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The importance to RPGing of *engaging* situations
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8921474" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>A few thoughts on the importance of table-facing resolution procedures from both all three of a strategic perspective, a tactical perspective, and a premise/thematic perspective. I'm just going to pick through some games that I'm GMing and talk about some moments of play and how they might be shifted if resolution procedures were different (or, were understood differently by the players).</p><p></p><p>1) I've got a current 4e D&D game with [USER=1282]@darkbard[/USER] and [USER=20459]@Nephis[/USER] . They're in the midst of a nested combat that came from a micro-failure in a Skill Challenge. I established a pair of Win/Loss Conditions for this combat that aren't an expression of "ablating Team Monster HPs." There as follows:</p><p></p><p>* Protect the Priestess of Omthala from the direct aggression of her foes. To this end, she is a Minion (1 HP) with (a) an Encounter Power where her deity protects her (giving her 1 HP upon her lone HP being lost; via miracle) and (b) a Radiant Bulwark (15 Temp HP). Being a Minion of relatively meager means, she is extremely vulnerable. Protecting her will require deftness and finesse.</p><p></p><p>* Exorcise her of the terrible ritual that a Warlock (the steward of his Uncle's, primary antagonist, household) has cursed her with. This is a Skill Challenge that requires a Primary Skill Success by Team PC each Round or the Priestess of Omthala loses 1 HP. This demand puts significant strain on Team PC action economy.</p><p></p><p>The combination of these mechanical aspects give expression to both stakes within the shared fiction and the very gamestate itself. And, of course, these things are nested within the architecture of a very intricate system of rationed Powers, action economy (including off-turn actions and various riders and force-multipliers), and the array of the battlefield and Team Monster. Further still, all of this is an output of prior fiction, prior Player-authored Quests, and current Player-authored Quests (which then interacts with the reward structure and advancement scheme of play).</p><p></p><p>The experience of play of 4e is sensitive to every_single_component part of what I've listed above. Render it GM-facing rather than table-facing, render the premise content of play GM-derived rather than player-derived (eg a GM metaplot while touring a GM-selected or derived setting vs player-derived via their own selection of antagonists, companions, and thematic conflict by way of Quests and PC build), render the action and conflict resolution opaque vs transparent...do any one of those things (let alone all of them at once!) and the strategic overhead, the tactical overhead, and the premise/thematic overhead assumed by the players suddenly changes dramatically.</p><p></p><p>The process of play, the experience of play, the trajectory of play, the weight of play, the nature of changes to the gamestate and the shared fiction changes in a deep and fundamental way.</p><p></p><p>2) In last week's Dogs in the Vineyard game, [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] had to make some decisions about Sin within the flock of the Town they are presently in. An old retired Dog named Sister Constance has a ward (a feral child who is ensconced in all manner of troubles, Sin, and possibly even Sorcery...or at least the emulation of it...TBD). She has lived a hard life. She has taken on this burden because the boy was orphaned when his parents died. This is entirely outside of The Faith. The Lord of Life has a lot to say about a lot of things...but sometimes stewardship becomes very...very personal. And sometimes the hierarchy of Stewardship within The Faith becomes either unwieldy at best or "not-fit-for-purpose/the facts on the ground as we're forced to live them." Sister Constance Sins brazenly and openly.</p><p></p><p>But [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] is reluctant to judge here because of her circumstance...perhaps maybe because he's a bit soft or too kind or maybe even a little dim (all TBD...we're still feeling that out a bit). But he's seen violence and he's seen it recently. And there is a signficant lurking threat to Sweetwater Lake (the current Town) and it comes in the way of some sort of sordid, murky alliance between The Territorial Authority (who come packing guns and 6 hands to hold them), the U.S. Government, and the Town's rather absentee (or possibly heretical) Steward.</p><p></p><p>Things are escalating. At the start of our next game, hawkeyefan's character is going to be dealing with a difficult and possibly dangerous decision. He may be glad that he spared Sister Constance and rallied her both (a) to his cause and (b) in spirit because she is elderly and long past her days of meting out The King of Life's justice via book or gun...but she is still capable.</p><p></p><p>Now the above was an express byproduct of PC build, NPC build, and via the (somewhat intricate) process of the conflict resolution procedures of the game where we outline stakes, roll our dice pools (including bringing in thematic parts of character that are related to the moves we are making or related to the stakes of the conflict; like Stats, Traits, Relationships, and Belongings) of our back-and-forth and putting dice forward to reflect our actions/what we say.