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RPGing and imagination: a fundamental point
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<blockquote data-quote="Pedantic" data-source="post: 9239221" data-attributes="member: 6690965"><p>There is obviously a difference between an action that has a defined fictional impact and one that doesn't. 5e's "climb at half speed, the DM may design an athletics check to allow for faster" and the 3e climb skill's fixed speed outcomes are not identical. I pointedly reject the notion of unlimited action space as the essential quality of an RPG. Practically speaking, generic resolution system like a SC or single-check resolution already consists of a discrete set of declarable mechanical actions regardless of variance in the attached fictional description. Even in my push for more bespoke actions, the set of things likely to be proposed in most games is significantly smaller than the "you can do anything!" that routinely gets suggested, especially once you start putting constraints of genre and tone on the game overall.</p><p></p><p>Instead, I think the defining quality must live in the evaluation of victory. Board games are closed, with defined end points established before they begin and established victory/loss conditions. RPGs allow the players to set the victory/loss conditions they'll be evaluated on, and allow play to continue past that evaluation with a new set of conditions.</p><p></p><p>Technically true, but they aren't a very good game. The optimization cases are (depending on how the GM presents the available checks) either trivial, or effectively random. Plus they have a quite small number of available actions, once you eliminate mathematically identical declarations. I don't think they're a revolutionary technology over free checks in that sense, but any structure at all does allow for more gameplay than the GM deciding moment to moment what actions are available.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pedantic, post: 9239221, member: 6690965"] There is obviously a difference between an action that has a defined fictional impact and one that doesn't. 5e's "climb at half speed, the DM may design an athletics check to allow for faster" and the 3e climb skill's fixed speed outcomes are not identical. I pointedly reject the notion of unlimited action space as the essential quality of an RPG. Practically speaking, generic resolution system like a SC or single-check resolution already consists of a discrete set of declarable mechanical actions regardless of variance in the attached fictional description. Even in my push for more bespoke actions, the set of things likely to be proposed in most games is significantly smaller than the "you can do anything!" that routinely gets suggested, especially once you start putting constraints of genre and tone on the game overall. Instead, I think the defining quality must live in the evaluation of victory. Board games are closed, with defined end points established before they begin and established victory/loss conditions. RPGs allow the players to set the victory/loss conditions they'll be evaluated on, and allow play to continue past that evaluation with a new set of conditions. Technically true, but they aren't a very good game. The optimization cases are (depending on how the GM presents the available checks) either trivial, or effectively random. Plus they have a quite small number of available actions, once you eliminate mathematically identical declarations. I don't think they're a revolutionary technology over free checks in that sense, but any structure at all does allow for more gameplay than the GM deciding moment to moment what actions are available. [/QUOTE]
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