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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7645904" data-attributes="member: 16586">I do not think it is helpful to address any roleplaying game mechanic or rule (including directives on how to play) in terms of need. No one needs any rules whatsoever to role play, We can resolve anything in the fiction simply through consensus. There are plenty of reasons why going to mechanics may be desirable. Think about the combat mechanics in any mainstream role playing game. What are their purpose? We have established that we could just talk it out, but we don't? Why is that? First off because sometimes consensus is boring. We want to feel the drama of the moment. The player characters are in mortal danger and things might not go well for them. The mechanics help us experience the story as an audience. Another reason we have mechanics is they might help us as players experience what our characters are going through on some level. This is why hit points are a good mechanic despite being horrible simulation because they help us feel like we're losing fight when they go low and we feel restored when that cleric casts a healing spell. Another crucial element and what I consider most important is that they bring in the possibility of the unwanted, an outcome that no one at the table would choose, but is still compelling when it happens. Like no one at the table wants Veras to die, but we accept it because given the decisions he made and the risks he took that was the price he had to pay.The same largely goes for social interaction mechanics in games. We might desire for there to be meaningful tension and risk that we all can feel so we can step out and view the situation like we're watching a good drama. Often these mechanics can help us feel what our characters are going through emotionally like the Strings in Monsterhearts that represent others having social power over us or Intimacies in Exalted that represent the weight of intense passions that we put at risk in fraught exchanges. The unwelcome also has its part to play here. Maybe Veras is convinced to abandon a comrades so he can go back and help defend his hometown.Here's the thing. These mechanics are not designed for story creation primarily. They are designed so that we all get to experience the story in motion. Our shared experience is what's most important. I find these games can help us create some pretty compelling stories, but the purpose of play and where I believe roleplaying games really excel is helping us experience the drama of the moment on a much more primal level. We get to feel what these characters our feeling and experience the drama knowing no one is in control or curating the experience.What we choose to use mechanics for is pretty important and so is which mechanics we choose to use. Obviously if we don't find the results compelling we should not use that particular set of mechanics. I can only share my experiences here. When I play a game about teenage superheroes using a game like Mutants and Masterminds I feel more disconnected from the emotions of my character and team comradery than I do when playing Masks. However the tension of the super heroics feels more meaningful in Mutants and Masterminds. It's all about finding where the tension should be. I'm going to be taking a break from my story games shortly to run a game of Pathfinder 2e which lacks social interaction mechanics to influence the PCs and I think that's the right call for that game. It's primarily a game of heroic fantasy. In most heroic fantasy the heroes motivations inform the story, but they are not a point of meaningful tension like they are in Exalted which is a combination of greek tragedy and shonen anime with characters consumed by great passions.</blockquote>

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