</p><p></p><p>If hawkeyefan didn't understand how NPCs Help PCs (by increasing their dice pools) or didn't understand how other PCs Help PCs (by "borrowing from the future" to resolve an urgent moment now; give a big dice advantage and deal with the handicap burden later) or didn't understand how Escalating works vs Giving/forfeiting a conflict (both the mechanical consequences of either and/or the thematic implications of either) or how to best marshal his dice pools or how Fallout works...or if he didn't understand the danger before him (eg what mortal conflict like gunfights looks like in terms of dice pools and the severity of Fallout; d10 dice) or if he didn't understand how he (the player) has to shape each moment of Stewardship, Faith, and the choice to punish, cast out, or live with Sin (and the implications of these things)...</p><p></p><p>...well how is his strategic decision-making (like absolving Sister Constance of her Sins and rallying her spirits to back a later play, or Helping a PC via "borrowing from the future" where he'll be in a spot that he'll have to manage), his tactical decision-making (managing dice pools and thematic build components, playing the fiction skillfully, to Escalate or not, Fallout etc), his premise/thematic decisions (to hold people accountable for their Sin or to actively absolve them with Ceremony or mediation or to passively do so in his own heart)....how is any of that supposed to "mean anything" as an experience of actual play if he doesn't understand that stuff...if he has no means to "play better or play worse" either because the system is opaque or shifting or because my conflict framing and conflict handling and stakes-setting and consequence-handling, and decisions to Escalate or Give suck or are unclear/not provocative (as GM)?</p><p></p><p>3) [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] might say something about that. Or he might say something about our longterm game of Stonetop where he serves as Judge of the Village where he is cast as town mediator, de facto sage, and with censuring the manyfold agents of chaos and the enemies of civilization and harmonious order in a myth-drenched world and Points of Light setting.</p><p></p><p>4) The Blades in the Dark game I GM for [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] , [USER=16586]@Campbell[/USER] , [USER=70468]@kenada[/USER] , [USER=71235]@niklinna[/USER] resolved a session tonight. There is a vast and intricate matrix of strategic, tactical, and premise/thematic decisions that players make in this game at bout the PC level and at the Crew level. Perhaps one of them has something to say about that matrix and how that matrix would be perturbed violently if you removed interlocking parts or if play went from table-facing to GM-facing?</p><p></p><p>Or maybe those guys want to talk about any key moments of our prior Torchbearer game (like the Witch and the Curse and the little girl or the Bandits/Rival in Town)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8921474, member: 6696971"] A few thoughts on the importance of table-facing resolution procedures from both all three of a strategic perspective, a tactical perspective, and a premise/thematic perspective. I'm just going to pick through some games that I'm GMing and talk about some moments of play and how they might be shifted if resolution procedures were different (or, were understood differently by the players). 1) I've got a current 4e D&D game with [USER=1282]@darkbard[/USER] and [USER=20459]@Nephis[/USER] . They're in the midst of a nested combat that came from a micro-failure in a Skill Challenge. I established a pair of Win/Loss Conditions for this combat that aren't an expression of "ablating Team Monster HPs." There as follows: * Protect the Priestess of Omthala from the direct aggression of her foes. To this end, she is a Minion (1 HP) with (a) an Encounter Power where her deity protects her (giving her 1 HP upon her lone HP being lost; via miracle) and (b) a Radiant Bulwark (15 Temp HP). Being a Minion of relatively meager means, she is extremely vulnerable. Protecting her will require deftness and finesse. * Exorcise her of the terrible ritual that a Warlock (the steward of his Uncle's, primary antagonist, household) has cursed her with. This is a Skill Challenge that requires a Primary Skill Success by Team PC each Round or the Priestess of Omthala loses 1 HP. This demand puts significant strain on Team PC action economy. The combination of these mechanical aspects give expression to both stakes within the shared fiction and the very gamestate itself. And, of course, these things are nested within the architecture of a very intricate system of rationed Powers, action economy (including off-turn actions and various riders and force-multipliers), and the array of the battlefield and Team Monster. Further still, all of this is an output of prior fiction, prior Player-authored Quests, and current Player-authored Quests (which then interacts with the reward structure and advancement scheme of play). The experience of play of 4e is sensitive to every_single_component part of what I've listed above. Render it GM-facing rather than table-facing, render the premise content of play GM-derived rather than player-derived (eg a GM metaplot while touring a GM-selected or derived setting vs player-derived via their own selection of antagonists, companions, and thematic conflict by way of Quests and PC build), render the action and conflict resolution opaque vs transparent...do any one of those things (let alone all of them at once!) and the strategic overhead, the