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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7025959" data-attributes="member: 16586">I think once you start asking yourself questions like if you need a visual representation of positioning, you really should at least ask yourself the following questions:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What benefit am I getting from other abstractions like hit points and AC?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do I even need an action economy?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do I need a specific combat subsystem?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do I need exact definitions of spell effects?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do I need stats for the opposition? Could this be handled through fictional positioning?</li> </ul>If I'm interested in a character focused game where violent confrontation is a secondary concern I'm likely to treat it like a secondary concern and play something like Dungeon World, Burning Wheel (only using Bloody Versus) or Blades in the Dark where fictional positioning is king and I don't have to deal with abstractions like highly specific movement rates and ranges, Attacks of Opportunity, action economies, and hit points. If I'm in the mood for tactical combat, but can't be arsed for exact positioning I'm likely to play something that uses range bands - Edge of the Empire, Exalted 3e, etc. Of course I don't really have a mind for concrete distances. I tend to present distances in more abstract terms unless I'm playing something highly tactical - just over the horizon, in your face, at arms' reach. down the alley, pretty far, you could totally reach him but you'll have to run pretty fast, etc. When I get fed descriptions with exact geometric distances my eyes tend to glaze over, but if I see a visual representation or get abstract distances I can totally get into the fiction.</blockquote>

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