Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="SweeneyTodd" data-source="post: 2419418" data-attributes="member: 9391">I think this discussion is very helpful. I think the core issue kind of comes out in what you said above, as far as what we were talking about in rules-light games was so different from your understanding.What we're really talking about, I think, is style of play. I don't mean that as high level vs. low level, high magic vs. low magic, what game world it's set in, etc. You can vary all those and still be playing the same style.I'm talking about style in terms of "campaign is about defeating tactical challenges" vs "campaign is about the decisions the players make" or "GM defines plot, players experience it' vs "Plot is defined through player decisions and GM handling of their consequences".For the style that I think you're thinking of as the one way people play RPGs, there's a heavy focus on physical challenges like combat, and so those challenges are handled in high detail. What about another style of game, that's about characters dealing with the tension between getting what they want and treating other people fairly? That could be an interesting game (I hope so, it's basically my current campaign), and in that kind of game you might put a lot more screen time on character decisions and the consequences they have on family and friends. It might matter that a PC beat up someone who was opposing them, but the decision to have it come to blows would merit much more screen time than the fight itself.For a style of play that really isn't about fighting, having lots of rules that focus on physical combat just serves to dilute the game. If the real issue is "Do I pay the blackmailer to keep him from telling my wife I'm having an affair, beat him up, or come clean with my wife?", then it isn't worth spending a lot of detail on the fist fight. It's just not what the game is about.As far as characters describing their actions any way they wanted, yes, that happens, and it doesn't necessarily have a mechanical effect. But descriptions of actions don't just have to be fun color. They are a way for the player to say things about their character.Wierd example here, but let's pretend the movie The Princess Bride was a roleplaying campaign. The theme might have been "How far will you go for love?" There's a fight between Inigo and Wesley that's a great fencing scene, lots of detail, fun stuff. Is the scene about two master swordsmen trying to kill each other? Not really, IMO. It's about Wesley's devotion to Buttercup (he's trying to save her) versus Inigo's devotion to his father (he's become a master fencer so that one day he can get his revenge). The real point of the scene is to show that the two PCs are so obsessed with their own goals that they're fighting, even though they don't really have any reason to. In that case, all the detail of the fight is just narrated color the players came up with, but it's still meaningful.</blockquote>

Verification