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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Should game designers remain neutral when designing D&D?
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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6256215" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>That isn't neutral though. On a scale of "Impossible to kill the PCs" to "The PCs die from a light breeze" you are choosing "PCs die to one sword strike in the right place". It might be the "default" because it's the one people are already familiar with, but it isn't "neutral". To be neutral, you'd need to write it in such a way that the game doesn't even decide how easily anyone dies, it just lets each DM decide on their own. It would be the only way to stay completely neutral.</p><p></p><p></p><p>But the laws of physics say that someone's skin would have to be made out of stone in order to be able to survive the kind of damage that most D&D characters take. The laws of physics say that if someone's skin was made out of stone they wouldn't be able to move.</p><p></p><p>There is no fate or luck in the real laws of physics so no one could survive because of those reasons if your rules used the laws of physics.</p><p></p><p>In a game based on the real laws of physics it would mean that you could not gain hitpoints or survive any well placed attack on you since that the way real skin, muscles and organs work. There would be no valid excuse for surviving and it would prevent all playstyles that want PCs to survive more than one attack.</p><p></p><p>I'm really confused by this statement in particular. What is the difference between saying a level 1 character has 10 hitpoints and weapons do 10 points of damage and saying a 1st level character has 5 hitpoints and saying weapons do 5 damage? Both are functionally the same thing. In both games 1st level people die in one hit.</p><p></p><p>They are both describing a playstyle where 1st level PCs die easily. In order to change the playstyle you need to either change the hitpoints or the damage done by weapons. Then you create a new tone(either more or less "heroic" or "superhuman"). However, by setting a number for both hitpoints and for damage you are setting the tone for the game and therefore setting the playstyle. Games with low hitpoints where you can easily die will have less fighting because of how deadly it is. Characters will be much more willing to negotiate or find an alternate means to resolve a dispute. Games where a weapon can barely scratch a PC will cause them to fight first and ask questions later way more often. Neither choice is "neutral", however.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In real life "True Heroism" is impossible. To me, heroism involves running into a room filled with 20 armed thugs and defeating them all without a scratch. In real life no one does that. The laws of physics prevent it. Only in action movies and our imagination.</p><p></p><p>In real life, the 20 people gang up on even the best fighter on the planet and beat him up. Or they kill him with one bullet that is impossible to block or dodge.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 6256215, member: 5143"] That isn't neutral though. On a scale of "Impossible to kill the PCs" to "The PCs die from a light breeze" you are choosing "PCs die to one sword strike in the right place". It might be the "default" because it's the one people are already familiar with, but it isn't "neutral". To be neutral, you'd need to write it in such a way that the game doesn't even decide how easily anyone dies, it just lets each DM decide on their own. It would be the only way to stay completely neutral. But the laws of physics say that someone's skin would have to be made out of stone in order to be able to survive the kind of damage that most D&D characters take. The laws of physics say that if someone's skin was made out of stone they wouldn't be able to move. There is no fate or luck in the real laws of physics so no one could survive because of those reasons if your rules used the laws of physics. In a game based on the real laws of physics it would mean that you could not gain hitpoints or survive any well placed attack on you since that the way real skin, muscles and organs work. There would be no valid excuse for surviving and it would prevent all playstyles that want PCs to survive more than one attack. I'm really confused by this statement in particular. What is the difference between saying a level 1 character has 10 hitpoints and weapons do 10 points of damage and saying a 1st level character has 5 hitpoints and saying weapons do 5 damage? Both are functionally the same thing. In both games 1st level people die in one hit. They are both describing a playstyle where 1st level PCs die easily. In order to change the playstyle you need to either change the hitpoints or the damage done by weapons. Then you create a new tone(either more or less "heroic" or "superhuman"). However, by setting a number for both hitpoints and for damage you are setting the tone for the game and therefore setting the playstyle. Games with low hitpoints where you can easily die will have less fighting because of how deadly it is. Characters will be much more willing to negotiate or find an alternate means to resolve a dispute. Games where a weapon can barely scratch a PC will cause them to fight first and ask questions later way more often. Neither choice is "neutral", however. In real life "True Heroism" is impossible. To me, heroism involves running into a room filled with 20 armed thugs and defeating them all without a scratch. In real life no one does that. The laws of physics prevent it. Only in action movies and our imagination. In real life, the 20 people gang up on even the best fighter on the planet and beat him up. Or they kill him with one bullet that is impossible to block or dodge. [/QUOTE]
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Should game designers remain neutral when designing D&D?
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