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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 6355277" data-attributes="member: 12037">Oh, I definitely agree that if you're going to have a resolution mechanic for NPCs then it should mirror the resolution mechanic for PCs. That's not really what I was referring to.Take a game like Dread for example. It's a horror game where the resolution mechanic is if the PC tries to do something that the GM thinks may succeed or fail, then they pull a block from a Jenga tower. If the tower falls then the PC dies. If the tower doesn't fall and they get the block then the PC succeeds. The GM never pulls because there would be no tension there. In fact, the GM pulling would draw away from the player tension, thus going against the goal of creating a frightening game mechanic. The GM simply isn't participating on the same level as the PCs.In a game like that, where there is only one resolution mechanic and it is either success/death, then NPCs have no resolution mechanic at all. So, the GM has to make decisions on what happens with NPCs. But, he isn't making these decisions in a vacuum. The goal of the game is genre emulation, which means the GM is actually constrained by tropes of the genre. The GM tries to match what they think would happen if the group was watching a horror film of the appropriate type, mood, style, etc. that the group is trying to emulate. Thus, you don't need a resolution mechanic for NPCs so not having one doesn't really detract from the experience.I'm an avid boardgamer. I love boardgames! I record every play with who was playing, who won, and by how much in a record book.You know why I play RPGs, though? Because they have fiction associated with them. They have plots and intrigue and characters interacting in amazing and unpredictable ways. They have plot lines that can come up, drop off for a while, then leap back and kick you in the face. They have monsters that are more than just pieces moving around a board, and player characters who can interact with all these story elements that I just described in any way they want. Roleplaying games are awesome because of the story for me.Because what you end up with at the end of the night isn't just a line in my book. It's a story. That's the entire point for me.</blockquote>

Verification