Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 9069121" data-attributes="member: 70468">My homebrew system does not specifically address “immersion”, but it’s also just a mess of notes and stuff in Scrivener at the moment, so I can’t say exactly what final form it will take. It does do a few things that I think are helpful for immersion:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It’s transparent about how mechanics work. My view is our interface with the game world is limited by our ability to describe it. Game mechanics can be a shortcut for conveying an understanding the characters would have naturally just by living and existing there. They can also be helpful reminders to the referee to make sure the PCs are aware of what’s happening or could happen. Sometimes descriptions are sloppy or imprecise, so having to note consequences as part of stakes-setting is a reminder to the referee to make sure the situation is fully conveyed and understood as the PCs would understand it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">While certain actions are prescribed in-combat, most Skill Checks are based on the method and approach used by the PCs. If you want to ambush bandits, you have to say how you’re doing that. Wanting to disguise yourself to leap down from a tree, then you would probably say you are using Camouflage + Dexterity (to balance).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The initiative cycle is also triggered by activity in the game world. The referee does not just declare initiative. It happens after the equip phase, which is triggered by equipping a weapon (or certain techniques). This makes combat flow really nicely from “feeling each other out” to “it went downhill, draw weapons” while still keeping it structured for play.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">EXP is earned via accomplishing goals, which the players set. Goals are meant for the players not the characters. The intent is to help players stay focused and not forget something important they’d wanted to accomplish. I look at it like this from an immersion perspective: characters don’t have the real world distractions that players do, so having tools like this for the players help them have their characters do things like their characters normally would.</li> </ul>I also try to avoid using certain phrases when describing and talking about the game in the text itself. For example, I never use “the fiction” or talk about “fiction”. It’s about what’s happening in the game world. I avoid them due to a lack of shared understanding of what “in the fiction” means between different gamers, but I’m also not a fan the idea that RPGs are about telling stories, so I want to avoid confusion using that kind of language could create.</blockquote>

Verification