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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 8231583" data-attributes="member: 75787">The purpose of a roleplaying game (or at least the ones we eternally talk about) is to have fun. So overall, people play to have fun, and that's why many people will say role-playing games have no win condition, and essentially I'd agree with them. But how people have fun is quite different. Running Call of Cthulhu games at conventions makes it clear that if the players mechanically defeat all opposition without anyone going insane or dying, then many people will regard that as a failure; winning in-game resolution checks equates to losing the fun.D&D is strongly built around a specific style of play that gives spotlight time and cool stuff to players whose characters succeed at resolution checks. So in D&D, it often is the case that winning in-character resolution checks is the same as fun. But this is not a universal statement -- it is pretty specific to D&D, and even then, only to the most common D&D style of play.As an example, I played two games last week back-to-back. I played in a Kids on Bikes game where my character had exactly one success on a meaningless check and failed every other check that night. I failed to avoid notice by the cultists; I failed to run away from them; I failed to escape my bonds and I failed to stay unterrified by what they summoned. I was eventually rescued. That game was huge amounts of fun because the system does not equate success at character resolution with fun. I then played a Pathfinder 2 game where I was rolling very well and able to narrate clever combat moves, make friends and direct scenes, and get awarded in-game bonuses that allowed me to do more of the same (as a side note, Kids on Bikes rewards you with bonuses for future checks when you fail rolls)When I play D&D I optimize enough to ensure that I can expect to win enough resolution checks that I will have a good time. When I play other systems I don't need to do that as much. I still make sure I have decent dodge in Call of Cthulhu, but overall D&D is very strong in equating a fun time with successful resolution techniques; it lacks rewards for failure, meta-currency, success-at-a-cost, and most other modern systems that make it an enjoyable experience for your character to fail at resolution.</blockquote>

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