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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 8275862" data-attributes="member: 53980">While I think a low mechanical environment is sufficient to encourage skilled play, I don't see it as necessary. After all, old school games are often associated with skilled play, but the vast majority have at least one class that obviates the need for skilled play with mechanics (thief in any number of retro clones, expert in WWN, etc). Sure, at low levels those mechanics may be unreliable, but it would be easy to exclude them entirely if that would drive skilled play. Heck, if no one at a table plays that class, they've effectively excluded it (not entirely in WWN, since anyone can learn a skill, but you do lose out of the guaranteed success once per scene).We could imagine a mechanical system that indirectly encourages skilled play. For example, a complex skill system where failing a skill check always/sometimes causes circumstances to worsen in some way. That makes rolling skill checks to resolve issues high risk / x reward, but skilled play remains low(er) risk / x reward, making the latter the clear choice. If rolling to disarm the trap risks setting it off, but I believe I can safely think my way past it, then rolling is not the smart play.I would agree, however, that a safe and reliable skill system doesn't encourage skilled play in the same way. In this case, rolling is a quicker and easier alternative.</blockquote>