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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8252897" data-attributes="member: 6779196">I think narrative elements are made far stronger when supported by gameplay. That doesn’t mean the mechanics should be designed to simulate story elements, but in my opinion they should be designed with a particular feel in mind.I think the goal should be for the narrative to be recognizable from gameplay alone. For example, if you fight a group of monsters that come in large numbers, move slowly, are easy to hit but don’t seem to go down except when you crit or otherwise do a lot of damage in one hit, and attack first by grappling you and then once you’re grappled make an attack that does fairly low damage but forces you to make a Constitution save on a hit, and on a failure you gain a condition that causes your maximum HP to decrease over time, I bet you could make a pretty good guess what that monster is, even without a single word of description. Maybe you won’t get the details exactly right, but you’ll probably be in the right ballpark.And if I add in some details that you might or might not discover from fighting them [spoiler](they’re vulnerable to fire damage, they only have middling HP but when reduced to 0 can make a save to remain at 1 unless you crit or exceed a damage threshold)[/spoiler] you’ll probably be able to get it. If I add in just a few narrative details [spoiler](their attack is a bite, the condition you acquire from it is a disease, and if you die from this disease you become one of these monsters)[/spoiler] I bet that will confirm your suspicions about what it is. [spoiler](It’s a Ramero-style zombie.)[/spoiler]That, to me, is the mark of a well-designed mechanic.Now on that I am in strong agreement.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 8252897, member: 6779196"] I think narrative elements are made far stronger when supported by gameplay. That doesn’t mean the mechanics should be designed to [I]simulate[/I] story elements, but in my opinion they should be designed with a particular [I]feel[/I] in mind. I think the goal should be for the narrative to be recognizable from gameplay alone. For example, if you fight a group of monsters that come in large numbers, move slowly, are easy to hit but don’t seem to go down except when you crit or otherwise do a lot of damage in one hit, and attack first by grappling you and then once you’re grappled make an attack that does fairly low damage but forces you to make a Constitution save on a hit, and on a failure you gain a condition that causes your maximum HP to decrease over time, I bet you could make a pretty good guess what that monster is, even without a single word of description. Maybe you won’t get the details exactly right, but you’ll probably be in the right ballpark. And if I add in some details that you might or might not discover from fighting them [spoiler](they’re vulnerable to fire damage, they only have middling HP but when reduced to 0 can make a save to remain at 1 unless you crit or exceed a damage threshold)[/spoiler] you’ll probably be able to get it. If I add in just a few narrative details [spoiler](their attack is a bite, the condition you acquire from it is a disease, and if you die from this disease you become one of these monsters)[/spoiler] I bet that will confirm your suspicions about what it is. [spoiler](It’s a Ramero-style zombie.)[/spoiler] That, to me, is the mark of a well-designed mechanic. Now on that I am in strong agreement. [/QUOTE]

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