tactical overhead, and the premise/thematic overhead assumed by the players suddenly changes dramatically. The process of play, the experience of play, the trajectory of play, the weight of play, the nature of changes to the gamestate and the shared fiction changes in a deep and fundamental way. 2) In last week's Dogs in the Vineyard game, [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] had to make some decisions about Sin within the flock of the Town they are presently in. An old retired Dog named Sister Constance has a ward (a feral child who is ensconced in all manner of troubles, Sin, and possibly even Sorcery...or at least the emulation of it...TBD). She has lived a hard life. She has taken on this burden because the boy was orphaned when his parents died. This is entirely outside of The Faith. The Lord of Life has a lot to say about a lot of things...but sometimes stewardship becomes very...very personal. And sometimes the hierarchy of Stewardship within The Faith becomes either unwieldy at best or "not-fit-for-purpose/the facts on the ground as we're forced to live them." Sister Constance Sins brazenly and openly. But [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] is reluctant to judge here because of her circumstance...perhaps maybe because he's a bit soft or too kind or maybe even a little dim (all TBD...we're still feeling that out a bit). But he's seen violence and he's seen it recently. And there is a signficant lurking threat to Sweetwater Lake (the current Town) and it comes in the way of some sort of sordid, murky alliance between The Territorial Authority (who come packing guns and 6 hands to hold them), the U.S. Government, and the Town's rather absentee (or possibly heretical) Steward. Things are escalating. At the start of our next game, hawkeyefan's character is going to be dealing with a difficult and possibly dangerous decision. He may be glad that he spared Sister Constance and rallied her both (a) to his cause and (b) in spirit because she is elderly and long past her days of meting out The King of Life's justice via book or gun...but she is still capable. Now the above was an express byproduct of PC build, NPC build, and via the (somewhat intricate) process of the conflict resolution procedures of the game where we outline stakes, roll our dice pools (including bringing in thematic parts of character that are related to the moves we are making or related to the stakes of the conflict; like Stats, Traits, Relationships, and Belongings) of our back-and-forth and putting dice forward to reflect our actions/what we say. If hawkeyefan didn't understand how NPCs Help PCs (by increasing their dice pools) or didn't understand how other PCs Help PCs (by "borrowing from the future" to resolve an urgent moment now; give a big dice advantage and deal with the handicap burden later) or didn't understand how Escalating works vs Giving/forfeiting a conflict (both the mechanical consequences of either and/or the thematic implications of either) or how to best marshal his dice pools or how Fallout works...or if he didn't understand the danger before him (eg what mortal conflict like gunfights looks like in terms of dice pools and the severity of Fallout; d10 dice) or if he didn't understand how he (the player) has to shape each moment of Stewardship, Faith, and the choice to punish, cast out, or live with Sin (and the implications of these things)... ...well how is his strategic decision-making (like absolving Sister Constance of her Sins and rallying her spirits to back a later play, or Helping a PC via "borrowing from the future" where he'll be in a spot that he'll have to manage), his tactical decision-making (managing dice pools and thematic build components, playing the fiction skillfully, to Escalate or not, Fallout etc), his premise/thematic decisions (to hold people accountable for their Sin or to actively absolve them with Ceremony or mediation or to passively do so in his own heart)....how is any of that supposed to "mean anything" as an experience of actual play if he doesn't understand that stuff...if he has no means to "play better or play worse" either because the system is opaque or shifting or because my conflict framing and conflict handling and stakes-setting and consequence-handling, and decisions to Escalate or Give suck or are unclear/not provocative (as GM)? 3) [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] might say something about that. Or he might say something about our longterm game of Stonetop where he serves as Judge of the Village where he is cast as town mediator, de facto sage, and with censuring the manyfold agents of chaos and the enemies of civilization and harmonious order in a myth-drenched world and Points of Light setting. 4) The Blades in the Dark game I GM for [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] , [USER=16586]@Campbell[/USER] , [USER=70468]@kenada[/USER] , [USER=71235]@niklinna[/USER] resolved a session tonight. There is a vast and intricate matrix of strategic, tactical, and premise/thematic decisions that players make in this game at bout the PC level and at the Crew level. Perhaps one of them has something to say about that matrix and how that matrix would be perturbed violently if you removed interlocking parts or if play went from table-facing to GM-facing? Or maybe those guys want to talk about any key moments of our prior Torchbearer game (like the Witch and the Curse and the little girl or the Bandits/Rival in Town)? [/QUOTE]
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