematic description. Very usually, this gets dull and so D&D defaults to, "I attack ... hit... and do 18 damage." This description, which is closely tied to the rules, is not cinematic. By contrast, game systems with called shots, contested active defenses, and tables of outcomes tend to have highly cinematic combat. So one argument for 4e being more cinematic would be, 'The manuevers provide cinematic details." While I think that they can, in practice though, I think the manuevers are abstract enough that in most cases they are simply different sorts of attacks, "I perform manuever X... hit... and 18 damage."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 4938570, member: 4937"] I'm not sure that there is a fixed definition. Alot of the terms bandied around with RPG's end up serving double or triple duty. I've certainly heard 'cinematic' used in that sense, but I never have really thought it very useful used in that way. For one thing, movie/dramatic conventions are not tightly established for fantasy, and certainly not for swords and sorcery, so I'd have a very hard time knowing what was being modeled. Perhaps you can site for me the dramatic works which set the conventions of fantasy so I'd know what you meant by 'cinematic'. For my part, I consider the game 'cinematic' (in my sense) if the rules encourage envisioning what the players do. For example, one area of play in D&D that I've always considered poorly cinematic is the attack. In D&D, the attack is abstract, so its up to the DM/player to provide the cinematic description. Very usually, this gets dull and so D&D defaults to, "I attack ... hit... and do 18 damage." This description, which is closely tied to the rules, is not cinematic. By contrast, game systems with called shots, contested active defenses, and tables of outcomes tend to have highly cinematic combat. So one argument for 4e being more cinematic would be, 'The manuevers provide cinematic details." While I think that they can, in practice though, I think the manuevers are abstract enough that in most cases they are simply different sorts of attacks, "I perform manuever X... hit... and 18 damage." [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Justifying high level 'guards', 'pirates', 'soldiers', 'assassins', etc.
Top