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New Legends & Lore: Player vs. Character
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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 5670963" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>In other words, they ignore most of the rules written in the book and develop a set of their own rules to suit the style of play they (and, hopefully, their players) like.</p><p></p><p>I should probably make it clear that, by "rules", I don't just mean formulaic description of the game world phenomenae and "physics". A set of stipulations about who gets to decide what, based on what criteria, under what circumstances is just as much a set of rules as "traditional" roleplaying rules are, as far as I'm concerned.</p><p></p><p>In my experience - and as far as I can imagine even beyond that - <em>everyone</em> needs rules. Exactly what those rules are and what they define may vary widely, however.</p><p></p><p>I think every group needs - and has - rules, whether they are written down or not. It's always useful to have the rules clear and easily communicated, and writing them down is a good way to do that. We are fortunate in that, increasingly, our hobby has matured sufficiently to generate rule sets that can handle many different styles of play, so I don't (generally) need to write my own.</p><p></p><p>I can sort-of understand this. "Immersive" play is often focussed on "inhabiting" the mental "space" of a character. Physical activity seems, to many, quite distanced from the "mental" sphere whereas talking and conversation - particularly to those with a sound/hearing focussed perceptive consciousness - seems much closer to the "mental" world of the character.</p><p></p><p>It's a preference that should be recognised and respected - demanding that D&D should be designed for this particular focus seems somewhat self-centred, though.</p><p></p><p>Sure, D&D 4E and Burning Wheel are designed to invoke the more detailed rules for different purposes. BW takes the excellent step of explicitly stating what qualifies a situation for the detailed focus. D&D kind-of does the same, saying "real challenges only" - but it doesn't get very particular about what makes a situation a "real challenge" - we are left, somewhat, to guess/make up our own criteria. This seems flexible, and gives freedom, but it can lead to confusion and some conflicts between parts of the system.</p><p> </p><p>I agree - and would go further. Many people can quite happily enjoy several styles and foci of roleplaying games. This only really becomes evident, however, when multiple sets of rules exist that really <em>work</em>. When people were making these rules up - for lack of any real guidance in the published material - I think there was a tendency to search out "the best". A "one true way" culture grew up, I think, partly because of the focus required by groups that were seeking "<em>the</em> way" to play at their own table.</p><p> </p><p>I don't buy the "mass marketing" or "gateway" arguments. Since roleplaying systems that are "fully functional" now exist, I don't think a compromised system will be long for this world, any more.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 5670963, member: 27160"] In other words, they ignore most of the rules written in the book and develop a set of their own rules to suit the style of play they (and, hopefully, their players) like. I should probably make it clear that, by "rules", I don't just mean formulaic description of the game world phenomenae and "physics". A set of stipulations about who gets to decide what, based on what criteria, under what circumstances is just as much a set of rules as "traditional" roleplaying rules are, as far as I'm concerned. In my experience - and as far as I can imagine even beyond that - [I]everyone[/I] needs rules. Exactly what those rules are and what they define may vary widely, however. I think every group needs - and has - rules, whether they are written down or not. It's always useful to have the rules clear and easily communicated, and writing them down is a good way to do that. We are fortunate in that, increasingly, our hobby has matured sufficiently to generate rule sets that can handle many different styles of play, so I don't (generally) need to write my own. I can sort-of understand this. "Immersive" play is often focussed on "inhabiting" the mental "space" of a character. Physical activity seems, to many, quite distanced from the "mental" sphere whereas talking and conversation - particularly to those with a sound/hearing focussed perceptive consciousness - seems much closer to the "mental" world of the character. It's a preference that should be recognised and respected - demanding that D&D should be designed for this particular focus seems somewhat self-centred, though. Sure, D&D 4E and Burning Wheel are designed to invoke the more detailed rules for different purposes. BW takes the excellent step of explicitly stating what qualifies a situation for the detailed focus. D&D kind-of does the same, saying "real challenges only" - but it doesn't get very particular about what makes a situation a "real challenge" - we are left, somewhat, to guess/make up our own criteria. This seems flexible, and gives freedom, but it can lead to confusion and some conflicts between parts of the system. I agree - and would go further. Many people can quite happily enjoy several styles and foci of roleplaying games. This only really becomes evident, however, when multiple sets of rules exist that really [I]work[/I]. When people were making these rules up - for lack of any real guidance in the published material - I think there was a tendency to search out "the best". A "one true way" culture grew up, I think, partly because of the focus required by groups that were seeking "[I]the[/I] way" to play at their own table. I don't buy the "mass marketing" or "gateway" arguments. Since roleplaying systems that are "fully functional" now exist, I don't think a compromised system will be long for this world, any more. [/QUOTE]
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