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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2116024" data-attributes="member: 18280">Doug,Thanks for your replies.  I note that you didn't say whether the fluff implied rules, or why.  I should be upfront in saying that I don't believe that the term "rules" applies only to the written text.  There are explicit rules (SRD), implied rules ("If I drop my sword, it will fall to the ground" or "casting a spell will not cause me to explode"), and situational rules (DM rulings based on circumstances, which may or may not be codified, but which are either explicit or implied based upon DM and setting...for example, "Anyone who drinks from this fountain heals 1d6 points of damage" or "we're no longer allowing trip attempts as attacks of opportunity").  All of these can be part of the "bones" of a rpg campaign.In general, rules can be stated as if/then statements.  If you do action A, then B is the result, with the understanding that B may be randomly determined.  An example of random determination is, If you attack an AC 14 creature, then you may hit based upon the outcome of a d20 roll."  Suplimental information may be needed to further define either the "if" portion of the statement, or the "then" portion of the statement, or both portions of the statement."Meat" includes all flavor text, but meat is often used by the players to determine which rules are in play and, how they will affect the player characters.  For example, "Your ship sinks and you fall into the ocean" may be meat, but players will be quite aware of the connection between the supposed "fluff" and the rules for drowning.Overall, we agree on what amounts to "flavor text" and what amounts to "rules."  I, however, tend to think that some of the flavor text implies rules.  For instance, you said the statement "This world contains a civilisation of lawful good orcs." was "Fluff with a hint of crunch (the alignment)," although earlier, you argued that the same statement doesn't affect the rules.I admit to some curiosity as to how there can be even a hint of crunch here, unless you are either implying that one can introduce some amount of crunch without altering the rules, or you are rescinding your earlier statement. If nothing else, there is an implication something that made these orcs different from the orcs in other campaigns.  Moreover, if the stat blocks of these orcs are crunch, then the "fluff" must imply "crunch" -- in other words, the meat shows the shape of the bones.(Now, obviously different campaigns will have different stat blocks.  If stat blocks are now "crunch" then each campaign has different crunch.  Ergo, changing the terminology will not result in the dichotomy of different meat on the same bones.)Another statement, "This world contains a land of islands floating in the air," that you called "Fluff," is one which we've already agreed probably implies rules.  The term "fluff" implies something insubstantial, without weight.  Yet, this statement clearly has weight.  The term "fluff" is simply a bad term.  You found defining "An encounter table for one of the floating islands" as either fluff or crunch tricky, I imagine, because your terminology doesn't allow for connective tissue.  Mine does.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> You said that the statement: "Characters may be of any class in the Player’s Handbook or Psionics Handbook. Players with access to Oriental Adventures can also choose to play a shaman." "Feels more crunchy than fluffy."  I would say that this statement is pure rules.You found the statement: "Druids are extremely rare among dwarves and the goblinoid races." "more fluffy than crunchy" (to my mind, implying that you found it at least somewhat crunchy) but found the statement "Ghost ships and long-necked monsters have been reported on the lake, as well as occasional merfolk and faerie creatures." to be "Fluff" although they are both fairly nebulous statements on the odds of encountering specific types of beings in a given area.  To my mind, these are both "meat".  Because meat is organically related to bone, my terminology better supports an understanding of the relationship between the statements and their meaning in-game.RCEDIT:  The above was written before your post (directly above it) was available to me.  Obviously, if you don't define "crunch" as "game rules" it will change some of the conclusions....!  However, it does beg the question as to exactly what you mean by "crunch."  Far from making crunch a "better term," it makes it a term without defined value.RC</blockquote>

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