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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4179368" data-attributes="member: 40961">Not to disagree, but genre- emulation has an awful lot going for it.  We talk a lot 'round here about baselines and how players need them to make meaningful decisions.  A lot of people seem to believe that you need pretty close to comprehensive simulationist rules so that players can make informed decisions in game.  But there's another, simpler way, and that way is genre emulation.  The "simulationist rules as a baseline for informed decisions" requires a player who wants to make informed decisions to know an awful lot of information, including not only the fundamental game mechanics, plus the rules for unusual situations, but usually an awful lot of monster manual type information.Using genre emulation as a baseline, your players don't need this degree of near encyclopedic knowledge.  You just tell them, "Make decisions as if you were in a movie of genre X.  If you did X, would the audience think it was cool?  Then do it.  If you think it would be lame for the audience, don't do it.  And if you think the audience would be disappointed if you didn't do it, then definitely do it."Then you just have to make sure that the game (and your decisions as a DM) corresponds with the genre.  Reward them for in-genre actions, and penalize them for out-of-genre actions.  If you tell them that you're doing a bloody sword and sorcery action game, don't get mad at them when Thog, the Strongest Barbarian of the Northern Wastes, refuses to back down from the Weezarch, the wizened, evil, elderly sorcerer.  Thog isn't supposed to back down from that fight.  He's supposed to charge.  Reward him with either a victory, or, with a non-lethal defeat that builds Thog's reputation, deepens his hatred of Weezarch, and sets him up for another fight.  In contrast, if you're doing a gritty Lovecraftian horror genre game, don't even allow characters like Thog.  Insist on characters like Tim the Grocer, who flees, gibbering madly, before the onslaught of Weezarch's summoned imps.Over time, as the players learn more about the game, this will start to blend a bit with rules-based informed decision making.  They'll start to get a "feel" for the game.  But this is a great way to get things started, and to cover the inevitable holes in player knowledge.Player 1. "Guys?  I don't recognize that monster."Player 2. "I think its a... Umber Hulk?"Player 3. "Can we fight that?  How tough is an Umber Hulk?"Player 4. "I think its CR is a bit above our level, actually."Thog. "THOG COWERS BEFORE NO CREATURE OF THE PITS!  DIE, BLASPHEMOUS DEMON BEAST!  YOUR ILK SHALL HAUNT THE NOBLE NORTHLANDS NO LONGER!"</blockquote>

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