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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6579675" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>This is an interesting post, but I think it contains a contradiction, or at least a degree of tension.</p><p></p><p>You begin by characterising "colour"-focused play as stake-less, but then conclude by pointing to the wizard's ability to triumph via planning as colour-oriented. But when a wizard stops the invading army by flooding the plain, or by collapsing the general's tower using Transmute Rock to Mud, that is not stakeless <em>in the fiction</em>. It's only stakeless in the mechanics, because of the way the D&D spell system works (auto-win).</p><p></p><p>So it's not about "colour" vs "conflict" - it's about resolution systems: wizards, in D&D, have what Jonathan Tweet calls "karma" resolution. That is, their players don't have to roll dice and get lucky, but can just declare auto-success.</p><p></p><p>I agree that some wizard abilities aren't about stake and conficts - teleport is the classic one, which allows scene-reframing at will, and some divination abilities also play like this.</p><p></p><p>If the player of a wizard wanted to have his/her PC teleport around the world casting Detect Magic spells so as to create an atlas of magical effects, I agree that that would be "colour" rather than conflict play. And 4e really would push against it a bit. But I find it hard to believe that anything but a small minority of 3E or PF tables were playing that sort of game - it's heyday was 2nd ed AD&D (especially some Planescape play, I think) but even then I think it was a minority approach.</p><p></p><p>But the player of a wizard who want to save the village by casting Rock to Mud so as to drown the attacking goblins in quicksand isn't favouring colour over conflict. S/he just wants auto-win buttons in conflict resolution, which shift the real gameplay to different areas (a good knowledge of the spell system, and effective spell selection).</p><p></p><p>4e pushes against that too, but not because it favours conflict over colour. Rather, it favours clever play within the scene rather than logicstical planning, via spell-memorisation, before the scene. It very significantly redefines what counts as system mastery for D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6579675, member: 42582"] This is an interesting post, but I think it contains a contradiction, or at least a degree of tension. You begin by characterising "colour"-focused play as stake-less, but then conclude by pointing to the wizard's ability to triumph via planning as colour-oriented. But when a wizard stops the invading army by flooding the plain, or by collapsing the general's tower using Transmute Rock to Mud, that is not stakeless [i]in the fiction[/i]. It's only stakeless in the mechanics, because of the way the D&D spell system works (auto-win). So it's not about "colour" vs "conflict" - it's about resolution systems: wizards, in D&D, have what Jonathan Tweet calls "karma" resolution. That is, their players don't have to roll dice and get lucky, but can just declare auto-success. I agree that some wizard abilities aren't about stake and conficts - teleport is the classic one, which allows scene-reframing at will, and some divination abilities also play like this. If the player of a wizard wanted to have his/her PC teleport around the world casting Detect Magic spells so as to create an atlas of magical effects, I agree that that would be "colour" rather than conflict play. And 4e really would push against it a bit. But I find it hard to believe that anything but a small minority of 3E or PF tables were playing that sort of game - it's heyday was 2nd ed AD&D (especially some Planescape play, I think) but even then I think it was a minority approach. But the player of a wizard who want to save the village by casting Rock to Mud so as to drown the attacking goblins in quicksand isn't favouring colour over conflict. S/he just wants auto-win buttons in conflict resolution, which shift the real gameplay to different areas (a good knowledge of the spell system, and effective spell selection). 4e pushes against that too, but not because it favours conflict over colour. Rather, it favours clever play within the scene rather than logicstical planning, via spell-memorisation, before the scene. It very significantly redefines what counts as system mastery for D&D. [/QUOTE]
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