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Players choose what their PCs do . . .
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7634228" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I agree with [MENTION=16814]Ovinomancer[/MENTION] and [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] that making a choice - even a hard choice - isn't a challenge to character and character concept of the sort that has been raised in this thread.</p><p></p><p>Whether you need mechanics (social mechanics, emotional mechanics, whatever they might be) to generate that sort of challenge is a further question. My view is that you don't, although obviously they might help. To expain why I think you don't need such mechanics, I want to quote a recent post:</p><p></p><p>The key idea I take away from this is one of <em>fidelity</em> - to the fiction, and to what is revealed about the character in the fiction.</p><p></p><p>In order to get the sort of fiction that will generate such demands of fidelity, I think we need (at least) <em>mutiple scenes</em> that <em>put the character under pressure</em> - these are choices in which <em>the player knows what is at stake</em> and in which <em>the GM is prepared to hold the character (and thereby the player) to account</em>.</p><p></p><p>This relates to the notion of <em>uncertainty</em>. I don't think uncertainty is important at the moment of choice, especially if it means <em>uncertainty as to what the GM will decide in the future</em>. For a choice to be hard in the sense at issue, there needs to be <em>certainty</em>: certainty as to the hard outcome for the character (and thereby the player).</p><p></p><p>But a single choice, even a hard one, won't generate a fiction that generates a demand for fidelity. We need multiple scenes, an unfolding trajectory, the generation of pressure, perhaps mulitple sources of pressure. And as a result there will be uncertainty about how a collectively-established ficiton will arise over time.</p><p></p><p>This also brings it back to mechanics. Mechanics are one useful way for helping determine outcomes of situations. And they can modulate pressure. HeroQuest revised is probably the clearest expression of this in RPG design, but it can also be scene in (say) MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic and Burning Wheel.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7634228, member: 42582"] I agree with [MENTION=16814]Ovinomancer[/MENTION] and [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] that making a choice - even a hard choice - isn't a challenge to character and character concept of the sort that has been raised in this thread. Whether you need mechanics (social mechanics, emotional mechanics, whatever they might be) to generate that sort of challenge is a further question. My view is that you don't, although obviously they might help. To expain why I think you don't need such mechanics, I want to quote a recent post: The key idea I take away from this is one of [I]fidelity[/I] - to the fiction, and to what is revealed about the character in the fiction. In order to get the sort of fiction that will generate such demands of fidelity, I think we need (at least) [I]mutiple scenes[/I] that [I]put the character under pressure[/I] - these are choices in which [I]the player knows what is at stake[/I] and in which [I]the GM is prepared to hold the character (and thereby the player) to account[/I]. This relates to the notion of [I]uncertainty[/I]. I don't think uncertainty is important at the moment of choice, especially if it means [I]uncertainty as to what the GM will decide in the future[/I]. For a choice to be hard in the sense at issue, there needs to be [I]certainty[/I]: certainty as to the hard outcome for the character (and thereby the player). But a single choice, even a hard one, won't generate a fiction that generates a demand for fidelity. We need multiple scenes, an unfolding trajectory, the generation of pressure, perhaps mulitple sources of pressure. And as a result there will be uncertainty about how a collectively-established ficiton will arise over time. This also brings it back to mechanics. Mechanics are one useful way for helping determine outcomes of situations. And they can modulate pressure. HeroQuest revised is probably the clearest expression of this in RPG design, but it can also be scene in (say) MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic and Burning Wheel. [/QUOTE]
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