Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9250048" data-attributes="member: 42582">I've made two fairly recent posts in the thread addressing this (<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/recurring-silly-comment-about-apocalypse-world-and-similar-rpgs.702177/post-9249417" target="_blank">239</a>  and <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/recurring-silly-comment-about-apocalypse-world-and-similar-rpgs.702177/post-9249604" target="_blank">288</a>).And of course more could be made - see eg [USER=5142]@Aldarc[/USER]'s fairly recent reply to [USER=7025508]@Crimson Longinus[/USER], setting out some aspects of methodology (<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/recurring-silly-comment-about-apocalypse-world-and-similar-rpgs.702177/post-9249417" target="_blank">289</a>).The rule is if you do it, you do it. When, in the fiction, are you "doing it"? That's a matter that might differ from table to table. Eg further upthread, I gave the following example of doing something while under serious pressure, triggering acting under fire:Now maybe at @Manbeacat's table that would be some sort of weaksauce thing that doesn't count as pressure at all! Different tables, different players, different moods on different days all bring differences of aesthetics, differences of judgement, etc.To me, that's a virtue among humans, not a flaw.You can see the same thing in discussions of when is Hack & Slash triggered in DW play? Aldarc quoted the dragon example. Ironsworn gives a similar example (p 208):A leviathan is an ancient sea beast (page 154). It’s tough to kill because of its epic rank, and it inflicts epic harm, but it doesn’t have any other mechanical characteristics. If we look to the fiction of the leviathan’s, description, we see “flesh as tough as iron.” But, rolling a Strike against a leviathan is the same as against a common thug. In either case, it’s your action die, plus your stat and adds compared to the challenge dice. Your chances to score a strong hit, weak hit, or miss are the same. So how do you give the leviathan its due as a terrifying, seemingly invulnerable foe? You do it through the fiction. If you have sworn a vow to defeat a leviathan, are you armed with a suitable weapon? Punching it won’t work. Even a deadly weapon such as a spear would barely get its attention. Perhaps you undertook a quest to find the Abyssal Harpoon, an artifact from the Old World, carved from the bones of a long-dead sea god. This mythic weapon gives you the fictional framing you need to confront the monster, and finding it can count as a milestone on your vow to destroy this beast. Even with your weapon at the ready, can you overcome your fears as you stand on the prow of your boat, the water surging beneath you, the gaping maw of the beast just below the surface? Face Danger with +heart to find out. The outcome of your move will incorporate the leviathan’s devastating power. Did you score a miss? The beast smashes your boat to kindling. It tries to drag you into the depths. Want to Face Danger by swimming away? You can’t outswim a leviathan. You’ll have to try something else. Remember the concepts behind fictional framing. Your readiness and the nature of your challenge may force you to overcome greater dangers and make additional moves. Once you’ve rolled the dice, your fictional framing provides context for the outcome of those moves.What this means is that what counts as proper fictional positioning to Strike a leviathan, or to Hack & Slash a dragon, or to escape from such a foe by Defying/Facing Danger, will depend on each table. There is no canonical answer. Again, this is a virtue.You can see a similar thing, too, in discussions of other systems. See eg these posts from [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] about Torchbearer:Now I've run "town adventures" in Torchbearer 2e (see eg <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/torchbearer-2e-actual-play-of-this-awesome-system.691233/post-9075201" target="_blank">this actual play report</a>). They didn't particularly involve map-and-key. The Grind still mattered, but the light clock was not a factor.Does the mean I'm doing Torchbearer "wrong"? Well [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] is yet to make the trans-continental + trans-Pacific journey to come and personally remonstrate with me! I think he already knows that my table is lighter on consequences than his, and not just in Torchbearer play.Yet I've never had any issues discussing RPGing with Manbearcat, be that Torchbearer or 4e D&D or Dungeon World or whatever else. It is possible for two people to grasp the design architecture of a game, to put that architecture to work, and yet to not play games that are clones of one another.</blockquote>

Verification