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<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6210019" data-attributes="member: 6688937">Here's the thing, though...any mechanics require explanation, because there isn't any sort of purely intuitive way to play a story game/rpg.* Before someone explained that you had to roll &quot;to-hit&quot; on a d20 and then add your characters modifiers to compare that total to the AC of your target to determine whether or not you &quot;hit&quot;....would you have thought that process &quot;intuitive&quot;?...I wouldn't have. The only thing even vaguely intuitive about it is the use of the natural-language word &quot;hit&quot; to indicate proceeding on to a damage rolling mechanic. That causes the conflation between &quot;hit on a d20&quot; and &quot;my sword hits him with this strike&quot;. (Which, BTW, old-school versions of the game explicitly tell you is not the case...otherwise you're taking one swing in a minute-long round...which, I would think, is very counter-intuitive.)&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh totally. I'm not saying (or at least not trying to say) that one way of doing this is strictly better than the other. However, the idea that the D&amp;D engine for combat is somehow &quot;coherent&quot; in any sense other than &quot;self-consistent&quot; is ludicrous on its face, IMO. Its nigh-legendary litany of narrative bizarrities put the lie to that.*other than running around the back yard with fingers cocked shouting &quot;Bang Bang! I shot you, Billy! Billy, you're Dead!&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 6210019, member: 6688937"] Here's the thing, though...[I]any mechanics[/I] require explanation, because there isn't any sort of [U]purely[/U] intuitive way to play a story game/rpg.* Before someone explained that you had to roll "to-hit" on a d20 and then add your characters modifiers to compare that total to the AC of your target to determine whether or not you "hit"....would you have thought that process "intuitive"?...I wouldn't have. The only thing even vaguely intuitive about it is the use of the natural-language word "hit" to indicate proceeding on to a damage rolling mechanic. That causes the conflation between "hit on a d20" and "my sword hits him with this strike". (Which, BTW, old-school versions of the game [I]explicitly[/I] tell you is not the case...otherwise you're taking one swing in a minute-long round...which, I would think, is very counter-intuitive.) Oh totally. I'm not saying (or at least not trying to say) that one way of doing this is strictly better than the other. However, the idea that the D&D engine for combat is somehow "coherent" in any sense other than "self-consistent" is ludicrous on its face, IMO. Its nigh-legendary litany of narrative bizarrities put the lie to that. [SIZE=1]*other than running around the back yard with fingers cocked shouting "Bang Bang! I shot you, Billy! Billy, you're Dead!"[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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